Kill 'Em With Charm - Luring Players with Gratification

If you are familiar with my previous post when I shared a few insights on what makes the hyper-casuals click, you’d remember how I fantasized about something called Gratification in almost every paragraph. It’s not a bad thing to fantasize about if you are a Game Designer or someone who loves crafting engaging experiences.

You’d wonder what took me so long? Good question. But you know, I have a life (just kidding, I don’t). On a serious note, I’ve wanted to pen down my thoughts but preparing Possessions for Apple Arcade kept me occupied.

But here it is, a post dedicated entirely to Gratification and why I feel it’s one of the most essential ingredients for a recipe we call “fun”. As a matter of fact, the game in conversation is the first mobile game which made me spend close to $500 on in-app purchases, I do declare, all thanks to the pleasant experience crafted with care and polish.

 

Ready? Let’s go!

Now, because I haven’t been able to spend enough time on my consoles or PC since last few months, I’ve been playing a lot of mobile games. Some good, some very good. The idea about exploring gratification and how to tackle it came to me when I got hooked to a game called Nonstop Knight 2, a sequel to the hit, you guessed it, Nonstop Knight, by Flaregames. It’s a top-down dungeon crawler in which the character runs and attacks automatically, while the player controls his special abilities. As you explore and raid dungeons, you gain access to new and improved equipment which improves your power in the game. A simple loop, right?

 

 

Don’t get fooled by its simple core loop, this game has layers of depth built into it in terms of gameplay and meta. For those who haven’t played the game, allow me to explain a few key aspects of it.

It all starts elegantly without any lengthy onboarding or tutorials. As soon as you boot the game, you see a good-looking Knight with the option to customize his look and nickname. Hit the “OK” button, and you see the Knight running around in a dungeon on a pre-defined path. The auto-running Knight is soon welcomed by two enemies. You see the Knight killing those weaklings in a couple of hits. Once you are done digging their graves, a big blue button pops at the bottom, and the game pauses for your input. You tap the button and see the Knight deliver a terrifying blow. That’s how you learn about your only interaction in the game. Don’t get me started on how satisfying it feels when you hit the enemies, watch them explode in a chunk of shards with a minimal screen-shake to go with it. We will, of course, come back to all of this later.

 

<iframe title="Embedded content" src="https://gfycat.com/ifr/FastAnxiousIcterinewarbler" height="591px" width="100%" data-testid="iframe" loading="lazy" scrolling="auto"></iframe>

 

Once you are done with a dungeon, you win a chest which rewards you with new and powerful gear, and the game teaches you how to equip them. That’s one good example of getting your player in the game with the least amount of tutorial and get them playing asap!

As you learn about the gameplay and equipping items, the ‘tutorial’ ends with inviting you to explore more dungeons and get powerful. Who’d possibly refuse this offer?

Tell me more!

Alright, before we dive deep into the elements which contribute towards the gratification, you need to understand the core gameplay and meta. I, for one, adore the design decisions taken to make sure NK2 attracts a much wider audience, being a soft-core dungeon-crawler it is.

 

The core

As mentioned earlier, NK2 is a top-down dungeon crawler with a few twists to make it work efficiently on a mobile device. The character attacks automatically, and the player’s only interactive responsibility is his special abilities. Abilities include dealing a severe blow, setting things on fire, dashing away/towards the enemy, to name a few. Of course, using these abilities at the right time is what keeps you going, especially while raiding a hard dungeon where you can’t rely on your auto-attacks to do all the work for you. And not to forget, you can’t spam your way through the dungeon with your abilities since it costs mana and you don’t have an unlimited supply.

This is what I believe is one of the most crucial and well-thought design decisions the developers made. Considering the platform’s shortcomings, the game offers a sweet relationship between an idle game and an RPG. By cutting down the interaction, it enables the game to be enjoyed anywhere, holding the phone with a hand or two. Part of the credit goes to the portrait orientation, which makes it easier for the player to handle the game. And to make sure the player is well-invested in each session, the use of special abilities subtly promotes player’s participation while empowering him to feel like a vital piece in the machinery.

 

The progression

You don’t run and kill without a substantial purpose in the game, of course. The game has a robust progression system which complements the core mechanic very well.

At the time of writing, there are a total of (9) Worlds in the game, with each world having multiple dungeons, and dungeons further divided into floors (sub-dungeons). Moreover, dungeons frequently come equipped with modifiers to stir things up. For example, one of the dungeons in World 8 has a modifier “Paranormal” which allows the enemies to have accelerated mana regeneration, making them use abilities more often. And you’d be happy to know that each world can be completed in three difficulties in the search for better rewards, promoting replayability.
To complete a World, you have to fight through different enemies in each dungeon. Completing a dungeon rewards you with Chests and XP. To open a Chest, you need to have enough ‘Keys’, which is the game’s way of using the energy system for pacing the progression. You can still play the dungeons if you run out of Keys (which auto-generate in regular intervals). Again, you won’t get any Chests after completing it, just some coins, gear-upgrade ingredients and XP.

As you find and equip gear, you enhance your ‘Power Rating‘ which tells you how ‘powerful’ your character is, and tells you if a dungeon is easy or hard depending upon the difficulty of the dungeon which is also conveyed via the Power Rating. So to play a dungeon with 100 difficulty, it’s best to have your Knight’s Power Rating to be 100 or above.

How do you increase your Power Rating? You see, each gear you find comes with a Power Rating as well, and the gear you currently have equipped to your character contributes towards your total Power Rating. This makes you spend most of your time in search of powerful gear. However, you can be even more “powerful” by equipping passive (Talents) and active abilities (Skills). Remember the only interaction you have in the game? That’s what Skills are.

Skills are active abilities which cost mana.

Talents help you in the background.

To summarize, the game will have you raid dungeons to find powerful gear which makes you unstoppable against the enemies, until you encounter someone more powerful, forcing you to repeat the loop to relive your profound memories.

 

(something about) The Meta

This is where things get interesting. You’d think that NK2 is too simple to grab your attention for a long time, but you’d be surprised to know how wrong you are. Although the game flaunts a simple core loop, you’d notice that it’s neatly supported by a strong meta. Let me try and cast some light on it before we move on to the major attraction of this post.

So far, we’ve learned two salient facts about this game:

At this point, I’d like to mention that these two facts alone are enough to drive engagement for most of the users, but for those who are fond of licking the game inside-out, NK2 offers a little something to satisfy your desires.

Each weapon comes equipped with one of the Elements (or modifiers) namely: