Some of my favorite titles and why I believe they are well-designed games. A quick teardown of Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes' player retention. And some thoughts on how to improve the games.

1. A QUICK TAKE ON MY
FAVORITE GAMES
By BAC LE

2. 1. MY FAVORITE GAMES
AGENDA
2. SWGOH & PLAYER RETENTION
3. IMPROVING SWGOH & CSR RACING 2

3. 1. MY FAVORITE
GAMES

4. 1. MY FAVORITE GAMES
SID MEIER’S
CIVILIZATION VI
Developer: Firaxis Games
Platform: Windows, macOS, iOS, Nintendo
Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Genre: Turn-based Strategy
Why I believe the game is well designed:
Civilization VI is an ultimate turn-based strategy
game with multiple complex systems and
parallel winning agendas, allowing players to
explore various possibilities. The game also
offers an immersive experience with engaging
narrations, colorful visuals and melodious music.

5. STAR WARS:
GALAXY OF HEROES
Developer: Electronic Art
Platform: iOS, Android
Genre: Turn-based Collectible RPG
Why I believe the game is well designed:
SWGOH enhances its core mechanism with a
sophisticated metagame design and
continuous live operations to constantly
motivate and retain players. More importantly,
all of these elements are driven by the content-
rich universe of Star Wars - an exemplary
utilization of licensing in creating a captivating
and long-lasting game.
1. MY FAVORITE GAMES

6. DOTA UNDERLORDS
Developer: Valve
Platform: Windows, macOS, iOS, Android
Genre: Auto battler
Why I believe the game is well designed:
Dota Underlords spices up the core mechanics
of autochess game (shared hero pool, random
offerings, etc.) by adding more complex systems
such as daily heroes rotation or underlords’
talents, thus offering players an even battlefield
and a replayable experience.
1. MY FAVORITE GAMES

7. CSR RACING 2
Developer: Zynga
Platform: iOS, Android
Genre: Racing
Why I believe the game is well designed:
Instead of incorporating a bulky racing
simulation on mobile, CSR Racing 2 chooses a
simple, fast-paced drag racing mechanism,
wrapped around by a complex metagame
design and a large portfolio of cars to fully serve
its target audience of car enthusiasts.
1. MY FAVORITE GAMES

8. ARMELLO
Developer: League of Geeks
Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android,
PlayStation 4, XBOX One
Genre: Turn-based Role-playing Strategy
Why I believe the game is well designed:
Armello opens the door to a beautiful
imaginative world with interdependent
components for players to strategize their plays.
The game also offers a parallel objectives
system, allowing players to quickly pivot their
strategies during the game to triumph over their
opponents.
1. MY FAVORITE GAMES

9. 2. STARWARS:GALAXYOFHEROES
& PLAYER RETENTION

10. THE KEY TO STAR WARS: GALAXY OF HEROES’ SUCCESS
• 50+ million battles per day
• Total 1.38 billion hours logged
• Average player plays 130 mins/day
Source: EA
A strong player retention system built upon:
• Complex metagame design around a
simple core loop
• Social interactions to constantly motivate
players
• Invested and engaging live operations
• Effective use of Star Wars license
2. STAR WARS: GALAXY OF HEROES & PLAYER RETENTION

11. A GALAXY OF POSSIBILITIES
A character’s power can be enhanced through leveling up,
promoting stars, improving skills, equipping higher gears or
combining better mods.
From the complex metagame design, players
have various possibilities to advance.
• Characters belong to many different classes,
with unique synergy for each class.
• Character development system with many
parallel branches, each requires different
materials obtained from different modes.
• Multiple battle modes, each requiring a
specific character type or player level
=> As the game goes on, battling is no longer
the fun of the game, but it’s looting and forming
the ultimate team.
2. STAR WARS: GALAXY OF HEROES & PLAYER RETENTION

12. BORROW A HERO!
Players can become allies with each other and borrow a hero
from their allies in PvE battles.
Social interactions to constantly motivate
players:
• Squad Arena (PvP mode) pitches players
against others’ powerful squads, giving them
exposure to a wide range of team
combinations and encourage them to
collect better heroes.
• Players can borrow heroes from their friends
to play in PvE mode, thus getting a real taste
of how certain characters can synergize and
boost the team’s power.
2. STAR WARS: GALAXY OF HEROES & PLAYER RETENTION

