In other words, the game has aged very well and is still attractive to new players. The fact that we have cutting-edge graphics is great because it serves as a user acquisition tool over a long period. How do you strike the balance between maintaining appeal for older titles like Dead Trigger 2 while attempting to grow an audience for newer releases such as Unkilled? I think we have managed just that and the testament to that is that we still have a strong player base in Dead Trigger 2 even three years after launch. We always want to achieve a state where we are not some distant corporation that makes games based on their analytics, but instead to be there for the players, listen to them and make games tailored to their needs. Marek RabasĪll that supported by social media and forums where the community can interact with each other - and with the devs, as well. We listen to players and make games tailored to their needs. We are not some distant corporation making games based on analytics. Intraconnected leaderboards with world chat, weekly and seasonal events, and so on. We have put a lot of effort into creating a fun environment for players to be in. How have you gone about ensuring that Dead Trigger 2 maintains a sizeable and active player base long after its launch? Now, everyone can find something they fancy. So we added IAPs on both sides of the spectrum. We soon realised however, that we need to add more to satisfy the needs of many different player types. We first introduced IAPs that were focused on the major bulk of our players. The whole F2P model is a constant development process. For sure we made mistakes in the past, but we are in a constant learning and enhancement process with Dead Trigger 2. Players loved it! We could then focus on bringing more weapons into the game which is something the community always appreciates.Īs one of Madfinger's earlier free-to-play efforts, has the monetisation in Dead Trigger 2 evolved at all?
That’s why we have come up with Weekly Tournaments and an Arena with global leaderboards. We tried to introduce updates that are fun for the player and serve as a solid retention tool for us. How have significant updates been responded to by players? The players must know that we are constantly improving a game where they have spent a considerable amount of time and money.Įven though it is a three-year-old game and we now focus more on our upcoming project, Shadowgun Legends, we have small dedicated teams focused on bringing new content to our older games. Not only does it help the player in case of technical issues, but the customer support collects feedback from the community and based on that feedback, we decide where to go from there in the upcoming updates. The players must know that we are constantly improving a game where they have spent time and money.
We approach all our games as player-driven and that’s why customer support has become incredibly important. How important do you consider customer support and updates to be? What has been your approach to this? That is why we have managed to automate the process to run the live ops for the entire game with a small team of people. We still consider ourselves as indie studio and therefore we try to be as effective as possible. How big is the team currently handling live ops on Dead Trigger 2? It took some hard work but today I am happy with the result. The other part of the success was gradual fine-tuning of what we offered the player and the introduction of more and more retention mechanics. Most of the success was achieved because the game was something mobile players have never experienced at the time: console quality graphics, smooth controls, reluctance to go pay-to-win and so on. Even after three years it remains our most successful game to date. Marek Rabas: Dead Trigger 2 was a game changer for us and the game still remains Madfinger's favourite. With Dead Trigger 2 now more than three years old, how do you reflect on its performance - from launch to the mature title it is now? In this entry, we speak to Madfinger Games CEO Marek Rabas about the 2013 first-person shooter Dead Trigger 2. In an attempt to find out, this regular feature will talk to the developers behind maturing live games about their experience so far. has long been investigating the Making Of notable games soon after their launch, but what happens long after a game is released? These are games-as-a-service that require constant operation and updating, often over a period of several years. These aren't boxed products released onto shop shelves, never to be worked on again. It's often said in the world of free-to-play development that launching a game is the beginning, not the end.