Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes - total deconstruction of the "Death Star" from EA (with comments)

Product-Wooga lead Adam Telfer on the pages of the Deconstructor of Fun blog told what is good about Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, which now occupies leading positions in the US box office tops.

The Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes game from EA-owned Capital Games launched at the very end of last year and became a new name in the box office charts. In the USA, Galaxy of Heroes entered the top 10 most downloaded projects from the very beginning, and at the peak of popularity it reached the 6th place in the list of the highest-grossing games.

Since the passions about the film have already subsided, the downloads of the game have decreased. And yet, the title is still in the top twenty highest-grossing projects in the “Games” category. This means that the game keeps the players hooked. I think the project will be able to stay in the box office top. Especially considering that the “Star Wars” franchise is not going anywhere in the next couple of years.

Editor’s note: The original article was published at the end of April. Now, in mid-June, the project in the United States continues to enter the top twenty games for iOS and Google Play.

Positions Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes in the box office gaming tops of the App Store (USA, Germany, Russia)

Positions Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes in the box office gaming tops of Google Play (USA, Germany, Russia)

Games on various franchises have recently appeared everywhere, and many of them have achieved tremendous success. Based on “Star Wars”, a bunch of games were launched, but even despite the fact that the license itself is very popular, few of them hit the box office charts. Star Wars Uprising from Kabam, Star Wars Commander from Disney or Star Wars: Force Collection from Konami are worthy of mention projects. But none of them “took off” after the new film in the franchise was released. Unlike Galaxy of Heroes.

From the editorial office: Telfer does not specify what he means by “takeoff”. Push for downloads received in December last year, when the seventh episode of “Star Wars” was released, not only Galaxy of Heroes. If you look at the dynamics of Star Wars Uprising or Star Wars Commander installations, then in the premiere days they also took off in downloads.

EA succeeded what Disney and Konami failed. She launched a game that could last for years. She used a proven shareware model. She built the game on a strong, reliable game cycle. An interesting strategic action game and a constantly evolving meta-game have been added to this cycle. Players will play this game for years, because it is sound, thoughtful and complex.

From the editorial office: And a number of its mechanics are directly borrowed from Heroes Chrage. But this is exactly the case when it’s not about mindless copying, but about rethinking the classic gameplay.

Game cycle

In fact, Galaxy of Heroes is a turn-based RPG with elements of KKI in a meta-game. It is very similar to Summoner’s War, Heroes Charge and other mobile RPGs. To get loot, players take part in small battles. This loot can be different, but it is mainly needed so that the player can improve his character. The stronger the character, the cooler and more difficult the battles, and the better the loot, in turn.

The game begins with the fact that you are given two heroes: Chewbacca and Jedi. With them, you enter your first battle. After each battle, you are rewarded with Credits and Training Droids. With their help, you can quickly upgrade Chewbacca and Jedi to higher levels to take part in more serious battles. At first, the game seems very fast, because you can play without stopping and improve your team. But eventually the game starts to limit the length of sessions: you are running out of energy, and to play more, you have to come back later.

Such a cycle of battles and upgrades is found in many games. Battles bring loot, loot makes it possible to upgrade characters, and the energy level limits the number of battles. But after the player goes through this cycle a couple of times, everything becomes more complicated…

In the end, the game forces you to start collecting new characters. Initially, you get a small team of heroes of the Light Side (Chewbacca, Jedi, and so on), but to take part in the battle for the Dark Side, you need a team of “dark” heroes. Since over time, the battles for the light side become too complicated, you are almost forced to start collecting “dark” characters.

From the editorial office: This feature of the game, it seems to us, is controversial. From the point of view of monetization and use of content – it is, of course, very beautiful. At a certain stage, the player is forced to play from scratch for the opposition faction. And as part of the new campaign, users play for former opponents. But at the same time, this creates a part of the audience not the most favorable gaming experience.

To get new heroes, players collect Shards. Each character requires its own unique set of shards, so in order to unlock the hero, the player will have to collect a lot of shards. The player receives the fragments one by one – by participating in campaigns or by buying data cards. These cards contain random character fragments (gacha mechanics).

But a strong game cycle is only half the battle. In order for the game to remain popular for many years, you need to add something else to the game cycle. Complicate it, make the players come back to it again and again. EA solved the problem with the help of a fighting game and a meta-game, which is constantly changing and gradually becoming more complicated. Let’s take a closer look at both.

