Story behind Temple Run and its success

Well in my last post I talked about Angry birds and its success and since I am talking about the most successful mobile games there is no way I can leave Temple Run out of it. The success of this game is a rather long one, this game was released in August 2011 and was initially available only for iOS at 0.99 dollars. Though the game gained a lot of positive reviews but it didn't get the kick the developers were hoping for until after they released the game as a free to download app. Within a week the number of downloads shot up , the developers then decided to keep the game free and earn their profits through the bonus content and power packs.
iTunes store included it in the top 50 most-downloaded apps in December 2011 and eventually it became the number one free iOS app surpassing Angry Birds. When the game reached 40 million downloads on iOS, the developers at Imangi released Temple Run for Android and within a week of its release the game already crossed its million downloads. Woah! now how did that happen? Lets first look at the game for a minute and see what all the fuss is about.

This game revolves around  a wandering explorer chosen and controlled by player. In the beginning scenes it is visualized that this explorer stole an idol from an ancient temple and immediately after acquiring this ancient artifact he is chased by demonic monkeys and must run for his life, thus initiating the Temple Run.
The main objective of this game is to run while being chased by scary looking monkeys who are out to avenge the stolen idol, this is done with the help of the multitouch mechanism of the game. The path laid out for the player is a narrow one filled with obstacles, player must use his cunning wits and sharp reflexes to maneuver through-out his way. The player has to swipe his finger left, right, up, down to tackle the obstacles and tilt the phone back and forth to collect the coins. Unlike Angry Birds, this game does not follow any concept of levels or stages, all the player has to do is run and collect as many coins as he can while running and dodging obstacles laid out in his way. There are still ways the player can die including being caught by the monkeys which make the game exciting as well as challenging.

But I guess anyone who has played this game at-least once would already know all that. Now about the part that very less people might know, this game was developed by Keith Shepherd and Natalia Luckyanova, a team of husband and wife and co-founders of Imangi studios. Before the Temple Run and Imangi this then single couple worked as a software developer at a healthcare company. Unlike any office love story those two hit it off and got married a couple years later and are living happily together. Since telling about their love story is not part of my blog i'll skip to the important part.

When Apple announced that the App store was going to be open for apps Keith realizing the potential opportunity quit his job to learn the iOS SDK(Software Development Kit for all the non geeks) and made his first project as a word game which earned him 5000 dollars in a month. After that his wife also realized the potential in the application development and started building games. Their next few projects Little Red Sled, Harbor Master and Max Adventure were not very popular but they somehow survived in the market. Although the last game Max Adventure didn't sell as much as they expected it gave Keith the idea of arranging the camera angle and the concept of coins. All that and they were set for a new game but some things were still missing like the environment the player will be running in and during that process the Windows pipeline screensaver came into their mind and soon the idea of making player running on a similar pattern followed its roots. Now the only thing left missing was what will the player run away from and to save the day Tchangov came up with the idea of evil monkeys and then the idea of the temple and explorer followed.

To sum it all up, the game was built on a series of creative imagination. As much as the chances of boring programmers working at a healthcare company having creativity for making a game as successful as Temple Run seem odd, the story does have some twists as the couple was quite the opposite working a job they were not made for. It is said that it takes one to know one so I would like to point out that both Keith and Natalia love video games; They have been playing video games since their childhood. During an interview Keith confessed that he asked Natalia out because she beat him in the Mario Kart. Keith always had an affection for games but had to join a company due to lack of career opportunities.


So now we know about the game and its developers, whats still unknown is how and why the game got so famous.

It can be described with two words; challenge and excitement  This game touches that hidden ambition inside the players mind and that is of being a treasure hunter. Now I know there is hardly anyone out there who has never imagined travelling far into distant unknown lands in search of an ancient relic and all the unforeseen adventure and riddles that awaits. The thrill and excitement of unknown dangers and the dream of recovering lost artifacts is not new to any of us. As the game begins the player is put into the shoes of the explorer who got his hand on a gold statue and now is being chased by the monkeys. The theme plays a vital role as it sends an impulse that puts the player straight into his treasure hunter mode and after running and dodging a couple easy obstacles the player gets lured into the temptation of unforeseen obstacles and adventure. This being the main reason behind its success is not the only one. Another reason for its success is the impact of power packs spread in the game each of which does something different boosting the morale of the player as well as his excitement level making him feel he has acquired a superpower. Since power boosters not a new concept and have been used in games since years it was not unique but when combined with the theme and the challenge level of the game it created wonders.

