Context
Challenge, Objective, Action and Results
Challenge
For most of its 12-year lifespan, Buraco Jogatina has relied solely on its core loop, with monetization based primarily on intrusive Ads and Subscriptions.
The game’s audience is mostly aged 50+, a demographic that generally faces greater challenges when using technology. Even so, the game has built a large and loyal player base, with highly expressive volume and the majority of players showing retention above 180 days.
Objective
To diversify monetization and add value to the end user without compromising the original quality of the product and the core experience that makes Buraco Jogatina beloved by its audience: the Buraco matches themselves.
Action
The chosen approach was to integrate systems that bring short, mid, and long-term purpose to the game, adding an economic layer without removing the features that players already enjoyed and were familiar with.
Results
With the addition of Mesa da Fortuna and Royal Journey—two features aimed at distinct audience segments within Buraco Jogatina—it was possible to diversify monetization by introducing economies that opened opportunities for IAP, RV placements, and increased subscription value, driving higher revenue metrics and product LTV.
Responsability
Game Designer
In this game, I am responsible for the entire chain of design and content expansion process, from planning new systems to defining and maintaining the economy and live-ops as a whole.
Part of my routine is to deepen my knowledge about the audience through quantitative and qualitative data, explore and develop mechanics to improve engagement, retention, and diversify monetization, aiming to develop and add value for our players based on features that establish short and long-term goals and strengthen the purpose of the game.
Game
Android, iOS | Trick-Taking Card Game
Buraco, also known as Canasta or Canastra, is a traditional card game in many Latin American countries and Italy. Played in a 1x1 or 2x2 configuration, each player has their own hand. On their turn, they have to draw from a common deck and play sequences until they have used up all their cards. Sequences award points and, after reaching a score limit, the player or team with the most points wins.
In Buraco Canasta Jogatina: Card Games For Free, you can play on your smartphone or tablet whenever and wherever you want, with the rules you prefer: Buraco Aberto, Buraco Fechado, or Buraco STBL. Set up games with 2 or 4 players and make canastas playing against real people in online multiplayer mode or with our bots.
Buraco Jogatina was one of the first games developed by Gazeus, starting on the web. It was later the first game ported to mobile and has maintained an active product team ever since, with the product having been around for over 12 years.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Mesa da Fortuna
Description
"Mesa da Fortuna" is an online game mode in which players must pay an entry fee and receive a prize in virtual coins (soft currency) upon winning. Each new wallet milestone achieved gives players access to a new table from which they have higher rewards.
Each match also gives the winning player a value in trophies according to the table, which are points to climb on Leaderboards, separated by group, formed by a player limit, and global, where everyone on the Buraco Jogatina server is competing simultaneously. The seasons were designed to start and end at each time period, giving the top 10 places a prize in soft currency to have more "fuel" in the following season.
The purpose of the decision to have two types of Leaderboard is to reach different player profiles, with the "Group" being for more casual players, who value competitiveness but are not concerned with being the best of all, and the "Global" aimed at players who really want to stand out, to achieve and be in the "Hall of Fame" at the end of each season.
Design & Decisions
This game mode is aimed at a competitive audience, engaged in Multiplayer modes. Even though this is not the product's main audience, the decision to implement this system first was due to the level of market confidence it carries with it.
Many Benchmarks have similar systems, and this was an opportunity to introduce a self-managed economy, since at the same time that players generate resources, they also equivalently sink them.
Results
By establishing a new economic ecosystem for the game, we added 4 new RV placements, 3 linked to the "Mesa da Fortuna" and 1 to the classic Singleplayer mode, increasing ARPDAU by 6.3%.
I was also responsible for creating the first IAP store for selling soft currency packs after 11 years of the product's existence, and this one, 5 months after its inclusion, was responsible for 2% of the game's revenue.
Raspadinha
(Gacha System)
The "Scratch Card" is a lottery system (Gacha) initially designed only as a subscription benefit that gives players extra currency to invest in the Fortune Table.
Its inclusion in the game had the primary objective of increasing the perceived value of the subscription, in addition to improving the flow of matches in the new mode.
As an expansive system, this is a feature that in the long term could bring other types of prizes such as currency from other modes and collectibles.
Resultados
Along with the new benefit, there were maintenance and live-ops actions that, together, promoted an increase in the conversion of subscribers and matches of these players in the new game mode, after 1 month of adding the feature.
Royal Journey
(PVE Game Mode)
Description
Royal Journey Saga is a PvE game mode where players use the resource “scrolls” to progress through matches against themed bots, distributed across linear stages organized into Realms. Each realm functions as a “world,” in which players face Common, Epic, and finally the Legendary bot at the end. Progression is based on stars, earned according to the player’s performance in each match.
In addition to the core progression, the system includes the collectible sideloop Trophy Hall: by earning all stars in a Realm, players receive a trophy that is added to their collection.
The mode offers two types of content: Free Realms, available to all players, and Exclusive Realms, accessible only to subscribers. While free players must follow a fixed order of progression, subscribers have the freedom to choose the order in which they want to explore the realms.
Design & Decisions
The Royal Journey Saga was designed with a focus on the majority of the player base, whose preference lies in matches against bots.
Compared to Mesa da Fortuna, there are few direct benchmarks with similar systems. Even so, the concept feels familiar to the community, which has already experienced similar mechanics in games from other genres.
The opportunity lies in innovating upon a known model, bringing it into a new context that combines progression, monetization, and replayability. This positions it as a long-lasting and strategic mode to drive player engagement and retention.
Resultados
With the addition of Royal Journey, five new RV placements were implemented, the IAP store was expanded with Scroll bundles, and the subscription package began offering more benefits, including exclusive realms. In addition, the new resource was integrated into the scratch card system. Together, these improvements boosted the product’s overall metrics, with significant increases in monetization and engagement.
Developer | Publisher
