Angry Birds 2 - Our Journey

What the talk is about

Vineeth Sethu tells the story of two years of Angry Birds 2: how it grew from a linear saga game into a title with meta progression, a social layer and full LiveOps. At first players didn't notice that birds could be leveled up, and the linear map caused frustration. The team added daily challenges, arena win streaks, a harder boss-pig version of the challenge, hats with score bonuses and the quick Tower of Fortune mechanic; each new feature noticeably raised gem spending. A new home screen then put the flock at the center, followed by clans with cooperative and competitive events and global leaderboards. The speaker advises shipping new mechanics rather than only adding levels, not overloading players with several novelties at once, and validating changes with A/B tests. Useful for product managers and game designers working on free-to-play games.