BUCKLE UP! CONTROVERSIAL TOPIC: DISSECTING THE HAMSTER

35 million players at peak, 6.5 million players regularly, token release in July, opportunity to earn money for a pittance

Mechanics - Tap to Earn

For the past two years, I’ve been regularly offered to join crypto platforms to develop games. They’re willing to pay whatever it takes, even bringing my own teams and paying them what they ask.

Honestly, the first wave of crypto-platform launches had little understanding of their purpose. They said, “So that people regularly log in and earn money by playing games.” The goal was player retention. The design aimed to allow players to eventually withdraw platform funds and exchange them for fiat money. As long as players are promised real money and only asked to invest their time, it doesn’t sound like gambling. They buy your time and new users. But with such a tempting reward, believe me, DAU, Playtime, and Retention will be sky-high.

Evolution of Crypto-Platforms

The second wave of crypto-platforms changed the request. Now the emphasis is on educating people about cryptocurrency investment mechanisms. There’s a clear trend towards expanding crypto-themed coverage.

The Hamster - It’s a Damn Personality

So, the Hamster from Telegram was released in April of this year and immediately caught the hype. At the moment, there’s no clear understanding of how much players can earn from it: the token listing is planned for July, and until then, results will be fixed. The exchange formula is unclear.

The project is designed for a quarter. The goal is short-term. Based on the game’s rules, the player accumulates passive income and performs actions to attract audiences to crypto platforms. This is viral marketing based on gaming mechanics. I assume the project is funded by investments from crypto platforms. Ultimately, platforms will see a massive influx of crypto newbies. Most will drop off, but if platforms can monetize the remaining ones (even less than 1%), that’s still tens or hundreds of thousands of users. It depends on their monetization skills. The organizers win regardless, even if they pay the promised money to the players. This isn’t the first project of its kind, meaning it’s profitable.

🎮 Now the Product Design

Single Mechanics: Clicker

Currently, clickers show excellent playtime. Puzzles yield close results but have a longer time to market. So, game designers deserve praise. You earn to grow passive income. There’s an offline income mechanic that requires regular collection (retention mechanic), and daily login rewards - also for retention.

Simple but effective.

💡 Suggesting a Possible Twist on Game Mechanics

Keeping the same simplicity that attracts “lazy players” while simultaneously retaining them with a more rewarding dopamine loop:

👉🏻 Hold to Earn Instead of Tap to Earn

The player holds their finger on the screen to receive a constant stream of coins. When they release their finger, the intensity of the coin flow dramatically decreases. The longer the finger stays on the screen, the higher the chance of earning additional valuable rewards. When this reward appears, VFX animations become stronger. The rewards descend down the screen in a soap bubble, which must be tapped to catch (this is for player awakening points and a small anti-cheat mechanic, as players currently use special tools for tapping). Progression is like in mid-core games: initially easy to earn, over time becoming rarer and more unpredictable.

From a reward perspective, such non-linear mechanics retain players better due to the presence of stable, predictable rewards and the variability and unpredictability of rarer rewards. This mechanic is used not only in mid-core and hardcore games but also in gambling and in products like habits design.

This approach combines predictability with the excitement of unpredictability, creating an engaging and rewarding experience that keeps players coming back again and again.

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