Farm Heroes Saga

PUZZLE REPORT Competitive Research and Actionable Product Recommendations TABLE OF CONTENTS

REVENUE DRIVERS 3 RPG-Style Quest Event Treasure Hunt in Gardenscapes Product Insights Pet Mini-Game Event 1-2-3 Grow! in Farm Heroes Saga

TRENDS 11 Quest Event Investment Puzzle Event Releases SEPTEMBER Quest Events by App Gardenscapes Event Releases

LEVEL DESIGN 16 New Level Designs MARKET WATCH 19 2020 Soft-Launch & Breakout Apps Notable Releases

APPENDIX 24 Gardenscapes Release Schedule Farm Heroes Saga Release Schedule L&G Puzzle Personas Puzzle Product Council Premium Partnerships Puzzle Mechanics Taxonomy REVENUE DRIVERS

Product data, research, and recommendations for revenue-driving releases

3 PUZZLE > EVENTS > QUESTS RPG-Style Quest Event Treasure Hunt in Gardenscapes

4 REVENUE ANALYSIS

Gardenscapes' revenue was +21% and downloads were +17% 12Do12D after the release of Treasure Hunt. Revenue growth maintained after the end of the event and was likely driven in part by a large download boost from being featured on the App Store. See the Appendix for a full release schedule.

Gardenscapes

$600K Revenue Downloads 36K Treasure Hunt $500K 30K

$400K 24K

$300K 18K Daily Revenue

$200K 12K Daily Downloads

$100K 6K

5/27/20 6/10/20 6/24/20 7/8/20 7/22/20 8/5/20 8/19/20 12Do12D = 12 days over 12 days 5 Graph data is iOS U.S. only. FEATURE TEARDOWN

Players complete RPG-style quests to hunt for treasure in an explorable 1 event area. Details • Core game levels award energy (1 and video). • Additional energy can be purchased with primary currency (2). • Energy allows players to clear obstacles, collect items, and open chests in a new explorable area (3 and 4). • Unexplored areas are covered in fog. • Players interact with characters and objects to progress in RPG-style quests (5). • Quests include exploration and collection objectives (6 and video). 2 3 • Completed quests fill a meter. • Filling the meter finishes the chapter and awards a chest (7). Additional Information • See the Treasure Hunt library for more images and videos.

4 5 6 7

6 Liquid & Grit now interviews players to bolster our reports with qualitative insights. This week, we talked to three PRODUCT INSIGHTS Gardenscapes players who spend $10–20 per month.

Exploration and simple story choices appeal to RPG players. 1 The Chloe Casual RPG player persona enjoys match-3 gameplay and custom design mechanics, making her an ideal target for Gardenscapes.1 Chloe Casual players, and RPG players in general, also like exploring and making meaningful decisions that impact stories. Player-driven stories don't need to be overly complicated—one study found that while visible consequences are essential, players don't expect to radically alter final outcomes.2 Consider offering simple choices like which character to help or which path to take to overcome an obstacle. For example, a branching story in Epic Seven's Bittersweet Dessert Festival advances based on players' dialogue selections (1). Surprise rewards create delight, which can increase purchases and loyalty. In addition to quests' reward chests, Treasure Hunt hides surprise chests around the map. Research shows that the delight created by pleasurable surprises makes customers more likely to repurchase, more likely to tell friends, and less likely to switch brands.3 2 One player we interviewed cited the hidden chests as the kind of "nice surprise" and "unexpected dynamic" that makes her prefer Gardenscapes to similar apps.4 Another agreed that it was "really exciting finally clearing the fog and finding the chest."5 However, Treasure Hunt may have missed an opportunity by using chests for both quests and surprises, as greater reward variety has been found to boost immersion, enjoyment, and effort.6 We recommend using distinct aesthetics for each type of reward. Memorable final rewards ensure that players leave feeling good. Players evaluate experiences based on their peak intensity and final moments, a phenomenon known as the peak-end rule.7 Treasure Hunt's chapters all end with a chest, but there is not much to distinguish the final chapter. A more exciting finale, like an exclusive decoration or profile cosmetic, may lead to greater long-term satisfaction. All players we talked to expressed a strong preference for these types of rewards: "The boosters are only a temporary thing. [Permanent decorations are] a reminder of the event and how much work you put into it.”8 Quest events that end in permanent unlocks are proven revenue drivers in puzzle apps. Angry Birds Dream Blast's Journey to Eagle Island awarded an exclusive avatar and led to a +20% WoW revenue increase (2). Rachel's Quest in Candy Crush Friends Saga, which increased revenue +24% WoW, unlocked a new character.