Action

The core gameplay of Galaxy of Heroes is based on battles. The action game is based on the usual turn-based RPG. Just like in Final Fantasy (or hundreds of other similar RPGs), the player chooses a team, fights enemies over and over again, and optimizes the strategy so as not to let the team die.

System and management

The mechanics of the action, as already mentioned, are exactly the same as in ordinary turn-based RPGs. Up to 6 heroes fight on each side. The goal of the battle is to defeat the enemy before he defeats you. To win, you need to reduce his health to zero. To reduce the enemy’s health to zero, you need to attack him with your own characters.

The order of attack is determined by the measure of speed under the measure of the character’s health. The faster the character, the faster this measure is filled, and therefore, the more often he attacks.

As a rule, you face three waves of enemies in one battle. With the last wave, a stronger character, the “boss”, usually attacks. The difficulty of the battle is gradually increasing, which means that you need to choose a strategy so that your characters survive all three waves. In total, the battles last for 2-3 minutes. Although it usually depends on whether the battle is difficult or not.

Editor’s note: Subjectively – longer. And this, as it will be clear from the article below, is a tangible minus of the game. If we were talking about a single game or a project with PvP in real time, the question would be removed. Immediately, each batch takes up too much time. But this is rather a minus, in general, genre. All such projects suffer from this. Plus, you need to understand that long batches are “hooks”. At first, the main attention of the players is focused on them. It can be said that complex at first glance fights work as an engagement tool. Their value is leveled when it comes to the grind stage.

Control of the game is relatively simple. During his turn, the player chooses an attacking character, and then determines which of the opponents to attack and which ability to use at the same time.

If we compare the action in this game with other games of this genre, then it forces the player to tap more often and a more extensive space for choosing a strategy. This goes against what other modern mobile RPGs have come to. In most of them, the battles are automatic, and the player needs a minimum of choice.

Compare the Galaxy of Heroes and Heroes Charge action game – the difference is obvious. In Heroes Charge, the characters attack themselves and are hit back automatically. You only need to choose the abilities of the characters during the battle.

Galaxy of Heroes requires much more interaction with the characters during the battle. The player has to make strategic decisions. Every two seconds, you choose who attacks and which ability to use at the same time. Because of this, there is a feeling that fights require a well-thought-out strategy, and that every decision affects the final result. But such a constant focus on planning only works if the player does not get bored of planning battles. EA tried to achieve this by making the use of abilities interesting.

Strategy and abilities

Given how many different characters there are in the game, strategy has a special place.

Each character in the battle has its own purpose. For example, Kylo Ren attacks, and Jedi Consul heals. The player’s task is to think through the strategy correctly, taking into account the characteristics of the characters. As a rule, during the battle you need to decide which of the heroes to attack first. You attack the healer first – and the enemy will not be able to restore health. Or will you take out the strongest attacker – because he can kill your character in his next move? The choice is not always easy.

As in most other RPGs, characters can attack the enemy not in one way, but in several ways. Each hero in Galaxy of Heroes has a set of diverse abilities. The higher the level of the character, the more different abilities he has, which means that the more difficult the game is and the more thoughtful the player’s strategy should be.

In battle, a character can use a basic attack as many times as he wants, but special abilities are limited by a timer. If you have used a character’s ability once, then it will be unavailable in the next one or more moves. Apply the healing ability right now or wait for the next attack? Use an ability that deals damage to several enemies at once in this turn or wait for the boss to appear? This is where the strategic component of the game fully manifests itself.

In the above example, Admiral Ackbar uses the ability “It’s a Trap!” (It’s a Trap!). But it becomes really useful when my team is under the influence of several enemy special abilities at once. So the Admiral is perfect only in cases when the team is affected by several special attacks, and in any other situations – his ability will be quite useless. Just like in Hearthstone, the game boils down to the fact that you need to achieve the greatest total effect from your special abilities and minimize the impact of the enemy’s special abilities.

In addition, some abilities are designed specifically for specific characters. For example, some enhance only Jedi, while others damage only Droids. That is, in order to win, you need not only to make the right decisions during the battle, but also to assemble a team of the right characters.

Ultimately, this is what the game boils down to – trying to put up the right team against a strong opponent and squeeze the maximum out of the abilities of their characters.

Choosing a team: character types and their combinations

In Galaxy of Heroes, there is not one character (as in Diablo or Dungeon Hunter), but a team of five heroes (plus one additional one, which you can ask a friend).

