How do you reward your players and give them a sense of achievement?

Mells

Hi,


I open this discussion to focus on the reasons why a player would enjoy spending time with an app, and how we can stimulate his will to invest time to get better in the game.

For example, I'm working on a game (1P and 2P mode) where the winner is the fastest player (or computer ai) that touches the screen after a "START!" signal.
In 2 player mode it's easy : you either win or loose.

But in 1 player mode, I'd like to reward the player with 1, 2, 3 stars depending on a set of conditions.
The computer AI plays after a defined time, and this time is shorter when the player makes progress in the game.

Each Level game session happens in 3 rounds : the first player to 3 rounds won is the winner.
(And obviously stars are awarded only if the player passes the level).

So how should I give stars to the player? Should it depend on :

• his fastest round? -> Reward one time action
• the number of rounds that he won compared to the computer ai, the highest the difference the highest chances you can get 3 stars? -> Reward the fact that he was far above his opponent
• or make the average of all the rounds he played? -> Reward consistency

It's not that easy to find the right balance.

So I'm asking, if you were the player, how would you like to be rewarded?
Which hard-to-get skill would you like to master, and be rewarded for after some training?
And in a general sense, how do you decide on how to reward the player?

Magnusviri

I just read this. They talk about rewarding, not specifics, but the idea.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2012/aug/08/popcap-secrets-of-game-design

I have to admit, I'm horible at rewarding players so don't ask me. I always whimper and make beautiful code instead of a beautiful experience.

Nascode

Hi Mells,

If you are trying to use 3 stars to reward player for his performance in a level, i suggest strive for consistency. For example if you are calculating time limit, then stick with time limits for all level. You must tell player time limit for that level in order to get 3 stars though. That way player learn fast because the the game stick to a certain rule.

In our game http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/stack-the-stuff/id428835861?mt=8 (shameless promotion), we reward player by achieve stars in each levels (max of 3). The rule is simple, if you could touch all 3 stars, you got 3 stars for that level.

Dont forget to do playtesting to know if your rule of the game is cool for your targetted players.

ar2rsawseen

I'd probably go with second option:
the number of rounds that he won compared to the computer ai, the highest the difference the highest chances you can get 3 stars? -> Reward the fact that he was far above his opponent

Seems more appealing and motivates to struggle for all three rounds. Because basically if you win 2 rounds in a row, there is no sense to the third round, cause you already won. But for 3 stars, you'll have to be superior in all three rounds.

Mells

Thank you all, very interesting.
@Magnusviri Link exchange (some insights on how to reward and keep players)
NaturalMotion’s iOS racing game generates $12M in revenue in first month

@Nascode Nice game,

The rule is simple, if you could touch all 3 stars, you got 3 stars for that level.

yes the system is easy to understand by the player because you provide a visual (the player got the star, or he didn't).
I can't translate this system to my game, though and rules are a bit more complex and hidden to the player.

@ar2rsawseen

basically if you win 2 rounds in a row, there is no sense to the third round, cause you already won

Maybe I didn't explain well : you have to win 3 rounds. So a game could be 5 rounds (Player 1 : 3 wins, Player 2 : 2 wins).
If you reach 3 rounds won, then you can get some stars. Otherwise, nothing.

ar2rsawseen

@Mells
ok so until 3 wins.
Still rewarding superiority I think is better. For example, you could display empty bar, which fills every round you win, proportionally by the time you played over AI. So player sees the progress and know how much better he/she needs to be, to get 3 stars

If for example in total 3 rounds, player needs to be 300ms better than AI. Then if in first round he is 150ms better, half of bar gets filled. With remaining 2 winning rounds player needs only be 150 superior in total.

gorkem

I think I'd go with badges. I use Foursquare a lot, and its badge model achievement system is kinda appealing to me. Some badges are very easy - you get them in the first day. Some are hard to get - you have to fly 6000 km in one day and check in two airports one after another. I can see my badge achievements in my screen. Some of them are hidden, and some of them are visible via help page. All in all, this method is/can be directly transferable to your game I believe. I can immediately think of:

- Rookie badge: First win
- Novice badge: 5 wins in a row
- Expert badge: 25 wins in a row
- Yoda badge: You didnt lose consecutive 50 plays
- Ninja badge: Win under 10 seconds
- Speedy Gonzales badge: Win under 5 seconds
- Lucky Luke badge: Win in the last second
- Leader badge: ...
- Experience badge: ...

