Mini Challenge #3

Fruit Ninja 2

• Appointed Mechanics

Short-term 

Slicing as many fruits as possible and gathering better blades and dojo’s through gameplay as well as purchasing them.

Medium-term

Collect avatars and power ups through watering your garden as well as through daily and seasonal quests.

Long-term 

Progressing through the levels of the game to eventually become the Fruit Ninja champion in the player-versus-player gameplay as well as upgrading blades and power ups.

• Specific challenges and victory conditions

As players navigate the game and get better at slicing, they need to avoid hitting bombs among the fruit while amining not to miss special fruit which gives them power-ups.

During multiplayer mode, players must only slice what is outlined for them not their opponents in order to win.

Power Ups can sawy the game victory towards you which can either be achieved or bought.

• Do these short, medium, and long-term goals successfully keep players engaged and motivated to progress, play and spend money?

Yes! I think what makes Fruit Ninja 2 special is the wide variety offered within the game. From achieving quests that motivate players to come back daily/seasonally, watering the garden that offers special power-ups, and achieving diffrent avatars and blades to play with. The game also gives the option of playing on your own or in multiplayer mode, which is either randomly selected or players could chose to play with their friends. The game continues to be successful since 2015 because of this variety in the game and its updates. I think players would spend money in order to upgrade their weapons and improve their compose while facing opponents. They could also spend money on the game’s currency in order to chose their avatar which can heighten the players attachment to the game and their character.

Super Mario Run

• Appointed Mechanics

Short-term

Steer mario across the level and passed the flagpole collecting as many coins as possible.

Medium-term

Complete the games modes that include World Tour which unlocks World ★, Kingdom Builder, Toad Rally, Remix 10.

Long-term

Grow the mushroom kingdom, save princess Peach and play with friends.

• Specific challenges and victory conditions

To pass a level three coins (black, pink, purple) need to be collected, in order to do so players can use collectible bubbles to go back when missing the coins it however chips away from their time.

Players need to pass the level within a certain amount of time while collecting as many coins as possible.

In order to survive death, if bubbles are available they could be used as an extra life.

• Do these short, medium, and long-term goals successfully keep players engaged and motivated to progress, play and spend money?

Super Mario Run is the upgraded version of the classic game which I think is it’s main asset. The game has different modes to complete with each featuring diffrent courses to get through. Building on the Mushroom kingdom and collecting the diffrent characters also adds to its likability. A great motivator in the game includes the bubbles, timer which allows more time but also the ability to play and challenge your friends. The payment model of the game however is probably the downfall of Super Mario Run, where players need to purchase the game after a brief trial which received negative feedback. I personally see the value in the one time purchase model when it comes to a game that I see myself playing for years. However games that include in app purchases are able to be much more financially successful which I attest to players feeling less pressured into paying and feel as if  it’s more of a choice on the player’s side.

Sonic Dash

• Appointed Mechanics

Short-term

Collect as many rings as possible while surviving your run across the diffrent levels in Sonic Dash.

Medium-term

Collect power ups and beat enemies while using Sonic’s homing attack.

Long-term

Unlock all the Zones as well as collecting all the characters in the game.

• Specific challenges and victory conditions

A second collision or hitting a barrier ends the game therefore they need to be dodged.

Using power ups for more challenging levels in order to run further.

Badniks, also known as Eggman’s robots need to be defeated in the levels through jumping on them, spin dash or rolling.

• Do these short, medium, and long-term goals successfully keep players engaged and motivated to progress, play and spend money?

I think that the goals all together do keep players engaged and motivated. Being that the game is free to play, in app purchases do exist but are not needed in order to play the game. The game also has features such as power ups such as golden badnik and spring bonus. As well as mechanics such as Dash and Battle adding to the variety within the game. Sonic Dash also currently features 7 zones, each having their own character that unlocks with the zone. The game also has 8 free characters along with other special character obtained without red star rings as well as others which can be purchased. Scores can be compared with other player creating a community of the game’s players.

Cover image source