M INISTRY OF E DUCATION OF R EPUBLIC OF M OLDOVA

Technical University of Moldova

Faculty of Computers, Informatics and Microelectronics
Department of Software Engineering and Automatics

City Builder

Performed by: Laptedulce Nicu, FAF-172

Railean Nichita, FAF-172
Vasilit, a Ion, FAF-172

Mentored by: Zaharia Gabriel

Chis, inău, 2020

Contents
1 Analysis of the project 3
1.1 Problem Definition and Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2 System Requirements 4
2.1 Functional Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Non-Functional Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

3 Market Analysis 6
3.1 Mobile game industry statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.2 Mobile game industry market share breakdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.3 Mobile gaming industry trends you can expect in 2020 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

4 Profit Estimation 11
4.1 KPIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

5 Competition Analysis 12
5.1 Tropico C: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5.2 Ostriv: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.3 Megapolis: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5.4 Frostpunk: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5.5 Builders of Egypt: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

6 Project Architecture 17
6.1 Use Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
6.2 Class Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
6.3 Deployment Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
6.4 Activity Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

7 Task listing/Decomposition 21
7.1 World generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
7.2 Enemy minimal path finding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
7.3 Shop system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
7.4 Day/Night system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
7.5 Adaptive graphic system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

8 Task scheduling and prioritization 24

8.1 One of the most important tasks is World generation: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
8.2 Another one is Shop system: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
8.3 Day/Night system: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

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9 Success Metrics 25
9.1 Installs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
9.2 DAU - Daily Active Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
9.3 MAU - Monthly Active Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
9.4 Stickiness Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
9.5 RR - Retention Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
9.6 CR – Churn Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
9.7 ARPU – Average Revenue Per User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
9.8 LTV - Lifetime Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
9.9 ATV - Average Transaction Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
9.10 TTP - Time to purchase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
9.11 CPI - Cost Per Install . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

10 Project Management Approach 29

10.1 The Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
10.2 Argumentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Conclusions 31

References 32

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1 Analysis of the project
1.1 Problem Definition and Motivation
The game is not only a fun activity where you can relax, the game can be even an entire
environment where you can easily be engaged on a cultural, educational or social level. In few
words – Games are universal. While playing certain games we can stimulate the imagination,
the curiosity, and obviously the wonder that we can feel, contribute to the psychological and
intellectual growth of every person. The game makes us think, choose and decide.
In contemporary society it is well known that anxiety is very widespread. People are looking
for a hobby that will relax them after a hard day, but at the same time bring them a chance
to combine rest with development. We can certainly say that a contemporary problem is the
lack of activity, which could be a catalyst for combining all the most important
spheres, as mentioned above socially, culturally and maybe even educationally.
Our attempt is to contribute to the development of such an activity, namely to create a
game based on such model as Tower defense/ City builder. The combination between these two
types will determine the player to set goals and at the personal level the game will teach how to
work with different kind and quantities of resources, will improve vision, balance, reduce stress
and anxiety overall. Many features - many advantages!

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2 System Requirements
2.1 Functional Requirements
1. Game Basics:

• The system shall allow a user to play the game.

• The system shall allow a user to exit the game.
• The system shall allow a user to set options of the game.
• The system shall allow a user to create the game.
• The system shall allow a user to set the name of created game.
• The system shall allow a user to save the game.
• The system shall allow a user to load the game.
• The system shall allow a user to delete the game.
• The system shall allow a user to have multiple created game.

2. Map:

• The map shall allow the presence of buildings.

• The map shall allow the presence of trees.
• The map shall allow the presence of lakes.
• The map shall allow the presence of hills.
• The map shall allow the presence of plains.
• The map shall allow the presence of rocks.

3. Enemy:

• The game shall have a variety of enemies.

• The game shall have to increase the level of enemies in dependence of the level of
player.

4. City:

• The game shall have a variety of buildings.

• The game shall allow a user to upgrade some buildings.
• The game shall allow a user to collect resources of buildings.
• The game shall allow a user to buy buildings.
• The game shall allow a user to repair buildings.
• The game shall allow a user to destroy buildings.

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 • The game shall allow a user to buy units.
• The game shall allow a user to remove units.
• The game shall allow a user to move units.

2.2 Non-Functional Requirements

1. Frames rate
The minimum frame rate must be thirty frames per second. The average frame rate must
be greater than 50. Frame rate can be monitor directly from the graphic engine.

2. Usability
The maximum number of clicks for any function in the system should not exceed five
clicks. This can be achieved by usability testing with random users.

3. Response time
The average response time between click and reaction must be less than 0.5 seconds. The
maximum response time between click and reaction must be two seconds. Adding some
simple classes and methods that will compute and display the time needed to process any
operation can test this requirement.

4. Required resources
The game must be able to run with minimum of 1024 MB of RAM. The game must use
less than one gig of hard disk space. Checking the total size of the folder in which the
game was installed, for the hard disk space can test this requirement. For the RAM used,
when playing the game, we can check the physical memory in the Windows Task Manager
performance tab.

