Coining a reward system

November 4, 2015 Posted By: Mihnea

With our iOS Beta in full swing, we’ve been making a great deal of progress with Run An Empire over the past few weeks. Now it’s time to share what’s been going on!

Stability updates

We’ve been making some under-the-hood improvements based on our iOS Testers’ feedback:

Added a ‘retry’ button on the ‘run upload’ screen so you don’t lose your data if your connection isn’t there or strong enough to reach our servers.
Made the map auto-refresh after uploading a run, so you can see your progress right away.
Removed redundant code for a smaller download package.
Implemented better cheat detection. We’re flagging all “vehicular assisted” runs now with much improved accuracy. Very revealing stuff! (We’re not acting upon the data… yet.)

Going Free To Play

After a lot of research and careful thought, we’ve decided to make Run An Empire a “free to play” (F2P) game.

This means that, on launch, the game will be free to download for anyone who wants it – your friends, family and neighbours will all be able to join in on the action too. The world of Run An Empire looks set to get a lot busier!

Why have we decided this? Short answer: because we think the game will be more fun if there are more people playing.

Why Free To Play?

Player-vs-player competition is a big part of Run An Empire. A lot of testers have said the game would be better if they had more people to play against. In some quieter areas it’s a bit like having an awesome walkie-talkie but nobody else to talk to. Based on download data from other F2P and paid-for titles, we think we could get a hundred times more people playing this way, which’ll create a more sustainable community over time.

How will Run An Empire make money then?

Not that many of you will be interested in how we make money, but we’re exploring “cosmetic” purchases – items that change how other players see you.

Some elements of the coat of arms will be purchasable with in-game currency (other elements can only be unlocked through achievements). The game will have two currencies – coins and gems.

Coins (coming soon)

Coins will make the game more interesting in several ways:

They make sure there’s always a reason to go for a run, however busy your area is
They reward you for carefully maintaining your territory
They’re stealable from other players
They show how good you’ve been over time, not just at the present moment
They can be spent on upgrading your supporter creatures

Gems (coming later)

Gems are more precious than coins. They will randomly generate on the map at the start of a run – so they might tempt you to change your planned route. They can be spent on embellishing your coat of arms in other ways – such as helms and mottos. They will also be purchasable.

Coins are now live in the iOS Beta

Coins

We’re now testing an early version of coin collection in the iOS Beta – which for now has limited functionality but it still enables our Testers to harvest coins and spend them on upgrading their coat of arms!

To sum things up

A lot is happening as we approach our launch. Our iOS Testers are hard at work assessing the experience and flagging any issues that come up – all of this while having a great deal of fun, of course!

And while this update concerns the iOS build for now, it is of course a key step forward for all platforms – these are core features that will be available across the board at public launch.

That’s it for now – stay tuned for more updates very soon!

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