1 Liquid & Grit RPG Personas Report, p. 19 5 Subject B; age 25 male, $10–15/month spend, 10–15 hrs/week playtime 2 Keys to Successful Interactive Storytelling: A Study of the Booming "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure" Video Game Industry, p. 31–32 6 Greater Rewards in Videogames Lead to More Presence, Enjoyment and Effort 3 Consumer delight and outrage: scale development and validation, p. 692–695 7 Evaluation by Moments: Past and Future, p. 6 7 4 Subject A; age 30 female, $15–20/month spend, 5–10 hrs/week playtime 8 Subject A ($15–20/month) PUZZLE > EVENTS > MINI-GAMES Pet Mini-Game Event 1-2-3 Grow! in Farm Heroes Saga

8 REVENUE ANALYSIS

Farm Heroes Saga's revenue was +16% 5Do5D and +13% WoW during the two most recent releases of 1-2-3 Grow! See the Appendix for a full release schedule.

Farm Heroes Saga

$100K Revenue Downloads 4K

1-2-3 Grow!

$75K 3K

$50K 2K Daily Revenue Daily Downloads

$25K 1K

5/28/20 6/11/20 6/25/20 7/9/20 7/23/20 8/6/20 8/20/20 5Do5D = 5 days over 5 days; WoW = Week over week 9 Graph data is iOS U.S. only. FEATURE TEARDOWN 1

Levels award water and sun tokens that players use to grow a pet plant.

Details • Players plant a mystery seed packet to start growing a plant (1). • Levels award water and sun tokens. • Spending water or sun fills the plant's meter (2 and video). • Filling the meter grows the plant and awards a prize (3 and 4). 2 3 • Completing all five meters awards the grand prize (5).

Faces with "baby schema"—large eyes, high foreheads, and small mouths—are perceived as cuter and make players want to take care of them.9

Additional Information • See the 1-2-3 Grow! library for more images and videos. 4 5 Other Pet Features • Hatchlings and Pet Boosts in Angry Birds 2 (+17% revenue WoW) • Prize Dragon in Caesars Slots (+26% revenue MoM) • Candy Pet in Candy Crush Saga • Dragons of Westeros in Game of Thrones Slots • Evolving Dragons in Caesars Slots

9 Baby Schema in Infant Faces Induces Cuteness Perception and Motivation for Caretaking in Adults, “Results" 10 NEW INNOVATIONSTRENDS

Investment trends for event and feature releases

Tracked puzzle apps: Angry Birds 2, Best Fiends, Bubble Witch 3 Saga, Candy Crush Jelly Saga, Candy Crush Saga, Candy Crush Soda Saga, Cookie Jam, Disney Emoji Blitz, Farm Heroes Saga, Fishdom, Gardenscapes, Gummy Drop!, Home Design Makeover, Homescapes, June's Journey, Lily's Garden, Lost Island: Blast Adventure, Matchington Mansion, Panda Pop!, Pet Rescue Saga, Solitaire Grand Harvest, Solitaire TriPeaks, Toon Blast, Toy Blast, and Wizard of Oz Magic Match

11 QUEST EVENTS PLATEAU

After steadily increasing since Q2'19, quest event releases among tracked puzzle apps appear to have leveled off in 2020.

Quest Event Investment

Number of Releases 4

Q1'19 Q2'19 Q3'19 Q4'19 Q1'20 Q2'20 12 QUEST EVENTS ARE RELATIVELY UNCOMMON

Tracked puzzle apps released 13 quest events in the past three months, tying with challenges for the fifth most popular event type. Puzzle event investments are somewhat top-heavy: The four most common event types made up 67% of releases.

Puzzle Event Releases (Past 3 Months)

16 Number of Releases 8 Clubs Banks Levels Quests Notices Rewards Missions Purchases Collections Challenges Mini-Games Accelerators Competitions Custom Design 13 TWO APPS DOMINATE QUEST EVENTS

Gummy Drop and Farm Heroes Saga accounted for 78% of all quest events released by tracked apps in the past year.

