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Asia 2017Video Coverage

Leonard Frankel: How to Bring Clan Systems Into Your Game

September 17, 2017 — by Catherine Quinton

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What is it about clan systems that is so intriguing? They are becoming more and more popular and have now been introduced in nontraditional genres. The racing genre has becoming especially engaging as this opportunity for social interaction has become a part of the experience. Leonard Frankel, as Co-Founder and CEO of ClanPlay, a messaging app that sychronizes with the chat inside games, is in a unique position to understand why and how clan systems really matter.

Prior to Clanplay Leonard was Vice President of Business Development at Plarium, a leading mobile strategy game developer. At Casual Connect Asia, Leonard used the clan systems in CSR 2 and Real Racing to demonstrate the key aspects of setting up a strong clan system in any game. Then he used these principles to set up an imaginary system for the arcade racing game Asphalt. To learn more about this exciting way to incorporate social interaction into a game, be sure to watch the video of Leonard’s session at Casual Connect.

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To see more about Leonard’s career and views, including his presentation from Casual Connect Europe 2017, see this article.

Europe 2017Video Coverage

Leonard Frankel: The Future of Game Clans | Casual Connect Video

June 2, 2017 — by David Radd

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A clan system really is a 'turbo button' for game design. - Leonard FrankelClick To Tweet

In a talk at Casual Connect Europe entitled Guide to Clans: Setting Up a Strong Clan System in Simulation Games, co-founder and CEO of ClanPlay Leonard Frankel highlighted how to design a clan system for simulation games like celebrity life, farming and city builders. In this session, Leonard reviewed existing systems as a way to understand the adaptations developers need to make to give casual players significant social interaction. Clan system design begins with, “The five pillars of clanship (which) are: communication, collaboration, rewards, benefits and competition”, explained Leonard. To learn more, be sure to tune in to the full session below.

Exclusive InterviewsIndie

Planet of the Apps: Winning With a Circle Sweep

March 31, 2017 — by David Radd

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Circle Sweep is a mobile puzzle game from developer Planet of the Apps. While mobile puzzle games is a popular genre, the developer feels like they have an original spin that people will enjoy.

“Planet of the Apps is a small studio and we love doing games,” said Ben Engel-Kacen, Planet of the Apps Founder and CEO. “Our strength and passion had always been innovating new gameplay mechanics. We have released over 30 different games and with each we did our best to create an original gameplay mechanic which we enjoy playing ourselves.”

“At one point, we saw that the matching puzzle genre is a very popular one but with very little innovation. Everyone just keeps copying the same mechanics, and sometimes even art style, from the leading games, making all games feel the same,” added Ben. “We felt the time is right for a fresh game mechanic, and that if we’ll manage to hit the right one, we may even win a large percentage of the players.”

Tel Aviv 2016Video Coverage

Eitan Reisel on How Google Can Help Developers Grow | Casual Connect Video

March 24, 2017 — by Catherine Quinton

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85% of app revenue has been from games. By 2020, that's a $75 billion ecosystem! - Eitan ReiselClick To Tweet

Data is key for better targeting, as you need to know who to monetize, Google Israel’s Head of Gaming Eitan Reisel suggests, and warns: small companies need to make careful decisions when addressing monetization issues, and it’s better to be cautious about what platform will suit you best. Solution? Break down the game to different stages along the funnel to maximize targeting and insights. They explain more in their Casual Connect Tel Aviv talk. 

Tel Aviv 2016Video Coverage

Mark Shovman and the Sci-Fi Feel of Designing for AR | Casual Connect Video

March 20, 2017 — by Catherine Quinton

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An AR gamer is a mix of a gamer and an athlete. - Mark ShovmanClick To Tweet

Right now it’s safe to say that Virtual Reality (VR) is redefining gaming like no other force out there. On the other hand though Augmented Reality (AR) is due to arrive in 5 - 10 years, so how will gaming change when it’s here? What new games and new breeds of gamers can we expect? Pokemon Go is the first little glimpse of that future according to Mark Shovman, who explains more in their Casual Connect Tel Aviv session,

Europe 2017Video Coverage

Guy Hasson and the Math Behind the Success of Social Slots | Casual Connect Video

March 19, 2017 — by Catherine Quinton

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Guy Hasson is Social Gaming Consultant of Old Man Productions, specializing in game popularity

What makes a social slots game attractive to users? What are the factors that increase the chances of succeeding in this genre? Can the profitability of the game be improved? If these are questions that are important to your business, you can’t do better than to listen to advice from Guy Hasson, social gaming consultant of Old Man Productions.

