Dragon Army

Do you ever experience difficulties streaming video on your phone or computer? The way video is delivered to your device is evolving and tackling many of the frustrations you encounter when streaming online. Check out how JWplayer, Netflix, and Wowza Media Systems are pioneering video streaming technology and delivering you the highest quality video.

1. Recommendation algorithms: DeepWalk

Do you ever feel Netflix suggests videos irrelevant to your interests? Video recommendation algorithms have existed in parallel to Netflix since the early 2000’s, but JW Player utilizes a new algorithm called DeepWalk to make more accurate suggestions. DeepWalk allows for factors other than viewing behavior to influence recommendations and works by learning content asymmetrically. Think of videos as points on a graph and each video is weighted by watch frequency and recency. Most recommendation algorithms correlate video A with video B, and likewise video B with video A. However, DeepWalk correlates video A with video B, but not the other way around. Because the algorithm learns asymmetrically and doesn’t solely rely on user viewing behavior, it can incorporate other factors to make more accurate suggestions such as video and user metadata.

2. Per-title encoding optimization

Despite it’s sometimes inaccurate video recommendations, Netflix engineered an algorithm to deliver users the highest quality video without using unnecessary streaming bandwidth. Instead of spitting out all videos using the same number of bits, Netflix developed a system called “per-title-encoding optimization.” It works by analyzing video titles to determine the their complexity. For example, videos with fast-moving action scenes require more bits to stream than animation or landscape scenes. Encoding optimization ensures you receive the highest quality video at the most efficient output.

3. Low latency streaming

Have you ever received a notification on your phone about the score of a game before seeing it on T.V.? The challenge with live video streaming is there’s always a delay - often reaching into the double digits. Most streaming platforms use Apple HLS to minimize delay. It works by breaking the stream into small HTTP files and delivering them in a sequence. But a platform developed by Wowza Media Systems provides video streaming to users with only milliseconds of delay. It delivers live video in real time by working with an open-source API project called Web Real Time Communication (RTC). The systems allow the stream to synchronize important aspects of live video such as commentary, scores, and updates. It’s becoming an emerging standard in video streaming, and soon you’ll know the score of the game on T.V. before it reaches your phone!

During my time at UGA, I had a professor who would start lectures quite frequently with “wouldn’t it be cool if…”. As we’ve wrapped up our time last week in Barcelona with Mobile World Congress, I can’t seem to shake that familiar phase from my head. Wouldn’t it be cool if...

Mobile World Congress has answered many of the "if" moments, with technology and applications that enable far beyond possible.  

As we watch technologies like a headset that sensing brain activity to help train patients towards gaining focus and decreasing stress, or a sensory substitution device that translates digital information in gentle stimulation patterns to allow blind people understand their surroundings, we begin to understand that mobile isn’t just about the device in our pockets, it’s about empowering consumers to connect with the world around them.

So where do we go from here?

by Michael Stanley, Art Director

Here in the studio, we've started playing with some new tools and a new workflow for animating 2D sprites with 3D geometry. "Why would you do that?" you might ask. 

By using 3D meshes to animate our sprites, we can achieve some really nice animations across the board. We can squash, stretch, skew and deform to achieve very smooth animation cycles without having a ton of geometry or sprite sheets. We also aren't limited to basic boned animation which tends to look very primitive and puppet-like. 

You can check out how this was done with Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime in this really awesome time-lapse video. So here's how we found out how to get it to work with Autodesk Maya LT and SceneKit.

We’re nearly two days into Barcelona, and as expected, so far Mobile World Congress has left us inspired, inquisitive and still asking “how did they do that?”

While the sheer amount of technology is electrifying on the expo floor, it’s the stories behind each of those products that we’re taking home. A few surprising standouts so far:

Personalization has its limits.

I have to admit, it’s a bit surprising, yet quite refreshing, to hear personalization talked about so intimately across the board here at MWC. While we’ve heard unanimously in recent years about the push to create more personal, hyper relevant experiences, balancing data with the pushback of going too far is intriguing. As one panelist put it - you can still create an experience without telling me about it.

Hyper-connected doesn’t have to mean “connect all of the things”

Products stand a purpose, and so do the actions we natively take with them. Keeping in mind the context around a user’s behavior allows us to better map the journey. Sometimes this will mean partnering objects, apps or devices, while at other times, it may be best to keep them separate. An excellent example of this is LinkedIn’s diverse app strategy. With a series of apps that each serve a clear and distinct purpose, LinkedIn has built tools that serve the customer when they need them. Will they use every app, everyday? No. And that’s OK.  

Let’s move past "because it’s cool"

Mobile games have cracked the code on creating meaningful user engagement, something marketers have struggled with creating in mobile experiences. One method to rethinking how to approach the design of those experiences is by the application of gaming personas to the development process.