5. Platform
The game must run in Windows XP, Android. Installing the game in a Windows XP or
Android environment and run simple tests to verify if the game properly works can test
this requirement.

6. Security
The game must have in encrypted save game system where will be included the IP of the
device. When the user will try to load a game, will be checked this IP.

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3 Market Analysis
In 2019, global mobile game revenue grew to $68.5B . It is estimated that by the end of 2021,
that number will hit $76.7B — a 12% increase. With a near year right around the corner,
here’s an analysis of what you can expect from the mobile game industry in 2021.

3.1 Mobile game industry statistics

• According to Sensor Tower, in Q3 2019, out of the 792K publishers on both Apple’s App
Store and Google Play, 108K of them are game publishers. That’s close to 15%

• App Annie predicts that in 2021 consumers will collectively spend 674B hours on mobile
devices, up from 558B in 2020

• Today, mobile games account for 33% of all app downloads, 74% of consumer spend and
10% of all time spent in-app

• By the end of 2020, almost 1/3 of the global population (2.4B) will play mobile games

• 50% of mobile app users play games, making this app category as popular as music apps
like Spotify and Apple Music, and second only to social media and communications apps
in terms of time spent

Estimated Market Share of Mobile Games of Global Revenues

• 2017 – 46

• 2018 – 51

• 2019 – 54

• 2020 – 57

• 2021 – 59

Types of Games Users Play

• Puzzle – 57.29

• Arcade- 55.60

• Action-34.75

• Racing- 31.31

• Strategy-15.79

• Adventure-15.51

• Card- 15.44

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• Board- 14.09

• Simulation- 13.72

• Word-13.52

Top 5 Countries by Revenue in US Dollars and Players

• United States of America (209.5 Million Players) – $36,869M

• China (586 Million Players) – $36,540M

• Japan (32.20 Million Players) – $18,952M

• Republic of Korea (12.4 Million Players) – $6,194M

• Germany (13.43 Million Players) – $6,012M

Key Monetization Methods

• In-App Ads

• Rewarded Ads/Videos

• In-App Purchases (Various elements like coins, diamonds, energy, boost, & so on)

• Paid Apps

• Ingame Brand Placements

Latest Promotion Methods for Mobile Games

• Pre Registration Campaigns

• Create a Microsite

• Create Promotional Videos

• App Store Optimization

• Soft Launch – Understand the Target Market

• Start with Cross-Promotion with Other Games

• Influencer Marketing

• Media Features

• Video Ads

• Traditional Marketing ( Outdoor ads)

• Localization

• KPI-Based Mobile Ads

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3.2 Mobile game industry market share breakdown
Usage in mobile game revenue will continue to outpace growth on PC in the coming year, which
will ultimately result in a shrinking PC market share dipping below 20% in 2022.
Mobile will also outpace console’s revenue growth. In 2021, Newzoo predicts that PC gaming
will account for 23% of the market revenue, console gaming comes in at 31%, and mobile and
tablet are at a combined 46%. By 2022, mobile and tablet gaming will account for close to 50%
of the overall gaming market.

Figure 1: 2012-2021 Global Games Market

If we look at market share geographically, in 2019, Asia-Pacific accounted for 47% of the
market, followed by North America at 26%, Europe, Middle East and Africa at 23%, and finally,
Latin America at 4%. In 2019, 48% of all consumer spending came from the US and China.

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 Figure 2: 2019 Global Games Market Per Regions

3.3 Mobile gaming industry trends you can expect in 2020

1. 5G will continue to power advancements in cloud gaming. It would be hyperbolic
to call 2019 the year of 5G, but 2019 was the year that marked the beginning of the
transition towards global 5G adoption. 2020 may or may not be the year 5G truly
becomes mainstream — but one thing’s for sure, 5G will continue to power the latest
advancement in the gaming ecosystem: cloud gaming.

2. Cloud gaming will expand the range of possible gaming experiences. In 2019,
Google and Microsoft launched their ambitious cloud gaming solutions. Melissa Zeloof,
VP Marketing at ironSource predicts it best: “While it’s unlikely cloud gaming will
replace consoles and PCs or convert a new audience of casual gamers to more traditionally
AAA titles, every cloud has a silver lining. Like other new formats and vehicles for
enjoying games have done in the past, we can expect cloud gaming to add another stratum
to the market. By expanding the range of possible gaming experiences and creating
more accessibility to traditional gaming titles, cloud solutions are likely to contribute
significantly to the value of this rapidly growing market.”

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3. Hardcore gamers will pay a monthly fee for a subscription services, but more
casual gamers won’t. In March of 2019, both Apple and Google announced their
respective subscription services. While Google’s Stadia also falls under the category of
cloud gaming, both Apple and Google are offering game subscription services — rid of
in-app purchases and ads — to consumers for a monthly fee. However, 2019 is coming
to a close with many unknowns: neither Apple, Google, nor the developers working with
either party have explained the business model of the services. What we do know is that
subscription services are being marketed towards different types of gamers — mid and
hardcore gamers, rather than casual and hyper-casual players. While in 2020 it’s likely
that more and more hardcore gamers may also begin paying a monthly fee for access to
subcriptions, it seems very unlikely that those who engage in gameplay for short bouts of
time — either on their commute to work or while waiting for a coffee — will ever consider
paying a monthly fee for a subcription.

