The following is an archived post from the Amiibo Dojo. It has been uploaded to the Exion Vault for referential purposes and retains its original publication date; some of the post’s links may not function currently or exist at all.
If you’ve been looking at the Amiibo Dojo lately, you probably have noticed that it’s been kind of a mess. Conflicting and cancelled plans, and a general lack of organization. That’s because I’ve been busy planning something big, and as my master plan changed, so did its components (such as the date and time of Clash of Champions II). I’ve been talking about a “secret project” a lot recently, and I’m finally ready to reveal it: Project Full Moon 2.0.
What is Project Full Moon, and why is it 2.0?
Project Full Moon 2.0 is my final attempt to revitalize the amiibo training metagame, and, by extension, the Amiibo Dojo. Now, views and visitors here on the site have been good, I’ll say that. But I think they can be better. I think we can expand and maximize the potential of training amiibo. And I’ve come up with a comprehensive plan to do just that. But first, let me explain why this plan needs to happen.
Oh, and it’s Project Full Moon 2.0 because there was a Project Full Moon 1.0. Back when I ran a now-defunct forum, I used the original version of PFM to revitalize that website. I’m in a similar situation now, so I figured I’d create a second version of the project.
The Dwindling Fanbase
Like I said, view and visitor count here at the Amiibo Dojo has been good. But it’s been dwindling, due to a decreasing interest in amiibo training. They can’t combo, taunt, or “disrespect” their opponents, and as newer trainers realize this, they abandon their amiibo and leave them sitting on shelves. Allow me to elaborate…
January 2016 was the best month the Amiibo Dojo has ever seen. We had around 50,000 unique pageviews and over 9,000 visitors. I’m really not sure why this month was so popular; the only newly-released Super Smash Bros. amiibo was Lucas, who isn’t exactly an iconic character. Maybe it’s because people were training the amiibo they got as holiday gifts? Who knows.
February 2016’s activity took a noticeable dip from January. 40,000 views and 8,000 visitors means about 1,000 people who visited the Amiibo Dojo in January did not visit it in February. That’s really kind of concerning…but compared to the activity drops I’ll talk about later, this is just a drip in the bucket.
March 2016 was very slightly worse than February, but not by much. If it weren’t for the release of Roy and Ryu, activity would have dropped even lower. At any rate, we got about 35,000 views and 7,000 visitors. We went down another 5,000 views and another 5,000 visitors.
April, however, was worse. 30,000 views and 6,000 visitors continued the steady decline of activity. No doubt that this decrease in interest was because of the “amiibo drought”. In fact, at the time of writing, we’ve had no new Smash amiibo since Roy and Ryu in March, which has really hurt interest in the amiibo training metagame.
May 2016 is when I really began to get concerned. Just 25,000 views and 5,000 visitors meant that May was the least active month in Amiibo Dojo history. By the end of May, I knew I couldn’t just keep releasing guides – I had to do something big to win back valued amiibo trainers. That’s when I started to put together Kirby Week for a release in June.
In June, things began to pick back up. It was also the first month this year that had more views and visitors than the previous month. I largely credit this to Kirby Week, which had more views in a single week than any other. We got 30,000 views and around 6,500 visitors.
In spite of the increased activity in June, I think I really need to work hard to make this place even better. Think of it this way: from January 2016 to June 2016, we lost over 50% of amiibo trainers who had visited, and it was no fault of my own. It was due to decreasing interest in training, which is ultimately out of my control. I want to get that 50% back and make this place more enjoyable for everybody. And now, it’s finally time for me to tell you how I plan to do that.
Components of Project Full Moon
I’ve said this multiple times, but there is a lot to Project Full Moon; to the point where it is almost impossible for it to fail. I have several plans and ideas – some of which I can’t reveal yet, but the ones I can reveal, I’ll talk about right now.
- A brand-new guide week. Kirby Week was a huge success, and I think having another week of new and updated training guides will help bring some activity back. Remember the guide week poll I held back in June? Yep, that was one of the first steps of Project Full Moon. Sometime this month, five new guides will come out, one after another, and in this order: Lucas, Toon Link, Sonic, Mario, and Captain Falcon – as voted by you, the readers.
- Tournaments with prizes. I really can’t afford to spend much more money on the Amiibo Dojo. With no way for readers to donate to the site (I had to take them down due to technical difficulties), I am forced to pay for everything out of my own pocket. But I don’t have much of a choice. Hosting tournaments with physical prizes (most likely $10 eShop cards) would encourage amiibo trainers to raise powerful fighters to win them first prize.
- Reaching out to other communities. I don’t want to just recover the fanbase we lost – I want to attract new amiibo trainers, too. By collaborating with other sites, we can attract new members to this fun and engaging metagame.
- Amiibo guides on other games. Kirby Week was a huge success, but I credit that to the release of Kirby: Planet Robobot. Soon, the Amiibo Dojo will have guides that show you what amiibo do in games like Mario Kart 8, Yoshi’s Woolly World, and the like.
There are some other plans that I cannot yet reveal, but this is what I have so far. I hope everyone looks forward to the completion of this project; it’s something I’m going to be working towards for a long time. Until next time!