Editor’s note: A friend here is not a Facebook friend at all. Something similar can be found in Puzzle & Dragons. You can read more about this moment here.

This solution supports the game cycle: the player collects and improves many different characters.

Plus, it becomes interesting to plan a strategy outside of the battle. Due to the fact that the action is complicated, the decision on who to take into battle does not always come down to choosing just the most pumped characters. There is a lot to take into account: which of the heroes will become stronger from the fact that they will unite in one team? Which of them will weaken the enemy? Will I be able to defeat the strongest character? Do I have enough healers to compensate for the damage from the attackers? Will my “tanks” (that is, characters with a high level of health. Usually their purpose is to call on enemy fire, – approx. editors) the damage that the enemy is going to inflict on me? Such a variety of choices is possible only when the player controls a team of several characters.

To make it interesting to pick up characters, you need mechanics that will make the player want to assemble the most optimal team possible. The authors of the game achieve this with the help of various types of characters and their combinations. Each character has a type (Jedi, droids, humans), and some of the abilities strengthen or weaken these types. This means that the player needs to assemble a team whose members will complement and strengthen each other. Very similar to the Contest of Champions. The player needs to find the optimal balance between attackers, healers, tanks and support, and at the same time find the same balance between Jedi, humans, droids and other types of characters.

In addition, the player will want to assemble such teams that will be ideal for fighting certain enemy teams. For example, if there is a very strong Jedi healer in the enemy’s team, then it would be good to put Count Dooku in your team. But, of course, it’s not enough just to put him on the team. We need to make sure that Dooku is fully pumped and will be able to resist the Jedi healer.

In the end, although the game is a traditional RPG, the strategic component in it is such that collecting and upgrading heroes is an integral part of winning particularly difficult battles.

The battles themselves are not interesting

Despite all this strategic component, it is unlikely that it will be able to interest players for a long time. Most of the battles are pretty simple. As a result, the taste for them is lost very quickly. For an RPG, such a development is inevitable, and the audience is ready for it. All because of the fact that the game implies the need to grind. Players are ready for the fact that they will have to go through thousands of battles before they can achieve any goal.

If we compare the combat in the game with the automatic combat, then I like the Heroes Charge option more. This is a subjective point of view, but even though there is more strategic planning in Galaxy of Heroes than in Heroes Charge, choosing heroes in the end is still boring. It would be better if the game had more emphasis on the interesting – on when to use special abilities. Here in Heroes Charge everything was done correctly: the player is only required to decide when to use special abilities. He is not forced to plan every move.

Despite such a fight, even Heroes Charge gets bored after a hundred or two battles. So both Heroes Charge and Galaxy of Heroes use the same method to monetize bored players.

Galaxy of Heroes has battle coupons (Sim Tickets). Using these coupons, players can automatically play the battles they have already passed. These coupons are very easy to get, so players quickly get used to the fact that if they need to find the right materials, they can automatically play out several completed battles. But at the same time, combat coupons still deplete energy and start timers. So if you grind at the same level for too long, then you will need to pay money very quickly. A good solution that increases monetization and prevents players from getting stuck on levels.

Editor’s note: A similar solution can be found in Juggernaut Wars. Only in the game My.com it is not combat coupons that are spent, but meat.

Plus, combat coupons are used only at 3-star levels – that is, at levels that the player has passed without losing a single team member. That is, the ability to automatically play the level feels honestly deserved. The player seemed to deserve an auto-battle, since the level was passed flawlessly.

From a player’s point of view, it’s a very pleasant feeling. During the session, I can plan where to get the loot I need. It’s nice that there is an opportunity to speed up certain battles, and at the same time there is no feeling that I’m a cheater, or that I’m going through the game too fast. I can quickly get the materials and resources I need to improve the heroes, and still fight only when necessary. As a result, if I do participate in the battle, then I am interested and there is no feeling that I am wasting my time.

Appearance and soundtrack

The word “budget” is best suited to the description of the visual component. It was necessary to model, animate and apply texture to a huge number of “Star Wars” characters, and to make the result look decent on smartphones. I don’t want to offend the guys from EA, but the task, apparently, was too much for them. If we compare the game with Contest of Champions, then the authors of Contest of Champions clearly managed to make the characters special and convey their character through animation. But the creators of Galaxy of Heroes clearly saved on everything they could.

