The Grinns Tale - A Refreshing Casual Game
It's been awhile since I've posted but I'm back now. And I'm back to talk a little bit about a casual game surprisingly. Those who know me know I am not a fan of casual games to say the least. 99% of them are nothing more than time wasters (as in, making you literally sit there and wait), and the gameplay parts of them are generally worthless as well (often times nothing more than tap something and watch). It's an unfortunate reality that these types of games have a much higher profit margin than the games designers spend years developing.
Occasionally though, one comes around that, while no where near a real game, is above the rest. That casual game would be The Grinns Tale by Nexxon. It follows your typical pattern of build resources, build buildings, upgrade them, wait, collect, build, wait, etc and so on. You use these buildings and resources to create hero's and upgrade their armor. Your hero's are then sent into the game's dungeon, the "tower." Inside you actually get to control your heroes as they fight through a few waves of monsters each level. The fighting mechanics are simple, drag and click targeting with each class having a few abilities you can set when back at town. It's nothing amazing, a rock-paper-scissors style element system, a few multi-target abilities, some character buffs, and a few debuffs. It's a small system, but nonetheless it is a combat system, something most casual games rarely have, even more rarely give you control over during it.
The big change to me with this game, is that you don't have to wait. There's no energy system, and while your resource production is pretty slow from town, you do get resources for defeating monsters in the tower. With a few of the right abilities, you can actually grind resources at a decently quick rate. Building houses also gives you citizens in town which can be used to speed up the construction or collection of any building in town. There are ways to work yourself around the commonly used wait and do nothing system found prevalent in these types of games. Having said that, after a certain point, the game does get to become a grind. Waiting for resources takes ages, and farming the dungeon for them takes a solid chunk of time (as well as trying to get the rare items to craft gear). But, you do have options, and that is a plus. The Grinns Tale feels like a casual game that you can actually play, not just watch.
The Grinns Tale has given me a few ideas on potential ways to create a profitable free to play RPG system. In simple terms, create an enjoyable rpg, then bog it town with things that take time. A resource/collection system for gear, for progression, but make it enjoyable. A game in which it almost feels like you are in it for the long haul, a war if you will and its not just you, but rather a whole country that has to fight back. Maybe you have to build a bridge to the next continent, or research ships or weapons. Create an full package experience which requires the player to invest in more than just their character. During this extra (but hopefully enjoyable) time, find creative ways to sell ads if possible, or have a store selling the usual speed up items. Give players the ability to purchase the game, which would include the removal of any time constraints as well as resource generation boosts to keep progression at an almost constant pace. But give the player the option to always be doing something without the need for any money.