4. Hyper-casual will established itself as its own genre. 2019 was a year of explosive
growth for hyper-casual games — with IPM growing 70% YoY. However, the hyper-casual
genre has just about peaked and in 2020 the genre will surely stabilize as users are no
longer as susceptible to the aggressive ad campaigns as they were in the past. But, this
doesn’t mean that hyper-casual will die. In fact, we predict that 2020 will be the year
that hyper-casual establishes itself as its own genre — and not just a subgenre of casual
games.

5. Studios will see the benefits of aligning their monetization and marketing
teams. Advertising is increasingly becoming a significant source of revenue for game
developers today. In fact, App Annie predicts that in 2020 ad monetization revenue will
finally overtake IAP revenue. In 2019, a number of game studios — mostly in the hyper-
casual and casual space — began merging their UA and monetization activities into one
unified team. The goal of this alignment is to ensure that one person or group of people
are working closely together to see the full picture of the game’s growth, leading to a
deeper understanding of each individual user: the channel that brought them in and how
they engaged with IAPs and ads within the game. With ad revenue about to overtake
IAP revenue, we’re predicting that in 2020 studios from an array of genres will see the
advantage and ultimately unify the two teams.

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4 Profit Estimation
Before estimating the profit of the project, we first need to know our expenses and costs. We
have no expenses regarding tangible and intangible assets. The devices the we use belong to
us, and the software we will use (Unity) is free.
Because our game is made for mobile platforms, we will promote it on Google Play and
Apple’s App Store. So there would be a budget for marketing within the app markets. City
builder will be a free to play game. Our main streams of income will come from In-App
Ads, Rewarded Ads/Videos and also In-App Purchases (Various elements like coins, diamonds,
energy, boost, & so on).

4.1 KPIs
KPI stands for key performance indicators. These are the metrics that enable you to measure
the effectiveness of your product and its potential return on investment. For determining a
Free to Play forecast, there are two essential industry-standard KPI’s: DAU and DARPU.
DAU stands for Daily Average User and represents the number of unique people that play your
game each day. DARPU stands for Daily Average Revenue Per User and represents the average
revenue your game generates per day divided among all players.
DARPU Estimates by Genre Casual/Mass Appeal: $0.02-$0.06 Mid-Core Genres (non-
combat city builders, simulation): $0.10-$0.20 Niche/Core Genres (combat builder, CCG):
$0.30-$0.040
Average daily revenue = DAU (Daily Average Users) * DARPU (Daily Average Revenue
Per User) = 500 * 0.10 = $50

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5 Competition Analysis
5.1 Tropico C:
Is a construction and political simulation game where the user is assigned to be the president of
an ideological island in order to manage its community. It depicts key aspects of dictatorship
and strategic thinking in order to maintain the so-called power over the territory and avoid
electoral loss. Thus, is to be done by maintaining socio-economic and financial stability within
the city by pursuing a correct approach in managing finances, employment and net trade within
the island.
- Currently only available on pc devices, which limits the access that the user has to it and
therefore minimises the market and the potential number of user
- Creates a rather too ideological environment where the user experiences loyalty from he’s
assistants
- Unrealistic goal for a country with a small economy and constant challenges from the
citizens to compete with other greater countries and still make profit in order to please the
citizens
- The game’s goal is contradicting itself as the user must keep a political stability, though
most of the methods used are illegal. A younger audience may misinterpret such sociological
morals and may also adapt them in their daily lives. Concluding this point, it can have a
negative impact on a fraction of the audience
- Some users argue that the storyline of the game is stagnant
- The music used within the game may become very frustrating
- After most of the features of the game are accomplished it leaves the user with a feeling
of emptiness and all the previous satisfaction vanishes
- Some users encounter bugs when combining two separate instructions concomitantly
Clear navigation which allows much control over the processes within the virtual society
by this highlighting even more the status of the user
The potential users become satisfied by achieving progress and developing something
unique
Plenty of depth. The users are in control of a big range of processes and subprocesses
which will make each users’ experience individual and diverse
Maintains a positive attitude through jokes and humour
Clear navigation which allows much control over the processes within the virtual society
by this highlighting even more the status of the user

