What do you think?
Rate this book
Mobile & Social Game Design: Monetization Methods and Mechanics, Second Edition by Tim Fields (28-Feb-2014) Paperback
Successfully Navigate the Evolving World of Mobile and Social Game Design and MonetizationCompletely updated, Mobile & Social Game Monetization Methods and Mechanics, Second Edition explains how to use the interconnectedness of social networks to make "stickier," more compelling games on all types of devices. Through the book's many design and marketing techniques, strategies, and examples, you will acquire a better understanding of the design and monetization mechanics of mobile and social games as well as working knowledge of industry practices and terminology.Learn How to Attract--and Retain--Gamers and Make MoneyThe book explores how the gaming sector has changed, including the evolution of free-to-play games on mobile and tablet devices, sophisticated subscription model-based products, and games for social media websites, such as Facebook. It also demystifies the alphabet soup of industry terms that have sprouted up around mobile and social game design and monetization. A major focus of the book is on popular mechanisms for acquiring users and methods of monetizing users. The author explains how to put the right kinds of hooks in your games, gather the appropriate metrics, and evaluate that information to increase the game's overall stickiness and revenue per user. He also discusses the sale of virtual goods and the types of currency used in games, including single and dual currency models. Each chapter includes an interview with industry leaders who share their insight on designing and producing games, analyzing metrics, and much more.
- GenresGame DesignBusiness
Paperback
First published January 29, 2014
5 people are currently reading
59 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 24, 2022
The book gave separate collections of interesting statistics (that are probably outdated now) and a bunch of examples of successful social games (Zynga and the likes) without even attempting to solve the issue of why they worked (I think we shouldn't as designers follow everything that the 'successful' did blindly)
The book explains what "Steam" and "iTunes Store" is. this book doesn't really have a target audience, on one hand, he is explaining the ABC of the industry throughout the book, and on other areas, he is assuming that you know about game design well enough to know what he is talking about. seems like he just wants to fill pages or something. unless you are completely new to the field, your eyes will be forced to skim over much of his rubbish talk about what is steam.
The main direction of the book: treat the customer like an addict who needs his "fix". and ways to let them "keep coming for more" using strategies like giving them small dosages (letting them play for 5 minutes but then they will run out of things to do until the next 6 hours or so).
and while we know these things work; I feel like it is highly unethical to design your product this way... and I don't think this is how you set your company to hyper success.
games like overwatch or Forza; while having some layer of addictive external mechanics (by external I mean they can be applied to many games and not part of the game core loop) people come back not because they were "conditioned" to behave this way, but because they are engaging in a fun and deep (and by the way; much more social) than these so-called social games (that are actually single player).
they won the jackpot when they were the new hot thing and it doesn't work anymore. these games lost their customer base a long time ago to the point Facebook closed that _once was huge_ market.
Zynga's success is to be learned from its marketing experience, not its game design methods. In fact, the book explains Zynga's success real reasons, when he explained novelty and argued why static banners with big "CLICK HERE" worked back in the day: it was novel. and he explains how First to market is a very powerful thing (but like novelty, it doesn't last) and Zynga had both of these things to extreme levels. but as he said himself: it doesn't last. (unless the core is solid)
while loyal customers for Dota2 have been "coming back" for so long it is still one of the most successful and profitable games ever to exist.
the entire book felt like a bunch of tips, interviews, and stats collected from here and there, with no solid conclusion to tie all of these articles or experiences together. (although the writer has solid strong opinions, he doesn't use these data to explain why he reached these solid opinions, and personally, I think he won't be able to because his opinions are just plain wrong)
Quote: "As we’ve discussed, the very term “social game” can be seen as a clever sleight of hand, since some of the most successful social games have only the most rudimentary of multiplayer-components."
He mentions this a couple of times in the book, and the term social game gets confusing because this book doesn't actually talk about real social games (it's good that he got his definition clear though), but really instead of calling his book Social Game Design: monetization methods and mechanics.
it should be called:
Social Platform Design: how to use social platforms to manipulate your players into spending some time and money even when they are not having fun.
worst of it all: even when he talked about the freemium model (the top used paying model for what he calls Social Games) he gave the energy system as (the most used) without giving data proving that is the most used; ignoring millions-in-revenue-games which don't -at all- use energy systems that give users boring repetitive tasks and then ask them for a buck to proceed.
that being said, the separate info/stats/tips can be worth reading though, especially if you are into that space of working with "social" games for example; the book solidified this space terms.