By matching these game personas against certain game mechanics in your design, you are better enabled to influence users to take desired actions, complete goals, and interact with others. This is the second entry in our three part series on applying game personas to the design of mobile experiences: Personal Motivation.

Traditionally, marketers identify specific target segments and then attempt to strategize the audience's needs and desires in an effort to design a campaign or message that has the greatest chance of being effective. Because gaming personas rely on an actual test of engagement, guessing is taken out of the equation.

At its core, the most simple motivator to play a game is for enjoyment. As we start to better understand how we can fulfill consumer needs, we open ourselves to building more meaningful experiences with no motive other than to please the user.

By applying this same theory to our marketing mix, we force ourselves to start with the question: What does my consumer need in order to feel fulfilled? This is quite different from the typical approach taken by marketers: What do I want my consumer to do on behalf of my brand? Our approach designs for humans, not functions.

Marketers are then free to concentrate on more powerful and more personal engagement mechanisms. Mobile games are purposefully designed to allow an audience to engage in a way that empowers their individual style of interaction. This individual style is categorized not through conventional socio-demographic means, but by the interaction triggers which create engagement.

We're more than a year removed from the launch of Chipotle's Back to the Start campaign which featured the popular film and game "The Scarecrow". A recent reminder found at some local Chipotle restaurants last month put the campaign back into focus…and back into many of the conversations around gaming our team has been having with clients. 

As marketers, it's in our DNA to pick apart commercials, campaigns, and even games to find the golden nugget to adapt as our own. 

So why did "The Scarecrow" work and why are we still talking about it more than a year later? Here's a hint:  it doesn't have to do with the massive success of the mobile gaming industry alone. 

"The Scarecrow" was a success because it goes deep into the brand ethos of Chipotle. The campaign wasn't a gimmick or an idea crafted alone in the marketing department; it's a true manifestation of the commitment they've made as a brand brought to life. 

"The Scarecrow" worked because every chapter and channel in the brand story connects back to that ethos giving it real-life power, even down to the example seen in stores this January with the pork supplier. 

As marketers, the deeper we dive into mobile, gaming, *insert any new platform name here*, the harder we will need to work towards telling an authentic brand narrative first. 

As we mentioned in our post on "Marketing in a Mobile Driven World", the gaming community has been effective at solving a challenge which marketers have struggled in creating with mobile experiences:  engagement. Mobile games convert into engagement in part because of a unique concentration on gaming personas.

These personas identify players as a certain type of gamer with a set of motivators, behavioral tendencies, and action triggers. Gaming personas match up against potential game mechanics that are designed to encourage each user type to take desired actions, complete goals, and interact with other players.

We have identified three key benefits to marketers for applying gaming-inspired personas to mobile experiences. Let's take a closer look at the first benefit in our series:  Universal Use.

The techniques used for creating gaming personas have an interesting side effect:  they all but eliminate the traditional use of demographics to create personas, which rely heavily on age bands, gender, and geography. Sounds crazy, right? These demographics are the paradigm under which basically all marketing has been rooted for the past 50 years.

With gaming personas, an 18-year-old male in Hollywood, CA, can have the same persona as a 45-year-old female executive in Atlanta, GA. Behaviors can span typical socio-demographic bands. When the goal is engagement and conversion, behavior is the objective, so why shouldn't the targeting approach take root in the drivers behind that motivation which creates interaction. This behavior approach is especially valuable given the limited availability of real-time demographic data in the mobile space.

As the dust settles from our recent acquisition of Proving Ground and our physical merging of offices, we set our sights on the year ahead. One major initiative is telling our story on why we believe the combination of a mobile-first agency and a game studio is the future of digital experiences. 

Engineering loyalty, creating deeper engagements, driving conversion, and measuring the bottom line impact of these digital investments are but a few of the long and evolving list of new challenges marketers are facing every day.

Today's rapid pace of technology evolutions and shifting consumer behaviors makes for an even more uncertain future. But we have the solution:  Mobile. It is simultaneously marketing's biggest opportunity and challenge. 

While mobile is taking a front seat in the consumer's mind, the marketing approach is often still fueled by campaigns rather than the larger brand experience. The biggest hurdle to digital success can be boiled down to a single gap:  creating valuable and sustainable engagement. 

While marketers have struggled in this brave new world, the gamers have flourished. 80% of all money spent on phones is games. It's the number one activity on phones and drives an industry expected to grow to $54 billion in 2015. 

Born of a necessity to monetize, the gaming community has been able to solve the classic marketer challenges:  engagement, conversion, and ROI. 

This is the unique space where Dragon Army has placed our focus. The approach is simple - leverage game theory to develop mobile experiences for brands. We transfer knowledge from our in-house game studio to the agency side, giving clients an edge when it comes to creating audience-first mobile experiences. This new methodology is what we are calling Applied Game Theory ™. 

