Introduction

This comprehensive case study delves into the journey of "Fight For America" (FFO), an innovative hybridcasual tower defense game developed together with Hitica, a prominent hypercasual studio. With an unwavering focus on testing core mechanics and a bold ambition to conquer the gaming market, Hitica joined forces with Homa to elevate their game, achieving over 8 million downloads and an impressive 40% IAP-generated revenue on IOS, FFO has captivated players worldwide.

Discover the strategic collaboration between Hitica and Homa, the challenges encountered, and the pivotal role of Homa in transforming the game  into a hybridcasual title with outstanding results. From refining core mechanics to optimizing monetization and expanding content, this article dives into the key actions and valuable takeaways for developers aiming to create their own hybridcasual hit.

From Concept to Victory: The Journey of "Fight For America" as a Hybrid Tower Defense game

The inception of "Fight For America" can be traced back to Homa Lab, where Hitica, a trusted partner of Homa, embarked on a journey to create a captivating gaming experience. After rigorous testing of over 50 games, the "Fight For America" concept emerged during a brainstorming session proposed by one of Homa's Publishing Managers (PM). Inspired by the market's demand for engaging, masculine-oriented games with long-term player value, the title aimed to deliver an immersive tower defense battle set in the United States's heart, akin to the triumph of "State.io."

Today, "Fight For America" stands tall as a hybrid tower defense game that seamlessly blends the elements of shoot 'em up and tower defense genres. Its success lies in its simplicity in terms of concept and visuals, making it easily accessible to players of all backgrounds. At its core, the game revolves around defending the United States from invaders and providing players with a clear objective and purpose as they progress through different states, to achieve victory.

To succeed in the game, players must strategically fend off enemy attacks, utilizing a diverse range of defensive towers and deploying special abilities. The title offers players many choices, such as upgrading their characters and strategically placing towers, resulting in deep gameplay and exploration opportunities. Additionally, Homa strategically implemented timers and rewards to enhance session length and engagement, ensuring that players remain immersed in the game world.

While the initial development team consisted of a single artist, developer, and game designer, Hitica's ambitions grew alongside the game's success. With the crucial financial support provided by Homa, Hitica expanded its team, bringing on board additional developers, artists, quality assurance testers, and project management experts. This allowed them to test and refine the core mechanics and enhance the gaming experience.

Throughout the development and publishing process, Homa played a pivotal role, providing continuous support and guidance to ensure the success of "Fight For America." Homa’s commitment and hybridcasual expertise contributed to the game's growth, taking it to new heights and captivating players worldwide.

Navigating the Challenges: The Evolution of "Fight for America"

How it started

As "Fight For America" transitioned into the iteration phase after the second testing phase, it boasted high marketability and promising growth prospects. However, the journey had its fair share of hurdles and relatively low in-game statistics. Hitica, despite starting off with limited experience in complex game development, yet with passion driven by innovation, bravely embraced significant challenges, particularly addressing lower retention rates due to missing features that demanded attention, showcasing their determination and commitment to excellence.

Longer retention rate and playtime

Initially, the game had a retention rate (RRD1) of 28%, which is relatively average, as it featured only 2-3 states. The playtime (PTD0) was at 1500 seconds. With such limited content, players could complete the game in half an hour, resulting in fewer return visits. However, the team noticed a high completion rate among those who engaged with the available content, prompting them to embark on a more advanced development phase and invest additional resources. Departing from the typical hypercasual approach of rapid releases every week or two, Homa & Hitica embraced a longer-term vision. This involved crafting a detailed roadmap and refining the gameplay systems and content for six weeks. The outcomes of these efforts will be explored further in the subsequent section of this article.

RV as an extra benefit

Another significant challenge emerged in optimizing rewarded video (RV) integration due to excessive consumption by some users, combined with an extremely low LTV. Unlike established hypercasual games that heavily rely on interstitial videos (IS), "Fight For America'' sought to enhance player engagement by offering RVs as an additional means of progression and experience. The surplus consumption of RVs created scarcity within the in-game economy, leading to a pronounced discrepancy in user engagement. On the first day, approximately 35% of users watched over 15 RVs, while 30% watched fewer than 2 RVs. Consequently, the eCPM for RVs & IS faced a considerable impact, as continuous RV consumption prompted monetization networks to optimize eCPMs downward to lower than 15$. The challenge was aggravated by the placement of an RV option that offered additional coins, enticing some players to continuously click and watch RVs.

Therefore, a system rework became critical to address these issues effectively.

In the subsequent section, we will delve deeper into the strategic actions that moved "Fight For America '' toward triumph in hybridcasual.   

5 key actions Homa implemented to make "Fight for America" a real hybridcasual success

From the moment "Fight For America" was in ideation phase, Homa played an integral role in its development, going beyond adding new features. The Homa team tackled extensive code refactoring, addressed frequent delays, and navigated unforeseen obstacles. Recognizing the significance of a more robust testing and development process for similar projects, both teams took a calculated risk by bypassing interim testing.

To address the hurdles encountered, several strategic actions were implemented:

1️⃣ Longer Pre-Publishing Process: Six weeks were dedicated to halting new builds and tests while completely reworking the game. This extended pre-publishing phase yielded impressive results, boosting the RRD1 from 28% to 40% in Mid-October and significantly increasing playtime from 1500 to 4000 seconds, surpassing one hour of gameplay. This enhancement had a profound impact on player engagement.

