Royal Match: The Secret Event

I’m a big fan of Royal Match, especially their LiveOps and Feature system so I couldn’t miss their latest event. However, I have mixed feelings about it:

• as a Player – I absolutely love it.
• as a Producer – I was surprised by this NEW feature. Are you curious to know WHY? Let’s dive into it below.

NEW Event ‘Super Duke’

A/B-testing

We’ll dive into this Event in more detail soon, but before that, I want to share with you some interesting information:

• First, I got access to this Feature at the start of August. However, by the end of the month, they had Turned it off.
• Additionally, not all Players had this Feature. For example, my friends didn’t have it. Discussions in the Facebook fan group revealed that only a few players could try it (more on that later).

This leads us to assume it was part of an A/B-test. Only a specific group of players had this Feature. Dream Games has either turned it off for everyone or plans to rebalance or modify it.

Feature Rules

The Feature is simple yet effective and meaningful. I personally love these kinds of events because sometimes Game Designers tend to overcomplicate their features. But not in this case

Here are the main principles:

• This is a permanent Feature; isn’t a LiveOps
• The player must WIN 5 levels to fill the progress bar.
• Once the bar is complete, a unique ability is activated: if the player runs out of moves at the end of a level, the ‘Super Duke’ will step in and grant +3 extra moves.
• If the player Wins the level → they will keep the ability for future use
• If the player Loses the level → they lose the ability, and the progress bar resets to zero.
• Important: If the player Loses the level BUT spends coins for Revive and  Wins afterward → there’s no need to refill the progress bar — the ability will be saved.

What was the likely motivation behind this event, and what goals did it aim to achieve? 

Here are my thoughts:

1. Introduce and test the “Buddy” mechanic: The event likely aimed to introduce players to a “Buddy” system through Duke, a familiar and branded character. The Super Duke mechanic could simplify Core Gameplay and make a noticeable impact. This could be the first step in a larger experiment to develop a deeper system of “Buddies” for players.
2. Increase player loyalty: The event was likely designed to boost Retention and Engagement. When players face frequent losses, having a feature like Super Duke to assist them and help them overcome challenges – can feel like a valuable gift, making the game even more addictive. It boosts players’ emotional connection to the game, making them want to keep playing.
3. Increase the Loss Aversion effect: Loss aversion is the idea that people are more motivated to avoid losses than to seek gains – the pain of losing is stronger than the pleasure of winning. In Royal Match, several features already exist where players can lose progression and benefits if they fail a level.
   1. Super Duke is another ‘helper’ feature, which players can lose if they fail. This motivates them even more to avoid losing, reinforcing their commitment to the game. As a Result – this Feature may improve the Monetization and increase the currency sink on the ‘Revive-point’ (one of the best points, if we talk about a typical Match-3 game).

So, now we know the Advantages. Let’s discuss the risks and what makes me so surprised, when I saw this Feature.

How Super Duke Shook Up My Expectations: The Hidden Risks Behind the Event

As someone with experience implementing significant changes to the economy of large projects, I understand just how challenging and risky such modifications can be, especially to the Game Economy from a feature like this.

Now, let’s delve into the 1st scenario – what if Dream Games didn’t adjust their Level Balance when releasing the ‘Super Duke’? This could potentially have a HUGE impact on the Game Economy. Why?

1. It would make the game easier: The Event provides players with +3 extra moves (with such a small challenge to achieve this Benefit). To compare, when players lose the Level and buy a Revive – they will have +5 Moves. So, with Super Duke, players get over 50% of the revive bonus without spending currency.
2. It could ruin the ‘FUUUU-factor’ (near-miss effect): One of the ‘Golden rules’ of level design is to create a situation where the player almost wins the Level but needs 1-2 more moves to finish. This near-miss effect is a crucial monetization driver, encouraging players to purchase. Providing the extra moves for free through Super Duke could diminish this critical revenue opportunity.

Because of this, I see significant risks for the game’s Economy and Monetization.

💡 However, from my own experience, I’ve seen cases where similar changes worked without negatively impacting the economy. This happened when the game’s default economy was overly harsh, and events like this helped balance it out. However, the economy in Royal Match doesn’t seem complicated enough to require such adjustments

But let’s discuss the 2nd scenario—what if Dream Games rebalanced the levels specifically for this Event? That is an example: ‘When we add something, we need to cut something away.’ 

P.S. I hope players won’t read this! 😄

My hypothetical guess is that they might have reduced some levels’ default number of moves to compensate for the Super Duke bonus. Since players don’t know the exact number of moves a level originally has, they wouldn’t notice the adjustment.

• To avoid making it too obvious, some levels could see a reduction of just 1-2 moves.
• To maintain balance at the exact moment, they might cut 3-5 moves in some levels, making certain paywalls even more challenging.

🤔 And you know what? That might be exactly what they did. I started losing levels more frequently, and even though I had plenty of boosters, I continued using them occasionally. So, I’m leaving open the possibility that this might be a case of confirmation bias.

And now for the last scenario. The 3rd scenario is similar to the second one, but with a twist: in this case, they may have first decided to rebalance their levels, making them more challenging. Then, to offset the increased difficulty, they introduced the Super Duke event as a form of compensation.

In Conclusion

• The feature is incredibly appealing and player-oriented.
• I’m confident that if this Event was introduced in a NEW project, it would likely be a HIT feature.
• Integrating it into an existing project has potential, but finding the right balance is crucial—and that’s not an easy task. Dream Games, I wish you the best of luck in mastering this challenge!

Bonus

Let’s look at the Player’s reactions on FB and Reddit.

Players are Thrilled! As a player, I was excited about the feature, too.