Guns of Boom: un caso de Unity para dispositivos móviles
After four months developing Guns of Boom for an alpha release on PC, Game Insight had an epiphany. They could capitalize on a gap in the market by building a mobile version of their FPS project for the casual player. What’s more, with the help of their past mobile experience and Unity, they knew they could create a mobile-friendly experience that would reach a broad market. Today, with one million daily active users (DAU), it seems they were right.
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El videojuego
Guns of Boom, a 4v4 mobile multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS)
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El objetivo
Un juego de calidad para dispositivos móviles con todo lo que espera el jugador de los juegos de disparos en primera persona multijugador para consola y PC
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Personal del proyecto
80-130 durante el desarrollo y las operaciones en curso
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Empresa
Más de 600 empleados
Sede: Vilna, Lituania

Guns of Boom obtuvo 5 millones de descargas en dos semanas
Guns of Boom se lanzó en mayo de 2017 y, en un plazo de dos semanas, consiguió cinco millones de descargas. Todo el trabajo que Game Insight realizó para identificar al mejor público al cual orientar el juego no habría significado nada si el mercado no hubiese estado listo para el tipo correcto de juego móvil FPS multijugador. Y el juego correcto era uno de alta calidad, fácil de jugar en cualquier lugar en sesiones cortas.
Los resultados:
- El primer prototipo con la apariencia y las sensaciones deseadas se creó en aproximadamente un mes
- El soporte empresarial de Unity ayudó a ahorrar días de desarrollo
- Cinco millones de descargas en las primeras dos semanas
- Se captaron 50 millones de jugadores durante el primer año
- Un millón de usuarios activos diarios (DAU)

Una versión del aspecto y el estilo en aproximadamente un mes
In 2015, Guns of Boom had been a fully playable PC game project with several levels. After conducting market and user research, however, Game Insight realized that they had a great opportunity to tap a niche market if they changed it to a mobile game.
They believed that if they created a multiplayer FPS that was quick, convenient and easy to play, people would embrace it.
“We’ve done everything we could to make the game design as accessible as possible. With features like auto-aim, the controls are so simple that anyone can master them in seconds. Plus, you can play anywhere: Waiting in line at the market, on the bus, in bed. You can play it lying down, sitting or standing. And our maps are not so big, so you turn the game on and have five minutes of non-stop action,” says Anatoly Ropotov, CEO at Game Insight.
Once they decided to port the game to mobile, there was no question about which technology they would use. The studio had vast experience creating mobile games with Unity like Airport City and X-Mercs, which experienced over seven years of success on the market. So they knew it had everything they needed to create a quality mobile game efficiently.
Unity saved them half a year of development
“With Unity, moving from the console version to the first mobile look & feel iteration only took about a week. After that, it was a matter of months to make the full transition from PC to mobile with optimized graphics, performance and controls,” says Ropotov.
They used the Unity Asset Store to speed up that first transition to mobile, and since they continuously add new content to keep players engaged, they still use the Asset Store for prototypes of new content.
“When you just need models or controllers or something similar, the research team can go to the Asset Store to create the first look & feel, and it can save them up to six months of development time,” says Ropotov.

Implementación de la última tecnología específica de plataforma
Another crucial factor for Game Insight was the ability to continuously update Guns of Boom with the newest features that would give their players the latest and greatest experience possible.
Every new smartphone release comes with a stream of platform-specific features, like haptic feedback, ARCore, ARKit, and 3D Touch, which means it can be challenging to stay on top of the latest technology. That’s why Game Insight has a strong R&D department, including four dedicated tech artists.
“Immediately after Apple or Google announces a new feature, we start researching how we can implement it,” Ropotov says. “Guns of Boom has 12 platform-specific features for Apple alone, and we implemented them really quickly – we are among the first in the world to do so. But if it weren’t for Unity’s multiplatform support and deep partnerships, it wouldn’t matter how fast we moved. Unity makes it possible for us to keep up with the latest mobile technology.”
Giving players a great experience not only means keeping up with the latest features, it can also mean implementing new technologies. For example, Game Insight released an Augmented Reality Spectator Mode immediately after Apple unveiled ARKit in September 2017.
Guns of Boom enters the world of eSports
The success of the AR Spectator Mode made Game Insight realize that there was big potential in the area of eSports. For almost two years, they have been partnered with the Electronic Sports League (ESL), recently launching a tournament with $500,000 in prizes. The kick-off was held at the 11,400-capacity Spodek Arena in Katowice, Poland, and the ESL season finale in Los Angeles in November 2018 drew a peak of 15,000 concurrent viewers, making Guns of Boom the first mobile shooter to enter eSports at such a large scale.
So whether players are online or offline, playing for fun or for huge prize money, one thing is crystal clear: Guns of Boom has won the hearts and minds of millions of passionate players around the world and will continue to inspire and grow with them thanks to Game Insight’s leadership and their commitment to innovating with the latest technology.

Soporte empresarial
Game Insight lleva tres años utilizando Unity Enterprise Support y, además de una línea directa entre sus desarrolladores e ingenieros de Unity, aprecian especialmente las revisiones de proyectos, que aceleran la producción.
"Las revisiones del proyecto son muy importantes debido a nuestras actualizaciones continuas y urgentes. Todo lo que obtenemos de ellos lo podíamos hacer nosotros mismos, pero nos llevaría mucho más tiempo. El ingeniero de Unity viene a nuestra oficina y revisamos todo el proyecto", dice Ropotov.
"Le preguntamos cómo podemos optimizar la memoria, los fps y otras cosas que pueden mejorar la experiencia del jugador y el rendimiento del dispositivo. También le preguntamos cómo podemos mejorar los efectos visuales, las sombras, la simulación de telas y los efectos secundarios, cualquier cosa que haga a nuestros jugadores más felices".