Based in China, FutureBright has been developing mobile games for over 6 years. In that time, they’ve launched several popular titles in a wide range of genres, including platformers, simulation games, and puzzles.
Now an established studio with over 25 team members, they looked to their next challenge - creating their first hybrid-casual game. To help make it into a profitable hit, FutureBright partnered with Supersonic and its team of experts.
Kicking back with Backyard Master
Backyard Master is an idle simulation game that tasks players with maintaining and upgrading a home and garden, turning it into a dream home. The core gameplay loop features ASMR tasks like mowing lawns, collecting garbage, and tidying up.
The team behind it was inspired by similar top idle simulation titles, but saw room for innovation. They recognized there was an opportunity to use trending video themes from platforms like TikTok to grab players’ attention.
Using these TikToks as reference, they added new mechanics and gameplay loops to classic idle simulation themes to make their game both unique and highly marketable.
With its trending themes and relaxing gameplay, the game was able to beat the benchmarks for marketability in initial tests - reaching a CPI of 47c on Facebook and 50c on Unity for Android and 92c on Facebook and $1 on Unity for iOS.
Marketability is not enough for hybrid success
For hybrid-casual titles, gameplay and marketability are only half the battle. To create a hybrid hit, retention and IAP engagement are key to generate the LTV required to make the game profitable. Monetization and the in-game economy also need to be carefully balanced to make sure players receive enough incentive to engage, but not so much as to make the progression too easy or fast.
FutureBright turned to the Supersonic team’s expertise to ensure Backyard Master was able to reach its retention and monetization goals while keeping the economy balanced.
The first step was adding complexity to the game to retain players for longer. The Supersonic team worked together with the studio to fine-tune the game’s content. In iterations, the Supersonic team recommended deepening the content using both midlevel tasks and narrative storytelling. These were to create emotional investment and a sense of purpose for the player.
Following this, the Supersonic team got to work implementing meta layers. Players could now own and decorate their homes, personalizing them to their taste with customizable furniture and pets.
But even for the best idle simulation games, players are at risk of boredom due to the repetitive nature of the genre's core gameplay. To prevent this, the Supersonic team added a new Dinosaur Park challenge mode - in it players had to perform their usual tasks while avoiding wild dinosaurs and could receive extra rewards to boost progression.
The Supersonic team then began optimizing the game’s monetization strategy. Since, even from initial testing, the game showed a high retention rate and playtime, the team decided to focus on rewarded videos and IAP as the primary method of monetization.
The team together with FutureBright got to work implementing ways in which users could shop in the in-app store or watch RVs to unlock boosters that speed up progress or unlock skins. Importantly, the game’s furniture and pet unlockables were not directly purchaseable in the in-app store. Rather, players could only unlock these assets through progression, keeping the gameplay at the core of the experience.
Great advice, great results
With these updates and optimizations, the partnership with Supersonic led to impressive results for Backyard Master.
Retention rates improved significantly: On Android D1 retention jumped from 27.8% to 46.5%, while on iOS they saw an increase from 43.2% to 52.8%. Players were staying engaged for longer periods, with Android D7 APPU climbing from 2785s to 8853s and iOS from 3817s to 8407s. The new narrative was also successful in preventing D1 churn, reducing it from 9.4% to just 3%
Supersonic’s monetization recommendations were also able to deliver results. More players started watching rewarded videos, with the average number watched rising from 9.9 to 11.7 on iOS and from 8.7 to 12.2 on Android. Additionally, IAP SOV also rose with Android at 9% and iOS at 7%. Revenue also increased from a D7 ARPU of $0.71 to $0.83 on Android and $0.73 to $1.04 on iOS.
As the game continues to scale and perform well, Supersonic looks forward to its continuing collaboration with the FutureBright team and even greater success ahead.
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