Improving Freemium Design – Knight Storm

Editor’s Note: We’re excited to welcome Ben  from NativeX, sharing his experiences and expertise in the gaming industry!

Ok, I love medieval and renaissance themed entertainment. So, when I came across Knight Storm in the app store you bet I downloaded the game! I’ve been playing for a few weeks now and think some aspects of the game are really well done. However, like all games, I think there’s some room for improvement as well.

What they did right:

Graphics

Knight Storm looks amazing. Upon launch, my character rode his horse out of the castle, the title appeared and then the horse stood up in front of an amazing looking castle… I was ready for an epic adventure! The horses look realistic and animate beautifully. I was pretty amazed and remembered that MunkyFun is also the developer of My Horse, so it made sense, but it doesn’t discredit their ability to make beautiful graphics. 

Also, unhorsing my opponent feels very satisfying due to the visuals. I love the slow motion camera, the lance exploding into splinters and watching your opponent flip end over end off his horse.

Blending game mechanics

I’m a big fan of breaking up tedious tasks or a single style of game mechanic with various other mechanics. In Knight Storm players not only joust and battle, but they also have a Castle that acts like a home base that generates coins, experience, and potions for the player. One can also upgrade their equipment and get more sigils from the castle.

Humorous dialog

I am the minority of players that actually read the in game text, but I enjoyed the bits of humor that the developers threw in. Instead of using “next” or “ok” buttons, there are more humorous options.

They also wrote the dialog options as if coming from their character’s thoughts.

There were a couple parts where I actually laughed out loud. Unfortunately, I forgot to grab screenshots during those moments.

Upgrading makes you feel badass

When I upgrade a piece of armor or weaponry it really changes! You might not think this is a big deal, but so many games just change the color or give the equipment a better stat. I want to SEE the different item as well as the upgraded stats. Players need visual changes in order for them to feel like anything has even changed. Some games can get away with minor changes on smaller upgrades, but if you’re asking someone to pay premium currency then that item/equipment/weapon better look visually awesome!

Look at beginning gear, some middle of the road equipment and then what end game equipment looks like.

Adding a chance mechanic to battles

I like the addition of sigils to combat. It’s basically a game of rock, paper, scissors for bonus damage. It adds an element of chance to the battle without completely screwing the player if they don’t make the right decision. 

I always advise developers to have an element of chance in their games if it’s going to be a more casual game or if they want mass market appeal. Some people love strategy, but even more love an element of chance. Take board games for example. Settlers of Catan has been one of the best selling modern board games. My wife doesn’t like to play me in competitive strategy games and doesn’t even enjoy medieval/renaissance themed games, but will play Catan with me because no matter how well I strategize: the dice can make or break a game. It is one of the most brilliant chance/strategy combinations.

Multiplayer

What could be improved:

Balancing potions

As you can see from the screenshot below I have over 300 of each potion. I could play for hours with that many potions. Now I realize why there are potions and I think it’s great to allow players to create potions so they can continue to play, but I wouldn’t allow players to stockpile so many. There needs to be a better balance between potion creation and consumption.

Also, having this many health or stamina potions makes their “Potion of Revival” pointless. Why would I ever drop 5 gems on the “Potion of Revival” when I can just forfeit back to the map screen, drink a bunch of health/stamina potions and try again?

Lack of customization

I love that I have a castle, I love the armor and weapon models, but I just wish I could customize them! Having a little more control over what is happening in my castle would make me feel more attached to it. Same goes with my jouster. I would like to customize his armor, banner, color, something! I can upgrade him which is nice, but it would be awesome if I could design a crest for him or choose armor customization options from a predesigned list.

Repetitive and a little time consuming

I mentioned earlier that unhorsing your opponent feels satisfying, but after 10 jousting battles it becomes a little tedious and time consuming to have to watch all of the slow motion, body flailing and your character ride around in victory. I would appreciate at least a fast forward button.

Also during every joust battle, players need to move their lance to the left and down. It’s always to the left and down. It would’ve been nice to make the lance harder to aim to give battles more of a challenge. I have never missed or been outside of the red + sign during a joust. Perhaps the lance would bob up and down with your horse’s strides, maybe don’t have the game go into slow motion or perhaps your character’s aim gets better as you level?

Awards for glory points

Sigils with multiple attributes

I talked about the rock, paper, scissors aspect to battles as a nice addition, but players can also get sigils with two attributes. Then it gets confusing: which is considered the main and secondary? Is there even a main and secondary attribute? I’m not even sure. If sigils with multiple attributes are used in battle then I just have to wait for the game to tell me which wins, and I don’t have a concrete answer as to why. Players can also aim at two or three areas on an opponent with these sigils, but I don’t think it matters which target they choose. Does the head deal more damage than the shield or left arm? It would also be nice if certain areas took damage so players would try to target the same area repeatedly.

Knight Storm certainly piqued my interest when I saw it. Both in context and developer. It’s a great example of how games can look, and worth a play. I don’t know if the game has the ability for mass market penetration because of the theme, but a successful game doesn’t always need that. If they just tweak some of the monetization mechanics and increase the difficulty, then I think they’d could really boost their metrics. I look forward to seeing how they update on this one!