This is especially noticeable when you look at the Jedi – they all attack and move in the same way. And in general, it’s the same story with many other characters – they have the same animated rigs (rigs are combined sets of component parts of a character. They are needed in order to simplify the animation; in this case, the same rigs for all the characters mean that the characters are identical to each other in silhouette, – approx. editors), and during the fight they move the same way. A great way to reduce the cost, but it catches the eye great.

This example shows that the Darth Vader model had to be heavily trimmed to fit into a certain rig. And the model itself is low-poly. Which enhances the feeling of cheapness.

But the soundtrack is a real gift to the fans. The game borrowed all the best from the franchise: you turn on the sound, and nostalgia is right there. Key themes play in the background, lightsabers make that unforgettable sound when you hit enemies with them, and at some levels you can even hear an alarm signal, like on the Death Star.

Editor’s note: We cannot agree with Telfer here in any way. Yes, the game is not a feast for the eyes, but it can not be called budget. Too much attention in the game was paid to locations, heroes, music at locations that coincide with similar ones from the movies. Plus, you need to remember that the distribution of the game weighs 82 MB. In Contest of Champions, its weight exceeds 500 MB. As we remember, there is an inverse relationship between the size of the distribution and the number of downloads, with general equals.

Key point: The root gameplay supports the game cycle

In general, the battles are quite interesting, but they quickly get bored. The action is nothing new. It is very similar to the action game in many other turn-based RPGs.

RPGs, as a rule, are built on convenient shareware mechanics, so I can’t blame EA for the fact that they decided to turn to this proven system. Plus, the RPG contains an element of unobtrusive strategy, which over time can become more complicated if necessary.

It is important to remember that if a user plays an RPG, he expects that the game will have a lot of stats that can be upgraded. Action games in RPG clearly demonstrate how important it is to improve the character and make meta-decisions. Without pumping heroes, you will not win battles. The player has to improve and collect characters, and that’s where the money is made.

Meta game

And here we smoothly approach the meta-game. EA has created a meta-game that will remain interesting for a long time. There are two reasons for this:

First, the player has a choice of exactly how to fight. Plus, he decides how and where to extract resources.

Secondly, EA has created a long-playing character upgrade system. It takes months to fully upgrade one hero. And it won’t be easy. And it will take years to assemble a complete collection of characters.

Lots of battle options

The difficulty in a proper meta-game grows gradually. The player gets used to it without any problems, but also does not have time to get bored. In the case of Galaxy of Heroes, this is how it happens: the player gradually opens up all new game modes, each of which contains new challenges and offers a unique reward. There are six such modes in total:

• Dark and Light Side campaigns

Campaigns are the main component of the game. Players engage in battles with AI, and the complexity of the battles is getting more complicated. The only limitation is that you can only fight in the battle for the Light Side with a team of Light Heroes, and vice versa. Only Dark Characters can fight for the Dark Side.

At first, the battles are quite simple, but then the complexity grows rapidly. After each battle, the player receives currency (more on that later). But the main thing that these battles are for is that the player gets random equipment for them. Different levels bring different items. So the player wants to unlock all the levels to collect everything that may be needed to upgrade the heroes.

• Cantina: Squad Battles

This mode allows you to assemble any characters (both Light and Dark) into one team. The battles here are much more difficult than in the previous mode. But for them, the player receives materials to improve the abilities of the characters, not equipment. Plus, they give shards for them, which additionally makes you play. Even in this mode, there is its own energy system, that is, when the energy in the campaign mode has run out, you can switch to this option.

• Trials

After the “Squad Battles”, the player opens the “Trials” mode. It allows the player to participate in new challenges daily and receive rewards for it: droids, materials for special abilities and equipment. Every day the tests are updated. The player has a reason to come back and play the game again.

• PvP Arena

Multiplayer PvP mode opens relatively late. It gives the player the opportunity to fight in ranked battles. Rewards in this mode are given once a day and depend on the player’s rating. To raise the rating, the player needs to defeat an opponent with the same rating. The higher the level of the characters, the easier it is for the player to win. But you have to fight often: you need to protect your rating.

Interestingly, there is no energy measurement in this mode. Fight as much as you want. But after each battle, the timer turns on, and you have to wait for five minutes. That is, it will not be possible to return to the game too quickly. The uncomplicated system does not allow users to “burn out”.

• Events

“Events” do not let players get bored. In this mode, special competitions are regularly introduced into the game. Each such competition needs to be held by a certain type of character, which makes it even more difficult to collect and improve heroes. Here’s an example: Only Jedi participate in the Grand Master Training event. But as a reward, the player will get something that cannot be obtained in other modes. In this case, the fragments that are needed to unlock Yoda (Yoda).

