Playdom/Disney Interactive: Wild Ones
See current game: Wild Ones
Led hands on UI/UX re-design of Playdom's Facebook game Wild Ones in 3 months time which resulted in +44% DAU's (from 415k to 596k DAU's) and +33% MAU's (from 3 million to 4 million MAU's) plus record game revenues with no ad spend at a time when most games on Facebook were in decline due to Facebook's changes in notifications and requests, which eliminated a significant amount of free advertising enjoyed by social gaming applications. Facebook's changes had a very negative impact on most of the other major social gaming companies driving large losses in Monthly Active Users (MAUs) in May of 2010. Playdom only dipped -0.4 in MAUs partially due to Wild Ones' growth.
Two years later it is still one of Playdom's top three games
Originally the game only offered a "last man standing play mode" we found users were dropping off. We also saw users establishing teams via the chat yelling out "TEAM!" at the beginning of the game. So we decided to add a points based respawn mode, a team mode, and private rooms to meet your friends in and play to increase social game play.
Before the redesign, the game was deemed too hard-core for average Facebook players, so I simplified the shooting mechanic by combining it with a power indicator, an angle indicator and a targeting device all controlled just by pointing the mouse at the intended target. We also removed the in game environmental Wind physics.
The original game only allowed players to carry in 7 weapons. I talked with players via the chat and found them getting frustrated by other players that had better weapons. As a result, I added a mid-game weapons selector that enabled users to purchase weapons in between turns, escalate the arms race, and retaliate. We filled the store with 50+ new weapons that covered a variety of price points to reach all users. (My favorites were the spider bombs, beehive and glue guns.)
To increase monetization we added memberships that enabled players to level up faster, contained member only items, gave them bonus experience points, and enabled them to buy LE items with coins.
Redesign of final game screen to include a winners podium leaderboard with players actual avatars. It showcases the players game statistics, how they could have earned more coins and XP with membership, and a CTA incentivize them to sign up.
All Wild Ones artwork is Copyright © 2008-2013 Playdom, Inc., ©Disney Interactive. All rights reserved.