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5.2 Ostriv:
A city building game developed in 2020 which will be a better reference when comparing to our
project. Similarly, to the previously described game it allocates the user with a ruler position
so that the user becomes in control with all the process within the virtual community. All the
actions happen in the 18th century in and the aim is to build and manage a healthy environment
according to that era’s standards.
Even though all of the actions take place within another time period the game holds a wide
range of features and details. For example, the main features are houses, water, production,
trade transport, decoration, education, health and religion. This can provide the audience with
historical knowledge and make it more engaged in the game as it is more difficult to assure the
citizens with a high-quality lifestyle without learning their standards first. Furthermore, this
can become an escape from the reality for the users as the virtual environment is not much
alike to the real one
The creations of the user are alive and believable
The game’s goal is not repetitive, and requires he user to come up with more complex
solutions
If the user fails at completing the game’s tasks the citizens can chose to walk out of the
city. This adds more variables to the environment and makes the game less predictable and
more demanding which eventually will attract a wider audience
The user is not fixedly placed in a position of a dictator or corrupt politician, however, is
free to become one if he chooses to or not.
- Some of the user’s agree that the game is lacking updates as after the most obvious tasks
of the game are completed, the game becomes monotonous
- There is more focus on ruling the people rather than building infrastructure
- The game is only suitable for windows os devices which limits the users’ access to it and
makes it less portable
- The game limits strategic economic thinking as there is no direct contact between different
communities and no clearly outlined competition even though the citizens can choose to leave.
- The game is lacking innovation possibility. The user could have been able to inject some
knowledge and ideas from the present into the 18th century.

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5.3 Megapolis:
Megapolis is a city building simulator game which describes an urban environment and eco-
nomic market events. it illustrates real life buildings and cities rather than imaginary as in
the previously described competitors. The user’s economic approaches and strategies should
allow to build the infrastructure that such a big city needs, by combining scientifical research,
interaction of people and exploitation of natural resources. The game does not limit the user’s
imagination as it has a vast number of design options.
The game supports online playing by this increasing the chances of it being purchased and
chosen
It is accessible both on windows, IOS and Android. This expands the audience of the
game and therefore makes it more difficult to compete with, as with a greater audience come
greater updates meaning that most probably the game holds everything needed to satisfy the
user.
The knowledge accumulated by the user within the game can become very useful within
real life. This refers to economical understanding, people interaction, budget spending and
many more real-life situations. For a younger audience this can act as a positive experience
and the game can become very informative for them and can teach them decision making skills
that can be applied in real life.
The game allows interaction and communication between users. This is suggested by
sharing of materials and supporting friends.
There is no need in having a lot of technical skills.
- The game is expensive to purchase. This may discourage the potential player from pur-
chasing it as they may prefer a cheaper version
- Even after the purchase the user may still experience additional expenses in having to buy
access to additional features of the game and in order to achieve goals within the game
- Crashes are quite frequent according to the user reviews
- When the game has access to the internet there are a lot of adds which disturb the players.
This might discourage the users from continuing playing as it is time consuming and frustrating.
In some cases, people chose city builder games to escape the reality and adds can become very
frustrating especially when the players are already paying money for the purchase of the game
- The updates take too long
- The interaction between users is limited. In order to offer support to a friend, the user
must give up their personal resources which are often purchased with real money

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5.4 Frostpunk:
Frostpunk is a city-building survival game where players take the role of a leader of city that
must be build and maintained within the 19th century, when a worldwide volcanic winter im-
poses even greater challenges upon the lives of people. The user must manage resources within
this hard time in order to ensure survival for himself and the people within the community.
This has to be done by exploring the area outside their land in order to locate resources and
support. The game also holds different scenarios in which the user will have to take decisions
under virtual stressful situations. The players have to harvest coal, wood, steel and food in
order to keep their society healthy and stable and start o build a so-called economy that would
allow the community to prosper and recover.
Complex and demanding story line which decreases the probability of the user becoming
bored of the processes within the game.
There is an introduction storyline imposed to the user which allows him to engage with
the events happening within that time period and discover character features of the character
the user has been allocated with. Often such storylines build personal links between the user
and the characters adapted
The game is mostly designed for PlayStation and Xbox which suggests that it can be
accessed mostly only by the players who hold ownership of such resources by this imposing
expenses, however a further update has been developed in order to make the game suitable to
windows OS devices which made the game more mobile and less costly
The user interface is very intuitive making it less likely for the user to give up or experience
technical difficulties. This allows the user to focus more on the processes of the game rather
than discovering how to manage its functionality
The historical atmosphere attracts potential users and may also educate them with his-
torical facts and knowledge about ways of living and living standards
- Some of the choices are hard and complex to make. This may discourage the game from
being accessed by a younger audience by this decreasing the number of users
- A younger audience may find such storylines boring and frustrating as it requires resilience
in order to survive and the game lacks present technological resources that they may be so used
in their daily routine. This is a drawback for the game because some may not know how to
solve problems in such circumstances
- It may not suit the players that are just looking for calm city-builder games due to its
survival and action twist
- Sometimes the users progress may be lost considering environmental events within the
game. e.g. a house may be destroyed due to natural disasters
- There may be emotional consequences when the users may experience a failure in surviving

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5.5 Builders of Egypt:
This is a modern upcoming game the features of which have already been published. It could
be one of the main competitors as it holds updated and innovative features that the present
audience desires. It is an economic city-building game placed in ancient Egypt where the users
will be able to create and participate in history by building unique architecture.
The game is accessible in five different languages. This means that it will become suitable
for a wider range of users
Can educate the user about history and can allow them to build it
It is different to other games which illustrate present economies, as it will hold different
political features and strategies based mostly on religion
There is an informative introduction describing the birth of the Egyptian civilisation
- It is only accessible on windows devices.
- The game storyline is predicted to end with cleopatra’s death.
- Has more historical references rather than economical and sociological.

