Bossy Balls 5 is one of the easiest games I have ever played. It is easy to play, but some of the levels have challenges. Even though I couldn't get my hands on its game design document I can played the game and can easily tell how they are generating revenue through ads.
The game design is simply fantastic and you can make a game design document template based on what they are doing. Here is a list:
1. Easy to play, but fun!
The game is extremely easy to play, but the physics of the game make it fun to play. The platform sections are super basic, but they are effective. I had to actually think once or twice about how to solve a problem and get through the next platform section. Once I got it done, I felt rewarded.
2. Remarkable characters
The characters in the game are just balls that can smile. That's it! There are no upgrades, or suits or weapons. No unique abilities. You simply choose a character that looks good. That's it!
Because they are balls, they are also quite easy to remember. The user falls in love with a character that he/she uses frequently to clear levels overtime.
3. Enemies don't want to kill you
You can easily avoid enemies and move on. There is no need to kill them, which basically means that you don't need to spend time engaging enemies in order to complete levels. Enemies have certain sectors in each level. They operate within those sectors. You can just jump above them and clear them.
4. Coin rewards
The game rewards you for collecting all of the coins that are in each level. The game makes some coins hard to collect, so you have to replay levels, which increase user retention. It also increases session time. If you collect all the coins within each level, you get 3 stars.
5. A large number of levels
The game has a large number of levels. This is a good thing for a game like this, as the users stick around longer. Once the game retains users, it will be able to show more ads to them as players will most likely play one level after another.
6. Lots of well placed ads
The ads are very well placed in this game. They do not interfere as they run only when the player is not playing the game. For example, ads are displayed when going between levels or when the pause button is clicked.
7. Retaining the user to generate ad revenue overtime
The main focus of this game is to retain users so that the company can generate money overtime. Usually on day 7, the user will click one of the video ads and install the game displayed in the ad. The developers of the game most likely focused on retention because they probably wanted to generate money overtime, and not on Day 1. That is one of the reasons why this game has no IAPs.
8. Increasing session length by challenges
The small challenges and problems placed in each level help the game rank better on Google Play as the challenges can take a long time to solve. The session time increases! By increasing session time, and level time, the developers are able to show ads once every 2 minutes. That is excellent, as showing an ad after 2 minutes is perfect! The user will never get irritated!
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