One thing we can all agree on – energy systems suck.

Every time I find a new game for me to enjoy on my work commute, I get about halfway before I run out of in-game energy.

Then I’m left alone on the train, in the void of my thoughts.

Anyway, I’m not really here to write as a player, but as a F2P game dev. And in these shoes, energy systems are useful tools.

I recently designed the monetisation systems for a new product and faced the question of deciding which mechanics best fit our core gameplay.

This is the first article in a series of articles detailing some thoughts on why energy systems are important, and the different variations we see in the modern mobile games market.

This article will focus on Energy and Lives.

Why Energy?

Energy systems have been around for decades, predating the mobile games industry. However, they have been a key player in the rise of free-to-play.

Energy systems have three primary goals:

1. Encouraging Habit Formation.
2. Control of content pacing.
3. Enabling Monetisation through Friction.

For the purpose of this article, I’ll be considering ‘energy’ as any game system used to achieve these three combined goals.

1) Habit Formation

“Habits form based on frequency, not time.” – James Clear, author of Atomic Habits.

Behaviours are learned through repetition, the more you repeat an action the more likely it is to become a habit.

This is why session-ing is key in games – the more frequently a user opens the app, the more likely that app will be the app they open when they are bored.

Energy systems help form these habits by restricting your progress, forcing you to take a break and return later to continue progressing.

2) Control

Content-pacing is key.

If users are consuming too much content too quickly, they will exhaust the product and churn.

Energy systems are used to limit the users progression speed, to ensure they maintain interest in the game and have more opportunities to experience and monetise on future offers and events.

3) Monetisation

Energy systems introduce friction into the product.

Without some form of friction, a game will not monetise.

These systems add a new problem for the user, for which developers can provide paid solutions.

Conversion usually happens when:

1. The user is having a lot of fun, and wants to continue playing
2. A user is close to winning an in-game event or achieving a goal, and knows buying energy will help them place better or achieve their goal now

How is Energy being used today?

Energy has evolved.

It comes in multiple forms – no longer limited to the standard pay-per-play mechanics adjacent to archaic arcade games.

While these systems are changing, their goals remain the same.

Habit Formation, Control & Monetisation.

What’s changed is the framing.

Energy is quite a strong wall imposed by game developers that feel anti-fun to consumers and are outside of their control.

Newer systems impose restrictions in a softer, more forgivable way.

While these new systems are great, they are not one size fits all. The right variation still needs to be paired with the right product.

Energy

Let’s start with the basics: energy systems are still widely used in mobile games.

Prime examples are MONOPOLY GO! and Coin Master, both of which generated close to $800m in net revenue in 2023. Clearly, standard energy systems are far from obsolete.

What is it?

Energy refers to a resource that players spend to perform certain actions within a game. For instance, in CSR2, it might be fuel for a race, while in Love and Pies, it could be energy for generating an item.

Players are typically given an allowance for energy that regenerates gradually over time. These systems are typically designed to allow for game sessions lasting between 5 to 20 minutes, every 4 to 8 hours.

How does it achieve its goals?

Energy based systems achieve the three primary goals of Habit Formation, Control and Monetisation through:

1. Habit Formation
   1. Energy regeneration periods are timed for users to come back during their lunch break or after their work/school day, helping to build relationships between times of day like their commute and the product.
   2. Sessions are designed to be short and rewarding, ensuring they leave with a feeling of wanting to play more. This builds a strong positive feedback loop.
   3. Help structure the product into manageable chunks, making it simpler for users to build short-term goals within each session.
   4. Fully regenerated energy is a strong push notification spot, providing a lot of value for the user if they want to maximise their progression.
2. Control
   1. Designers are able to control session length and required sessions per day by playing with the amount of energy provided to users and its regeneration speed.
   2. Energy can be used to cap interaction with particular features – limiting rewards gained from generous in-game events, or content.
      1. E.g. Pocket Champs uses event tickets around its LiveOps, reducing rewards for F2P users.
   3. Limit progression speed to stop users consuming all available content too quickly, providing more time for product development.
   4. Reduces server load by limiting amount of time users will be spending in the product.
3. Monetisation
   1. Energy can be directly sold via IAP or IAA.
   2. Some products will allow you to increase your energy cap for a one-off purchase – these are typically part of a no-brainer offer.
   3. Products can provide offers with unlimited energy power-ups for period of time.
   4. In-game events will often require high amounts of engagement in a short-time frame to be competitive – this leads to high demand for energy.

