Mini Golf Matchup - Just One More Putt!

As a child, my parents would take my brothers and me Mini Golfing so maybe Mini Golfing is nostalgic... or maybe it's just awesome! When I saw Mini Golf Matchup at the top of the iOS Free charts I grabbed it and was excited to get my putt on!

If you like multiplayer games, playing with friends on Facebook or just like Mini Golf, I would encourage you to try it on either iOS or Android.

What they did right: 

This game is just fun

I really enjoy playing the game. Even after a month or more of playing. I've never been hard pressed into spending. I don't have all the map packs unlocked, but I'm ok with it. I enjoy the maps that I have enough to keep playing them with my friends.

Solid mechanics

The core game and mechanics are simple. The tutorial showed players how to play the game quickly, it was easy to understand and I got into a match relatively quickly. I maybe could've even skipped the tutorial altogether, but allowing players to skip tutorials in a game with mass market penetration gets a little dicey.

Solid multiplayer experience

Scopely uses a sort of template (for lack of a better term) to asynchronous game play and how the menu and game should operate. It's easy to understand and if you've ever played any other game by Scopely you'll immediately know what you're doing.

Name, icon and other store assets

I like them all. The name has Mini Golf in it, Matchup implies multiplayer and it rolls off the tongue or at least it does for me. I also liked the icon. I knew what it was about and the colors are vibrant and welcoming. I also laughed about the fictitious celebrity comments. I would definitely high five the guy who wrote the description!

I only wonder if they translate well to other countries. Do people know who those celebrities are? Perhaps store descriptions are localized, not only in language, but also content.

Environments

I'm also a fan of Super Stickman Golf 2 on iOS or Android, but I must say I like the 3D environments in Mini Golf Matchup more than the 2D ones in Super Stickman Golf 2. There are advantages to each game, but in the end how a game looks is extremely important to players. Not only is the world 3D, but the colors really pop. I really think they've done a great job with the artwork. 

Ads

This is debatable so you'll see this subject again. As a player, I want an entire game to be free without ads. Who doesn't? I assume conversion rates and ARPUs (average revenue per user) are lower on a game with mass market penetration and a very simplistic store like Mini Golf Matchup. Overly simple stores probably lead to lower IAP revenues, but in turn allow a broader audience to enjoy the game. In this sense I think it's great that the developers serve ads between levels. It's a natural break in gameplay and offer an additional revenue stream for non-paying players.

What I could be improved:

Ads

At the same time some ads are intrusive, require players to watch a 15 second clip or don't have skip/exit buttons until you tap on the ad. Ultimately if players value your currency or virtual items that you're selling then you don't need to rely on some many or as intrusive ads. Sorry if you feel placing ads in both sections is a copout, but I see two sides to this argument.

Pricing

I understand the remove ads for $1.99 but I think it could even be higher. I think a price between 2.99-4.99 could generate more revenue without dramatically impacting player behavior. It used to be $0.99 to remove ads and that was always the starting price for IAPs (it's even the starting point in Mini Golf Matchup), but prices have increased over the past 2-3 years and I don't think it's ridiculous to ask for more.

I also think IAP pricing could maybe be adjusted. I've seen increases in IAP revenues by making the minimum price point $1.99 or $2.99 versus $0.99. Obviously A/B testing this would give concrete answers, but perhaps Scopely already has.

More courses please

Longevity seems like it may be a larger issue with this game. More so than other Scopely games. Time will only tell, but I think it'll have lower long-term retention because it's lacking one of two elements.

1. User generated content – not all players will want to continue to play the same courses over and over again, and creating more levels takes time and money. It would've been great if Mini Golf Matchup had built a level editor. They could've also unlocked course "pieces" with achievements or a leveling system. One could argue nothing changes in Dice with Buddies (another big Scopely game) but people still come back. This is true because it has an...
2. Element of chance – games that have an element of chance help keep gameplay feeling fresh and new. Let's take board games for example. They don't change in content, but they have an element of chance involved with winning. That's why they're fun to play over and over. The players' experiences are changing because of chance.
• I used Settlers of Catan for an example earlier so sorry for mentioning it again if you've already read my Knight Storm post. Players strategically place cities next to tiles/numbers that have a higher chance of being rolled or next to materials that are scarce, but both strategies require the chance/luck of those numbers actually being rolled in order to win.

Automatic refocusing camera angle

This is a personal complaint, but I dislike how the camera automatically re-centers over the starting area. Many times I want to scroll around the level without pinching out to see the whole map. Then add a re-center button at the lower center portion of the screen if players pan away from the starting area or their ball.

Camera zoom at the beginning

Another personal complaint, but it takes much too long for the camera to zoom into the starting area. I've accidentally put my ball in the wrong spot several times because the camera was still zooming in. I would handle this in one of two ways;

1. I would zoom the camera in much faster or
2. Keep the camera zoomed out so the player can see the entire map, then zap to zoom in (again quickly) and then tap to place the ball. This does add an extra tap to get into the game, but it lets player observe the entire map, allowing them to strategize before placing the ball. 

Replays

The game's replay feature is cool. I like having my friends watch my hole in one and then see my smack talk in chat. However, it's not being used to its full potential. If your opponent already completed the level they won't see your replay so I've missed many opportunities to share excellent/lucky shots with my friends.

After playing for a month with friends I must say that Scopely really made a fun and solid game. Many of the criticisms are personal, minor or can easily be improved through updates. Only the user generated content would be extremely difficult, but perhaps they'll add that feature in Mini Golf Matchup 2 (which I hope they make). If you'd like to challenge my putting skills just get the game, challenge by username, type "bensi" and we'll see you on the putting green!

If you'd like to talk about this or any other games you can find me here at my blog or on Twitter.