By combining the mechanics from different genres games can appeal to new audiences and provide a fresh experience to maintain or improve engagement. Genre mashing also opens up new possibilities for innovation and diversification in monetisation. What was our approach in development of Traffic Puzzle? What was the the biggest challenge, where was the biggest gain?
7. |2.Searching for our first mobile game -genre-
CASINO
- Requires a lot of graphic
assets
- No prior knowledge on
cassino games.
MIDCORE
- Requires a lot of graphic and
text assets.
- Backend.
MATCH-3
- Simple gameplay = easy
implementation.
- Doesn’t need a lot of assets.
- Difficult level design.
8. |2.Searching for our first mobile game -genre|
Genre SettingTarget
Our goal: Game that is innovative but familiar
9. Setting relates to everyday
experiences of the player.
Now we’ll harvest
some carrots!
|2.Searching for our first mobile game -setting|
Setting is unique and wasn’t
used/popularized beforeBlocks are expression of theme.
● Farm.
● Culinary.
● City building.
● Jewelry crafting.
● Cars!
● Traffic Jams!
10. |2.Searching for our first mobile game -setting|
Genre SettingTarget
Our goal: Game that is innovative but familiar
11. |3.Designing Traffic Puzzle|
QUALITIES OF MATCH-3 GAMES
1. Turn based play.
2. Vertical orientation and one hand play.
3. Combination of luck and skill.
4. Level based progression.
5. Short sessions.
6. Monetization based on progress speedups (paid
cheats).
12. |3.Designing Traffic Puzzle -core gameplay|
The game is about traffic jams,so the
basic playing piece is the car.
As with the classics in the genre,
three lined up cars of the same color
match and disappear.
13. |3.Designing Traffic Puzzle -core gameplay|
The basic quality of the car is the fact
that it drives -we wanted to have that in
the game.
Our cars have directions.
The car will drive until it hits an obstacle.
14. |3.Designing Traffic Puzzle -core gameplay|
The cars need a place to move,so
Bejeweled-like piece swapping wouldn’t
fit game.
Instead of swapping cars,the player will
add them to the board using arrows.
15. |3.Designing Traffic Puzzle -core gameplay|
We wanted to have real world elements
in the game -so the goal is to clear the
way for the ambulance.
Ambulance moves like a regular car,but
it doesn’t match with anything.
19. |4.Soft Launch #1|
SL #1
Retention day 1 17%
Retention day 7 11%
Retention day 14 3%
Retention day 30 0%
1st Conversion 0%
LTV 0
AREAS TO IMPROVE
Bugs and load times -the game was
slow on some devices and it crashed a
lot.
UX -people had trouble controlling
the game.
Onboarding -we’ve put too much
information to players at the
beginning of the game.
21. |4.Soft Launch #2|
SL #1 SL #2
Retention day 1 17% 39%
Retention day 7 11% 20%
Retention day 14 3% 9%
Retention day 30 0% 3%
1st Conversion 0% 1%
LTV 0 $0,05
AREAS TO IMPROVE
Difficulty -players were churning on
difficult levels.
Monetization -the players weren’t
converting and they didn’t event use
free samples of boosts and coins.
22. |4.Soft Launch #3 -monetization|
First version of the window.Close
to none conversions.
The window implies that
player will get 5 red cars,
not 5 more moves.
Player isn’t able to see
which color he will get
next.
Main source of income,order of
magnitude bigger than on
previous design
23. |4.Soft Launch #3 -monetization|
Main source of income. Conversion and income is
doubled.
24. |4.Soft Launch #3 -monetization|
Player chooses a boosts. Player selects a spot. Player confirms boost use.
AREAS TO IMPROVE
Too many steps to use boost
Completely different type of
interaction with the board
25. |4.Soft Launch #3 -monetization|
Player uses boost just the
same way he uses regular
cars.
Player chooses a boost. Boost asset was changed.
28. |4.Soft Launch #3 -the end|
SL #1 SL #2 SL #3
Retention day 1 17% 39% 43%
Retention day 7 11% 20% 19%
Retention day 14 3% 9% 16%
Retention day 30 0% 3% 10%
1st Conversion 0% 1% 4,60%
LTV 0 $0,05 $0,75
THE SITUATION ATTHE END OF THE
SOFT LAUNCH
● Game is fun and retains it’s
users.
● Game is monetizing well.
● UA is hard and we have tight
UA budget.
SOLUTION: get published!
30. PDF includes:
- Short description
- Data collected during couple of iterations
(DAU,DNU,Number of installs,Retention,
ARPDAU,ARPPU,1st Conversion,Daily
Conversion,Sessions,Revenue from
Rewarded Videos)
- User reviews (US)
- App Stability (Crash Rate/ ANR)
- Marketing (our cost vs ROAS)
- ARPU by cohorts
- Our ads
- Aaand “What do we need?”Marketing and
UA support
|5.Publisher: Perfect Pitch|
31. |5.Publisher
We needed:
- 1x PDF with data
(10.02.2019)
- 1x call
- 1x meeting
- dozens of emails
- 48 days
to sign an agreement.
32. |5.Publishing -SL#4
Soft Launch with Huuuge:
- Changing Name (more descriptive and memorable & better
clickable = lower CPI)
- Implementation of Huuuge metrics
- Resolution
33. |5.Publishing -pros
- The same time zone (meetings)
- The same language (Polish /
English)
- Quick decisions
- Data transparency
- Knowledge exchange
34. |6.Key takeaways|
Have a clear vision of your design
Don't give up when preliminary data is bad
Know your possibilities and get a publisher