Lovell Nicholas - Design Rules for Free-to-Play Games

Design Rules for

Free-to-Play Games

Nicholas Lovell

Rob Fahey

PART ONE: The Rules

PART TWO: Stuff You Need To Know

Why do we need to define rules for free to play games?

Quite simply, because "free" is a concept thats as scary as it is powerful. Its something were all being forced to get used to. Digital communications have changed our lives in many ways, but for creatives, perhaps the biggest upheaval is that the cost of distributing media - music, books, games, films - has plummeted to the point where its almost zero. The cost and effort involved in creating and transmitting a copy of a piece of work has fallen away; where once there was a huge barrier that customers could be charged to cross, now theres barely a bump on the ground.

Nobody survives long by standing in front of the flood waters demanding that they retreat. You survive - and thrive - by reacting to whats happening and finding the new opportunities created by the changes around you.

Thats what free-to-play is about. Rather than bemoaning the fact that the old model of charging people to access content is in decline, pioneers of free-to-play see the positives of our new situation. We have access to an audience thats bigger than ever before; an audience thats constantly connected, allowing you to see how theyre playing and engage with them throughout the whole play experience. Now that the customer relationship no longer ends at the till of a game store, developers and games can adapt to the audience and treat players as individuals.

Thats extraordinary power, but its still something many creatives and businesspeople alike are getting used to. It requires big changes in how we all think. A decade ago, if 90% of your audience was playing your game for free, it meant you had a piracy problem; today, it means youve got a 10% conversion rate, which is actually pretty good. As if thats not strange enough, even those 10% who are paying are probably paying for relatively simple in-game items and currency, while all the really amazing stuff youve created - your world, your game, your artistry - has been served up to absolutely everyone for free. Its a complete reversal of how game creators have always had to think.

Thats why we need rules for free to play games - because while many of the ideas encoded in these rules may seem straightforward or even over-simplistic, theyre all true, and moving to this model has required us to re-examine many of the most fundamental truths of game development. These rules have crystallised from countless hours of experience of working with some of the best free-to-play developers in the business. They reflect concepts which absolutely everyone working on a free-to-play game should know, understand and consider throughout their thought process.

But arent rules meant to be broken?

Why yes, of course - but thats simply another reason why we need rules. Why is the broken spelling and grammar of a failing English student marked with red pen, while the equally fractured prose of James Joyces Ulysses and Jonathan Safran Foers Everything Is Illuminated are considered to be literary masterpieces? Because the latter two understood the rules they were breaking - in fact, they understood them perhaps far better than the majority of writers, which meant that in breaking them, they achieved a deliberate and knowing effect.

In other words, you dont have to follow the rules - and you can achieve great things by breaking them - but if you dont understand them and make a conscious, informed decision to step outside their boundaries, youre just lashing out in the darkness.

Thats why we need rules, and why we need to understand rules. So we can understand where we are; so we can pass on the experience and knowledge of pioneers in this field to newcomers; and sometimes, so that they can be broken.

GAMESbrief is a blog and resource about the business of games.

Specifically, GAMESbrief is about making sense of the most important and challenging development in the games business - the rise of free, and the new business models it has created. Its about providing developers and publishers with the information, tools and resources they need to take advantage of the opportunities provided by new platforms like the App Store and Facebook, and to avoid the pitfalls along the way.

The site publishes opinion, analysis and information for free-to-play developers and publishers, as well as regular guest posts from industry luminaries exploring their experiences and insights into the market. In addition, we publish lively discussions among the GAMESbriefers - a closed group of top figures from around the free-to-play and social games business who debate a chosen topical issue each week.

Along with this book, GAMESbrief is also the publisher of How To Publish A Game, a practical and comprehensive guide to self-publishing which is essential reading for anyone setting out in this business - or for veterans and established companies looking to make the transition to the industrys new direction. (Theres a in the back of this book, by the way.)

To find out more, visit the site: www.gamesbrief.com

Nicholas Lovell is the founder of GAMESbrief, the author of How To Publish A Game, and an expert consultant on free-to-play businesses who has worked for clients including Square Enix, Channel 4, IPC Media, nDreams, Firefly, Atari, Rebellion and Channelflip. He has written for publications such as Gamasutra, Develop, MCV and the Wall Street Journal, and speaks regularly at development and media conferences. He is also the author of The Curve, an upcoming book about using the web to make money from freeloaders and true fans alike, which will be published by Penguin in early 2013.

Nicholas devised the Free-to-Play Design Rules, based on his extensive experience of working with developers and publishers of free-to-play games.

He lives in London, just close enough to the Thames for him to be able to look wistfully over the water and dream about having time to pursue his passion for sailing.

Rob Fahey is a freelance journalist and consultant who specialises in the business of games. He was the founding editor of GamesIndustry.biz and has written a regular column there for the past decade, as well as working on publications including Eurogamer, VG247, British newspaper of record The Times - and, of course, GAMESbrief. He has often appeared on TV and radio in the UK to discuss the games business.

Rob turned Nicholas Free-to-Play Design Rules into a book, and wrote all the supporting material and explanations.

He lives either in London or in Tokyo, depending on when youre reading this, speaks reasonably good Japanese and thinks that researching Asian politics counts as a fun leisure time activity.

Part One:

The Rules

Before worrying about anything else, worry about making a game thats fun to play.

The first rule of free-to-play is "make the game fun".

It shouldnt need to be stated, but it does.

It is entirely possible to make a game that doesnt focus on the fun and make it a successful free-to-play game. Some of the criticisms levied at the free-to-play industry that it uses , that psychological tricks are not enough to make a game are tied up with this idea that the games arent fun.