By Patrick Rossetti, Game Designer

The time has come for us to finish our series on successful game mechanics. This is the final entry in our five part series that was inspired by a recurring question we get asked when speaking to brands.

We've found that many marketers need help creating deeper engagement with their mobile experiences (part of the reason we recently acquired mobile agency Proving Ground). Leveraging game mechanics is one way to solve the issue so we've focused this series on some of the most popular design strategies that could be incorporated into digital experiences. 

This is the final entry in our five part series on successful game mechanics: Cooperation and Community Objectives.

Most people are familiar with solo-play and player vs player games. There is another strategy that leverages both of these combined with social interaction to create a hybrid style of cooperative and community objectives. This is where players team up with other players to accomplish common objectives, either in the form of facing off against other teams of players or team up to complete planned game driven goals.

Games like Clash of Clans (pictured) build their whole experience around the community by creating objectives and cooperative situations. In the game players can form clans, in order to do so, players must invite 10 other friends to join them. These clans help one another by supplying troops or helping to defend the clan’s bases. Once a clan is formed, leaders and co-leaders can start wars. When a clan war is declared, clans are given one day of preparation before the battle begins.

This group attack/defend mentality helps strengthen the community within the game and keeps players both engaged and invested in the experience, bringing them back time and time again.

While there is no single magic bullet design mechanic to guarantee virality and heavy interaction with a game or mobile experience, these elements we've covered in this series can be found in some of the most popular mobile games. 

We hope you've enjoyed the series and thank you for taking this journey with us. 

In the novel Ender's Game, Colonel Graff said it best when he told Ender, "We're doing something unusual with Dragon Army." As you can see in the title, Dragon Army is proud to announce we've acquired Proving Ground, one of the leading mobile agencies in the Southeast. 

At first, the news of a gaming studio joining forces with a mobile development agency might seem…well, unusual. Over the past year, we've met with a wide range of companies and have found that a singular underlying problem exists. Businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to create deeper audience engagement with their digital experiences.

Jeff Hilimire, Dragon Army CEO, recently had this to say on his personal blog about the combined forces, "The new Dragon Army is one part mobile gaming studio, one part mobile experience agency. One team makes games for consumers while the other is building mobile experiences for businesses. Our unique differentiation is that we will apply successful game theory and game psychology to make the mobile experiences we build for companies more engaging and achieve better results."

Proving Ground CEO Danny Davis will lead as President of the mobile experience agency division of the new company. "We are also thrilled about the synergy between our teams", Davis said. "Dragon Army’s culture of creative problem solving, passion for game-changing experiences, and attention to building great relationships in the community mirrors our own."

This isn't the first time Davis and Hilimire have worked together. In 1998, they launched digital agency Spunlogic, which eventually sold to Engauge then Publicis (combined under the Moxie name). 

While the merger of a gaming studio and mobile agency on the surface might seem a bit unusual, at its core our two companies will be better poised to meet the ever changing world of mobile experiences.

We are excited to announce that Dragon Army is teaming up with the Revolutionary Minds Foundation to help make this holiday a little bit brighter for kids in need here in Atlanta. RMF is collecting toys that they will deliver to several local charities and orphanages. The goal is simple yet lofty:  to gather over 1000 gifts.

To help with this wonderful endeavor, we are sponsoring the "It's A Wrap!" party at Atlanta Tech Village on December 12th from 6-11pm. There will be free food, open bar, a DJ, movies, and more, to entertain you as we mingle and wrap gifts.

   How do you gain entry? Simply bring at least one unwrapped gift. That's it! Please RSVP to the Facebook event listing to help the coordinators plan accordingly for the crowd.

by Michael Stanely, Art Guy

It's been pretty busy for the past few weeks in the best of ways. We've been tidying up Defend the Dam to get it ready for release as well as hitting the ground running on some new prototypes and some related (and non-related) concept art. Dev (the one's who actually work) sent us over some basic prototypes and told us to slap our art on it so they could pretty it up. The basic prototypes looked something like this:

One of the concepts that we got handed over was a match 3 concept for a blacksmithing game. LaMont gave it a Wild West twist and I came up with a random character that would fit into a fantasy universe.

Another was a chain reaction game. We came up with ideas that ranged from 70s future to a Chris Turnham (best known as a Power Puff Girls artist) styled science lab.

Another iteration was for a "start on a number and draw a path" game that we did a zombie theme and an art thief "escape the cops" skin for.

Here's a handful of other concepts that we took a stab at:

By Patrick Rossetti, Game Designer

In our meetings with brands, we often discuss various mechanics that are found frequently in popular games. Not only can these mechanics be used to build successful games, they are important to keep in mind for other app builds and marketing plans. 

This is the fourth entry in our five part series on successful game mechanics: Partial Reinforcement. 

