Long-term goal: TU Mobile Casino

Suggestions
1

What I am about to suggest is in no way considered a short term goal, more than anything it is a concept that I would like community and developer feedback on.

I was reading about Tower Express on the Trello (https://trello.com/c/udLwUUWq/260-tower-express) and I was thinking about ways to increase engagement and revenue for Tower Unite without introducing exclusive items into the fold. Then it dawned on me that the perfect way to achieve this would be a mobile app that allows players to engage with elements of the game when they are away from their computer.

##Here is the concept:

  • The app has two primary features; a portable version of Tower Express and a limited version of the Casino.

  • The app is directly linked to the account details of players in Tower Unite, as funds earned in the mobile Casino would affect the players funds in the main game, allowing people to play Casino games on the go and earn profit for Tower Unite when they get back home and play the game.

  • While in the app, players could spend their units in the mobile Tower Express, so that when they come home and launch Tower Unite, they can find the items they have earned and chosen at their condo door.

  • The Casino would be Casino-lite, as it would only contain some of the basic games from the main Casino, such as Double or Nothing, Blackjack, and Video Poker. Stuff that would be easy to port over to Android (UE4 Supports Android.) or to make from scratch.

  • Funds earned from the Casino would be significantly lower compared to Tower Unite in order to keep the main Casino as the uncontested most profitable and most desirable version of the Casino. (The app is meant to engage people with Tower Unite on the go, not draw them away from the main game.)

  • This app would either be obtained for a small cost, or would be free at no cost with advertisements present. Whichever option the developers found to be the most suitable/profitable.

tl;dr, what are the advantages?

This would allow the developers to branch into the mobile market and draw more attention towards Tower Unite whilst making a profit. Players would be able to use aspects of the Casino from anywhere on their mobile device to increase their Units or to use the Tower Express to buy condo items while they are away from home, increasing engagement, player interactivity, and expanding access to the Casino and the world of Tower Unite.

What do you think of this idea?

2

No.

3

I think they said there will not be one and someone already suggested this and everyone said no. But I could be very wrong if a dev didn’t say it.

4

Please, stop…

4 Likes
5

Is there a reason for the animosity? I’m seeing people say no but I’m not seeing a reason for it anywhere.

6

it is something called the search feature

7

I’ve seen this suggested before, and I can safely say that the team will never bring any of the tower’s main gameplay mechanics to mobile. It simply isn’t happening. No casino, no gameworlds, nothing. Tower Unite is meant to be mainly a desktop experience. Putting the casino on mobile phones just seems like an unnecessary step that doesn’t reap much profit nor much reward. Plus, it subsides the point of Tower Unite which is to have all these entertaining areas in one easy place, with no need for downloading extra apps.

So, no, this isn’t going to happen. At all. Sorry.

2 Likes
8

Well let’s break down those concerns. For one, the only main mechanics suggested would be the integration of Units, and Tower Express. Games like Blackjack and Video Poker were never exclusive to Tower Unite. Second I don’t really see how this would take away from Tower Unite being mainly a desktop experience. The profit and reward would be portable engagement with the game on a low level whilst the developers earn extra money from the mobile platform.

Also, what need would there be in downloading this app? It’s a less profitable portable Casino with less content constrained by mobile restrictions, I don’t see why anyone would have to download this to get the most out of Tower Unite.

1 Like
9

You pretty much bring up the point as to why this is bad by yourself. If it’s a worse version of the casino, why would anyone play it? Why would it be worth having the dev team port casino games to mobile when they could be spending that time developing features that don’t yet exist in TU? Also, since using UE4 for simple mobile casino games would be extremely overkill (bad performance, large app size), it wouldn’t be feasible to do so on the first place. If the games were made from scratch, the devs would have to spend time learning Android/iOS development, as well as making the games themselves, which could possibly take months.

Of course, there’s the issues of pricing as well, which you addressed. If they had people pay for the app, wouldn’t that count as microtransactions, which they’ve explicitly taken a stance against? Couldn’t the same be said for having advertisements inside of their app?

Also, how exactly would this help draw attention toward Tower Unite? Of course, there may be a benefit for existing players, but how would you deal with new people who stumbled upon “Tower Unite Mobile Casino” on Google Play or something similar? Would you prevent them from playing it? If they paid money for the app, as you mentioned, what would you do then? Even if it was free, you’re expecting people who haven’t heard of TU to gamble virtual currency for a game they don’t own. Furthermore, people who might be interested in TU’s game worlds, condo decoration, etc. might end up losing interest if their first experience with it was a casino game simulator.