13. COUNTLESS CHALLENGES AWAIT
Players can become allies with each other and borrow a hero
from their allies in PvE battles.
Invested and engaging live operations
• SWGOH constantly introduces major
updates, new characters and campaigns
• Events and quests are frequently recycled
• Promotion content for new updates and
events are heavily invested in terms of
quality.
• A tight-knit community is formed with timely
support from both EA and the fans.
2. STAR WARS: GALAXY OF HEROES & PLAYER RETENTION

14. DRIVEN BY THE EVER-EXPANDING STAR WARS UNIVERSE
All of these complex game design and continuous
live operations are only feasible thanks to the
content-rich universe of Star Wars.
The system is built to retain players in long-term
and employ monetization tactics without ruining
user experience.
This is an exemplary use of IP that many other
games in the genre struggle to replicate.
For more details on why SWGOH rocks, see my
analysis at:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/star-wars-
galaxy-heroes-take-player-retention-bac-le/
2. STAR WARS: GALAXY OF HEROES & PLAYER RETENTION

15. 3. IMPROVING
SWGOH & CSR RACING 2

16. TWO GAMES SELECTED FOR IMPROVEMENTS
CSR RACING 2STAR WARS: GALAXY OF HEROES
3. IMPROVING SWGOH & CSR RACING 2

17. STAR WARS: GALAXY OF HEROES – NEW PLAYER EXPERIENCE
For a new user, this cramped main screen can be
confusing and overwhelming
Problem: For a new player, the main screen is cramped
with many different modes and buttons, most of which
will not be available for them until after weeks of
playing. Coupled with the game’s complex systems, this
can turn new users off after a few tries and results in
player churn.
Suggestion: Redesign the main screen using the
galaxy theme of Star Wars, with modes and events
dispersed on a big galaxy map (example: CSR Racing
2). For new users, only highlight important/available
modes and let them discover slowly through the game.
Expected Results: Better user experience, reduced new
player churn.
3. IMPROVING SWGOH & CSR RACING 2

18. STAR WARS: GALAXY OF HEROES – SHIP BATTLES
Ships Mode are extremely difficult to progress through,
even for high-level players
Problem: Ships Mode are available from level 35, but
are not playable until level 60. This is a long grinding
time for users, which usually takes 2 months to reach.
After players get to level 60, early ship battles are still
extremely hard to beat, creating a player progression
bottleneck and resulting in many players completely
abandoning Ships Mode.
Suggestion: Redesign player progression pipeline for
Ships Mode, allowing players to experience Ships Mode
from earlier levels and slowly move up in this mode.
Offer ships pack promotions from these early levels to
help players overcome progression bottlenecks.
Expected Results: Better user experience, increased
user engagement, increased revenue from in-app
purchases.
3. IMPROVING SWGOH & CSR RACING 2

19. CSR RACING 2 – DAILY GOALS MENU
Daily Goals button is lost among other UI buttons
Problem: Daily Goals button is not noticeable on
user interface. Therefore, players can easily miss
daily quests, which serve as an important
mechanism for user engagement and retention.
Suggestion: Redesign UI buttons: Cars’ info
features can be accessed through one button,
while the saved area can be used for a Daily
Goals button. Furthermore, put a notification
badge on the button to constantly remind users
of the tasks they need to complete.
Expected Results: Increased user engagement,
session length and ultimately user retention.
Buttons for cars’ information can be grouped together
3. IMPROVING SWGOH & CSR RACING 2

20. CSR RACING 2 – FREE GAS LIMIT
Ad suggestion pops up every time fuel bar goes down to 4
Problem: Every time fuel bar (energy currency to play)
goes down to 4, an offer pops up asking users to watch
an ad for 2 fuel pips. Players can keep watching until
their fuel is full and the process is repeated whenever
their fuel reaches 4 (usually after 3-4 races).
This results in disrupted user experience, with every
session involving 5 minutes of racing and 3 minutes of
watching ads). Also, this mechanism devalues Golds –
the other in-game currency, which can be purchased
with real money and used to buy fuel.
Suggestion: Put a daily limit on the number of free gas
pips a players can get from ads. Promote Golds
purchase when players’ energy runs out.
Expected Results: Better user experience, increased
revenue from in-app purchases.
Risks: Decreased revenue from ads.
3. IMPROVING SWGOH & CSR RACING 2

21. THANK YOU!

22. “
BAC LE
Product Manager
Before MBA, I launched and developed the VBA - the
first Vietnamese professional basketball league - into
the most popular sports competition in the country.
Inspired by that experience, I want to continue building
products that connect and bring joy to people, which is
the reason why I’m pursuing a product management
career in the gaming industry.
Besides games, I also love photography, hiking and
manga.