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FTUE: Dragon Land
Key insights
5 takeaways- 01Social Point’s Dragon Land demonstrates that 3D platforming mechanics, specifically camera management and movement, suffer from significant friction when adapted to mobile touchscreen interfaces.
- 02While the game uses visual aids like shadow indicators to assist with depth perception, these features fail to replicate the intuitive control precision found in traditional console platformers.
- 03The inherent difficulty of 3D navigation on mobile devices poses a direct risk to long-term retention metrics, potentially hindering the conversion of casual users into day-thirty players.
- 04Dragon Land highlights a broader industry challenge where developers struggle to balance complex, skill-based 3D gameplay with the accessibility requirements of the mobile market.
- 05The reliance on virtual dual pads and double-tap mechanics creates a steep learning curve that potentially alienates the casual player base typically targeted by Social Point.
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Transcript
hello and welcome to Pocket Gamer top busy's youtube channel this desire first-time user experience playlist this is where they play games for the first time to get that initial experience play food through the tutorial and get that kind of idea of social flow and user interface and all those kind of things that developers spend a lot of time focusing on cuz that's the bit of the game that everyone who starts playing the game plays by definition that's the first time user experience so you see we're playing dragon land from social point so it's a tutorial so we're seeing everything very big very big fonts ever telling us what to do tap on episode one card at a big arrow so obviously this is quite social game and they're not expecting this although expecting a lot of people who play to not be playing a lot of games I guess so but this is you know this is good you don't see this very often then now they got a little video showing you what you will be doing okay so this one point able to do given
that I'm / not obscure my camera okay so we can get to the end and take the final coin squashing anyways gives you extra point okay so do a stick mmm so do we like digital pads virtual to duel pads not really not only tap here to jump particularly 3d games this is already becoming disorienting so obviously the camera is moot I'm not in control of the camera really the camera as you can see it's kind of shifting around on its own so if I look over here the camera was I was going the other way and the camera was going yeah I guess question there's like a 3d Mario yeah okay well I mean I can't see the enemy can I cuz you got me use it anything pump did I get him yes honey okay so I think yeah already we're
seeing if this game is gonna have hard enemies Oh double taps oh yes what I mean lots of people I guess lots of people watching this will be laughing at my well of course of lakhna my ineptitude but also laughing at and the fact that this is this is gameplay platform or what I want and that really it's hard to do in 3d though even with that shadow gracious yeah oh god they've chosen to do hits i would suggest this is a problem in three you know you kind of this was Mary 64 such a great game because it basically took the brilliant 2d Mario platformers and made the 3d part of it as fun and nice and it not quite as easy as the 2d stuff it was the extra complexity was added to buy extra enjoyment it's just that no idea what's
going on it this is the first day this is the first thing that they expect someone to play ok i will not say I'm a good I'm good at playing games but I have been playing with her hips now for a long long time and I do play a lot of them and yeah that's going to be that's going to be pretty difficult for people oh holy well it was this chap doing ok i thought i thought i'd have to dig up on its head and ok the blades in trying to help a girl and exciting when detecting treasures ok so who's the movies listen so this is look a bit like a a candy crush kind of thing where we can see these these obviously fake people like lick on them so we can see they kind of look like the map that we're going to travel on we can kind of see where our off if we I guess login via facebook connect we can see where our friends were playing the game are which is very strong social glue to kind of go oh yeah
you know my mate Joe or my mate Jane got to this level and do I get high school than them although one is a candy crush was the game that really rode that to kind of chart success not particularly and I guess little less relevant now this is it really is Barry with a see okay so there's a template its best in your money bit of spiraled anyone played spyro the dragon on the on the playstation i love spyro games he wasn't like a purple dragon but he you can kind of see the pillow many people do like dragons lopsy this is quite a lot of games more games have been successful dragonvale being there and a big it's the big one but yeah this is just for
mobile games is technically very difficult for the developers to kind of deal with the kind of the way the camera is going and to do our touchscreen i mean it i think this reason it's a reasonable job and they've got this what's this big round shadow you can see which is better to help you but that's not it's not really so obviously i'm under the box now because there's that its shadow and there's my shadow so but that's not how you play these games you don't play games by going with as my shadow there's its shadow i'll go underneath it you play them in much more intuitive level I think CEO as I wander around the kind of the coins are attracted to me like a like a magnet thing that's obviously good that gives me a nice sense of I'm collecting all these clothes where I don't have to actually be absolutely under them but was the camera going now I see that's really all the cameras couldn't get across that bridge the cameras moved 90 degrees why I'm still going in the same
