I took Dare the Monkey on the road last year, visiting many expos across the country and getting valuable user feedback. I noticed that the better players were counting the number of lives they’d lost trying to clear all the levels in each game world. It was all about bragging rights for them as they tried to get through all the levels in as few lives as possible.
It wasn’t just isolated to one convention. It was a trend with all the stronger players in each city I visited. They’d constantly ask what was the least number of attempts the best player so far had taken. So it got me thinking about a way to capitalise on this and so came about the Long Run game mode.
So what exactly is a Long Run? Dare the Monkey has four game worlds and each consists of three levels. So what I thought I’d do is chain all three levels from each world into a single super sized level. So we have a Jungle, Lava Cave, Snowy Mountain, and Aztec long run. And the player has a single life in which to complete each one.
Sound hardcore? Yup, that was my intention. This game mode is for those who are heavily invested in Dare the Monkey: those who are experts at it. It’s this hardcore audience that will likely generate most ad revenue from repeat plays and the Long Run will hopefully keep them playing for even longer.
So how are the long runs coming along? I have the Jungle, Caves, and Aztec long runs in place and will start on the Snowy Mountain long run soon. And hopefully those that are really good at Dare the Monkey will have a blast playing them. And I’m sure even the casual gamers will have a great time trying the long runs too.