That’s just a small amount of the issues I found with this. It’s just not at all viable.

3 Likes
10

Short Answer: NO

Long Answer: (read the long posts above mine)

11

Alright so I’ll address this point by point. Why would anyone play it? Two main reasons, one is to earn Units and engage with a small aspect of the game while you are away from home, the other is to play some fun card games like video blackjack and poker, which is something that appeals to an audience beyond just TU players. You don’t need to be a Tower Unite player to go on the Google Play store, see a cheap set of Casino games in a visually appealing bundle to say “that looks appealing.”

I haven’t suggested that they immediately jump on this hence my specification of a long-term goal, I think Tower Unite comes first. This would be a good time investment post-release.

As someone who has worked with UE4 and Android devices I think you underestimate the practicality of those two things working in unison, UE4 offers a lot of support for Android. Of course if I am mistaken and porting over Blackjack and Poker (for example) is difficult, there is a plethora of ways that the developers could remake simple games like Blackjack and Video Poker outside of a port, so that’s not a big issue. UE4 is not a requirement, it would just be a means of the developers reusing assets and porting them over, potentially saving a lot of development time.

I don’t think this app is a micro-transaction at all since it’s an entirely separate product, not dlc for Tower Unite. It would be available on devices where Tower Unite never will be, and it obviously isn’t required, and doesn’t offer any exclusive content. I think it would be a huge stretch to call that a micro-transaction.

How would it help draw attention towards Tower Unite? In app advertising of Tower Unite and a name association being pushed through the app onto a platform that Tower Unite will never be present on would be a part of that, along with the ability to link accounts to the main game and earn a profit within it while you are away from home. Even in the case this doesn’t bring in a massive influx of people, it’s still a fun app that draws in revenue for the developers whenever somebody downloads it, and it would be a useful and fun app for existing Tower Unite players. Like any Casino game, if people enjoy the prospect of virtual blackjack and virtual poker of course they will gamble a virtual currency, it doesn’t matter if they never play Tower Unite. In the scenario that someone doesn’t own the game there will be no need for account linking, and they could just play the game independently from TU, those consumers would still be bringing extra profit to the developers.

It’s key to remember; this is not Tower Unite, its a game that resembles a small aspect of Tower Unite. It is not claiming that Tower Unite is a Casino simulator, and if someone wouldn’t have any interest in a virtual Casino then I doubt they are the target audience for the app in the first place.

12

This seems like a large waste of time that could be spent on cool features for TU.

2 Likes
13

how about a companion app like battlefield ones companion app that lets you view stats and inventory?

4 Likes
14

Yeah I’d like that. We have steam inventory for our inventory but that’s about it. Being able to see our units and various other stats (once they are added as part of a leaderboard system) would be pretty neat.

1 Like
15

All he’s suggesting is a companion app. Tons of games (like Destiny and pretty much every EA and Ubisoft game) have companion apps. There’s never a need to download companion apps. They just add to the experience. As for people who don’t own TU, Assassin Creed Unity’s companion app is a great example of that. With Unity’s companion app, if you didn’t have the game, you could basically just use it as a fun mobile spinoff game to Unity. You could play the minigame in the app but you wouldn’t be able to get the benefits given to you in Unity. It was still a fun game to play though. You could also use the app to check your stats in Unity but you could just ignore that section if you didn’t have the game. The app came out before the game and is actually what made me want to get Unity because the app was so fun.

A TU app could take a similar approach. Anyone could download it and play the games to make Units and then if they buy TU, those Units from the app would carry over into the full game. If they don’t buy TU, it’d still be a fun mobile casino game.

Development-wise, UE4 is natively supported on Android and there’s actually quite a few UE4 games already on Android. I actually ran a UE4 game on my old ass Galaxy S5.

As for it being considered a microtransaction, it’s a completely separate app and so, would not be a microtransaction.

And as for how it would draw attention to TU, it would be a TU-branded game, that’s how.

1 Like
16

I would love to see a companion app at some point. Not necessarily with this Casino ability, but I do dig the Tower Express point he made.

17

I am glad somebody gets it.