• Galactic Wars

“Galactic Wars” is the last mode. It opens at level 40. By this point, the player has already collected a bunch of characters, which means he is looking for new tasks. This mode is a real survival game: the damage that the heroes receive in one level is transferred to the next. It is especially important to have a strong team of upgraded characters. The more heroes a player has and the stronger they are, the further he can go. And the further he went, the higher the reward. Just like in the previous mode, this reward is unique. Only here it will be possible to find certain characters or materials.

Editor’s note: An analogue of the Crusade mode from Heroes Charge. You can read about him and the fighting system in the uCool game here.

The key point: all these modes do not let players get bored and support the game cycle

The gaming experience here is excellent. The player’s level increases, new modes open. Even a couple of weeks after you started playing, you realize that the game has something to surprise.

Moreover, all these modes complement the game cycle in their own way. Each of them forces the player to discover new characters and improve them to the maximum. This is exactly what you expect from a meta-game: all the elements support the game cycle and at the same TIME change the game so that it does not bother the player for a long time.

But at the same time, the basic problem remains – the root gameplay itself, defamed by the grind, gets bored pretty quickly. And, given its duration, at a certain stage it can start to annoy.

Upgrade system: it’s oh so far to the top

In a standard RPG, the designer does not allow players to upgrade characters to the maximum level too quickly. In Galaxy of Heroes, the problem was solved as follows: in order to improve the hero, the user has to go a long and difficult way.

Inspired by the example of Heroes Charge, the authors of Galaxy of Heroes came up with a complex multi-stage system. Within this system, a character can develop in several parallel ways, each of which is equally important.

Character Discovery system

First you need to unlock Darth Vader. To do this, you will have to collect 80 pieces.

As a rule, the player receives several shards every day if he fights on the Dark Side or performs daily tasks. To collect 80 pieces, it will take time and a lot of effort. Or you can spend a lot of money and try to get the fragments of Darth Vader using the gacha mechanism… But there are no guarantees.

A week of hard work, and 80 pieces in your pocket. But the highest level of Darth Vader is seven stars. Naturally, it will take even more time:

Character Improvement System

This means that it will take 1.88 million credits and 320 shards to upgrade Vader to the maximum. Plenty of time.

Okay, let’s say there is no NEED to upgrade Vader to seven stars. You can play with an ordinary Vader, and increase the rating as the game progresses. In Galaxy of Heroes, there are other character leveling systems that can be developed in parallel. There are three of them:

Performance improvement system

In order for the basic characteristics of Darth Vader to grow, you need to spend training droids on him. In general, such a system compared to others with other RPGs seems to be faster. With the help of droids, you can quickly reach level 10+. But the character’s level is limited by the player’s level. That is, in order for Darth Vader to reach the highest level, the player’s own level must be high (which forces him to continue playing).

Equipment system

In addition to the star system and the performance improvement system, Galaxy of Heroes also has a character equipment system. As explained above, after each battle, the player receives materials. These materials fill the slots in the character’s equipment. As soon as the slots are full, upgrade your equipment. Now all slots are empty again. This means that the player starts looking for equipment again.

It is very similar to a small Kompu-Gacha (you need to collect a complete set by collecting random items). So that the player does not swing the character too fast, the further the equipment, the harder it is to find. Therefore, the time it will take to upgrade equipment to level 10 will grow exponentially.

Ability system

Last but not least: the character’s ability system can be pumped separately with the help of materials to improve abilities. So if you want the character to develop even in this system, you need to collect special materials.

The key point: a complex system that keeps players for years

So, we went through all four systems: through the system of Stars, the system of improving characteristics, the system of equipment and the system of abilities. The result was the best Darth Vader. Of course, it took several months of playing. And all this time it was necessary to concentrate on pumping only one Vader. But do not forget that the game requires at least five unique characters of the highest possible level. So let’s start all over again with other characters!

Plus, different characters participate in different modes, events and battles. Darth Vader is not suitable for every battle! To compete, you will need much more than 5 characters, even if they are as pumped up as possible.

In general, the character improvement system is very complex. But at the same time, it is she who will allow the game to remain interesting for years. The Galaxy of Heroes system offers several parallel development paths instead of a direct and obvious path. The player has both a short-term and a long-term goal.