Quest Events by App (Past 12 Months)

Gummy Drop

Farm Heroes Saga

Bubble Witch 3 Saga

Angry Birds 2

Candy Crush Saga

Gardenscapes

Lost Island: Blast Adventure

Panda Pop

Solitaire Grand Harvest

5 10 15 20 25

Number of Releases 14 G most heavily inaccelerator, customdesign, andcollectionevents. Treasure Huntwas Number of Releases ARDENSCAPES 1 2 3 4 5

Accelerators Gardenscapes

Custom Design ELEASES ' onlyquesteventinthepastthree months. Gardenscapes V Collections ERY F Event Releases (Past 3Months) EW

Challenges Q UEST E

Levels VENTS Gardenscapes

Missions invested

Quests 15 LEVEL DESIGN NEW INNOVATIONS New characters, obstacles, boosts, and level requirements

16 NEW LEVEL DESIGNS I

Card Soldier Edward — Best Fiends 1 2 3 • This alternate version of Edward is unlocked by completing the Painting Roses event (1). • Card Soldier Edward adds a permanent +50 attack boost. Sailor Bob — Best Fiends • This alternate version of Bob is unlocked by completing the Liberty Regatta event (2). • Sailor Bob adds a permanent +50 attack boost. Viking Vincent — Best Fiends • This alternate version of Vincent is unlocked by completing the Thor's Hammer event (3). • Viking Vincent adds a permanent +50 attack boost. Troll — Bubble Witch 3 Saga • Trolls add random bubbles to the board each turn (4 and video). 4 5 • Trolls are cleared by hitting them with bubbles or making them fall. Licorice Fence — Candy Crush Saga • Unclearable licorice walls block the effects of special pieces (5 and video).

17 NEW LEVEL DESIGNS II

Hydras — Disney Emoji Blitz 1 2 • Hydras are cleared by boosts. • Uncleared hydras decrease a health meter (1 and video). • The level ends when the health meter is depleted. Lily — Fishdom • Lilies have up to three layers. • Each boost or adjacent match clears one layer. • Layers reappear following any move that does not clear a layer. • Layers stop reappearing when only one layer remains. • Clearing all layers clears the lily. 3 Box with Bottles — Fishdom • Boxes contain bottles with scrolls inside. • Three adjacent matches or boosts open boxes to reveal bottles. • Two more adjacent matches or boosts clear bottles to collect scrolls. Planters — Gardenscapes • Colored flowers bloom one at a time. • Adjacent same-colored matches clear flowers (2 and video). • After a flower is cleared, a new flower blooms. Steam — Homescapes • Steam covers pieces on the board (3). • Two adjacent matches or boosts clear steam.

18 MARKET WATCH

New apps and notable releases from established competitors

19 SOFT-LAUNCH APP 1 2

Farmscapes by Playrix App Details • Collapse-3 levels award horseshoes. • Players spend horseshoes to decorate a farm (1 and 2). • Decorations fill a meter to complete a "day" for a prize (3). • Level goals include collecting, uncovering, removing, and moving special pieces (4 and 5). • A bank feature has minimum and maximum collection amounts (6). 3 4 Launch Information • Soft-launched on 8/11/20 in the UK, Canada, and Australia • Average daily revenue (7 days): $4 • Average daily downloads (7 days): 33 • View Farmscapes on the App Store

5 6

20 BREAKOUT APPS

Match 3D by Loop Games 1 2 App Details • Players match 3D objects to clear timed levels (1). • Levels award stars with multipliers based on completion time. • Players can watch rewarded ads at the end of levels for an additional multiplier (2). • A $2.99 IAP removes ads from the bottom of levels. • Players are ranked on global, national, team, and friend leaderboards. Launch Information • Released worldwide on 5/6/20 • 72nd highest-grossing puzzle app as of 8/1/20 • Average daily U.S. revenue (90 days): $3,925 • Average daily U.S. downloads (90 days): 17,945 • View Match 3D on the App Store

Sinful Puzzle by Whee Games 3 4 App Details • Players complete match-3 levels to build relationships with demonesses in a lite dating sim (3). • Stories progress through players' conversation choices. • Features include three tiers of challenges, upgradeable game pieces, and unlockable adventures (4). • Demonesses have customizable outfits, items that boost coin rewards, and collectible photos. Launch Information • Released worldwide on 1/18/20 • 90th highest-grossing puzzle app as of 8/1/20 • Average daily U.S. revenue (90 days): $2,690 • Average daily U.S. downloads (90 days): 984 • View Sinful Puzzle on the App Store 21 1 NOTABLE RELEASES I

App Library Description

• A troll on the game map pushes players back when they lose a level. 2 Bubble Witch 3 Meet the Troll • During levels, troll pieces add random bubbles to the board each turn (1 and video). Saga quest event • Trolls are cleared by hitting them with bubbles or making them fall.

