ALL DUCKED UP

I joined Clusterduck’s team in 2024, a couple years after its original release, to help improve the game for users, but to also help monetize the game better than we had.

Our first large update for v1.16 was to help players do what we want them to do - which is breed specific ducks. I did an exploration of the whole game coming into it and defined what I believed were the issues we currently had with the game.

Our first port of call was expanding the game’s reveal screens. In many cases there are parts of ducks which look very similar - an Ox-like wing looks like a Horse-like wing. So we built a system to allow you to tap all parts in the game and show you which parts are from what. We also expanded the parts as well - in a few cases the same part was used on multiple ducks. We took this opportunity to expand on the parts available and make every single duck unique.

CLUSTORIZATION

In addition to the helping update, we also added customization! We had previously made some unique nests as part of a Duck-Jam - a short term Clusterduck focused Game Jam, and we felt now was the time to add it. I designed how the UX should function for this addition, and all of the design on how it should appear and what it should cost.

Our 1.18 update featured an update to the PVP Duck off mode - more theming. The original version of the Duck Off had the Set Of The Week give you bonuses based on that set - however, it was all arbitrary. You had to turn it on, and you could just not use it at all.

What we wanted was for players to actively try and breed ducks from the Set Of The Week so that they’d do better in the Duck Off. Now each Duck off had a theme based on the SOTW, and was on regardless if the player turned off the SOTW or not. This added more fun visuals, and got players more engaged.

We also had us look at the monetization of the game. Clusterduck started as a Gamejam project, and added bits and pieces over the years, but monetization wasn’t as strong as we wanted it to be.

I designed two elements of this - a First Time Offer, where we did a split-test on two different varieties of offer to the player, and then we chose the one which seemed to resonate with players more.

The other was spotlight offers. I had come up with about 6 different options for things we could sell with the Spotlight, where one of the Duck sets is easier to get for a week. These all did very well, and increased our ARPDAU.

LUCKY CHARMS

In our 1.20 update, we did a big refactoring of Charms!

Back in 1.10, Charms were something that you could use to help you win in Duck-Offs, the game’s PVP mode, with a variety of ways for the game to help you win. For this update, we expanded on the concept by allowing players to level up and upgrade the Charms.

Now, you can earn them all faster, but you can collect duplicates of the Charms as well. Once you get enough, you can use premium currency (Clusterbucks) to upgrade them with better statistics, for a better advantage. We also added the ability for the Computer opponent to also use Charms - in the hope to see more people use them overall, and want to upgrade them to beat those opponents.

This updated a large amount of UX changes to the game, added new elements to the store, how players can level up the charms, and more.

WHAT? DUCKS ARE EVOLVING!

For 1.21, we added a huge new element to the game - Evolution!

Previously in the game, you collected ducks to fill your Grimoire. With over 200 ducks available, we wanted to allow the ability to expand on the concept in the future as well, and collect them again.

The answer for this was adding Shaders to the ducks. Once you complete a set, that set evolves with a new look to it, so you can collect it again. The new evolved parts now also have better statistics in the Duck-Off PVP battles, giving reason to earn them.

This included numerous design plans to help support this - the full design documentation, UX mockups, and the balance sheets required for each of them.