Another reason for the success of this game or any other game is the social circle. If I watch a friend playing a new game and he tells me how Awesome it is, I am sure I will try it and when I see his score and then mine, I am sure I or any other social animal will spend countless hours beating that score just so we can show off the next day. This is a very big and treacherous cycle and once pulled inside it, its hard to get out.




Now there is news that Temple Run 2 came out in mid-January'13 and cause such a havoc in the marketplace that there were an estimated 6 million downloads within 24 hours of the release and estimated 50 million downloads in 2 weeks breaking all the records of the online marketplace. If you are wondering how I can tell you the reason behind it. It is not that difficult to figure out once you think about it; Temple Run was a huge hit and the game is free. I don't think any person who has played temple run even once will skip the opportunity to check out the sequel to the record breaking game and I know as anxious human beings are, some of the people just downloaded the game just to see what changes did Imangi studios made in the sequel.

The gaming world is full of possibilities, if you know your audience and you know what they want then I doubt that success will be more than a mile away.   
                                                                                                                                          -Ani

Reason behind Angry Birds success

What addiction claims more young lives than any other, and may soon outnumber smokers and drug addicts?
Its the addiction with Angry Birds.
According to Rovio a simple game with a unique concept of birds fighting pigs with a catapult has been downloaded more than 500 Million times and has made Rovio a 1 Billion Dollar company.

I want to talk about what made this game so successful, i know that the market is unpredictable and people yearn for something new but how can an idea as simple as that can create such a chaos in the gaming industry and let alone completely redefine the mobile gaming industry? So after reading countless blogs on this subject and reading a complete case study (ah yes! there is a complete case study done by league of gamers and Psychologists) I found the results to be quite shocking just like the researchers.

Lets focus on the game for a second, This game involves employing a sling shot to catapult mean looking birds with bad attitude onto a house like structure made my glass woods and bricks sheltering the antagonist pigs who stole angry birds eggs.
I'd say creative but not enough to make a company built from scraps into a billion dollar company.
Maybe the reason for its success is that angry birds is portable, what i mean to say is a user can play whenever he wants, wherever he wants and even how long he wants to play it. The sole decision completely depends on the user but it should be applicable to each and every mobile game and trust me there are thousands out there, so why just a few of these games are so popular including angry birds?
Lets look into it from an average user's perspective and hope to find the result.

First of all, Angry Birds is as simple as it gets with a game. The basic concept behind the game is so easy to grasp that anyone and everyone no matter what their age or mental faculty can understand it within seconds. There is no need for words to explain, all you need is a couple of frames and you are all set. This takes minutes spent reading the how to play out of the equation.
Another thing I felt was the difficulty level in this game. The game is too easy, even chimps can play this game if they wanted to. So why make a game so easy? and more importantly why play a game so easy? There is no real skill involved just using angles for the attack and exploiting the ability of each bird. It is because of our brain and I quote "brain equates simplicity with ease". Big words but what they really mean is that you know that you should be able to beat the game.

There is a fine line between success and failure in Angry Birds. The difference between destroying all the pigs and scenery with the first bird, and leaving everything intact after three birds is a matter of adjusting the angles ever so slightly. Or even using the same angles but deploying a bird’s special ability at precisely the right moment.

Why is success/failure addictive? Because it keeps you playing, quite simply. Get it wrong once and you immediately want to try again, just tweaking the angle or point of delivery by a tiny increment in order to affect the outcome. And you’ll keep trying until you succeed, and move on to the next level.
I'll share my own thought process while playing the game "it looks easy and sounds easy why can't I beat the game? I should give it a try! (after playing once) oh I got two stars, maybe I should try doing something different in the next level. hah! I got 3 stars, maybe I should go back and try the same thing in the previous level. (After some time) Finally got 3 stars in the first two levels, I wonder if it gets any difficult in later levels, I think i should try the next levels too.....and there you go" Hopefully I proved my point right here.