Candy Crush Quests • Players complete challenges for rewards. Soda Saga • challenge feature A button lets players skip challenges (2). 3

Play with Friends • Players earn increasing rewards for inviting friends to the app. Gardenscapes interaction • Invited players must reach level 7 for inviters to receive rewards (3). feature

Austin's Bad Homescapes Dream • Players remove obstacles to clear a path for a cart in an action mini-game (4 and video). mini-game event

22 1 NOTABLE RELEASES II

App Library Description

Daily Bonus • Daily login rewards culminate in a larger reward on the seventh day. Homescapes Update • Beginning with this update, daily logins also fill a meter for additional rewards at milestones (1 2 bonus feature and video).

Lost Island: Blast Knowledge Base • A settings menu contains an FAQ, payment info, and troubleshooting (2). Adventure profile feature

Solitaire Grand Watch to Earn • Optional video ads double a bonus or award extra pick'em picks (3). Harvest bonus feature

• Matches and boosts reduce a counter on a token. Wizard of Oz Carnival Games • Reducing the counter to zero awards a pick'em bonus (4). 4 Magic Match challenge event • Players must complete the level to win the pick'em prize (video).

Quickly review all features and events

Filter the Library Tool by month and year to see all new releases.

23 APPENDIX

24 GARDENSCAPES RELEASE SCHEDULE

Releases

7/30–8/8: Magic Hats challenge event 8/10: $0.99 Garden Kit IAP moved to #10 (NPR) 8/3–8/10: Disco Season mission event 8/10–8/12: Electric Show competition event 8/6–8/8: Fireworks Festival competition event 8/10–8/12: Treasure Hound challenge event 8/6–8/17: Treasure Hunt quest event 8/12: $4.99 Golden Ticket IAP moved to #10 (NPR) 8/7: $0.99 Handful of Coins IAP moved +1 to #1 8/13–8/15: Bumper Crop competition event 8/7–8/8: Disco Sale purchase event 8/13–8/16: Magic Hats challenge event 8/7–8/9: Team Chest club event 8/14–8/16: Gardeners' League club event 8/7–8/12: Orangery Flower level event 8/14–8/16: Prize Fair collection event 8/8–8/10: Adventurer's Luck accelerator event *NPR = Not previously ranked

Gardenscapes

$600K Revenue Downloads 36K Treasure Hunt $500K 30K

$400K 24K

$300K 18K

Daily Revenue $200K 12K Daily Downloads

$100K 6K

5/27/20 6/10/20 6/24/20 7/8/20 7/22/20 8/5/20 8/19/20 Graph data is iOS U.S. only. 25 FARM HEROES SAGA RELEASE SCHEDULE

Releases 8/10–8/14: 1-2-3 Grow! mini-game event • 7/6–7/12: Previous release 8/10–8/14: Treasure Chase level event 8/12–8/14: Farm Challenges challenge event 8/12–8/14: Harvest Rush competition event 8/13–8/14: Booster Trail challenge event

Farm Heroes Saga

$100K Revenue Downloads 4K

1-2-3 Grow!

$75K 3K

$50K 2K Daily Revenue Daily Downloads $25K 1K

5/28/20 6/11/20 6/25/20 7/9/20 7/23/20 8/6/20 8/20/20 Graph data is iOS U.S. only. 26 L&G PUZZLE PERSONAS

Survey data from 1,513 puzzle players produced five personas with distinct motivations: Gamer Gary, Escapist Emily, Trainer Tracy, Challenger Chris, and Casual Carol. Table: Player personas by demographics, monetization, engagement, and motivational buckets Input Gamer Gary Escapist Emily Trainer Tracy Challenger Chris Casual Carol Demographics Size (N) 24% 15% 22% 18% 21% Female (%) 53% 68% 73% 59% 66% Age (mean) 35 36 42 40 34 Monetization Propensity to spend across all platforms 15.0 7.0 4.8 7.0 4.3 Propensity to spend on F2P games 1.8 1.1 0.7 0.6 0.7 Engagement Weekly play hours 6.6 7.4 7.6 7.8 6.7 Puzzle motivation 3.1 2.9 2.6 2.7 2.4 Motivational Buckets Engrossment 0.7 -0.3 -0.2 -0.2 -0.2

Escape 0.0 0.6 -0.3 -0.1 -0.1

Utility -0.2 -0.3 0.7 0.0 -0.3

Challenge -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.7 -0.3

Boredom -0.3 0.0 -0.2 -0.3 0.9

27 PUZZLE PRODUCT COUNCIL

To boost our insights, Liquid & Grit gathers recommendations and intelligence from industry-leading product experts.