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6 Project Architecture
6.1 Use Cases

Figure 3: Unit Use Case

Here is reprezented the use case of EnemyUnit and MyUnit. MyUnit in comparison have
additional use cases: Exploring, when player activate this option, the unit explore on the map.
Also player has the possibility to activate scouting, and after this the unit will scouting the
city, player can be informed from which direction the enemy will attack.

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 Figure 4: Player Use Case

When player want to start a game , he has two option, to load a saved game or to create
new one. Because in this game is combined two genre , rts and city builder, player has the
possibility to control his units and also de develop his sity by upgrading the buildings or buying
new one.

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6.2 Class Diagram

Figure 5: Unit Class Diagram

The Unit class diagram represents all the property which have base class and that all type of unit
must inherit this property. Id is used when the system load data. In dependence of id, system
save the health, position and other atributes which had the unit at save moment. Also all type
of units inherits basic functionality, like Die, Move, Attack, Get Damage. Where is reprezented
two class which inherit from Unit. Enemy unit, which have his child EnemyHealerUnit that
have a unic functionality to heal. And other child of Unit is MyUnit. Player when interact
with this unit. Also MyUnit have coroutine method Get Salary. My Unit have 3 children which
have different functionality. Healing Unit can heal , exploring can explore.

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6.3 Deployment Diagram

Figure 6: Shop Activity Diagram

6.4 Activity Diagram

Figure 7: Shop Activity Diagram

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In this activity diagram is represented the case when player want to buy a new build. Firstly
player open the shop and this action is followed by instantiation of all items. System resources
check which item is avaible in dependence of what resourses have player at de moment and
shop activate item which player can by. After this player see the list of all item and have the
posibility to exit or to buy a item.

7 Task listing/Decomposition
7.1 World generation
• Creating a Terrain on which all actions will take place: This refers to the creation of an
area particularly a land on which the navigations will take place. The land is the base of
the game and it should allow the user to create and add infrastructure and building. The
first consideration is the fact that the land should not be identical throughout the hole
program this suggesting that in some cases the position of the land may be at different
levels or it may be illustrated in different colours and texture. This will require greater
analysis into the design to prevent coming back to developing the land in the later stages.
Additionally, another factor mentioned earlier is the fact that the land should support
navigation. If the user decides to change perspective or resolution (described below)
then, he should be able to see modification in the land and should be able to interact
with them. It is argued that for the user’s commodity, during the creation of terrain the
use of colours are to suit a large audience. This means that the colours green and red
should be avoided. It is not compulsory however, suggested as even though it will not
impact the overall performance of the game, colour blind users might become discouraged
to use the game. This will reduce the potential audience of the game due to lack of ethical
considerations and will make it less accessible. This however does not prohibit the use
of these colours at all as the user should be provided with a wide variety features and
encounters whilst playing the game which will keep the experiences diverse whilst creating
decorative and industrial object on the terrain itself. Whilst designing the area, a good
consideration might be taking into account that the design of the landscape and the
territory should differ during the night-time. This might require the game to be adjusted
to the time frame of the user or a separate timing system being created which will switch
the graphics and processes within the program from day to night and vice versa. During
the night-time, the appearance of the territory should seem darker and features might
become less visible in order to deliver this. This would place the user at a disadvantage
because many of the features required to progress in the game will become less accessible,
therefore there will be limited activities for the user to perform. This is a necessary
disadvantage in order to implement realistic features into the program.

• Modelling the landscape: As mentioned earlier the landscape should be diverse in order
to increase the interest of the user to create and manage the city. The landscape refers

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 to the layout of the terrain as in some cases it may display water, land, or shadows. The
landscape should stay rational and realistic in order to deliver an accurate representation
of the real-life environment. The landscape should also hold some symmetry. This is
because there will only be a limited number of objects that the user can place on a given
area which each occupy a set area that cannot overlap.

• Adding the necessary prefabs: this refers to the game features that will be constantly
reused in the program. When creating the aspect many of the features are repeated in
order to maintain a constant design as all the properties of the object will be identical.
This is an advantage when developing the project as it would save time and ensure that
the same criteria can be applied to the objects and shared between program components.
This will also act as a template that I could refer to in the future. These prefabs may
be applied to the features of the landscape e.g. land , water, as even though the terrain
is diverse it will use the same features which otherwise would have to be created and
developed every time.

7.2 Enemy minimal path finding

This is a feature in the project which describes the game rivals locating the minimal distance
to their target. This would mean that the user will be located by the enemies in the quickest
time.

7.3 Shop system

This is a marketplace within the program which allows the user to experience trade. For a
younger audience this can be a good way of acknowledging the principles of budgeting and how
to manage expenses. In order to experience advantages when constructing the infrastructure
within the city and avoiding the game enemies, the user might be willing to trade their profits
for additional means of production and upgraded versions of their infrastructure. This will
encourage ethe end user to play the game more often in order to gain more finances that can
be later invested. This is beneficial because it will teach the audience decision making, however
whilst expanding this element, it will become time consuming as a lot of objects and their
features need to be implemented in specific categories that will ease the user’s navigation and
choice. Prices need to be allocated realistically to every item that the user will potentially
purchase, all of which should be combined into a separate menu that should not disturb the
processes of the user.