The partial reinforcement mechanic is a strategy that has been in existence for quite some time. It involves intermittent rewarding of players, which then drives them to spend more time with the game in order to seek and earn additional rewards.

A classic example of this is the slot machine. Jetpack Joyride (pictured) is a popular runner game, but its unique aspect to place it in this category is not what happens during gameplay. In between levels, players can spend the special coins they earn during the game at a slot machine which spits out a variety of rewards.

Hearthstone, a popular card based game, applies a randomization mechanic when players purchase packs. These packs contain upgraded cards used in building more advanced decks, but are not known to the player before spending in-game currency to purchase the pack.

This random crating of loot strategy is extremely common and is an element found in a wide variety of game styles.

Catch up on the series with part 1 Social Competition, part 2 Limited Time and Seasonal Events, and part 3 Creativity and Self Expression. 

Our first video game “Robots Love Ice Cream” has taken the digital world by storm. This award winning title was one of the most popular games of 2014, but Spinston and his crew of ice-cream eating robots aren’t stopping there. Now that they’ve invaded your mobile screen, they’ve set their sights on your tabletop.

We’ve teamed up with 25th Century Games, another local Atlanta start-up, to bring all of the characters from the Robots Love Ice Cream video game universe to a new card game format suitable for ages 8 and up - making it perfect for family game nights!

We are thrilled with the success of the video game version and are excited about transforming these robot characters into a fun card game.

A Kickstarter campaign has been launched to support the production costs of "Robots Love Ice Cream: The Card Game", which is critical to the project.

By Ryan P. Tuttle, COO

Last week we were fortunate enough to win an Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association (AIMA) award for our work marketing the Robots Love Ice Cream launch earlier this year and it’s cross-promotion with Arby’s re-launch of the Orange Cream Shake.  The awards show was at the Buckhead Theater where digital marketers from around the city gathered.

The specific award, one of only seven given out at the event, was the Made in the ATL award...

Made in the ATL The marketing team that best achieves its goal for an Atlanta-based client’s ad campaign. This stellar campaign can include but is not limited to: newly launched or redesigned sites, online promotions, media campaigns, sites constructed for rebranding initiatives or a rebranding of established Atlanta brand.

This award is especially exciting to us because of our close ties with AIMA through the years and really because this is an organization focused on what we do, digital marketing. Not to mention promoting companies and marketing in Atlanta. So when we saw the Made in the ATL category we knew we had to try.

I should mention that Dragon Army was also up for Breakout Digital Atlanta Startup but lost out to MI725, which makes sense. We don’t really fall into a traditional “start up” type of category, we are really just digital marketers that love games whereas both MI725 and Terminus (also a finalist) have amazing products. Our games are amazing to, it’s just not apples to apples ;)

By Patrick Rossetti, Game Designer

We frequently discuss with brands how they can incorporate gaming mechanics into their marketing and mobile strategies. In those conversations, we highlight popular and key tactics that are used within games to stimulate interactions. 

This is the third entry in our five part series on successful game mechanics: Creativity and Self Expression. 

Video games are an exercise in creativity and self-expression for the creators themselves. But there is a genre of games that focus on creating the framework universe where the players are allowed the freedom and flexibility to build the game as they see fit. 

Games like Minecraft (pictured) and Disney Infinity are some of the more popular examples of this. Allowing players to create their own unique experiences and worlds are not only fun to explore on their own, but are exciting to share with others.

Sharing of these experiences can range from something as simple as an image to much more elaborate methods where gamers can interact with the experiences created by other players. These ever evolving user-generated worlds provide players with ample reasons to increase in-game dwell time and repeat play.

Catch up on the series with part 1 Social Competition and part 2 Limited Time and Seasonal Events. 

By Patrick Rossetti, Game Designer

In our conversations with brands about how to use game mechanics in their marketing and business strategies, we are frequently asked about some of the more popular mechanics.

This is the second entry in our five part series on successful game mechanics: Limited Time and Seasonal Events. 

The use of limited availability content can be seen across a wide variety of game types. Seasonal and limited time events are often found in the form of new levels, characters, and items. While it provides new content for every player, it’s the hardcore crowd that covets these events.

The nature of limited time rewards is that once the specific event is over, they turn into trophies which players can show off. Additionally, these serve as a great way of delivering new content to the players to increase the life cycle of a game, and players who weren’t there the first time have something to look forward to the next time these events come around.

The Simpsons Tapped Out has mastered this concept by syncing content updates to new episodes and seasonal holidays. Just to give you an idea of how aggressive their limited content strategy is, there have been over 50 content updates in the first two years alone.

This limited and continual resurgence of content provides just the right injection to keep players coming back time and time again, solving one of the hardest problems for any app or game: repeat play.

If you missed part one in the series on Social Competition, you can find it here.