New: The "Challenge a Friend" Referral Program
There's one simple truth for a small indie game like ours: we don't have an advertising budget. Dovion grows exactly one way — when a player tells a friend "come here, you gotta see this." So we decided to reward that gesture: introducing Dovion's new referral program, aka "Challenge a Friend."
How it works
It's deliberately simple, no form to fill out, no code to copy:
- From the game, grab your personal referral link through "Challenge a Friend."
- Send it to whoever you want: a buddy, a class group chat, your Discord server.
- Your referral clicks it and lands straight in the game (no account required, as always).
- As soon as they've played 10 minutes, the reward lands: +250 banked XP for them AND for you.
No artificial cap on the fun of introducing someone to the game, no catch: both players get the exact same reward. We thought that was fairer than a system where only the referrer benefits — your friend trusts you enough to click your link, they deserve their share.
Why 10 minutes?
Because we want to reward a real discovery, not a click. In 10 minutes on Dovion, your referral has time to mine their first ore, sink a pirate, run into a siren, and, if they're lucky, hear the Colonel's trumpet. In short: enough time to know if they like the game. If they do, they'll stick around for the right reasons — and your bonus won't have cost anyone anything.
What can you do with those 250 XP?
Banked XP is progression that carries over from one match to the next. You can, for example, use it to buy revenge tickets (800 XP each) to jump back into a match after a rage-inducing death. To fully understand how XP and levels fit together, we've got a full article: XP and levels in Dovion.
The winning combo: referrals + private rooms
Referring a friend is great. Playing WITH them is better. Good news: the two combine perfectly. Send your referral link, then meet up in a private room with a `?room=NAME` link — same room on PC and mobile. Your friend learns the game by your side instead of getting sunk by strangers, and their 10 minutes fly by on their own. The full walkthrough is in our private rooms guide.
And if your friend is starting completely from scratch, slip them the 10 tips that change everything — they'll owe you one.
An honest note
Let's not pretend otherwise: this system exists because word of mouth is vital to us. Every new player who sticks around means a livelier sea for everyone. But we designed the referral program to be a fun thing between friends first, not a spam machine. No reward that unbalances the game, no notification harassment: one link, one friend, 10 minutes, and everyone walks away with XP.
So, who are you sending your link to first? Start by grabbing yours in-game: Play Dovion for free.