When should you use it?

These are typically used when some of the following are true:

1. There is low friction in the core gameplay (e.g. high win-rates or no win/loss state)
2. There is a simple action that can be time gated, to create a sense of progression and anticipation.
3. The core game loop is short

MONOPOLY GO!

In Scopely’s MONOPOLY GO!, users consume dice with every roll.

Once you’re out of dice, thats it! You’re done! You can’t move around the monopoly board anymore.

This directly limits a users progressing in their core scene-building progression system and their progress towards any active LiveOps events.

Lives

The next most common energy system is Lives, which you see commonly used in Puzzle games like King’s Candy Crush. With Candy Crush achieving its success by combining core gameplay from Match-3 titles (e.g. Bejeweled) with Lives and a Saga progression system.

In these systems, energy is framed differently.

Users are in more control of their ‘energy’, as only lose energy once a fail condition is met.

Why not just use energy here?

It feels weird.

In games with clear success/fail states, using energy can make a win feel like a loss.

Users are still punished when they win by losing one energy. Lives helps frame ‘energy’ in a more positive way for the player.

How does it achieve its goals?

1. Habit Formation
   1. Lives Regeneration Periods are similar to energy – encouraging regular, short sessions throughout the day to help build routine.
      1. Products like Candy Crush provide large dopamine spikes when a user is able to overcome a level that has been a large lives/energy sink by a series of easy levels, rewarding users with a longer session and jump in progression.
   2. Games will send push notifications when lives are refilled.
   3. Psychologically, a win becomes much more rewarding as the user saves on their lives.
2. Control
   1. Like Energy, designers can control engagement through total amount of lives and regeneration speeds.
      1. Players are able to easily structure their sessions around their lives. Running out of lives provide natural session breaks, limiting fatigue and maintaining interest.
   2. Designers use level difficulty to shape progression speeds, using challenging levels as live sinks and positioning low difficulty levels as rewards.
3. Monetisation
   1. Lives can be re-filled through hard currency or watching in-game ads.
   2. Some developers will offer IAPs that increases a user’s maximum lives – these are typically part of a no-brainer offer.
   3. Products can provide offers with unlimited lives power-ups for period of time.
   4. Use of time-limited in-game events based on levels beaten or reaching a particular level – these create a sense of urgency, encouraging impulsive purchases.

When should you use it?

This system is typically slapped on top of new products because ‘Candy Crush does it’.

It is not always a good fit.

Lives work well when:

1. There is a win/loss state in the product (high-friction associated with core game) that can be controlled by game designers
   1. Lives will not work well as base energy systems in high win-rate products
2. The primary content is the core gameplay

Puzzle Games

In puzzle games, the primary focus is on solving puzzles, not on collecting cosmetics or building virtual collections of whatnots and doodads. Naturally, there is a need for a monetisation system that monetises the core gameplay experience.

Energy might not necessarily make sense as it can make wins feel less rewarding, as users would still be required to ‘pay’ one energy per attempt—hence, these games typically opt for lives.

Producing new puzzles is time-consuming, with Candy Crush/Royal Match releasing around 100 levels every two weeks. Some content-pacing system must be implemented to reduce the number of users banging on studio doors for more levels. Lives present a handy solution for this problem.

Puzzle games often start with a generous approach to lives, to build player trust and encourage high session times. They do this by providing new users with:

How are they introduced?

• Frequent lives refills: Ensuring players can continue playing without interruptions.
• Unlimited lives power-ups: Offering temporary boosts that allow for extended play sessions.
• Low-difficulty levels: Making early levels easy to complete, so players experience a smooth progression with minimal lives cost.

As players become more familiar with the product, the availability of lives becomes more limited and the difficulty of levels increases. The increase in challenge and scarcity of lives creates natural friction points, encouraging players to make purchases and engage more deeply with the game.

Closing Notes

Energy and live systems are vital in mobile free-to-play games. They help form player habits, control content pacing and dive monetisation. While players might find them frustrating, these systems are essential for balancing fun and profitability.

If you found this article insightful, connect with me on LinkedIn for updates on future posts. Stay tuned for my next article, where we’ll dive into the evolution of chest slot systems in games like Clash Royale and F1 Clash! (download here btw: iOS or Android)

Further reading:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edan-mizrahi/

Gamedeveloper, Andrew Pellerano, Blogger: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/energy-systems-are-back-clash-royale