While working at Playtech, Guy learned everything there is to know about how to create a good slot game. At Playtika their emphasis was on analyzing how to create the most popular games. And as a consultant, Guy can show you the important factors that can help a slots game succeed. You can discover how to tremendously improve the average revenue per user, to increase the time the user will spend on machine and to boost the number of coins the user will bet, all important measures of the game’s success. At Casual Connect Europe, Guy’s session demonstrated the mathematical model that can lead to these results. One point that Guy emphasized was “Rate of Exhaustion (ROE) represents the game experience, RTP doesn’t. If you leave here today with one thing: RTP doesn’t matter. RTP is passé.” To learn more, watch this video of the full session.

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For more about Guy Hasson, see this exclusive article.

Tel Aviv 2016Video Coverage

Omer Kaplan on the Best Practices for the Mobile Market in Asia | Casual Connect Video

March 18, 2017 — by Catherine Quinton

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Omer Kaplan, CMO and co-founder of ironSource.

No one knows better than Omer Kaplan that Asia is now surpassing the West as today’s mobile epicenter. Omer is CMO and co-founder of ironSource and brings to his work experience in media buying for clients that include mobile publishers, game developers, retailers and major global brands. Omer was director of media at AfterDownload when it was acquired by ironSource in 2013 and uses this extensive experience to mentor early stage startups.

In Omer’s session at Casual Connect Tel Aviv, How is Asia Changing the Mobile Landscape?, Omer delved deeply into Asia’s growing global position and how that will influence advertisers and publishers in the future. As the mobile ecology evolves it is essential to shift focus and learn the best practices to take advantage of the changes. As he described, “Even if you are thinking you are localizing the product and you’re thinking you have the right people and you’ve translated everything, you need to be a ‘China-In’ or have the right Chinese partner to understand how to really reach and connect with Chinese users.”

To learn more about how to adopt the best practices for this market, be sure to watch the complete video of Omer’s session below.

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More about Omer in this article.

Tel Aviv 2016Video Coverage

Shlomo Freund: The Challenge of Apps in China | Casual Connect Video

March 12, 2017 — by David Radd

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No Google - no payments. How do you buy an app, how do you make money? - Shlomo FreundClick To Tweet

Shlomo Freund is the founder of AppInChina. They work on the company’s general strategy and marketing focus, in addition to general product management. Shlomo’s favorite thing about the job is the constant challenge it presents.

“What’s the latest change in the market? How do we sell better? What else can we offer our clients to launch them to the next level?” mused Shlomo. “These are questions that come up every day.”

ContributionsPR & Marketing

TROPHiT Opens Up Facebook Offers for Mobile Game Giveaways

March 7, 2017 — by Sagi Mann from TROPHiT

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Facebook Offers Are No Longer Just for Brands

Value-Driven Marketing (VDM) has been part of retail for decades, however, as explored in my Gaming VDM intro, the road to its adaptation by mobile gaming has been challenging yet insightful.

In that context, Facebook Offers is a great tool to effectively target people with valuable offers. Back in 2015, convincing a mobile game publisher to use Facebook Offers as any other traditional marketing channel has proven somewhat challenging, and for a good reason they said: Facebook Offers are for brands, aren’t they? Naturally, as no industry standard existed to turn game virtual items into marketable offers (oh, and in-house attempts to do so have been too basic or too scarce), so how could any mobile game publisher consider Facebook Offers seriously as a valid channel? There was literally no accumulated marketing skills to even build a solid plan. We felt we had to pick up that glove.

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