2️⃣ Restructured Monetization and IAPs: The monetization approach underwent a revamp. Rewarded videos were replaced with IAPs, focusing on weapons and character upgrades. Dynamic rules for rewarded videos, such as varying amounts, were introduced, accompanied by a cooldown mechanism. This improved balance, replacing some IAPs with direct access to power-ups through packs. Additionally, the placement of IAPs was adjusted to include a cooldown, encouraging players to actively engage in gameplay and earn coins. Timers and rewards were strategically implemented to provide a sense of value and progression, enhancing the long-term mechanics. These modifications resulted in a notable 20% increase in Ad LTV.

3️⃣ Economy Adaptation: Extensive A/B testing was conducted to fine-tune the in-game economy. Parameters related to coin earnings, difficulty inflation, and upgrade prices were adjusted to strike the ideal balance. This adaptation effectively addressed the scarcity issue and created a more engaging gameplay experience.

4️⃣ Opening Networks: Scaling the game involved expanding network connections beyond Facebook. This allowed for increased reach and monetization potential. By proposing fewer RVs and optimizing monetization and economy, the value of rewarded videos to advertisers increased, resulting in a significant rise in eCPM.

5️⃣ Content Enhancement: Homa's creative team devoted considerable effort to enhance various aspects of the game. They completed the US map, introduced the ability to attach previously captured states, optimized performance, polished in-game content, added new enemy types, towers, and weapons, revamped the user interface, implemented character level-ups and upgrades, created a tutorial, fixed bugs, and integrated monetization features. Expanding the game's content beyond the initial few states to include Europe further enhanced player engagement, allowing them to utilize their invested weapons and drones against various enemies.

With Homa Lab's support, "Fight For America'' overcame numerous challenges to achieve hybridcasual success. In the next section, we will explore the key results and takeaways, providing valuable insights for studios looking to develop their own hit in the genre.

Results: a Hybridcasual Hit

The efforts and strategies implemented by Homa yielded unparalleled results:

• Doubled eCPM on both interstitial ads and rewarded videos
• Tripled average revenue per daily active user (ARPDAU)
• Doubled session length, indicating increased player engagement
• 8M+ downloads globally
• 40% of LTV on IOS is IAP-generated
• 3%-5% conversion to IAP

Tips & Tricks for Developing a Successful Hybridcasual Game

1. Find the Right Balance: Achieve a harmonious blend of engaging core mechanics and effective monetization strategies. The success of a hybridcasual game lies in striking the correct tuning between gameplay enjoyment and revenue generation.

2. Iterate and Test Early: Start testing and iterating on your game concepts as early as possible. This iterative process allows you to make informed decisions, refine your ideas, and optimize the gameplay experience before reaching the final stages of development.

3. Plan for a Longer Pre-publishing Phase: Hybridcasual games often require a more extended pre-publishing phase than traditional hypercasual titles. Plan ahead and allocate sufficient time for testing, refining, and polishing your game to ensure higher quality and more engaging experience for players.

4. Test Interim Builds and Features: Regularly test interim builds and features to evaluate their performance and assess whether they align with your development plan. This iterative approach helps you identify any issues or areas for improvement early on and make necessary adjustments to achieve your desired results.

5. Bridge the Gap: Create a seamless connection between your game's hypercasual and hybrid elements. Seek synergies between the core gameplay loop, meta systems, and long-term progression mechanics. This integration enhances player engagement and retention.

6. Effective Communication and Documentation: Foster open communication within your development team and strongly partner with your publisher. Clear and comprehensive documentation becomes crucial when managing the complex interactions between various systems, currencies, and progression mechanics within a hybridcasual game.

7. Optimize Game Economy: Continuously refine and optimize your game's economy to ensure a balanced and rewarding player experience. Adapt the economy based on player behavior and preferences, catering to different types of players and providing meaningful incentives for progression.

8. Content Expansion: Keep players engaged by regularly introducing new content and features. Once you have established a solid gameplay foundation, expand the game with additional levels, challenges, characters, weapons, and other elements that add depth and longevity to the experience.

Conclusion

Fight For America is, as Zombie Defense, another testament to the immense potential of hybridcasual games. This project has achieved outstanding results, demonstrating the value of combining hypercasual mechanics with more complex gameplay experiences, thus becoming hybridcasual.

With Homa's expertise in hybridcasual games and the support of Homa Lab's cutting-edge technology, developers gain access to a powerful platform for realizing their game ideas. The success of Fight For America, with over 8 million downloads globally and a 40% of revenue IAP-generated on IOS, highlights the tremendous opportunities in the hybridcasual space.

Join us in embracing the future of mobile gaming. Leverage Homa's specialized knowledge and submit your game ideas to Homa Lab to unlock the potential of hybridcasual games. Together, we can create captivating and profitable gaming experiences that engage players and redefine the industry.

Submit your game ideas to Homa Lab today, and let's embark on this exciting journey together, leveraging the power of hybridcasual to revolutionize mobile gaming.

Don’t forget to play Fight For America, available on IOS & Google Play Store 🇺🇸