Diamond Valley
View the case- Brand
- Google Play
- Year
- 2023
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Tech & Telecom
- Mechanic
- Adventure & Quest
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Phantom
Objective
Google Play wanted to deepen engagement with its Play Points loyalty program and give members — especially top-tier Gold+, Platinum and Diamond members — a reason to keep coming back to the service. It commissioned a custom RPG built specifically for its most active users in Korea, Japan and Taiwan, tying regular play to real prizes and exclusive perks.
Solution
Players open Diamond Valley straight in a browser — no app to install — either at diamondvalley.withgoogle.com or through the Perks tab in the Play Points menu. They build a retro-style avatar and walk it around a small valley town, hunting for hidden diamonds, taking on quests and mini-games (including a standalone side-game, Diamond Hero), and teaming up with other players in squad challenges that share matching outfits and group emotes. The diamonds collected along the way are spent on entries into prize draws, from bonus Play Points to Pixel devices, so a session can end as soon as a player cashes in or stretch into a longer quest run. Members with higher Play Points tiers get early access to new content, a head start of 500 bonus diamonds, and entry to a VIP area, Diamond Lab, with its own exclusive outfit. The game plays the same on mobile and desktop, using arrow keys and the "x" key for actions on desktop.
Results
In its APAC rollout, Diamond Valley drew 172,664 registrations and more than 1.4 million completed play sessions, a result that exceeded Google Play's own benchmarks and targets for the region.
- 1
Players reach the game free in a browser, either via a direct link on phone, tablet, or desktop, or from the Play Points tab inside the Google Play app; pre-registering before launch grants a stock of bonus diamonds, and top-tier Play Points members get a week of early access plus an exclusive VIP zone and costume.
- 2
The player builds a retro avatar in a character editor, picking appearance, face, and outfit before entering the world.
- 3
The avatar walks a top-down valley town divided into zones, using arrow keys or taps, and the core loop is exploring to pick up diamonds scattered around the map.
- 4
A story quest line sends the player from character to character, leveling the hero up toward a level cap of 100, with diamonds awarded for both completed quests and level-ups.
- 5
Side activities double as skill trainers: mini-games like fishing, mining, and combat each raise a different stat, and the materials they yield are handed to a trader to upgrade the character, with some materials capped per day.
- 6
A separate mini-game-within-the-game, Diamond Hero, gives the player another way to earn diamonds beyond what's found on the map.
- 7
Players can join a squad for cooperative challenges, sharing team costumes and, in some regional versions, group emoji for communicating with teammates.
- 8
Branded collaboration content appears as themed quests or zones tied to partner titles and IP, such as an object-collecting, item-delivery challenge built around a partner brand.
- 9
Logging in each day pays out a bonus, building toward a larger diamond reward after a set number of daily visits.
- 10
The player spends accumulated diamonds in a prize showcase on entries into sweepstakes for real rewards — devices, gaming gear, partner merch, and bonus Play Points at varying diamond costs — choosing between many cheap entries or fewer high-value ones, then waits for results announced by email and in-app after the season closes; once retired, the game's URL shows a closing message thanking players and pointing to future Play Points rewards.