Görkem

Mells

@ar2sawseen So the player would be rewarded on the amount of time that he was quicker than his opponent during the whole game (x rounds).
Then I would have to create rules depending on the number of rounds that were played.
I like the fact that the player can see his progress and adjust his concentration.

@gorkem I like your suggestion, I think that's exactly the kind of rewards that Halfbrick give in Jetpack Joyride.

I could add it on top of my stars system (for example "Play 5 games in a row and get 3 stars") to keep people interested in the 1 player mode.
Later, I want to add a story mode. Badges could unlock some parts of the map.

Magnusviri

Ok this post is about rewarding in general.

Jetpack Joyride is an excellent example for rewards in my opinion. There are multiple reward levels for several levels of players. First it's the obvious distance and coins collected rewards.

Then you have the spin tokens and the obviously rigged slot machine that wins over 50% of the spins. And sometimes they have that spin that slows down and they play a drum roll and if you get it there is cheering but if you lose it there is a disappointed "ahhh".

Then it's level ups by completing missions like collect 3 spin tokens or travel 700 km In the teleporter. Leveling up is where they show stars lol. You always have 3 missions and they vary in difficulty depending on your level. But sometimes one mission shows up that is really difficult. You can still complete the other 2 and get level ups until you get to the final "Barry" level and then you have to complete it. But by then you're so hooked that you really put in the time.

Then when you get to the Barry level you can cash in and get some sort of special badge of recognition like, "Special Badge of Superiority", and "Historic Badge of Blasting Off". And the missions are so easy that it's really hard to not start all over.

And then there is the Stash with non-enhancing bling like bubble jet packs, laser jet packs and after burners. And the totally needless clothing (robot suit, top hat and tux, army camo). Add to that the golden vehicles upgrades.

And then there is the game-enhancing vehicle coin magnet upgrades. Then gadgets like gravity belt, x-ray specs, and the robo-dog Flash. Then you have secret gadget combinations like "High Mobility".

And there is the obvious leader boards and especially how there are sign posts showing when you pass up your friends' best distances.

And then you start to notice achievements like, "Not so Green", and "Gold Digger". And if you are like me one day you find that wouldn't it be cool if you got all of the achievements. And then you get them all but one and have to do a web search to find out how to get it but you still can't get it and it's the one thig that bugs you about the game, that you still have one thing left to do...

And there's the obvious statistics like total distance, total time played, best stats, etc. but the hilarity comes from stats like scientists scattered, distance/coins/tokens while dead and best, distance slid on face.

And then there is the silliness. The best example is what it says at start up:
"repairing walls", "rotating gravity suit", "waking up cuddles". It's complete hilarity from the moment you open the app. It makes waiting for the app to start almost enjoyable waiting to see what the next silly comment is (it has a long startup and I haven't really seen 2 silly comments twice).

That's what I call rewarding the user.

Magnusviri

Just noticed you mentioned Jetpack Joyride lol. And the best thing about all of what I just said is that I haven't spent a dime on the game. The game makes money off of in-app sales of coins. But you grinding for coins isn't a miserable experience.

Another game I loved was Defender Cronicles but at one point it just turns into mindless grinding and I actually setup a timer to remind me to start the game over. I quit playing soon after cuz I hate grinding.

But the Jetpack Joyride model makes you think you aren't even grinding. I don't spend money on the free-to-play-pay-to-upgrade games. But if I was going to pay anyone it would be Halfbrick.

If they can get me to be almost willing to pay that means they easily get that small segment of paying customers to pay out big. I know Temple Run has the same model. I don't play it as much but they don't make gameplay dependent entirely on paying. You can still grind but grinding is actually fun in these games.

Magnusviri

I wanted to discuss Defender Chronicles more. It became obvious that for me to complete all of the game levels I'd have to spend money. Paying money to complete a game doesn't feel fun to me. There is no skill in that. And worse there were forums describing how to complete every level and it said if you don't want to spend money then you'll need to grind for X days and they had listed the best ways to grind with as little interaction as possible. Now that I know how to modify app prefs (iExplorer) I think I'd rather just go hack the save file and give myself the cash. In fact, maybe I should try it out. I'd get a sense of achievement in tha (techincal achievement of course)....