Add here a lot of characters to collect. And it turns out that the game constantly sets new tasks for the user, there is always a sense of development. That’s why Galaxy of Heroes will be interesting to players for a long time.

Retention mechanisms

The box office results of Galaxy of Heroes suggest that the game is able to keep players in the game for a long time. Due to what is this happening?

To answer the question, you need to figure out what the players’ goals are in the short, medium and long term. These goals must constantly change, be clear and show the player how to reach the end of the game.

Short-term goals: daily events + session length

Daily events

In order for a player to enter the game every day, he must see clear goals in front of him. It is best if he sees these goals immediately after he starts the game. Clear goals will make the player try to complete all the tasks, and reward him with a sense of satisfaction from the work done.

In Galaxy of Heroes, the player participates in daily challenges in order to speed up progress.

These tests are daily and require participation in each game mode several times. You need to complete several missions of the Dark Side, participate in a couple of fights in the Cantina, fight with other players several times. After each test, the user receives a reward. Plus, if the player completes all the tasks in the list, he will receive a reward for completing all daily tasks. That is, the player has an additional reason to pass all the daily tests. And this is another way to get the player to stay in the game longer.

There is always something to do

Remember, there was such a universal belief that sessions in mobile games must necessarily be short? That players should not be allowed to play for too long? Get it out of your head.

It is the length of the sessions in the shareware game that speaks of its success. If you look at the same Contest of Champions, Clash Royale, Mobile Strike, and now Galaxy of Heroes, it becomes obvious: in all these projects there are long, long sessions, which guarantees them a place in the top of the box office charts.

But how to make sessions long at the same time, not let players get bored and not let them use up all the content too quickly?

That’s Why there are Long game sessions in Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes:

Firstly, the content for the game is not too expensive (thanks to the root gameplay). You don’t need to spend long hours creating one level – the game designer just makes a couple of changes, and that’s it.

Secondly, the game has many different modes. They use the same gameplay, but with variations. Due to this, the player constantly receives new tasks, and the game does not bother him.

As already mentioned, a player can change up to 6 different modes in one session. In each mode, you can have several fights. Each lasts up to 3 minutes. Each mode takes its own kind of energy, and therefore, as soon as one type of energy runs out, the player can switch to another mode. By the time the player changes all the modes, energy will already be restored in some of the other modes. In addition, the user can get daily bonus energy and continue playing. It seems that you can play this way almost indefinitely.

As a result, the player will easily get stuck in the game for long hours. And all this time he will continue to pump the team – and spend.

Medium-term goals: Where is my Darth Vader?

The main goal in the medium term is a complete collection of favorite “Star Wars” characters. This goal is shown to the player from the very beginning, and for this they are given to collect a universal villainous pet: Darth Vader.

Editor’s note: They showed it – yes, but there are other sympathizers here. For example, HK-47, the presence of which hints at the fact that the events of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic may be from the “Legends” in the canon (at least we can hope for that, right?).

For each achievement, the player receives a shard of Darth Vader. The game practically “gets” the player hooked on these achievements. And each time unobtrusively rewards with fragments. After some time, the player collects an almost complete collection, which is necessary in order to unlock Darth Vader. And then he can’t resist: just a few more weeks, and your favorite character is in your hands!

But as each mode encourages the player to collect and assemble characters, Darth Vader alone becomes insufficient. Each level teaches: to play to the fullest, you need even more heroes. To get them, you need fragments. And let me remind you, they are not easy to find. During the day, the player can only collect a couple of fragments. Moreover, these searches will exhaust the energy very quickly.

A great medium-term goal for the game is to find and collect the pieces to unlock your favorite characters. The goal, which is great, is supported by the license itself. There are a lot of interesting characters in Star Wars, and I want to collect them all.

Long-term goals: to pass all the tests, to assemble the coolest team

After spending a couple of months (or a lot of money), the player discovers his favorite heroes: Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Rey, Kylo Ren, Luke Skywalker, and so on. The collection is complete. Now we need new goals.

The main way to keep users in the game for a long time is content, a lot of content. The player will spend a lot of time to complete all the campaigns of the Dark and Light Side, as the difficulty does not stop growing. At the same time, he will need to pump the team to almost the highest (60) level. Considering how difficult it is, it is clear that the process will eventually drag on for a long time.

Content is just one of the ways to keep players for a long time. But by itself it is useless. It is necessary that the player wants to complete the game. Motivating users to go all the way is not so easy. And it seems to me that Galaxy of Heroes has a lot to grow in this area.

