The cost of developing Vector 2 is above $800 thousand
The other day, the Vector 2 runner was released, the downloads of the first part of which amounted to more than 100 million. We talked with Sergey Babaev, Director of Business Development at Nekki, about the development and monetization of the project.
Six months ago, when we first talked about the project, you said that Vector 2 is a bagel. Have there been any drastic changes in the concept during this time?
Sergey Babaev
No, as I said at the time, in many aspects it is a bagel.
The player goes through one floor of the laboratory after another. In the event of the hero’s death, his clone wakes up, which receives the accumulated experience. He’s trying to get out of the lab again.
Every death is a small contribution to future success. During each session, the player learns about new traps, understands which trick he should learn, which equipment he should purchase.
Memorizing floors is useless. They are rebuilt after each session, starting from a given set of traps specific to a particular stage. That is, the player can remember, for example, that a lot of mines are waiting for him, but where they will be located is a mystery. Skill and equipment are the key to success in Vector 2
How long and with what composition did they make the game?
A little history. After the release of the first Vector, the team had a small, let’s say, “addon” – Vector Labs. At first, a team of several people dealt only with him.
Meanwhile, the main resources of the company were directed to the creation of Shadow Fight 2.
Vector Labs was built entirely on the assets of the first part, on the same engine – Marmalade. But at this stage something went wrong.
Our strong point is to make good new games, but the creation of different types of releases has not yet been worked out. Therefore, the development of Vector Labs was delayed. The developers had more and more new ideas that could be implemented within its framework.
At a certain stage, it became clear – either it’s time to urgently finish the addon, or sit down for a full-fledged sequel. We settled on creating Vector 2, switched to Unity and began to recruit a team for full-fledged development
If initially five people worked on the game, then after the decision to take up the continuation, it grew to 20 people.
I note that the largest department in the project is game design. It employs about 12 people (this includes level designers).
The game was made for a little more than a year and a half.
We usually do not hide anything, so I will immediately save readers from having to turn to a calculator: the cost of development exceeded $ 800 thousand. We consider this to be quite acceptable expenses for the sequel of a very popular game. Let me remind you, she has 100 million installations, she earned up to $ 50 thousand a day. Plus, there are almost 1 million paid versions of the game sold on the iPad alone.
Shadow Fight, having received the third serial number, refused silhouettes (not completely, but still), why did they decide to leave the same style in the second Vector?
The situation with Shadow Fight is as follows. During the two shadow parts of the series (the first, let me remind you, was only on social platforms), a lot of “wishlist” accumulated, which was hard to link with the shadow style. In particular, I wanted live figures of fighters, complex equipment. In general, there were a lot of ambitious creative ideas, like mixing different fighting styles.
Of course, it was possible to ride the current format for at least a few years, but we had a concrete vision of the evolution of the series, and we were ready to invest in this vision, and not endlessly use old developments.
In Vector, the ideas accumulated since the release of the first part fit well into the classic shadow style.
Of course, this does not mean that the game has not changed. It has become more visually saturated. It features juicier live backgrounds, dynamic environments, level construction right in front of the player’s eyes, and much more.
It is clear that we are thinking about full-fledged three-dimensional scenes (a la Assasins Creed Chronicles), but this is the next stage in the development of the series. I think we’ll come back to it later.
An important question is what about monetization. How much is this a “donation” game? Is it possible to run through everything calmly with a good skill?
Against the background of the first vector, which was essentially a paid game with hastily added light F2P features and advertising, the game will seem more “donat”. But against the background of any other mobile game – everything is very soft.
There are times when traps are randomly lined up in such a row that you can’t run through them on the skill, but you can accumulate resources, equip and run, just being hung with cool equipment.
It is clear that a player who is well equipped right away will run much further, but it will not work through mines, lasers and traps only thanks to equipment.
Let’s just say that a payer who plays poorly has less chances than a simple player with a good skill. Users who are somewhere in the middle by skill – sometimes acquiring something (or collecting benefits for viewing ads), but at the same time really skilled – will get maximum pleasure from the game.
Skillfulness is expressed in many ways: here we are talking about reaction, and about understanding which way it is better to run with a certain set of equipment.
Oh, yes, the paths are branching now. There are even notes on which path, what to expect. I.e. an experienced player with a good reaction can also choose the most profitable path of passage.
There are also, for example, booster packs. They are given during races or purchased. There are 3 things in each pack, one of which will almost certainly turn out to be of some value. There are no surprises here: the system is quite familiar today and fits well into the Vector 2 concept.
We are still in favor of soft monetization through advertising. You can resurrect once for viewing, you can watch ads to get currency, and so on (everything is standard here).
There are still interesting solutions with “pumping” tricks and increasing the chance of falling out of certain clothes between floors, but I think it will be more interesting for players to study this themselves.
And the last question: there is a feeling that the time of platformers is gone, now there are almost no new projects on the market, and the niche is monopolized by Kiloo and Gameloft. Isn’t it scary to come out with a project in such a genre, and even in a sci-fi setting, which seriously limits the potential audience of the project?
And there’s nothing to be afraid of!
I understand: the question is, “what if the game doesn’t go”?
Firstly, there are no prerequisites for this. We launched it a couple of days ago (on the 14th on Google Play). Already now we have a couple of tens of thousands of installations and an estimate in the region of 4.5-4.6. This is still without the support of stores (at the time of writing these lines, the game has already received a feature, – approx. editorial offices). It seems to me that this is a good signal.
Secondly, it is necessary to be afraid to go into a clogged niche when you have a beginner studio making a classic runner for the first investment. But this is not our story. We have a recognizable brand on our hands.
Interesting fact: up to 50 thousand new users come to the original Vector vector every day.
The downloads I mentioned just above are the result of a direct search in the app stores for Vector and Vectro 2, the footnotes “recommend” when you look at products like Vector and Shadow Fight 2.
At a minimum, a loyal audience finds the game quickly enough and is happy with it. The product itself is never niche at the same time. The legacy of science fiction in it does not set the main tone, rather, it is a setting that explains what is happening in the project, but nothing more.
But in order not to seem like I’m avoiding the answer in promo mode, I’ll say this: there is always a risk. We are aware of this risk, but we also understand that it is by no means essential for the company. We have a flagship that has created at least a good airbag.
Therefore, no matter what happens, we will develop the series, experiment!
Thanks for the interview!
