Design Proposal & State of the Game
● ● ● Chosen Game: Monopoly GO! (MGO!) Design Proposal: Enhance the event system by introducing album permanence, a way to complete prior albums, and resource crafting. ○ For players: More meaningful long-term goals, less feeling of loss at event end, and more variety and choice in play. ○ For business: Reduction in dice roll inflation, new monetization vectors, and longer event loops that sustain engagement. Context: In MGO!, the event progression is centered around collecting stickers in albums. Currently: ○ Albums and their stickers disappear at the end of the event, with stickers converted into dice rolls (the core input currency.) ○ Event rewards are mostly dice rolls, soft currency, and sticker packs (which are converted into dice rolls), plus minor cosmetics. ○ Events function as passive meters, filling when landing on certain spaces (e.g. Railroads) or playing mini-games powered by energy from specific spaces or timers. ● ● ○ Min-max players’ strategies are to NOT play the game until there are certain high-ROI events (they get back more dice rolls than they use). ○ High-level players have stockpiled 100k+ dice rolls without spending. Assumed State of the Game: While Scopely’s metrics aren’t public, revenue appears strong but declining (partly due to reduced ad spend). Based on my own extensive playthrough (I’m Level 504) and community feedback (Reddit and Facebook sticker trading groups), the current system creates: ○ Loss of collections post-event → player dropoff. ○ Dice roll inflation → reduced LTV. ○ Sticker pack inflation → more duplicates, reinforcing inflation and lowering retention/monetization. ○ Predictable grind → declining event engagement. Proposed Solution: Address the above issues by deepening the event system and enabling players to retain and complete past albums. ○ Event System Improvements ■ Current events are overly passive. Introducing player choice in resource collection and crafting adds variety, monetization opportunities, and replayability. ■ Choice Mechanics: ● Hidden Resources on Old Boards (Priority): Players spend dice rolls to uncover resources only found on their completed boards. ● Chase Mechanic: Players choose a friend to “chase”. Catching them grants one of two event resources. ● Betting on Spaces: players wager on landing spots they will land on (e.g. Railroads vs. Chance) to earn the chosen resource. ■ Economy & Social Loops: ● Resource imbalances (e.g. too many snorkels, not enough pool noodles) can be monetized through targeted promos. ● Resources could be tradable via social gifting, boosting retention. ● Short crafting trees require combining resources into higher-tier ones, creating clearer short-term goals and disguised grind. ● Certain events could have chance-based rewards, further disguising grind and encouraging spending to complete a crafting recipe. ○ Album Permanence: ■ All event albums remain viewable post-event, even for events not participated in. ■ Past-event stickers, if stored in save data, are also visible. ■ Stickers are no longer destroyed at the event end. Instead, players still receive the equivalent dice rolls to maintain expectations. ○ Completing Prior Albums ■ Introduce Legacy Packs for each past album, obtainable via special events or purchase. ■ Legacy events could award these packs, with resource crafting systems extending the effort required to complete them. ■ This creates a long-term collection goal and acts as a dice/sticker sink, increasing retention and monetization. Validation of Feature Success & Metrics to Track ● Success of this design would be measured through increased event engagement, healthier dice economy metrics, and improved retention. KPIs: ○ Event Participation: ■ Higher %DAU/MAU logging in during events, especially among high dice wallet players. ■ Lift in sessions and rolls/day. ■ Active days per event should increase ■ Track album/event interactions per DAU. “View album”, “Craft Resource”, and “Open Legacy Pack” should be used to confirm feature works, is surfaced, and is engaging. ○ Retention: Lower churn post-events, and higher D30/60/90 retention (due to long-term content goals). ○ Economy Health: ■ Reduction in duplicate stickers per album ■ Decrease in high dice wallet balances and dice income among top deciles, with bottom deciles mostly unaffected ■ Track resource earning rates and drop rates to ensure players know how to farm resources. ○ Monetization: ■ Conversion, ARPU increases due to spend in bundles, dice rolls. ■ Track spend on crafting loop to see if relative resource scarcity is driving conversion. ○ Album Engagement: ■ Large %DAU interacting with prior albums ■ High prior album completion rates. ■ Gifts sent/received per DAU: should increase with more albums. ● High-level: we track and optimize each of the above metrics to ensure the improvements from previous event system. Spenders should face a tighter dice roll economy that makes them spend more (higher ARPPU) while the overall player base has more items to spend on and a tighter economy (driving higher conversion). Those should lead to a clear lift in overall ARPU. Risks, Considerations, and Tradeoffs ● ● ● Casual Players Dislike Complexity ○ Risk: Adding choice and crafting could alienate players accustomed to simple, passive play. ○ Mitigation Plan: Maintain passive completion for core event goals, active choices are optional for greater rewards. Loss of “Gambling” Sensation for High-Engagement Players ○ Risk: Some players see sticker packs purely as a means to earn dice rolls. ○ Mitigation Plan: Already planned to keep end of event dice cap at 750 dice rolls. Spending on legacy albums is optional. Community Backlash ● ○ Risk: MGO! has a very vocal fanbase that notice and may resist economy changes. ○ Mitigation Plan: Focus test changes, engage community leaders to get feedback, and communicate before rollout. Features could be rolled out separately if needed. Collection Overwhelm ○ Risk: Displaying all albums could intimidate completionist players. ○ Mitigation Plan: Sort completed/active albums to the top, hide unstarted ones by default, omit overall completion %, and give new players some legacy packs so they can catch up. QUESTION 3: Imagine you are in the concepting phase for a new F2P mobile game in the mid-core space. Propose and evaluate the sub-genre you would like to enter. Assume there are no major internal factors impacting this decision (e.g., existing tech, genre expertise/talent, funding) ● What is your rationale for tackling this sub-genre? ● Who is the target audience? ● What are the primary player motivations and how do we satisfy them? ● Please state your objectives and any assumptions you have made ANSWER 3: Chosen Sub-Genre & References ● ● ● Sub-Genre: Roguelike Survivor (a.k.a. “Bullet Heaven”) Example References: Survivor.io, Vampire Survivors, Halls of Torment Summary: Roguelike survivors are a proven sub-genre with strong monetization potential and thematic flexibility, yet it is still early in its design evolution on mobile. There are untapped opportunities in co-op, depth of equipment synergies, and live ops that make it a strong choice for a new F2P mobile game.