Michail Katkoff and Adam Telfer's GDC 2019 presentation on Idle Miner Tycoon and Brawl Stars.

1. Deconstructor of Fun:
Breaking down Top Mobile Games
Adam Telfer
Director of Product
WB Games
Michail Katkoff
Head of Studio
Rovio

2. Idle Miner Tycoon:
Is Idle ready for the big time?

9. Weak tail retention...
Niche audience…

10. 2016 2018

11. Why Resurgence?
Mass Market Narrative Simulation
1 2 3

13. Low Cost
Low CPI
Long Tail
Innovation
“Blue” Ocean

14. Started by Students
No Funding
60 days to build

15. 2 Idle Games
~$45M for 2018
~60-65% Ad Revenue
~$200K+/day
https://www.gruenderszene.de/business/kolibri-
games-berlin-wachstum

16. What is Idle Miner?
3 Reasons:
#1
#2
#3

17. What is Idle Miner?
3 Reasons:
#1
#2
#3

18. 1
2 3
1.Buy/Upgrade new mine
shaft
2.Upgrade Elevator
3.Upgrade Collectors
Repeat!

22. “[Prestiging is] an essential part of Idle games, and it’s
something we have in Idle Miner Tycoon, but it’s not
something that we’re pushing players into doing. “

23. Repetitive Core
Prestige Resets
No Bad State

24. Day 1:
75 %
est. Day 7: 38%
est. Day 30: 18%

25. How did they do it?

26. What is Idle Miner?
3 Reasons:
#1
#2
#3

27. What is Idle Miner?
3 Reasons:
#1 Scalability
#2
#3

28. Scalability:
What Happens to your Game Loop as you expand it over time?

30. Scaling & Retention:
● Blockages obvious
● Upgrades are visible

31. “The best examples of the idle genre are built around a strong sense of
progression...
but they lack both a visual component and a strong incentive for users to
keep playing for longer periods.”

32. Visual Feedback

35. Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Interactions Required / Session

36. While mine gets (infinitely) larger,
typically only the bottom few
actually matter, making this
manageable

37. When Scale Goes Wrong?

39. 1
2
3
1.Bring Resources to Stations
2.Convert Resources to Thing
3.Sell Things to Market
Repeat!

40. 3 Vectors! everything is great!
Scale the number of Stations!

41. Crafting Trees!

44. Not to say we should be
afraid of complexity…

45. #2 Scalability
Visual Feedback &
Complexity
that Scales!

46. What is Idle Miner?
3 Reasons:
#1 Scalability
#2
#3

47. What is Idle Miner?
3 Reasons:
#1 Scalability
#2 Marketability
#3

48. Broadly Appealing Games have the
lowest CPI.

52. Low CPI doesn’t mean Broader Audience
Double Down on your Audience
Don’t Underestimate the Impact of Art Style

53. #2 Marketability
CPI was far lower than
competitors

54. What is Idle Miner?
3 Reasons:
#1 Scalability
#2 Marketability
#3

55. What is Idle Miner?
3 Reasons:
#1 Scalability
#2 Marketability
#3 Live Operations

57. October 2017

59. Expeditions!
● Longer Timers (Come Back
Mechanics)
● Improve Power with Friends
(Social Mechanic)
Good... but tacked on.

60. Event Mines!
● Start Fresh
● Race to complete (Time Limit)
● Earn Valuable Rewards
Great!

61. Events!

62. Outputs are not valuable...
● Rewards are easy to get
elsewhere
● Badges are not valuable

63. Mature Live Ops!

64. Rewards aren’t needed
Systems don’t challenge your Collection

65. Great! but plenty of room to grow...

66. #3 Live Operations
Implemented a basic
events framework to
drive revenue

67. What is Idle Miner?
3 Reasons:
#1 Scalability
#2 Marketability
#3 Live Operations

68. Is Idle ready
for the Big Time?

70. Has Idle Peaked?
Does Idle only appeal to a niche?

73. Idle 2019:
Big enough for Small & Mid-Tier
Too risky for big players

74. The Opportunity is there…
Who will seize it?

75. Thank You!

77. “What the H____ Happened?”

78. Why did succeed?
&
What should we learn?

80. 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0
Hmm... oh oh... Houston, we have
a problme...
wait a second...

86. $160M $70M

88. ● Brawl Stars had been in
development for years
● No new games since
March of 2016
● Revenues on a steady
decline
● Player preferences
shifting radically towards
Battle Roayle

89. Why did succeed?
&
What should we learn?

91. 1.0
June 2017

92. Shooters MOBA’s

96. 600,000
installs
in June

99. 1. Controls

100. 2. Progression System

101. 3. Lack of Gameplay Depth

102. 4. Theme

103. 5. Art Style

104. 2.0
Septemebr 2017

105. 1.Unique Star Power for every Brawler
2.Special Events
3.New UI
4.Game Room Improvements
5....and a whole new meta-game

108. 3.0
December 2017

109. 1.New Controls
2....and a new metagame

112. A. The game became more zoomed out distancing players from their brawlers”
B. Brawlers with longer range couldn’t see their targets
C. The game started to look even more unpolished and the Brawlers appeared to move slower
vertically.
D. Flanking got harder making the game less strategic
E. controls in landscape favored right-handed players
F. The auto-attack helps new players by limiting the skill element. This pisses off the old players.
G. Forced players to relearn how to play the game.

114. 4.0
May 2018

115. ● Two new Brawlers
● Tag-Team mode for Showdown (survivor) mode
● Heist 2.0 mode
● Spectate mode and Friends system
● Improved Trophy Leagues
● Economy change,
○ not forced to play different Events anymore.
○ Star Key reward for getting your first win in every Event
● Auto-aim nerf
● Ad monetization

120. 5.0

122. Why did succeed?
&
What should we learn?

123. Hard Work & Determination

124. 1# Leverage Influencers

125. 2# Build a Community

126. #3 Soft Launch in Different Countries

127. #4 Launch BIG

128. #4 Launch BIG

129. #4 Launch BIG

130. Tank Raid
Crazyshoot Wild League
Tiny Heroes – Magic Clash
Blast Royale Super Cats
#4 Launch BIG

131. #5 Flip the Business Case
LTV
Retention
Monetisation
K-factor
CPI
Marketability
Competitors
CTR
IPM

133. Don’t mess with

138. Deconstructor of Fun:
Breaking down Top Mobile Games
Adam Telfer
Director of Product
WB Games
Michail Katkoff
Head of Studio
Rovio