Game Analysis: Vegas Words – Downtown Slots

What tricks do slot developers resort to? – using the example of Vegas Words, Vasily Sabirov, chief analyst at devtodev, and Alexander Shtachenko, product owner at Panther Gaming and author of the blog, analyzed Progamedev.net .

Vasily Sabirov and Alexander Shtachenko

Slots are a popular gaming genre. I wanted to write “gaining momentum”, but no, the momentum has been gained for a long time: social casinos have been popular with the audience for a long time. Plus, there are no prerequisites for this popularity to fall.

To understand the peculiarities of the genre, we decided to choose the format “Game Analysis” (deconstruction) for the article.

Deconstruction, or parsing, is a standard genre of analysis of a game project, when it is decomposed into its component parts and the reasons for success (or failure) are analyzed.

As the analyzed game, we chose Vegas Words – Downtown Slots by Playtika, one of the main developers in this niche.

Playtika is an international company, headquartered in Israel, and offices are open all over the world: in Australia, Argentina, Belarus, Ukraine, Canada, Romania, the USA and Japan. In 2016, Playtika was bought by a Chinese consortium for $4.4 billion.

A few words about Vegas Words – Downtown Slots

Vegas Words – Downtown Slots (on VW) – a slot game that contains a unique meta-mechanics of progress. It’s called scrabble mechanics. In short, it works like this: you earn points by playing slots, which you then spend on letters and scrabble boards.

We decided to choose VW for the following reasons:

• this is a game from Playtika, which means that its example can explain the basic methods in games of the slots genre;
• the game is atypical for the genre (more on this below), and using the example of these differences, you can explain what is the difference between games in this genre;
• according to App Annie, the game was released in August 2015 and since then has been consistently in the 50th place in terms of the number of downloads (Download Ranks), and in the 40th place in terms of the number of fees (Grossing Ranks) in the USA in its niche.

Dynamics of VW’s position in the top downloads in the USA (iPhone)

Dynamics of VW’s position in the box office top in the USA (iPhone)

The game is cross–platform: you can start playing on a mobile device, and then continue playing on Facebook with the same parameters.

The target audience of the game is women over 40 years old. The main region is the USA.

According to the latest reports on progemedev.net , this is the main audience of the social casino genre in the world. It accounts for 90% of active players and 90% of revenue.

Worldwide distribution of the source of slot game downloads by region

Global distribution of the source of income of slot games by region

Game setting

This genre usually has several settings: from fantasy to pixel art. Moreover, a large, almost maximum, emphasis is usually placed on the setting in slots.

As for VW, the game is made in the style of classic “one-armed bandit” slot machines. It is made without unnecessary problems – as simple as possible and primitive in appearance. By launching this game, the player is immersed in the atmosphere of real casinos, where such machines are presented in abundance.

This is unusual: only one game from the US box office Top 50, in addition to VW, has a “standard” setting – Hot Shot Casino: Slot Machines.

Game mechanics

• Key Game Loop (Core Game Loop)

For the familiar representatives of the Social Casino genre, the gameplay is built around gaining experience for the number of spins, which is converted into progress and opens up new content to us. Our game initially has a different loop. Here the progress is changed beyond recognition. It seems to the player that slots are secondary mechanics, and the main one is the game “Scrabble”.

In addition to the “coins” resource, there is a “letters” resource in the game.

The player receives letters from coins using the slot.

These letters are collected on the board into “words”.

The reward for words is coins.

Thus, the key cycle in the game is as follows: the player constantly switches the focus of his attention from slots to scrabble and back, changing coins to letters, composing words, and again receiving coins for them.

An additional cycle in the game is the development of your playing field (board) in the scrabble mode: the ability to update the setting, increase the size of the playing field, change the letters.

Plus, there are also returning mechanics in the game, you can read about them in one of the sections below.

• Slot mechanics

For those who do not know how slots work, we will make a small introduction to the topic.

At the heart of any slot is a set of reels (rail) that have a return (Return to Player, or RTP).

The return is always less than one. For example, the percentage of return from coins poured into the machine is 0.92.

Of course, you can’t understand this in 1-2 games, but it is on this casino, including real ones, that they earn.

In web and mobile freeplay slots, “wrappers” purchased for real money are returned, and in return the player receives content in the form of new slots or new game mechanics.

This genre is called Social Casino.

A slot in VW is just a means of getting letters for “Scrabble”, so there are almost no unique slot mechanics, interesting free spins and mini-games here. Even the skins of the slots are similar to each other.

The slots have built-in the standard meta-mechanics of tournaments for Playtika, which encourages you to play at high stakes more for your own pleasure, since the rewards in such games are less than 5% of the coins spent.

• Scrabble mechanics

The mechanics are based on multi-progress between different tables (on the right in the picture) and erudition levels (on the left in the picture). This is a fairly strong metagame in which the player spends a lot of time and builds various strategies. Alternatively, you can switch to a more expensive table as quickly as possible using short words, or squeeze each table to the maximum using long words and getting a prize multiplier of the winnings.

This approach creates the effect that the player spends coins in the slot, investing in scrabble, and invests in the slot using the letters on the Scrabble board.

Then comes the plateau.

By the time of conversion, the economy of the game with such a cycle plays with deficits in both mechanics at once. At first, the player does not have enough coins in the slot – word rewards are not enough for spins. On the second round of the cycle, there are not enough spins for new words.

Anyway, this approach allows you to convert the player in the most psychologically comfortable mechanics for him.

Meta Game

The game features a gentleman’s set of mechanics, already repeatedly tested in other games of the publisher.

• Daily incentives

Return bonuses, as usual, are divided into daily and hourly (in this game – three-hour), and each bonus is accompanied by a timer with a push notification.

There are also various tasks that allow you to dive deeper into the game and create yourself another hook for tomorrow’s re-entry.

• Achievements

As psychologists have found out, most of the CA slots somehow receive less recognition (remember the TV series “Desperate Housewives”?). Reward mechanics, such as “achievements”, are a strong tool for the long-term goals of the player, which ensures a high long-term Retention.

The system of achievements in the game is well made and meets the high quality standard on the market. At first they are given often, but the more you play, the rarer they are, and the more valuable they become for the user.

• Gifts

In-game gifts (not to be confused with social ones) work according to certain triggers that periodically encourage the player. This can be a return after a long absence, reaching a level, performing targeted actions, for example, evaluating an application.

Also in this game, as in all games from Playtika, there is an opportunity to buy VIP status in order to have more opportunities and feel a little better than the average player.

• Social features

Social features are also no different from other games of the genre. We will not dwell on them in more detail. The game has a standard FB-connect and gift exchange with friends. Plus, in daily mechanics, you get a bonus coefficient if you have in-game friends.

First Time User Experience

The tutorial explains more scrabble than slot mechanics. This can partly be explained by the fact that scrabble mechanics require more explanations (and everything is relatively simple in slots). Partly because the key mechanics, and we will see this a little later, in the game is still exactly scrabble. It doesn’t become clear right away, but nevertheless: the main focus is on scrabble, and slots are just a way to earn points.

The tutorial consists of three slides with hints, let’s show the first one.

The hints are really clear (after all, we are analyzing the game of a well-known developer who knows what to focus the player’s attention on). All screen elements are explained.

To the question of simplicity, if suddenly at the training stage the player starts to “blunt” and does nothing for a few seconds (we had it that way while we were taking notes and screenshots), then the invisible hand itself transfers the letters to the playing field.

A few points that remained unclear after the tutorial:

• The scrabble- and slot-mechanic connection. The player understands this a little later, but thoroughly.
• Sometimes there are not enough calls to action (call to action, or CTA) on the screens. We are supporters of the idea that, at least at the tutorial stage, each element and each screen should lead to the same goal, and the player should know at every moment what to do.
  – In particular, composing the words LOVE and VEGAS, the player does not see any CTA.
  – The Submit button is not always highlighted.
• When a player launches a randomizer on the slot screen, it is not indicated that the bet can actually be changed. The player must figure this out in the future. However, it is possible that there is a category of players who will not notice this button.

It should also be said that during the tutorial, and indeed the entire first game session, the game does not drain the player, he is frankly lucky in slots. This is quite logical.

Here it will be appropriate to talk about honest and dishonest randomness in games of the Social Casino genre.

Random, honest and dishonest

– Sasha, didn’t it seem to you that Random is dishonest?
– Honest random? No, I haven’t heard. The whole randomness in games of this genre is difficult to call honest. It is made in such a way as to keep the player in emotional tension, and an honest random will not achieve this.
– As an analyst and mathematician, this, of course, upsets me, but as a player, it rather pleases me, because the developer really skillfully plays with my emotion.
– Well, it’s Playtika, they are well versed in this.

Retention

In general, retention in games is one of the most important indicators.

Analytical companies, such as devtodev, are approached in 70% of cases with a request to increase retention.

In dealing with an investor, keeping the game is one of the first points he will ask about.

Retention is a complex and sensitive process.

It is necessary to start with the first session that is as clear and interesting to the player as possible (read about this above in the “First Time User Experience” section). Then it is important to keep the player in the game for a longer period: as a rule, the more days a player has spent in the game, the higher the probability of conversion into a payment for each next day, and the average check (we checked).

Therefore, a whole arsenal of mechanics is usually used. Let’s look at some of them.

This game, like all good games, not only gives the player short-term and long-term goals, but also skillfully manages them.

At first, the player fights for game resources, facing a shortage of them. Then he masters and conquers secondary mechanics. As soon as the player has already subdued the main content and mechanics, super-goals become available to the player.

Depending on the progress, the game changes the priorities of goals. Periodically, there is a shortage in letters, when for the same number of coins the player is given fewer opportunities to play scrabble. At other times, the letters are fine, they are given enough, and the player knows it. But it is not possible to gain the necessary progress (without donating), the slot abruptly stops giving. The feeling of “almost received”, encourages the player to make a payment.

• Content

Like any frituplay game, VW keeps the user content. The content here is different scrabble boards, different letters and tiles on these boards. And also for those who are bored with the same slot machine for slot mechanics, others are offered to choose from.

• Push notifications

The game will send you quite a lot of notifications.

It can also be simple notifications about the need to log in every day.

And notifications that simply remind you of the existence of VW in your life, and notifications about bonuses (like “Come back, I’ll forgive everything!”).

In particular, if you don’t log in for a few days, and then log in, you will be greeted by as many as four different welcome screens with bonuses. We will show only two of them, but believe me, there were more of them.

The first

Second

Please note, we received Triple XP as a gift for the return! Not a bad gift, wouldn’t you agree?

Moreover, there is a feeling (confirmed both by our experience in the game and by common sense in general; but nevertheless we cannot state this absolutely objectively) that if you go by push notification, then you will start to get incredibly lucky.

It is quite logical: the player has probably already forgotten about the game, and there is so much joy at once!

Therefore, a recommendation to all players, and not only in this game. If the game sends you a push notification, and you were going to enter the game anyway, then enter by push: the game will understand this and, quite likely, will reward you.

Monetization system

The mechanics of monetization in the game are made in the best traditions of slot applications, which have been tested for years in other games of the publisher.

• Shop

Let’s analyze the in-game store. In it, you can buy packages consisting primarily of coins, as well as tiles and points.

The minimum package costs $4.99, the maximum is $99.99.

The Best value and Most popular packages are highlighted separately – this is how it is accepted, so the options that Playtika wants to draw the player’s attention to are highlighted (even if most popular is not actually the most popular).

In VW, the store is placed on the server, which means it may look different for different players depending on their behavior. At VW, we can talk about the smart offers system.

I bought one product – you are already offered other offers specifically for you.

Moreover, for the same player, the store may look different at different times (before or after payment, in the first days or later, with or without VIP status).

In particular, during the study of the game, the color of the selected packages changed from red to green (nothing else has changed in the store). Apparently, Playtika either A/B-tested the optimal color, or simply changed the main color to green.

Virtual currency packages in the store are ordered in descending order, from larger to smaller.

Logical digression: the old and eternal question, what is the best order: from more to less or from less to more? In general, best practice is considered – from more to less, but let’s look at the question in more detail.

In descending order, the player sees the largest package first, and this may be somewhat frightening. On the other hand, the psychology of the player usually (all other things being equal) pushes him to choose something from the first half of the list, but not the very first option. And in this case, the order “from more to less” is more advantageous.

So how is it better in the end? From our own experience, we can say that the order “from more to less” did indeed give a positive result somewhat more often, but the correct answer here is an A/B test.

Let’s decompose the mathematics of packages:

We see that the maximum package consists of half of the bonus currency: if the currency cost the same as in the minimum package, the package would contain only 6.5 million, and here almost the same amount is given as a gift.

This can also be seen if you look at the last column in the table: on the maximum package for $ 1, the player receives almost twice as much currency.

The main invitation to the store is a regular one-hour bonus, which has been located in the store for Playtika games for more than 5 years. If a player has entered the game and is not ready to pay, then one way or another, collecting free coins, he encounters monetization mechanics at the very beginning of the game.

• Special offers

There is also not without the best practices of the publisher. The game is shrouded in a chain of various proposals that are included in a whole set of triggers. These offers are configured to convert all types of payers (from those who pay in small amounts to those who are used to paying more), get hooked on promotions (promotions work according to an individual schedule for each individual player), and provide the player with regular opportunities to make a payment.

In addition, the game has thematic offers. The theme is reflected both at the store level, and at the level of additional slot machines, and simply in a temporary change in the setting.

In particular, we wrote this article during the Halloween celebration: the store has changed, a new slot machine has been added with the opportunity to win additional bonuses.

• How the game changes after payment

Like any good, earning game, Vegas Words encourages good boys and girls.

If you make an in-app purchase, or an IAP, you will notice that you are starting to get lucky. The return of the slot gradually increases to about ~ 130% (and this is without taking into account big wins), plus you get some strong emotions from Big Win!

This is a well-proven way for a player to develop the habit of paying, where he will connect these events on a subconscious level: paid-lucky. For real slots, where the rails are patented, this is impossible. But who said that rails in mobile games need to be patented?

Secret sauce

We want to focus on a separate part of the game – converting into a payer in scrabble mechanics. The game occupies high positions in the verbal category (Words), players from which are used to paying for “letters”.

If you don’t want to spin, buy a set of letters right away and keep playing. Your first purchase may not be the usual products of the slot application, namely progress (in the form of letters).

It is more comfortable to make such a (first) purchase for some users than to buy coins to spin and open letters. And it is definitely more comfortable for players in verbal projects.

One way or another, the coins in the game will accumulate, and the player will still go to play slots to spend coins. He will start getting letters for them, and will get into a game loop where scarcity controls progress.

As can be seen from the Chartboost public data, traffic is cheaper in such categories.

To summarize

For the apparent simplicity of the slots genre (it would seem, pull the lever of a one-armed bandit, and that’s it) there is a rather deep and well-developed mechanism that combines both adapted random and non-trivial second mechanics, which becomes practically the main one (scramble), and the skillful use of all typical frituplay methods.

At the same time, the game has a very low entry threshold: the first session is simple and clear, the game requires little experience (except in scrabble), rather, excitement is needed here, and Playtika creates it skillfully.

This combination of basic mechanics has put an atypical game in the top of grossing, which hints: to make money, you should think broadly.

Traffic from related categories is always cheaper than in the casino genre. This game showed how you can attract traffic from the verbal category to the slot game. A good business solution for a company that occupies a leading position in every subgenre of social casinos.