• Introducing of the objects in the market: This will require creating residential, industrial,
and decorative objects, assigning value to them, and introducing them into the market.
The objects will have to be organised according to the category they fall into, in order
to produce simplified future navigation. This will allow the user to locate the desired
resource they need to purchase and be attracted to similar items that might make their

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 design more diverse and also encourage them to play the game more and game more
profit that can be used to purchased similar items proposed by the market. Usually
this will require the user to progress in the levels. Organising the objects in the market
is beneficial because it will be easier to locate the products, however the opportunity
of keeping them disorganised may still be considered as whilst looking for a particular
item within the limited number of products the user might get attracted too a variety of
products whishing to invest it, which is an indirect form of promoting them.

• Availability of products: This is a description of creating barriers that will limit the user’s
possibility of buying more expensive objects. It is a different approach in assigning value
to the objects displayed on market. The user will only be able to unlock a certain elite
object only after a certain level has been reached. Even after this has been done the
user might still have to gain finances in order to purchase, the given good. This will
act as an incentive for the user to play the game and reach a higher level in order to
navigate the experiences of a using the particular object traded. In this case the market
will provide limited description about the product in order to boost curiosity. The greater
level the user reaches the more items become available in the market in order to make
their city more innovative and diverse. Here a new sub menu might be required within the
marketplace holding the newly added items or the locked items which the user might see
as potential goals that need to be reached in order to reach satisfaction about the game.
there is a disadvantage about this feature as it is argued in economics that after a buyer
reaches their long-desired product, it experiences a feeling of emptiness after, therefore the
user may potentially give up one the game considering that all the goals have been reached
whilst completing the most challenging one. Additionally, the user might neglect inferior
tasks whilst trying to achieve the unavailable products in the market by this potentially
missing the goal of the game. this can be prevented by constantly introducing new items
in the market which the user might have to work further in order to achieve them. The
goal of introducing such items might be to make them as unrealistic as possible. This is
because it encourages the user to exploit all the features in the game in order to progress
into the levelling system by this playing the game more and becoming more familiar with
its features.

• User finance: Despite the previous point, the purchase of the goods is performed based
on the personal finance of the user. The program will not have loaning features, thus the
user will only be able to purchase the items that he can afford, by this creating budgeting
strategies and progressing into the game. Some traded objects might also be level locked,
however the main way to obtain a good is to exchange monetary means for it.

7.4 Day/Night system

During the night, some of activities are stopped. This is a disadvantage which will most likely
require the user to quit and exit the game, however this is a necessary feature which in the long

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run will prove itself useful. This will also require modification in the design of the environment
as the object need to be made darker. However, an additional element might be implementing
nigh-mode vision in order to reduce the emission of blue light. This will make the user less
vulnerable whilst playing the game during the night-time. It is beneficial as even though most
smart phones have this feature implemented into the settings of the device, not all computers do,
and having to exit the game to turn this feature on might discourage the user from returning to
the program. Additionally, some users might look for these features when researching a game,
and the lack of such considerations might discourage the users from choosing the project.
The game should therefore include brightness adjustment. Due to the fact that there may be
modifications in the representation of the environment during night-mode, some elements might
become less visible which is why the use should be granted access to modifying the brightness
in order to increase visibility during the nigh-time. This will allow the user to make his enemies
more visible and noticeable even though it is still arguable if the enemies should be included
during the night whilst everything is peaceful and at quite. As the brightness setting is included
it would be rational to include sound settings, these include vibrations, background music, or
process sounds. The user should be granted access to modify these in order to increase the
commodity of using the game as sound may not always be suitable or with time background
music may become annoying. The use will be able to control the volume of the game without
it affecting the setting volume of their device. This will grant the user more control over the
game by this establishing his role as the main character even further.

7.5 Adaptive graphic system

The graphic system should not only be adaptive to the actions and navigation of the user, but
to the device the game is projected as well. The program should maintain an efficient and
constant representation of all the features which includes high quality and distribution of the
features.

• Resolution adaptation: The resolution of the game should not be adjustable by the user;
however, it should be adjusted automatically according to the device the game is projected
on. This is important as the quality of the items displayed should not change no matter
what phone or screen the game is displayed on. By doing so the game will become more
accessible and comfortable in use.

8 Task scheduling and prioritization

8.1 One of the most important tasks is World generation:
This will be the foundation on the program to which all the features will become dependent;
thus, it will require the most amount of time to be invested into it. This is because, it must be
an efficient version of the virtual environment that will allow the development of future features
within the program. The ‘world’ refers to the virtual environment holding mostly background,

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however key features necessary for navigation and user interface. The final result shall provide
commodity and ease of use for the end user on order to encourage the target audience to play
the game and therefore increase it. The features that will require the main focus and attention
will be the most obvious and potentially the most used ones.