Of course, the game tries to motivate the player even at the tutorial stage. The Hutt appears and insults the player, after which the mentor tries to convince the player that the insult will need to be avenged. Not bad, but the final goal of the game should be tied to social interaction or should arise from within.

So the main motivation of the player is a place at the top of the leaderboard. Assemble the coolest team and get to the top.

That’s what gives the player a goal and makes them improve their characters to the maximum.

Monetization

I repeat, Galaxy of Heroes has enough content to remain interesting for many years. And this is the basis for proper monetization: a player can easily spend several thousand dollars and not advance a step in terms of content. Plus, since the game motivates the player to collect and improve as many characters as possible in order to move on, there is a desire to spend more and more. Just to open the characters earlier than the game allows. After all, in order to move forward, the player needs as many characters as possible. And everything is of a high level.

To increase revenue from the project, EA has made three key decisions:

1. The “cone-shaped” system of progress: collect them all

As I’ve mentioned many times, the best way to monetize a game is to allow players to move forward quickly first. And then immediately reduce the speed, while not ceasing to lure the content that lies ahead. It is necessary that the player wanted to get to the end of the game, but could not.

At the beginning of the game, this is what happens. The player’s level is growing rapidly. Characters improve quickly. The speed of development of each of them is on average higher than in other RPGs. Plus, the player gets equipment without any problems, which makes the characters stronger. There is a feeling of confident movement forward.

But then everything changes. The characters the player starts the game with are mostly one-star. Every time the hero’s level increases, the player feels that the growth could have been faster if he had more shards. All due to the fact that immediately after the start, the player is given a couple of characters with three stars so that he feels how much stronger they are than other heroes. As a result, the player wants to improve other characters as well. Shards for these characters are not so easy to get. It’s much easier to try to buy them by spending real money on crystals and data cards. So Galaxy of Heroes makes players spend money.

Plus, by opening new modes, the player encounters levels and opponents that he cannot defeat yet. He realizes how important it is to have several different heroes. But at the same time, it is very difficult to collect them without investing money. At different levels of the game, you can get a shard or two. But it’s still easier to spend money and buy data cards.

Since each mode in the game insistently requires different heroes, and grinding to get them is much more difficult than just spending money, players are forced to pay.

2. Sales and subscriptions

Following the example of Heroes Charge, Galaxy of Heroes tries from the very beginning to force players to spend real money. The sooner players convert to paying users, the better both retention and monetization. Because if a player immediately invested, then he will probably stay in the game for a long time. And will spend more. The process is stimulated by two key features:

• Beginner’s Sets with a time limit

As soon as the player’s level rises, he is offered to buy a beginner’s kit. The offer is limited in time, and you can use it only once. If a player buys a set, he is guaranteed several strong characters and in-game currency with a favorable discount. The first offers are quite inexpensive. But then the price rises rapidly and reaches as much as $ 140. Moreover, each purchase is presented as extremely profitable.

From the player’s point of view, everything is cool: it seems to him that he has saved a lot. He gets a set of unique characters and currency, and EA gets a satisfied user.

• Subscription

In addition to the beginner kits, Galaxy of Heroes uses another popular trick: subscription. By purchasing a subscription, the player receives 100 crystals every day for 21 days.

Such mechanics simultaneously forces the player to make the first purchase And motivates him to enter the game every day.

This is a great way to, firstly, interest the player in the early stages of the game, and, secondly, please him. After all, how cool: I got a serious discount on premium currency, and all that is required now is to return to the game for some time.

3. Currency design

But if you look more generally, then in fact the economy of the game stimulates purchases. Users play exactly the way the developers intended, and if they decide to spend money, then these expenses are growing rapidly.

• The more currency, the more control

How did the developers manage it? They weren’t afraid to complicate things. Pay attention to the rich selection of game currency: this variety is clearly not for average minds.

But why so much? Is there really no way to combine them somehow?

If Galaxy of Heroes combined some part of this currency, the game would become much clearer. The smaller the currencies, the neater the UI looks, and the less the player has to strain his memory.

In addition, the player would have more freedom of choice. For example, if the developers combined different types of energy into one, then the player would choose one favorite mode and ignore the rest. But EA wants exactly the OPPOSITE from the player, she needs him to spend the same amount of time on EACH mode. For the same reason, there are so many types of materials in the game (equipment, ability upgrades, droids, shards), and there are many subtypes in each type. The player is forced to play in each mode, which only strengthens the game cycle.