Secondly, I found that 65% of the people who play angry birds are between 16-25 years of age, and they are the ones who create most impact on the success and failure of any game in the market so they are our target audience.
If we go into their psychology and yes it plays a very important role here,  almost 90% of males and 80% of females in our target audience feel sad or depressed or stressed at least once in a day. Something as easy going as Angry birds can well brighten the mood or simply distract the player. We all have our issues, goals, dreams and equal share of distress in our life.

Angry birds connect with every person in its own way but it does connect. It may be the ambition of winning at all costs, destroying evil, rescuing something they care for(in birds case, eggs). In any case for most individuals it is usually satisfaction. I hate to admit it but there is a certain level of satisfaction felt in playing Angry Birds. Launching a bird into a wall and seeing the death and destruction rain down as a result is compelling. Getting it just right and seeing the whole level implode in one hit often elicits a smile or even a laugh along with a devilish grin.
Why is satisfaction addictive? Because it makes you happy and when you are happy you release endorphin's into the system. It’s really no wonder you want, or even need to keep on playing to keep those feelings to keep rolling in. The more you play the more you laugh, the more you laugh, the more you feel a rush, the more of a rush you feel, the more you want to keep on playing!

Another thing building its success is the progression and gameplay. The levels are small, and player always feels that he's making progress. After each level he's immediately taken to the next, and after a while he's hooked and wont stop playing. At least not until you get well and truly stuck but even after you stop playing your mind will keep pondering how you were going so good and just one level got in your way and your thought process will be focused on that stage and how to beat it.
Why is progress addictive? Because you’re always working your way towards a conclusion. With modern video games it’s often hard to see any progress being made; the levels are long, and the markers are few and far between. Angry Birds rejects that concept completely and returns us to a time when games comprised of dozens of separate levels.

One last thing that I found was competition. I played angry birds first time and I stopped after a few levels. Next day I saw my friend playing the same game and he already beat the whole game like a pro. Now if he can do that why can't I? and now I'll keep playing it till i get it right so I can show off with my friend next day. And if during that process another friend unaware of such devilish vices saw me playing it...well there it goes again. That brings us to a question Why is competition addictive? Simple answer is because no one wants to be beaten, no matter how noncompetitive and non-combative they may be. You play a level and finish it fine, but you’re still only number two or number three in the pecking order. You need to play again, to up your score, to overtake whichever friends are beating you on Angry Birds.

So that was my complete case study on Angry Birds, yes I did spend a few hours studying the concepts of this game but I found them to be time well spent because now I know a little more about the psychology of the people
and what they expect from a game which can never be useless not if you want to make money off people's vices. :D

Best and Worst games

Due to lack of discussions and blogs about the best and the worst games I thought it would be nice to share my opinion on the subject. There might be some doubts regarding Assassins Creed series not being in the best games list as this list represents my opinion and not of any community or organization and i frankly would prefer gears of war 3 above assassins creed, it's not that the game is not good but it gets boring sometimes and that too is just my opinion.

Best Games- 

1) Portal 2 (2011)- Some of you may have heard about the "Portal" by valve which was included in the orange box along with team fortress and counter strike. The idea behind this game is that you have to keep running, you have a portal gun which when shot once will make a portal and when shot again will make another portal which is acts as a port and player can teleport through those ports.It is a simple but unique concept the success of which was not even known to Valve.


2)  Call of duty Black Ops 2(2012) - Developed by TreYarch and published by Activision and Square Enix in Japan. Like any other call of duty game this game broke all of its predecessors record, continuing the story of Mason and his son and circling through 1980 and 2025. This game is completely furnished with an epic story and stunning graphics and hardcore shooting. This is the first time call of duty franchise had a concept of multiple endings which were desided by the choices player makes during the gameplay. It was a job well done
                                                                                    by Treyarch on this one.