On the other hand, one day I looked up the Jetpack Joyride leader boards to see what the best distance was and was amazed that it was way farther than I had ever gotten. How were people doing that? There were people reaching it daily. All I could figure is these people were buying the disposable utilities like extra life and head start. I imagine those are the people who were giving Halfbrick it's income. If I wasn't so tight with my money I'd certainly attempt to be one of those people who reached the end.

techdojo

I wanted to discuss Defender Chronicles more. It became obvious that for me to complete all of the game levels I'd have to spend money. Paying money to complete a game doesn't feel fun to me. There is no skill in that. And worse there were forums describing how to complete every level and it said if you don't want to spend money then you'll need to grind for X days and they had listed the best ways to grind with as little interaction as possible. Now that I know how to modify app prefs (iExplorer) I think I'd rather just go hack the save file and give myself the cash. In fact, maybe I should try it out. I'd get a sense of achievement in tha (techincal achievement of course)....

I'd argue that that game was broken. Obviously a free-to-play game with a dodgy business model, I'd much prefer (with the free game model) to have a good look at the demo and then if I like the game enough be encouraged to pay a single fixed amount for a lifetime of play.

It would be nice for the game to then reward me either by unlocking the rest of the content or by actually taking the time to thank me for my purchase (maybe display a badge or some other token prominently on the front so I could feel good about my purchase every time I saw it).

From a reward perspective - I think it's important for the creators personality to shine through from the app, if the creator cared and loved the app during it's development and it showed then hopefully I'd start to feel that to and begin to develop an emotional attachment with the game.

One consistent thing we always see time and again is the nature of stories, allow the game to tell you it's story, allow you to express your story in the game - we develop an attachment to the story, especially when we can project ourselves into the story, the more we do that the stronger the attachment to the game becomes. Zynga know this, Nintendo knows this, Gamefreak (creator's of Pokemon) know this, Sega USED to know this and the results speak for themselves.

Mells

Great discussion, thank you for participating with detailed answers.

@Magnusviri You like Jetpack Joyride, don't you?
There is a lot to learn from that, the rewarding system can really "make" the game sometimes. In this case the rewarding system became part of the gameplay.

I didn't enjoy Jetpack Joyride as much as people do because without rewards, there is (to me) little replay value. This is sad (maybe?) but I don't care much about badges, high rankings, leaderboards, etc... so all the games that put high emphasize on it to make me play the game more and more don't work for me.
But I understand why other people do.

And that makes it hard for me to find appealing reward to thank the people that will play my game and make the experience more enjoyable for them.


In @gorkem 's example (Foursquare) the achievement system comes on top of something that is already an enjoyable experience (flying). I don't think someone will actually change his flight in order to get to the right airport. That's just a bonus, and I like it.

Zelda always rewards me with items that are in a castle that I have to go through.
If I go on a side quest, that's not for the special hidden but for the experience of meeting new characters, and explore a new area of the map.

And on the other hand, I don't enjoy FF because there is too much level grinding.

@techdojo

From a reward perspective - I think it's important for the creators personality to shine through from the app, if the creator cared and loved the app during it's development and it showed then hopefully I'd start to feel that to and begin to develop an emotional attachment with the game.

I like it too, but I was wondering if this was niche or if this applies to a large audience.
Most of the time, people like rewards that mirrors the ideal that they want people to see in them and that they want to feel about themselves.
It's more about them than the creator.

And being on the artist's side, it's very difficult to make something that you enjoy, that you believe is your DNA, and at the same time make it compelling for other people.
Doing it, you can create an emotional connection with the player but it can be so special, "niche", that it's difficult for the players to project themselves.

Farmville works because the game gives you the tools to tell your own story to all your friends. Zelda works because you become a hero in a fantasy world, explore mysterious forests and rescue a princess.
Okami works because that's a wonderful experience.
But I've seen a lot of games (and art) that only the creator could enjoy.
And I always remind myself to be careful about that, because the first reason I create something is to enjoy myself -> and that's only part of the path to make it a business and to bring value to the people

And about the fact of thanking the people who bought the game (in app purchase for ex) there aren't (in my opinion) so many people who find value for themselves in the fact of being thanked (except "I have supported a dev that deserves it") and mobile games with short sessions make developing a compelling story really difficult.

For me that emotional connection is hard to create in video games, I need a lot of testing and analysis.
I'm not used to that, I can't imagine watching a movie and put "pause" every 5 minutes (in the train, waiting in line at the supermarket, etc).

All those reasons are why hearing different opinions about achievement system is really interesting for me.