Pocketgamer interview with Demiurge_Al

Nemek

I always find these to be interesting reads:
http://www.pocketgamer.biz/r/PG.Biz/Demiurge+Studios+news/news.asp?c=57644

It's worth reading the whole thing, but I'm sure the following two questions are of most interest.

Marvel Puzzle Quest saw some changes after launch, and a few - like increased heal times - were received poorly by players. How important was player feedback to the updates you implemented?

The entire development of MPQ now revolves around what our players are saying and doing.

Every morning the team gathers around a large screen with the latest information. We look at how popular our newest characters are, how many missions folks play every day, how many people are participating in the latest events, etc.

Several times a month, members of the team get together and review feedback submitted through the in-game form, the app store reviews and game's forums. That feedback is what informs which features will next be added to the game.

We've become pretty good at running live services, but every so often we still botch the messaging or implementation of a new feature. As the game matures, we discover issues with the balance and subsequently have to improve or reduce the efficacy of certain characters.

As gamers who've been on the receiving end of those changes we know how un-fun that can be. That short-term pain is significantly better than having a game where players only use a tiny fraction of the characters, though!

As a mobile title, we also struggle with widely varying play-times. On average, players play MPQ fifty minutes per day but there are many who play way less than that and more than a few enjoy multiple hours per day. We want MPQ to be a game that people can play casually, while watching TV, on the bus or between Titanfall matches.

Frequently that means making updates that allow the casual players to be more effective.

That doesn't always feel right to our hardcore players, but striking a balance in features to appeal to the full breadth of our player-base is an essential part of making entertainment for this huge marketplace.

How have the episodes (content updates) impacted Marvel Puzzle Quest's downloads and spending behaviour?

Without exception, the game's financial performance has improved with each update and each new episode.

We view the in-game events and updates to the game as the single biggest driver of our success. Our ARPDAU has doubled since launch.

LordWill

Very nice find.

It confirms with what I already knew but glad to see them actually SAY it. (Catering to the masses)

Unknown

Agreed. Thanks for the post!

Unknown

It's good to see that they have their collective head in the right place, and going in the right direction by focusing more on what works with the general populace of players in this game, than focusing on only making it enjoyable for a select few. It's a wise decision both gameplay wise and in business sense.

It looks like they are set on the right course for giving this game the longevity it deserves. Kudos for making it work, Demiurge!

Unknown

For those that might not know, ARPDAU = Average Revenue Per Daily Active User.

Doubling ARPDAU is a **very** good outcome for the longevity of the game.

Also, the response to the first question would seem to imply that our feedback on the forums is having a direct impact about how upcoming changes will be addressed (Example: the inevitable funbalancing of Spidey and CMags that is going to be ugly no matter what).

Unknown

Good read, thanks for sharing. I liked his upfrontness, too. People gotta eat if we want them to keep cranking out new content.

mischiefmaker

Doubling ARPDAU since launch is an impressive achievement, and it makes me happy for the developers. Congrats guys! Here's hoping your DAU numbers are doing the same thing.

Unknown

Based on the forum, the R probably stands for Ragequit instead of Revenue.

Unknown

I dunno how accurate the Play store's top grossing is, but I follow it anyways. Past few weeks it has been holding onto top 40. Rags-era it was pretty steady at top 60. Makes the forums meltdowns and people threatening to quit pretty funny in retrospect.

Unknown

It's no surprise they have increased revenue. They've heavily tamped down the HP awards and flooded the user with new covers, forcing many new users to buy HP to afford new cover space so they don't lose 3 star covers. Kind of shady, but if it keep the lights on and the servers humming, I'm not going to complain.

Thanos

Nemek wrote:

Marvel Puzzle Quest saw some changes after launch, and a few - like increased heal times - were received poorly by players. How important was player feedback to the updates you implemented?

We want MPQ to be a game that people can play casually, while watching TV, on the bus or between Titanfall matches.

Sorry, but i don't see how ten day long PVE events, where you have to grind 230's for hours a day, is aimed at the casual player. In fact , other than the prolog (which doesn't take long to finish) this game is all about the constant grind. Either you grind or get left behind. I'm glad to see they're listening.

Unknown

You can increase ARPDAU by driving away players as long as the proportion of players leaving leans towards non-paying vs paying. Just sayin.

eidehua

Thanos wrote:

Nemek wrote:

Sorry, but i don't see how ten day long PVE events, where you have to grind 230's for hours a day, is aimed at the casual player. In fact , other than the prolog (which doesn't take long to finish) this game is all about the constant grind. Either you grind or get left behind. I'm glad to see they're listening.

