"Scored 1 million races in 14 days": Mobirate about the launch of the new Dead Ahead

After 14 months of softlonch, Dead Ahead: Zombie Warfare, a strategy from the Ulyanovsk studio Mobirate, was released. App2Top.ru I talked to its executive director Anton Belov.

Alexander Semenov, Senior Editor App2Top.ru : Dead Ahead: Zombie Warfare is not the first game in the franchise. In 2013, the runner Dead Ahead was released. The project about a motorcyclist escaping and shooting back from zombies was then noticed by Apple. Why did you decide to change the genre?

Anton Belov, Executive Director of Mobirate: We decided to expand the brand. Of course, it was not necessary to throw the first game, but it was difficult to monetize it. Although, of course, it was possible to tighten LTV with updates.

If we talk about the reason for the change in the genre, then everything is simple: it is easier to monetize a strategy than a runner. Runners only travel to a large audience, and for her it is necessary to draw casual art.

But, by the way, we have already gathered a lot of ideas for the continuation of the runner in the Dead Ahead universe. And I think we’ll start doing it soon.

Did I understand correctly that you will change the branded pixel style of the series to continue, since you want to get a wider audience?

There is still debate about this.

Returning to Dead Ahead: Zombie Warfare. As far as I know, within the framework of the new genre, the current concept was not formed immediately. There was even talk of creating a clone of Clash of Clans based on the franchise. How did you decide on the current concept?

Clash of Clans, probably, at one time, everyone tried on their games: base, asynchronous, back and forth and profit.

We tried a lot of map and leveling options, and the gameplay itself, but in the end we found a suitable and interesting one for the project.

The first Dead Ahead was released three years ago. As far as I know, you took up the continuation almost immediately. What delayed the game in development so much?

These are experiments with various genres.

They made a farm for a long time, but then decided to abandon it in favor of Plants vs. Zombies mechanics. After that, the mechanics were simplified, the cells were removed…

Do I understand correctly that the game was turn-based at a certain stage?

No. At a certain stage, the player could only put his units on the cells on the road before the battle, and then just contemplate the battles and throw buffs / bombs.

Now the game looks completely different.

Yes, but there are still problems in the action movie we are working on. But the community is already asking for a farm in some form and a story.

The gameplay of the game is based on the exploration of the map and battles. On the map, the player chooses the levels to pass (to open the next map, you need to earn a certain number of stars in battles).

The combat mechanics of the game resembles Plants vs. Zombies. There is a playing field. There is a barrier on the right. On the left is the player’s bus. The task is to destroy the barrier and not let the zombies smash the bus. Zombies appear from the side of the barrier. Both the barrier and the opponents are destroyed by the units that the player casts.

Energy is spent on units, which is generated at a certain level at a certain speed. Also, units have a cooldown, which does not allow, if there is a large amount of energy, to immediately throw an army on the field.

Winning at each level requires a certain level of pumping units and their correct selection for a specific mission.

The meta of the game is based on pumping units with the help of gold earned in missions, as well as items found on the battlefield and purchased in the store.

Since people are now actively asking for a farm, it turns out that they abandoned it in vain during development?

It’s just hard to attach the farm to the side. When we tried, there were a lot of inconsistencies, then we decided not to do it. In what form we will return it is not very clear yet. There are several ideas, we will choose.

By the way, I was surprised when you mentioned that players need a story and a farm. It’s just that I initially perceived the game as a kind of rogue, where you explore a randomly generated huge map. And personally, I was very sad to discover that this game is still more about missions, not pumping and peace. Have you ever looked at the game as a bagel yourself?

No, but there was a version when the bus was driven by a player as a hero from Heroes of Might &Magic.

Warfare has been in the softlonch for a long time. 14 months. What are the most fundamental things that have changed in it during this time?

Initially, people did not understand the logic of upgrading units. I had to change usability, and with it completely pumping. They abandoned various farm modes with timers and decided to focus on the action. The conversion rate was average.

Then, after collecting feedback at our stand at White Nights, we decided to change the entire advertising feed in the game. Thereby monetize non-paying users. And we succeeded! Players often ask for more ads to be shown to them.

What is this new type of advertising?

Previously, just at the end of the battle there was a small button “watch the ad and get more coins”.

Then we changed the approach. The player is now given the opportunity to receive bonus coins for viewing ads only in two cases: at the first completion of each mission and at the first completion of it for three stars. Plus, we visually made the bonus offer more noticeable.

Also, sometimes the player meets a “wandering cinema”, where they offer to watch an advertisement.

What indicators were expected from the game to launch into the world? Can you name at least the level of retention that was eventually achieved?

We were waiting for the payback of traffic [to launch].

As for the retention rate, it is now as follows: on the first day ~ 50%, on the seventh day ~ 15%. We are working.

Before Warfare, you did not do such complex projects from the point of view of game design. What turned out to be the most difficult thing when switching from conditional casual to midcore?

For a game designer, when working on such games, there are a lot of opportunities to realize their wildest ideas. In our case, this led to a protracted development.

Elements of the game, it seems, and not so much: battle, pumping, map. But there are so many nuances affecting other elements that sometimes you come to a dead end trying to improve something. You start to clean up the dead end and come back to the beginning.

How the project is currently showing itself in the world. What are your immediate plans for it?

There was a small feature. We scored 1 million races in the first 14 days. We buy traffic. Optimizing campaigns. We make updates every week. We work with the community. We are thinking about multiplayer features. The players are asking for them very much.