Helen Grabarchuk Florian Steinhoff Florian Ziegler

Co-Founder and COO of PuzzleMove Inc. Mobile F2P Consultant Consultant in Mobile Gaming LinkedIn Profile LinkedIn Profile LinkedIn Profile

Helen is a level design expert. At PuzzleMove Inc., Florian has built and led teams that created top- After over a decade of making games, Florian now Helen develops new puzzle products for different grossing mobile casual games. advises game studios and companies on improving platforms, focusing on mobile devices. their game products through his own consultancy, For the last 10 years, he has overseen game projects Lava Lake Games Consulting. Helen spent over two years at Zynga as a puzzle during all phases—research, concept, prototyping, content creator. pitching, pre-production, production, and live-ops. Before launching his own consultancy, Florian worked at Electronic Arts on flagship titles, such as After Zynga, Helen created concepts, puzzles, His most successful title is Jelly Splash, which Need for Speed: No Limits. He also spent time at testing, and puzzle content for dozens of iOS and reached a monthly player base of +30M. King as a principal designer. Kindle apps. To find out more, check out his GDC talk on casual At Mind Candy, he was the lead game designer on puzzle games, difficulty curves, and the importance titles that include the mobile hit World of Warriors. of randomness here. This gained Apple's Editor's Choice Award and scaled the charts to the No. 1 game position in most major markets.

28 PREMIUM PARTNERSHIPS

Liquid & Grit partners with these premier market research and analytics companies to infuse our reports with the most relevant and detailed gaming user personas, data, and statistics available.

Quadrant Strategies Kinrate Analytics Sensor Tower Market Research Player Personas Mobile App Store Intelligence Quadrant Strategies Kinrate Analytics Sensor Tower Quadrant Strategies is a market research Kinrate Analytics offers game developers, Sensor Tower is relied upon by financial analysts, consultancy that uses research to help the world's consultants, publishers, and cloud gaming VCs, and publishers who need to leverage data to most prominent technology, gaming, and operators the best cross-platform game identify the fastest-growing apps, emerging entertainment companies develop strategies for recommendation engine for targeted marketing, as markets, and more. building their user base, increasing user well as a novel profiling-as-a-service solution for Clients harness Sensor Tower's suite of app engagement and spend, and strengthening their intelligent market segmentation and social intelligence tools to: marketing and brand plans. networking. ‣ Evaluate app economies and app vitality. We do that using a range of quantitative and Other services include advanced market prediction ‣ Drive organic growth with the leading App Store qualitative methodologies, including gamer analyses for identifying emergent gaming trends Optimization platform. segmentation and persona development, feature and access to unique AI-enhanced data of 140 ‣ Get the best global download and revenue testing, message creation, and loyalty and thousand game titles and 48 million game players. estimates for the App Store and Google Play. engagement modeling. The work of our senior The products of Kinrate Analytics have been ‣ Discover top creatives and better shape user leadership goes back many years, and includes developed in university-led research projects in acquisition strategy. long-term engagements for console and gaming- collaboration with economists, psychologists, game PC hardware-makers, individual games in a range scholars, and data scientists. of genres, and across consoles, PCs, and mobile, and for some of the top game franchises.

29 PUZZLE MECHANICS TAXONOMY

Family Definition Family Definition

Accelerators Increases in the power, impact, or efficiency of play Hazards Level elements/blockers that increase difficulty

Banks Features that save a % of spend to be unlocked later Interactions Social features with direct or indirect interaction

Bonuses Free bonuses given to players (e.g., retention or W2E) Leaderboards Stand-alone leaderboards

Challenges Goal-oriented tasks for players to complete Levels Anything to do with leveling

Clubs Groups that accomplish goals or compete with other groups Mini-Games Smaller, shorter games within games (e.g., scratch cards)

Missions Linear sets of tasks that players must accomplish Collections Sets of items that players collect (often for a completion prize)

Notices Feature or product announcements Competitions Features where players compete against other players

Other Miscellaneous features and outliers Cosmetics Improvements or updates to the app or features

Profiles Features related to a player's settings, profile, and controls Currencies Changes to currencies, economies, stores, and items

Purchases Anything to do with purchases Custom Design Options for cosmetic customization

Quests Tasks that advance players along a map-like feature Expansions Additional rooms, worlds, play modes, VIP lounges, etc.

Flows Specific flows, like the NUX, ratings, and surveys Rewards Rewards players receive for engagement or spend

30 "You keep pitching. Most of the pitches run wild. A few are caught." — Joseph Barbera

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