You have to grind if you want to place high. Casual players probably don't mind that much about placing high -- they can ride the rubberband, get some nice progression rewards, and call it a day. No fierce competition for top of subs, and top of main if you are playing the game casually. The whole concept of rubberbanding was meant for casual players. Even non hardcore players (play a few hours a day) benefit, as they can do extremely well in subs if they play once/twice (all missions) per refresh.

Plus, casual players probably are not up against 230s all day.

Unknown

Thanos wrote:

Nemek wrote:

Marvel Puzzle Quest saw some changes after launch, and a few - like increased heal times - were received poorly by players. How important was player feedback to the updates you implemented?

We want MPQ to be a game that people can play casually, while watching TV, on the bus or between Titanfall matches.

Sorry, but i don't see how ten day long PVE events, where you have to grind 230's for hours a day, is aimed at the casual player. In fact , other than the prolog (which doesn't take long to finish) this game is all about the constant grind. Either you grind or get left behind. I'm glad to see they're listening.

Having been busy with work I have played more casually these past few weeks. Even though I play 1.5 hours or so per day I haven't seen opponents much higher than 97 in the current PVE event.

Unknown

Bugpop wrote:

Thanos wrote:

Nemek wrote:

Marvel Puzzle Quest saw some changes after launch, and a few - like increased heal times - were received poorly by players. How important was player feedback to the updates you implemented?

We want MPQ to be a game that people can play casually, while watching TV, on the bus or between Titanfall matches.

Sorry, but i don't see how ten day long PVE events, where you have to grind 230's for hours a day, is aimed at the casual player. In fact , other than the prolog (which doesn't take long to finish) this game is all about the constant grind. Either you grind or get left behind. I'm glad to see they're listening.

Having been busy with work I have played more casually these past few weeks. Even though I play 1.5 hours or so per day I haven't seen opponents much higher than 97 in the current PVE event.

What's your overall placement? It seems to me once you place well overall there's no way around the stuff scaling way up. I had level 100 opponents in my first sub bracket, but after getting both sub brackets top 5s they pretty much stay fixed at 230, though I can't blame the game for doing that.

eidehua

^Im rank 8 with 78789 points, a few of the goon missions are heading > 200, but the character required missions are still ~100.

NighteyesGrisu

Thanos wrote:

Sorry, but i don't see how ten day long PVE events, where you have to grind 230's for hours a day, is aimed at the casual player. In fact , other than the prolog (which doesn't take long to finish) this game is all about the constant grind. Either you grind or get left behind. I'm glad to see they're listening.

You seem to think that in order for a game to be enjoyable for casual players they need to be able to win events...that doesn't seem logical to me. After all, what point would there be to be a hardcore player if casual players can win the same with a lot less effort?

All it means that casual players should be able to play the events, get a few rewards and improve at a steady rate, and that is indeed absolutely possible.

eidehua wrote:

^Im rank 8 with 78789 points, a few of the goon missions are heading > 200, but the character required missions are still ~100.

It's about the same for me (ranked somewhere in the teens currently). Haven't seen a single 230 char this event.

Unknown

Good points all around, but if there is a horde of casual players and a smaller group of hardcore paying players. The question for Demiurge is how to get the casuals more invested, time wise and monetarily. Making it so the casuals can still rank pretty well and feel like they are getting a lot out of the game sounds like an excellent way to accomplish that and probably has paid off well for them.

LordWill

Cryptobrancus wrote:

Good points all around, but if there is a horde of casual players and a smaller group of hardcore paying players. The question for Demiurge is how to get the casuals more invested, time wise and monetarily. Making it so the casuals can still rank pretty well and feel like they are getting a lot out of the game sounds like an excellent way to accomplish that and probably has paid off well for them.

true. but eventually those casual players will get to the point that we're at that have the complaints. it may be fine now for the short term but long-term they're going to need to find a way to reward higher end players because that's why people play.

Unknown

I'm ranked 73 overall with 63,654 points. Other than one mission with all level 17's, all of my missions are 200-230, with most at 230.

Unknown

Thanos wrote:

Sorry, but i don't see how ten day long PVE events, where you have to grind 230's for hours a day, is aimed at the casual player. In fact , other than the prolog (which doesn't take long to finish) this game is all about the constant grind. Either you grind or get left behind. I'm glad to see they're listening.

As long as they don't constantly get set up against lvl 230 teams, I think casual players don't have much problem getting 300 pt progression rewards and top 200 rewards in events, which is good for some 2-stars and heroic tokens which can give 3-stars, which should be enough to keep them playing.