Supercell, creators of the popular mobile games Clash of Clans and Boom Beach have come out with another popular game for the ios and android platforms. The 5.5 billion dollar company is dominating the mobile market through genius marketing techniques and fun gameplay designs. Clash Royale has topped the App store charts in 44 countries and doesn’t look like the game is slowing down anytime soon. Master of microtransactions, the Supercell team has copied their previous game models to encourage in-game transactions to expedite the leveling process and ensure that those who pay more will win more. So that’s why I’ve decided to create some beginner guides for those who don’t want to shell out money, and want to enjoy the game as free to play model.
I’ve recently just downloaded this game and to be honest, I’ve found it really hard to not make in-game purchases. Like all of Supercell’s games, they have a genius marketing strategy that gets the consumer to inevitably make in-game purchases. To achieve this, they give the consumer “just enough” free-to-play content to get them hooked. Once addicted, the user will realize how difficult it is to progress within the game without purchasing Supercell’s in-game currencies. In Clash Royale, they do this by awarding the user various chests that contain myriad items like gold, cards, and gems. The hitch though, is that each chest takes an extremely long time to open. For instance, silver chests take 3 real-time hours to unlock and gold chests take 8 real-time hours to unlock. Of course, this could always be expedited with gems; Supercell’s ingenious in-game currency for all its games, which allows the user to instantaneously finish processes which would normally take hours for those who want to play the game for free.
The key to avoiding micro transactions is patience. Once you’ve loaded up your que of chests (the max amount of chests you can have is four), stop playing and start waiting for the timers to expire. While this isn’t necessary in the first few stages of the game Arena 1-2, you’ll find it increasingly difficult to progress in the later stages without specific cards. Like all Supercell games, you have to treat it as a “game on the go” and avoid initial impulses to purchase in game currency. Playing this game like it’s a “normal game” (all content is unlocked after purchase) can be very expensive, so once you’ve maxed the chest que out, put the phone/tablet down and pick it back up in couple hours after you’ve done some stuff with your life!