3) Gears of War 3 (2011) - Developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft as an exclusive Xbox 360 game, this here is the third installment in the Gears of War series. The game takes place in the post apocalyptic era when an Earth like planet Sera is colonized by humans, it is shown that the humans have been fighting off "Locusts"(alien species) since decades and that war has took a toll on their own survival, Striving to live humans and locusts both face a mutual enemy called the "Lambent". This game made over 1 million Pre-Orders making it the most anticipated game of 2011.

Worst Games - 

1) Postal 3(2011)- Developed by Akella and ThrashMasters studios and published by Akella this game is the third in the series. The game's failure was surprisingly due to EXCESSIVE VIOLENCE as one of the main reasons. Although it lacks open world gameplay than its predessor this game takes the term badass to a whole new level ranging from stabbing, kicking, incenerating victims and even pissing on them. But that is not all, the game has an extreme gore in which an AI after burning to crisp is still alive in intolerable pain and begging for help. This game was not even recommended for the strong hearted.


2) MindJack (2011)- Developed by Feeplus and published by Square Enix this game was released for all the platforms and was somewhat promising and had a lot of money on it but failed miserably due to weak storyline, AI and gameplay. Mostly all of the critics gave it a critically negative responce which further crashed the sales. MindJack takes place in 2031, when the world’s governments are in decline and new corrupt organizations are arising. The player can “hack” into and control enemies, vehicles,      
                                                                                    or civilians.


3) The War Z(2012)- Developed by Hammerpoint interactive and published by OP Productions the game is an open world zombie survival horror video game. The game features both first person and third person shooting abilities, allowing the player to switch controls as per his wish. The game only offers players to play against other users and was released on steam. The main reason behind its decline was due to its false claims regarding its features and gameplay abilities and did not live upto people's expectations. One of the other reasons include negative reception form critics which sealed the failure of the game.

Advancments in Gaming.!

First movie that was ever made was of a man sneezing and the first game ever made was Tic Tac Toe...we've come very very far from that.

Some people may remember Mario as their first game and some may remember Contra but those days have been long gone when gaming had boundaries and limits. It is a human tendency to yearn for more, its desire to take everything to its limit and beyond. If you look at Mario, Contra and then compare them with Assassins Creed, Need For Speed or many other games you will know what I am talking about.

I have been playing games for as long as I can remember and one thing that I observed was that people play games not as a hobby or a fun thing to do, They do it for the experience, for the thrill and for the excitement that they can not have in their real life, they want it to be exciting, full of surprises and most of all they want it to be "REALISTIC".

This single term is the only thing that has led the advancement in gaming industry. People want to feel like they are there, right in that moment as if its not a game but its their life, each move and every split second decision they take would determine their victory. This has been a very hot topic for debates in the gaming industry as well as in the Psychology, psychologists are amazed at how different people respond to different games but there is not a single person they could find that would say he doesn't like playing games. When they did a survey on this they found out that 80% of the gamers play games because games help them understand their own self and games help them channel their feelings and emotions towards day-to-day life stress into their games. 70% of the gamers get attached to the game and its story.People get attached to characters and care about what happens to them. This relationship that gamers started having with characters didn't really happen until games got big graphical boosts and story makeovers. Original games like The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy gave the gamer something to fight for, and a reason to push forward. The natural progression of the industry, and technology as a whole, has made these stories more believable. And the more realistic they become, the greater investment gamers are going to put into them.

And after 15 years of research Psychologists came up with the following conclusion
All video game developers should attempt to make their games, in some form or another, realistic. They may choose to go down the path of cutting edge technology that produces a photo-realistic experience. Maybe create a deep and enthralling story that gets the player emotionally invested. Or maybe they choose to reflect the human condition back onto the player, forcing them to see their own strengths and weaknesses. All of these things generate games that not only immerse the player into the worlds fiction, but make that fiction seem like reality.

Who knows, maybe a game will come along that delivers all of these things, maybe more and completely take the gaming world by surprise and get the scientists one more reason to spend sleepless nights on.