CTR (click-through-rate)
CVR (conversion rate)
CPI (cost per install)
etc.
and the novelty idea I mentioned was an interesting one.
conclusion:
I thought this book will give a solid vision or solutions for when you make Social games. after reading a bit, by social he means leveraging already existing social networks to alter user behavior (mostly in non-social single-player games). the book gave some facts and stats, but failed to be a guide on how to do social games(even according to his definition) and failed to change my perspective on anything of significance.
if you are a new game dev; this book will mislead you into thinking this is what people do now (which is not the case for many social games let alone other games)
and if you are working in the field you will not find this book interesting at all. might be worth reading to get some facts and stats out of it and NOT conclusions or guidance.
The book explains what "Steam" and "iTunes Store" is. this book doesn't really have a target audience, on one hand, he is explaining the ABC of the industry throughout the book, and on other areas, he is assuming that you know about game design well enough to know what he is talking about. seems like he just wants to fill pages or something. unless you are completely new to the field, your eyes will be forced to skim over much of his rubbish talk about what is steam.
The main direction of the book: treat the customer like an addict who needs his "fix". and ways to let them "keep coming for more" using strategies like giving them small dosages (letting them play for 5 minutes but then they will run out of things to do until the next 6 hours or so).
and while we know these things work; I feel like it is highly unethical to design your product this way... and I don't think this is how you set your company to hyper success.
games like overwatch or Forza; while having some layer of addictive external mechanics (by external I mean they can be applied to many games and not part of the game core loop) people come back not because they were "conditioned" to behave this way, but because they are engaging in a fun and deep (and by the way; much more social) than these so-called social games (that are actually single player).
they won the jackpot when they were the new hot thing and it doesn't work anymore. these games lost their customer base a long time ago to the point Facebook closed that _once was huge_ market.
Zynga's success is to be learned from its marketing experience, not its game design methods. In fact, the book explains Zynga's success real reasons, when he explained novelty and argued why static banners with big "CLICK HERE" worked back in the day: it was novel. and he explains how First to market is a very powerful thing (but like novelty, it doesn't last) and Zynga had both of these things to extreme levels. but as he said himself: it doesn't last. (unless the core is solid)
while loyal customers for Dota2 have been "coming back" for so long it is still one of the most successful and profitable games ever to exist.
the entire book felt like a bunch of tips, interviews, and stats collected from here and there, with no solid conclusion to tie all of these articles or experiences together. (although the writer has solid strong opinions, he doesn't use these data to explain why he reached these solid opinions, and personally, I think he won't be able to because his opinions are just plain wrong)
Quote: "As we’ve discussed, the very term “social game” can be seen as a clever sleight of hand, since some of the most successful social games have only the most rudimentary of multiplayer-components."
He mentions this a couple of times in the book, and the term social game gets confusing because this book doesn't actually talk about real social games (it's good that he got his definition clear though), but really instead of calling his book Social Game Design: monetization methods and mechanics.
it should be called:
Social Platform Design: how to use social platforms to manipulate your players into spending some time and money even when they are not having fun.
worst of it all: even when he talked about the freemium model (the top used paying model for what he calls Social Games) he gave the energy system as (the most used) without giving data proving that is the most used; ignoring millions-in-revenue-games which don't -at all- use energy systems that give users boring repetitive tasks and then ask them for a buck to proceed.
that being said, the separate info/stats/tips can be worth reading though, especially if you are into that space of working with "social" games for example; the book solidified this space terms.
CTR (click-through-rate)
CVR (conversion rate)
CPI (cost per install)
etc.
and the novelty idea I mentioned was an interesting one.
conclusion:
I thought this book will give a solid vision or solutions for when you make Social games. after reading a bit, by social he means leveraging already existing social networks to alter user behavior (mostly in non-social single-player games). the book gave some facts and stats, but failed to be a guide on how to do social games(even according to his definition) and failed to change my perspective on anything of significance.
if you are a new game dev; this book will mislead you into thinking this is what people do now (which is not the case for many social games let alone other games)
and if you are working in the field you will not find this book interesting at all. might be worth reading to get some facts and stats out of it and NOT conclusions or guidance.
Displaying 1 of 1 review