direction I have to say in our first time user experience we try not to be very critical because we don't be playin games rating the very games very long but and while not saying social pointer a very good developer and very successful in running free-to-play games for the casual audience so I'm sure they know their audience better than mean I'm sure this has been a soft launch etc etc but I think lots of people or or whatever they're lots of people will struggle with this this is the second level I mean I just kind of get this guy sleepy zzzz moving so another so we call this the first time user experience channel and that's what kind of technically game developers talk about so there is a tutorial is different in a sense this tutorial is a certain part of the game for the first time user experiences you know that is
the first time user experience will be the tutorial and they're kind of like all the onboarding so basically you to log into things and then such like but and there's part of that another technical thing that develop spend a lot of time focusing on is day one retention so basically they 0 is people downloading your game and then day one is do they come back to it and then other important ones of Dave day 72 after a week of people logging back in and then they 30 after a month people are going back in and there's some kind of metrics people depend on the game of course but there are some time guidelines that people tend to use and you kind of want to have a d if you have a d30 of twenty percent people are pretty happy with that but I you know I kind of think that the the d1 on this is going to be twenty percent really the problem but I think probably the people who actually going to be good at playing
this game not i'm saying i'm good at it but you know I've played a lot of games so I can I kind of kind of can manage this not without some difficulty oh ok I'm using to bring oh now they've got two buttons that so that's even more complicated but yeah so I'm kind of I'm managing my way through this I went I must be enjoying it but the people who play social points game Oh season like I just not hold that button so the double press it twice with double tap but there's no hold on that why yes something odd I just gonna think the people who social place other games appealed to it's just not going to get this whatsoever suppose the other thing you could just have the Pope you could just avoid those enemies at this point you and have to go and jump on their heads
another thing while mobile one way up most touchscreens are very good at doing certain things I just don't think touchscreens are not they're not ideal for this type of game oh ok so although of course saying it will be very interesting to see what what Nintendo do when they start making proper mobile games so I'll see they've announced they're going to be making five mobile games with DNA another Japanese company and one of them is going to be this kind of social platform not really a game oh so you just falling death no one likes walking there so the first one they're going to do is this look Nemo to you but the person on doing is a social platform and then the second one is saying is going to be their proper big kind of IP
although probably Luigi when it let's face it but you kind of think well I probably though I'm going to make this type of game you kind of want them to actually attend this and even the other games that are have been a bit like this like jet set run and little because things have always been in 2d ok it's just finish this one off ok getting the hang hang of it whoo he says missing loads of gold boom ok so it's three levels done my thumb over for most of the time we need to cute little dragon given that so I've got some gems and some coins as some XP usual kind of stuff that we know and love from free-to-play games so i can change dragons although a game i join us too weak fits level so we can see the free-to-play kind of bit of something coming in I can upgrade my
dragon that's blaze and go to the shop and have an upgrading with the gold that I burnt and he's now level 2 and now I can go back see in any any of them that is it's quite quite hard quite hot divided you can see all you know you because this is that this gameplay skill-based and yet they're kind of like gating you almost um interesting an interesting approach we will see how social point get on with their dragon land I have to say is you've probably seen from this Admiral reservations anyway um no thanks for watching don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel so we play not these free to play games and try to analyze them in a fence objective manner and if you subscribe you you won't miss the games we play we play quite a lot and so you're I'm sure if you even you don't like this one you'll find some stuff that you like at some point so we could to see you around thanks for watching and see you again soon
Summary
The first-time user experience (FTUE) of the 3D platformer Dragon Land, developed by Social Point, reveals significant challenges regarding mobile accessibility and control schemes. While the game employs standard onboarding techniques—such as large, instructional fonts and video demonstrations—the transition to a 3D environment on a touchscreen presents notable friction. The primary technical hurdle involves camera management, which often operates independently of the player’s movement, leading to disorientation and difficulty in navigating platforming obstacles.
The analysis highlights that while the game incorporates familiar free-to-play mechanics, such as social integration via Facebook, currency collection, and character upgrades, the core gameplay demands a level of precision that is difficult to achieve on mobile devices. The reliance on virtual dual pads and double-tap mechanics creates a steep learning curve that may alienate the casual audience typically targeted by Social Point’s portfolio. The inclusion of shadow indicators beneath the player character and enemies serves as a visual aid, yet it remains an imperfect substitute for the intuitive control found in traditional console platformers.
From a retention perspective, the game’s design raises questions about its ability to maintain player interest beyond the initial tutorial. While developers prioritize day-one, day-seven, and day-thirty retention metrics, the inherent difficulty of 3D platforming on touchscreens suggests that the game may struggle to convert casual users into long-term players. Ultimately, the experience underscores the ongoing industry challenge of adapting complex 3D movement and combat mechanics to mobile interfaces, noting that even established developers face difficulty balancing skill-based gameplay with the accessibility requirements of the mobile market.
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