Design Rules for Free-to-Play Games

Free-to-play is the most exciting thing to happen to the games business for decades. Each week brings new success stories, as creators around the world unleash the potential of free-to-play - building successful, thriving games for mobile, social and even console and PC platforms, all with a single, powerful price tag: free. Yet at the same time, many other creators are struggling to make free-to-play work for them - while some bad uses of free-to-play have even attracted criticism for the entire industry.

Design Rules for Free-to-Play Games cuts through the confusion, presenting 15 clear, direct rules that will allow creators to build commercially successful games. There are no exploitative tricks or get-rich-quick schemes here - this is a practical guide for game designers who want to make money from free-to-play games while respecting their audience and building a devoted fan following. Each rule is explained in depth and illustrated with several examples from real games.

This book is designed as a reference for all game creators - whether you’re a veteran of the industry trying to get up to speed with the free-to-play business model, a newcomer learning the ropes, or even an experienced free-to-play creator seeking to polish your knowledge and challenge your perceptions. It’s also a perfect read for anyone - game creator or not - who wants to understand how the free-to-play model works, and what the future of the games business looks like.

Feedback for Nicholas' presentation of the Design Rules at the Free-to-Play Summit in London:

“15 bullet points of useful information with lots of meat and no fluff. Head and shoulders above the rest.”
Wolfgang Hamann, Koolhaus Games

“Nicholas Lovell’s presentation was outstanding… Particularly useful for me as someone who has just made the change from 5 years in boxed games to the F2P side of the industry.”
Dan Robinson, Eutechnyx

“Stand out talks for me were Nicholas Lovell’s talk on the 15 rules of F2P… Particularly relevant, with lots to take away and apply.”
Nick Adams, Blitz Game Studios