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[The F2P Toolbox] [By: Lovell, Nicholas] [July, 2014]
Packed with the most important, high-impact ideas in modern game design, The F2P Toolbox is the ultimate brainstorming tool for your game. Whether you're a solo creator, an indie team or a major studio, these are the practical, well-tested ideas you need to know in order to get your game firing on all cylinders. Each of the 54 free-to-play design "tools" in the book is summarised on a simple card, then explored in-depth with practical examples from today's top games. You won't find any get-rich-quick "secrets" or underhanded psychological ploys in here; this is a book of tried and tested ways to make F2P games that are fun for everyone, loved by their players and profitable for their creators.
- GenresGame Design
154 pages, Paperback
First published July 22, 2014
25 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 28, 2015
'The F2P Toolbox' is a very clear introduction into the gaming industry. I was clueless when I started reading the book and after finishing it I can say that I understand not only the basics of the gaming industry like user retention, user acquisition, virality or monetisation, but I also have an idea or two about the psychology of game development.
I think the book is brilliantly written - easy enough for any noob to understand it, insightful enough to be useful even for game developers.
It definitely deserves 5 stars!
I recommend it!
I think the book is brilliantly written - easy enough for any noob to understand it, insightful enough to be useful even for game developers.
It definitely deserves 5 stars!
I recommend it!
December 27, 2017
As I am developing my first video game to actually publish, mobile and free2play seem the way to go in order to keep the scope small. For this reason I picked up the book to learn more about doing free2play right.
+ This book provided me with good general tips in terms of monetization, player acquisition & retention while providing examples from well known F2P games.
+ The book convinced me of some important differences in game design & monetization between pay2play & free2play.
+ The tips in the book, to me, seemed like something every free2play designer should know. Which is great for a novice like me.
- The tips in the book, to me, seemed like something every free2play designer already knows.
- I finished the book in about 2,5 hours. This makes the price feel way too high for me.
- I have the feeling that if I had spend a day or two browsing the web about free2play and how to do it right, that I would have ended up with about the same tips as the book covers.
- It is printed in black and white, while the back cover suggests that the illustrations are in color. Which they should be considering the high price.
- There is a large focus on In-App Purchases and very little is said about using Ads, while according to the people at Unity (one of the most popular game engines), ads attribute to about 10-40% of the revenue of a F2P game.
In short: I am very pleased with the quality of the content. I do feel cheated because of the high price of the book. I feel like they should have charged 50% of current price for me to not feel cheated or 25% for me to be pleased with the price.
Disclaimer: I did read this book right after 'The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses' which is much cheaper and contains an incredible amount of quality content.
+ This book provided me with good general tips in terms of monetization, player acquisition & retention while providing examples from well known F2P games.
+ The book convinced me of some important differences in game design & monetization between pay2play & free2play.
+ The tips in the book, to me, seemed like something every free2play designer should know. Which is great for a novice like me.
- The tips in the book, to me, seemed like something every free2play designer already knows.
- I finished the book in about 2,5 hours. This makes the price feel way too high for me.
- I have the feeling that if I had spend a day or two browsing the web about free2play and how to do it right, that I would have ended up with about the same tips as the book covers.
- It is printed in black and white, while the back cover suggests that the illustrations are in color. Which they should be considering the high price.
- There is a large focus on In-App Purchases and very little is said about using Ads, while according to the people at Unity (one of the most popular game engines), ads attribute to about 10-40% of the revenue of a F2P game.
In short: I am very pleased with the quality of the content. I do feel cheated because of the high price of the book. I feel like they should have charged 50% of current price for me to not feel cheated or 25% for me to be pleased with the price.
Disclaimer: I did read this book right after 'The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses' which is much cheaper and contains an incredible amount of quality content.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews