Zynga Battlestone
As part of the new mobile IP team, I was asked to take over the lead game design responsibilities for Battlestone in mid-2012. With a mandate to ship in 7-months with no delay, we marched to turn a tech-demo into a free-to-play game. I oversaw 5 designers ranging from UI, Narrative, Mechanics, Balance, and Level. By May of 2013, we launched Zynga's only (to this date) action RPG.
Role: Lead Designer
Launch: May 2013
Contribution: Feature Specifications.
Oversight of Balance, Mechanics, User Interface, and Level Design
Recognition: Top-20 Free iOS, 4.5 Stars (launch)
Mechanics in UI
The basic mechanic of the game is a simple gesture where our heroes can chain together attacks to defeat baddies in the system. This being a free-to-play game, many of the core loops take place in the UI. From resource management, equipment upgrades, and gacha heroes, I owned our feature specifications. An example of our weapon upgrade flow is shown here.
Balance Sheets
I also provided the first draft of our game balance; creating models for upgrades, economy, and pinches (points of friction where users pay to play). Overall, our game showed decent monetization ($0.12 REV/DAU, $16.981 REV/Payer) but poor overall retention (D1-7: 38% to 11%). While we were trail blazers for the company, Zynga's monetization goals were beyond the depth of what the game offered. Battlestone was sunset in 2014 as operating costs overran revenue.