UX Review: Golfclash's swing to success!

Hold on! Then why I am still playing this game and, lo and behold, writing about it? Let's find out.

Sport simulation games have been a massively popular genre in video games industry since the early 70’s. Many of you must have grown up playing franchises like NBA, FIFA, Ashes, Madden NFL, NFS, Football Manager, Tiger Woods - PGA and many more sports titles across PC and consoles.

It’s no surprise that the top 10 - 50 grossing charts on mobile games also boast their share of sports simulation games.

Source : ThinkGaming 2/03/2018

Mobile space is dominated by many sport titans which are either tactical or strategy based. There is a plethora of choices from basketball, cricket, football manager, golf and tennis to car racing. Heavyweights that dominate the top grossing charts are Madden NFL, Golfclash, 8 Ball pool and CSR 2 (a spin off of the genre).

But it’s the most recent addition of “Golfclash” that has shaken up the scene and made this category more mobile friendly, enjoyable and popular than ever before.

Golfclash

Golfclash by Playdemic became an overnight success since its launch. It has rapidly climbed the UK app store top grossing charts and is now a permanent fixture in US top 50 grossing, surpassing even all time favorite 8 Ball Pool.

Core Gameplay Experience

Core loop involves player placing wagers in PvP turn based golf matches, earning trophies and timed chests, setting them to unlock for rewards - coins, gems and club shards. Clubs can be upgraded with coins. Earning trophies and leveling up opens subsequent tours with increasing wagers, more difficult golf courses and experienced opponents.

Sounds familiar? At first glance you will see a lot of similarities between Clash Royale and Golfclash as the latter borrows heavily from formers' free flowing menu design, chest unlocking mechanism, progression path and earning trophies to unlock the next Tour (Equivalent of Arena’s in Clash Royale). Apart from the core gameplay, Golfclash has simulated almost all mechanics from Clash Royale which is a big contrast to the many games that have tried to mimic clash Royale's MOBA type gameplay and failed (like Star Wars : Force Arena).

The mimicking choices are quite interesting; as though there are many ways Golfclash could have designed it’s progression, reward and menu features. But as I have written in an article earlier on Gamasutra, Clash Royale's menu and flow design are a great example of a game that falls within casual mid-core space with it's seamless transition from one tab to the other minimizing drill downs and wait times which is a refreshing experience compared to more prevalent lobby screens with multiple drill downs and load times flow in other games.

Golfclash, with it's easy to follow navigation, on boarding, inventory management and progression system, is a breeze for casual players to pick up. However with the depth offered within the progressive difficulty level arena, mastery of factors that influence core gameplay like course obstacles, gear acquisition and upgrades has high appeal to mid-core player who are looking for more depth and challenge.

Given the success of Clash Royale and its ease of use and UX merits, it makes sense to follow an existing popular mental model (in terms of experience, mechanics and progression flows) which has been such a hit with both casual and matured gamers.

However the comparisons end right here!

To it's full credit, Golfclash's core gameplay design stands out on it's own brilliantly in terms of accessibility, learnability and the right balance of handholding and mastery -