8.2 Another one is Shop system:

As described earlier, the project will require a separate menu, easily accessible however it should
not disturb the processes of the game or place the user at a disadvantage. Here all the objects
will be categorised and allocated a virtual value somewhat relatable to real life price allocation.
The market should not allow the user to gain access to the items without having the necessarily
means to purchase them. The market however should not switch the interrupt the focus of the
game which is to create the most upgraded and efficient version of the city, by the idea of
gaining the greatest number of financial means. The design of the marketplace should stay
consistent to the design of the overall navigation system to imply to encourage the user to see
this as a component of the game rather than a method of cheating and fastening processes
within their community. This reflects the processes within the real society as whoever has more
financial resources has significant advantages in progressing.

8.3 Day/Night system:

The main goal of the project is to deliver realistic experiences to the user which would reflect
the processes within the day-to-day society and economic system. One important element of
considering is that during the night-time most of the processes from which the user might be
able to generate profit or progress might be paused in order to implement realistic day-to-day
considerations.

9 Success Metrics
According to Gartner’s Mobile app market study, in 2018 less than 0.01% of mobile apps
games were considered a financial success.That’s why the proper tracking of mobile game met-
rics matters the most. It makes a clear differentiation between one-time/ first-time developers
and game companies that hit success almost every time they launch. These are the most
important mobile game metrics every game developer:

9.1 Installs
The mobile game business is a business of volume. That means that we’re going to make our
mobile game a financial success only if we manage to get a large user base. The number of
installs is a fundamental mobile game metric because it ultimately showcases the success or
failure of our mobile game. Also, we’ll use the number of installs in pretty much every formula
for secondary metrics, such as retention, ARPU, and so on. . .

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9.2 DAU - Daily Active Users
DAU or “daily active users” defines unique users who used the app within a single day (24-hour
period). We must have in mind the fact that some companies will calculate DAU in different
ways since we’re tracking different user actions. This metric will provide valuable information
on how sticky our game is.

9.3 MAU - Monthly Active Users

MAU or “monthly active users” defines unique users who used the app at least once in the
last month (30-day period). To qualify as an MAU, a user just has to log in – he doesn’t need
to engage with the product. With that being said, having a high MAU doesn’t mean we’re
going to have high user engagement. The ratio of two interconnected metrics, DAU and MAU,
shows you how well our game retains users.

9.4 Stickiness Rate

By dividing DAU over MAU, we’re able to see our stickiness rate. This gives us an insight into
a really important question – how many monthly users are daily users? Also, an effective way
of measuring our stickiness rate is when we combine your Power users and Loyal users. Power
users are people who use our app 10+ times per month and Loyal users are people who return
to our app within 3 months of their first session. In 2016, a Silicon Valley analyst, Andrew
Chen analyzed over 125 million mobile games and apps that had over 10,000 downloads on
Google Play Store. Here’s what he found:

• The average app loses 77% of its users in the first 3 days of the install

• After a month, 90% of users stop using the app.

• After 3 months, 5% of users will continue using it.

In conclusion, if we manage to get our users to play our game for the first 3 days, they’re much
more likely to continue playing it over a longer period of time.

9.5 RR - Retention Rate

Retention Rate is one of the most important metrics to track in mobile games because it directly
impacts our revenue numbers. The retention rate gives insight into game performance and gen-
eral user experience. Mostly, we keep track of day 1, day 7 and day 30 retention rate mobile game
metrics so we can know if our game is built to last.
Day 1 Retention – It’s all about first impressions. You have to make sure users want to come
back for more. They need to get to know the product and understand its value and advantages.
This is called onboarding. If not done properly, the odds of churning will drastically increase.
Day 7 Retention – This is usually a turning point for the average user. It tells us how much

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users like the game, interface and overall experience. It determines whether they’ll continue
playing our game.
Day 30 Retention – This is when our customer base has shrunk and the remaining users
are the ones who play it on a weekly or even daily basis. These players are our loyal users.
They like the game. They play it regularly. They’re much more likely to make an in-app
purchase.

Figure 8: Retention Rate By Vertical

9.6 CR – Churn Rate

Churn rate is the exact opposite of the retention rate. We keep track of lost users (the ones who
uninstalled our app). In other words, the churn rate measures the percentage of users that stop
playing the game over a period of time.
Why do people uninstall the game? The most common reason(s) for uninstalling the
game are crashes bugs. A study by uSamp found that freezing (76%), crashing (71%) and
slow responsiveness (59%) were the primary bugbears when it came to app problems. 62%
of users will uninstall the app if they continuously experience crashes, freezes, or errors. The
game also may be too complex (for users to understand), maybe the monetization strategy is
too aggressive or the game just lacks that ‘something’ to keep it interesting for users.

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9.7 ARPU – Average Revenue Per User
ARPU or “Average Revenue Per User” is a metric that will help us understand whether our
business model/monetization strategy works (or not). When we’re acquiring users via different
marketing channels, we’ll see that the ARPU can vary from channel to channel. Keeping a
track of ARPU per channel/source can help us understand what channel is making us money.
Calculating ARPU is easy. Divide the revenue with the number of users in a specic period of
time (i.e. day – ARPDAU, week – ARPWAU, month – ARPMAU).

9.8 LTV - Lifetime Value

LTV or “Lifetime Value” is one of the most important financial mobile game metrics. It is
designed to show the total revenue that was generated (per user) from the start until the end
of their lifetime with the game. Why is LTV important? Why is LTV the most important
financial metric out of all mobile game Digital Marketing Mobile Metrics? Because it defines
the marketing strategy and profit margins. How much can we spend to acquire a user (CPI)?
Definitely not more than we’re going to earn. This insight is very important when it comes to
deciding on marketing channels we’re going to use.

9.9 ATV - Average Transaction Value

ATV or “Average Transaction Value” is a metric that defines the average value of an in-app
purchase or transaction. Driving higher-value purchases will also bring higher value users while
establishing a one on one connection with them.

9.10 TTP - Time to purchase

Let’s say we launched our app and users are starting to engage. How much time has passed
between the download and the first purchase? What is the value of that purchase? This
metric can improve the ad placement and the things we offer in-game. Converting the users
into buyers is done by identifying our conversion goals. Most of the games use different levels,
achievements, in-app purchases or in-game items for conversion.

9.11 CPI - Cost Per Install

CPI or “Cost Per Install” is mainly connected to campaigns that we will place via digital ads
to gain downloads. Advertisers are only charged if users install the app through the ad they
clicked on.
Why are CPI campaigns crucial? Because it’s a metric that can grow the audience, organize
our advertising budget and most importantly – increase the revenue. The average CPI varies
depending on: • The country • Platform (Android vs. iOS) • Ad format To exemplify, the
average iOS CPI in the U.S. stands at $2.37, it is $0.98 in China, while Brazil is significantly

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cheaper with a $0.22 CPI. With all the variable factors in mind, the global CPI averaged at
$2.24 in 2020, according to ironSource.

10 Project Management Approach

Taking into consideration the nature of our project and the context of the development of the
game - we decided to choose the Iterative Model.
The iterative model is a particular implementation of a software development life cycle
(SDLC) that focuses on an initial, simplified implementation, which then progressively gains
more complexity and a broader feature set until the final system is complete. When discussing
the iterative method, the concept of incremental development will also often be used liberally
and interchangeably, which describes the incremental alterations made during the design and
implementation of each new iteration.

10.1 The Process

Unlike the more traditional waterfall model, which focuses on a stringent step-by-step process of
development stages, the iterative model is best thought of as a cyclical process. After an initial
planning phase, a small handful of stages are repeated over and over, with each completion of
the cycle incrementally improving and iterating on the software. Enhancements can quickly
be recognized and implemented throughout each iteration, allowing the next iteration to be at
least marginally better than the last.

• Planning Requirements: As with most any development project, the first step is
go through an initial planning stage to map out the specification documents, establish
software or hardware requirements, and generally prepare for the upcoming stages of the
cycle.

• Analysis Design: Once planning is complete, an analysis is performed to nail down

the appropriate business logic, database models, and the like that will be required at
this stage in the project. The design stage also occurs here, establishing any technical
requirements (languages, data layers, services, etc) that will be utilized in order to meet
the needs of the analysis stage.

• Implementation: With the planning and analysis out of the way, the actual implemen-
tation and coding process can now begin. All planning, specification, and design docs up
to this point are coded and implemented into this initial iteration of the project.

• Testing: Once this current build iteration has been coded and implemented, the next
step is to go through a series of testing procedures to identify and locate any potential
bugs or issues that have have cropped up.

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 • Evaluation: Once all prior stages have been completed, it is time for a thorough evalu-
ation of development up to this stage. This allows us to examine where the project is at,
where it needs to be, what can or should change, and so on.

Figure 9: Iterative Model

10.2 Argumentation
Our approach in choosing the right Project Management Model was influenced by such factors
as continuous development, bug fixing and implementing new features and content into the game
over the course of the iterations. In the first step would be to go through the requirements
and initial planning we made during the semester. Then we planned the design of the game.
The tools we will use, IDE, programming language, database models, business logic. The next
step will be the start of the development, implementing all the initial features that are required
for the game to work on a basic level. Once this current build iteration has been coded and
implemented, the next step is to go through a series of testing procedures to identify and locate
any potential bugs or issues that have have cropped up.

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Conclusions

31
References

[1] Non-Functional Requirements :

https://app.assembla.com/wiki/show/tank_wars/Non-Functional_Requirements.

[2] Functional Requirements :

https://app.assembla.com/wiki/show/tank_wars/Functional_Requirements.

[3] Market Analysis :

1. https://sensortower.com/blog/top-one-percent-downloads
2. https://venturebeat.com/2019/11/13/app-annie-5-predictions-for-mobile-app-and-g
3. https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/22/mobile-gaming-mints-money/
4. https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-mobile-market-report-20

[4] Success Metrics :

https://andrewchen.co/new-data-shows-why-losing-80-of-your-mobile-users-is-normal-a

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