How Rockbite Video games reworked its idle sport into an idle RPG

Avetis Zakharyan and Gevorg Kopalyan are founders at Rockbite Video games.

Idle Outpost is doing nice – particularly for its area of interest – and we truthfully adore it to bits. And there is nonetheless much more we wish to construct. However funnily sufficient, this entire adventure began with one easy thought: what if we added rush occasions?

After we in reality introduced the characteristic, it turned into transparent beautiful speedy – with out larger gameplay adjustments in the back of it, rush occasions simply weren’t going to ship. That’s after we took on a miles larger problem: mainly overhauling the sport with out scaring off our core gamers.

The challenge used to be by no means a “vintage” idle sport initially, but it surely additionally wasn’t a full-blown RPG. Avid gamers spent maximum in their time buying and selling and upgrading stations. Struggle? Now not such a lot.

However we had been seeing higher ARPU from RPG options, and we had been actively in search of new expansion issues – each in gameplay and monetisation. So we made up our minds to lean more difficult in that path.

After all, there used to be some chance in all this. We weren’t certain if the shift in focal point would move over smartly with our target market. However having a look again now, we will be able to safely say it labored. Avid gamers are diving into boss fights and exploring the RPG techniques with far more enthusiasm.

And no, we weren’t looking to hit some magical “spice up all metrics and participant hobby in a single day” button. The principle objective used to be to put down a powerful basis for long run options – and no longer reduce to rubble what used to be already doing smartly.

Developing a house base and the day by day regimen that got here with it

Probably the most first large adjustments gamers see now when logging in is the brand new house base. Sooner than this, the revel in used to be kinda chaotic. You’d leap between industry ranges, struggle displays, equipment upgrades, buttons overlapped, stuff were given messy, and it used to be simple to get misplaced.

So we made up our minds to convey some order to the chaos. Now, there’s a house display the place the whole thing comes in combination – your base. It presentations your growth, your standing, to be had actions, bonuses – the whole thing in a single position.

You notice your avatar in complete combat equipment they’re lately dressed in, plus a model appearing your buying and selling outfit and what sort of benefit you’re pulling in. Beneath are two large buttons: “Pass to Paintings” (for industry ranges) and “Missions” (for PvE and PvP).

What it did is make the dual-core gameplay – industry and fight – right away transparent to the gamers after they land in the house base. You move do your factor, no matter it can be, then go back to base to regroup and make a decision what’s subsequent.

But even so it being an effective way to declutter sport menus and sections, the house base gave us a option to construction an intuitive day by day regimen for the participant. We added a day by day missions tab proper to the house display – a tick list with duties and rewards.

We did our homework: checked out how our competition take care of dailies, crunched the numbers on what number of and which placements our gamers watch day by day, and got here up with a gadget that is smart.

The plan used to be easy – display gamers what they are able to do these days, what’s value looking at, what duties to hit, and the place the rewards are hiding.

So right here’s the way it performs out: log in, see your crimson marker at the job record – the primary venture is solely appearing up, so that you gather your praise. From there, you take a look at what’s subsequent: possibly it’s upgrading non violent equipment, spending shovels on fight apparatus, clearing the sector, or hitting PvE missions. Each finished job is marked crimson, pointing the participant in the best path consistent with their targets. 

The principle thought in the back of this construction used to be to inspire gamers to construct a addiction very similar to a morning regimen: get up, brush your enamel, clutch a espresso, move to paintings. And that more or less day by day regimen? That’s what drives long-term retention.

Some of these little missions additionally include ad-based bonuses. Struggle thrice without cost within the enviornment? Nice. Need two extra runs? Watch an advert.

In overall, for gamers to hit probably the most quantity of bonuses, we’ve were given round 20 placements according to day baked into the float – however we made certain the entire regimen doesn’t take greater than 45 mins. It’s dense however no longer onerous.

We’ve counted at the day by day regimen to spice up our retention and advert perspectives, and yeah – it’s already operating. Each retention and advert perspectives are up through a couple of p.c. R1-R3 lifted through about 3%, and later days are seeing even higher effects. Now not unhealthy for the beginning.

However the greatest win? The house base and day by day targets gave us a rock-solid basis. A transparent construction to construct new options on most sensible of.

From Idle… to Idle RPG

As we mentioned previous – the core participant base spent maximum in their time buying and selling and upgrading stations, infrequently touching fight. However we in reality sought after to shift that stability and diversify the revel in with out turning gamers off or blowing up the float. That’s how we got here up with “save a personality”.

Right here’s the way it works: there’s a unique improve tab in buying and selling ranges. That’s the place you fortify items to earn more money and buff characters in order that they paintings higher.