If a player could not fight with other players in PvP mode, he would not want to assemble the coolest team. If it were possible to score on the levels in the Cantina, then the player would sit quietly all the time on the easiest levels. But different modes require different types of energy, plus, each mode has unique rewards. This means that the player will want to pass each of them.

In addition, due to the fact that there is a lot of currency in the game, and each type is spent only on one thing, it becomes much easier to maintain an economic balance. Developers can easily predict how quickly a player will accumulate and spend resources. As a result, this gives them more complete control over the game economy.

So it seems to me that the developers did not introduce such a variety of currencies into the game for nothing.

The presence of a huge number of currencies complicates the game, but the result is that the game has improved balance and monetization.

• Premium currency is not easy to convert into something else

Another smart move is how strictly currency conversion is controlled inside the game. And this is especially true for premium currency (crystals).

Crystals are almost not converted. They can be used to buy data cards, with their help you can skip the timer and restore energy. Compared to other games, the use of premium currency in Galaxy of Heroes is severely limited. Which enhances monetization.

You can convert crystals into specific shards of characters, materials or currency in the “Shipments” mode. But this offer is limited in time. You will be able to make only one such purchase at a time. Then you’ll have to wait a long time.

This method further restricts currency conversion, plus, at the same time improves the design of sessions and enhances monetization. If a player wants to transfer additional currency, he will either have to return to the game often, or spend some additional crystals so that the store’s assortment is updated.

Social network

The social component is the weakest point of Galaxy of Heroes. There is clearly something to work on. The Galaxy of Heroes player as a whole seems to be a single-player game, he is not required to work in a team to achieve the ultimate goal.

Allies, the ability to borrow heroes

The only real social mechanics in the game is the ability to ask someone else’s character for the duration of the battle. This mechanic allows you to ask another player for a strong hero every time a new battle begins. A good way to advertise the game content to the player once again and give the opportunity to invite a friend to the game. Even in this way, more experienced players can help beginners advance in the game.

However, the system itself has little effect on anything. Since I can ask for a character from any random player, it’s only towards the end of the game that I’ll need to start adding higher-level players to my allies. It’s nice that there is such an opportunity. But in fact, it makes no sense to add allies almost until the very end of the game.

It would make more sense if the characters of random players had restrictions. For example, if they could be borrowed only a couple of times per session. Then the player would eventually have to turn to allies. This would mean that the player would need the support of friends more from the very beginning. This would increase retention in the early stages.

Leaderboard and PvP

In addition to allies, there is also a PvP arena in the game. Winning a battle raises the user in the leaderboard, which means that stronger and stronger players are assigned to him as opponents. This allows you to slightly strengthen the competitive element. But, in my opinion, there is still a lot to be done.

The key point: more socializing!

To get to the very top of the box office charts, you need mechanics that will make players compete with each other. Social pressure – to play together and pay together. Create clans and guilds that would unite players. That’s what’s missing in Galaxy of Heroes, and that’s what it would be nice to fix.

A good example of proper socializing is mobile RPG like Dungeon Hero or Heroes Charge. In them, the player joins guilds quite early and under social pressure is forced to collect and improve characters. In addition, there are daily quests, for which all guild members receive a special currency. And they have guild ratings that force players to compete with each other. And these are just the basics of social interaction in the game. I am sure, however, that EA is perfectly familiar with all this, and the company’s developers will definitely add missing elements to the game in the future.

Let’s summarize the results

The Galaxy of Heroes game managed to achieve what most shareware projects strive for. It embodies a design that, along with a strong game cycle, will help the game remain popular for years to come. The key systems in the game are as follows:

• RPG-an action game that forces the player to collect and improve character after character;
• A meta-game that includes a variety of different modes, and each of these modes requires the participation of a separate character;
• A non-linear and complex hero improvement system that forces players to spend many months upgrading characters;
• A tough economic system that forces players to play for hours in different modes to speed up progress.

But the mechanics are not the main thing. Galaxy of Heroes has everything that should be in a good free-to-play franchise game. The license not only helps to promote the game, but also strengthens the game cycle. The Star Wars franchise motivates players to collect and improve their favorite characters. Would anyone give up their own Darth Vader? No, and EA knows about it.

So, EA did not just take and blind the game under a popular license. She has achieved that the license makes the game cycle only stronger. What makes players stay in the game for a long time, and this, in turn, brings profit.

Source: deconstructoroffun.com