It used to simply say “rent a personality”. Now, there’s additionally a venture – “save a personality”. It performs out like this: your personality’s been snatched through a bandit or a zombie – and also you’ve gotta get them again. Till you do, growth is frozen. No upgrades, no new source of revenue. You wish to have to continue to grow? You’ve were given to struggle.

This rescue venture turns right into a full-on boss combat in a chosen location. Bosses have energy signs, and in the event you’ve been skipping fight upgrades to head industry? Just right success.

However right here’s the kicker: those bosses put on top class equipment, in most cases from long run units – it’s mainly a reside show off of stuff the participant can sooner or later earn. It’s a sneaky, efficient little bit of set advertising and marketing that may be folded into the reside ops calendar. We’ll get to that during a 2nd.

Now, we’d in reality had a complete universe and lore for Idle Outpost mapped out in medical doctors for ages, however slightly any of it made it into the sport. This gave us a option to in any case get started the use of it. Every boss is constructed across the lore – they’ve all were given their very own backstories, and every of the nineteen places has its personal boss and henchmen.

There also are 3 super-rare elite bosses. Whilst you beat them, they don’t die – they get away, putting in long run encounters. Feels kinda old-school in one of the best ways.

First, you struggle off the henchmen, after which the boss presentations up close to the top of the zone to complete the process individually – flexing the good equipment, in fact. That equipment? Coming quickly to a reside ops occasion close to you.

If a chairman is just too sturdy for you, there is not any disgrace in backing out. Head again to house base, clutch some shovels, improve your loadout, and are available again more potent. After the hot updates, not anything’s gonna come simple in the event you don’t strengthen up as a warrior, no longer even buying and selling.

We additionally added a small experiment: right through boss fights, gamers can watch an advert to select one in every of 3 buffs. The gamers, total, dug it. We controlled to layer the techniques in some way the place they don’t conflict, they strengthen every different.

Whilst you’re buying and selling, you’re laser-focused on station upgrades. Whilst you’re on a venture, it’s all in regards to the struggle.

So, what else is cooking?

Subsequent up, we’re hanging in combination a right kind reside ops calendar, one who lays out what’s going to occur within the sport over the following 100 days. When the occasions get started, what you get out of them, what varieties of bonuses to be expecting – the whole thing will probably be spelled out upfront.

Our hope is that with a transparent calendar, gamers will keep extra engaged, and we’ll be capable to plan content material – and earnings – extra hopefully.

Presently, we’ve were given Rush occasions and same old LTEs working, however we’re additionally beginning to crew them into higher themed occasions. We in reality examined this over the New 12 months with a mega-event that mixed Rush and LTE into something. It did nice.

So now, we’re having a look to make the ones varieties of occasions a typical factor – with unique units as rewards that you’ll be able to’t get any place else.

We’ve additionally utterly overhauled the sector. Now it has obviously outlined time home windows for seasons, remodeled ratings, and as a substitute of servers, we’ve divided the entire thing into struggle zones.

We tightened up the stability and enviornment price tag distribution – in order that freshmen have a reason why to leap in, and seasoned gamers nonetheless get a excellent problem. Plus, the sector’s not a separate module, it’s a part of the “Missions” tab, proper along all of the fight stuff.

The PvE segment below “Missions” additionally were given a glow-up. Now you struggle zombies in a subway atmosphere – assume Neo vs. agent Smith vibes. You get 3 fights an afternoon, and two additional in the event you watch an advert.

The larger imaginative and prescient this is to step by step amplify the Missions tab right into a complete ecosystem of combat modes. Make it one of the vital anchors of the sport, no longer only a facet gig.

Talking of recent modes – the primary one is already within the works. We’re taking our most well liked ingenious and turning it right into a Tower Protection mode. Consider hordes of zombies charging your base whilst you cling them off with a squad of heroes. Now not only one hero – a number of directly.

This exams a host of containers. First, it pushes us deeper into RPG territory – lively fight the place your possible choices in reality topic, not like the Enviornment mode. 2nd, it offers gamers a reason why to assemble extra characters. It’s more or less like construction a mini-CCG on most sensible of the core sport. Extra intensity, extra monetisation attainable.

Seems like the experiment is operating

So, what did we finally end up with?

First off, we remodeled the UI and presented the house base. That’s now the participant’s major hub – all of the day by day, acquainted stuff lives there. The rest gameplay-related – whether or not it’s buying and selling or combating – lives within the “Pass to Paintings” and “Missions” tabs.

The speculation used to be to softly nudge the sport within the path we would have liked: extra intensity, extra selection. However with out breaking what already labored. And, up to now, we expect we controlled to drag it off. The sport now looks like an actual RPG – you wish to have to complete it, you’ve gotta improve, equipment up, turn out to be a beast.

On the core, this entire gadget is a springboard – a framework that we will be able to use to layer in additional gameplay intensity, evolve our meta, and expand smarter monetisation paths. It’s a base we will be able to in reality construct on.