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12 min read
#ASO

7 ways to optimize your mobile game on the app stores

“One does not simply hit the top of the app stores” – Boromir, Lord of ASO. Seriously though. Getting your game noticed on the app stores is no easy feat. Just like websites have SEO (search engine optimization), app stores have ASO (app store optimization). So I thought it best to ask some of the industry experts. I took the time to talk to a bunch of different developers, some with games on the Google Play store, others with games on the Apple store. And some with games on both. Simply to see how they set up their game’s pages, what they felt was most important, and to discover their top tips when it comes to the Mobile Store Page. I’ve compiled them into a bunch of takeaways, but I’ve kept all of the quotes in so you can see...
6 min read
#Ads & Monetization

A Game Developers’ Guide to Playable Ads

Playable ads have become more and more popular in the last couple of years. According to eMarketer, 28% of ad agency professionals in the US think playable ads are the most effective format out there. So what makes a great playable? And what steps should you take when making your own? We look at that, and more, in this blog. But before we dig in, let’s go over the basics. Playable ads – the basics Playable ads are exactly what they sound like – adverts you can play. Similar to free demos, they let you try out an app or game before you commit to downloading it, rather than just watching a video or looking at an image. What makes a great playable ad Playable ads are generally only a minute or so long. And if you’ve done any research...
5 min read
#Marketing & Publishing

5 copywriting hacks to ace your mobile game’s push notifications

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by Adjust. You can read the original version here.  Since the average mobile app loses 73% of new users within 48 hours of the initial download, customer retention is the real growth driver for mobile apps. Push notifications are an essential part of the user retention puzzle. These updates, reminders, and special offers are like little hooks that pull users back into your app. Push notifications increase the 90-day retention rate by 23% compared to users who deactivate them. Push notifications are a useful tool for: Improving brand awareness and engagement Converting inactive users to habitual users Improving the user experience Advertising products and special offers …but only if you use them properly. Writing useful push notifications is a real challenge. You need to be creative enough to stand out from the dozens...
8 min read
#Data & Analytics

4 features to look out for when picking a consent management tool

Editor’s note: This article was written by Nandi Gurprasad, head of Strategic Partnerships at Ogury. As GDPR and Privacy is usually a tricky topic, we’ve asked them to dive into one of their recommended solutions: Ogury Choice Manager.  GDPR and data-privacy isn’t exactly new. Unless you’re starting up a new business or company, you’ve most likely heard these terms and have a rough idea of what it’s about. But what a lot of people may not know is that GDPR isn’t a one time thing. The advice from Data Privacy Authorities (DPAs) is evolving, constantly. And a lot of smaller companies tend to set up their policy once and don’t think about it ever again. When in reality, compliance is an ever-evolving process that needs your attention. To give you an example, advice from the Data Protection Authorities is updating...
7 min read
#Data & Analytics

5 A/B tests to run during your soft launch

As we released A/B testing last month, we thought we’d share a few tips, tricks and ideas on how to make the most of your experiments. So put on your lab coat, fire up the flux capacitor and let’s get to sciencing. If you’re new to A/B testing, it’s a pretty simple concept. Send three variations of your game out into the wild: A, B and a control group. One group of your users sees A, another sees B and the last sees no change at all (your control group). You pit them against each other and see which performs better. It’s survival of the fittest in action. But when should you start your A/B tests? And what exactly should you be testing? Your soft launch is the Goldilocks zone Before you can start testing, you need players. And the...
4 min read
#GameAnalytics Updates

Will GameAnalytics work in iOS 14? Yes, and this is why

In Apple’s most recent WWDC privacy was a key topic. One of the big reveals in this area was that come September, when iOS 14 is released, users will be asked if they would like to allow or restrict data sharing per app. After this, the question on many developers’ minds is… What happens to my analytics? Will my reporting still work or will it be restricted? The answer, for GameAnalytics, is yes! Here is why. All our SDKs are ready for this (and have been for years) GameAnalytics always determines an identifier for each device that is sending data from a game. We call this the GameAnalytics User ID. This value is normally a device identifier (like IDFA on iOS), but when this is not available a random User ID is generated and used on all future data for...
6 min read
#Game Design

Making a puzzle game? Avoid these 5 common mistakes

The puzzle game genre is arguably one of the most popular genres on the market, and has been around since the first smartphone was created (remember Cut the Rope?). There are hundreds, if not thousands of puzzle-like games on the app stores, all of which offer their own unique take on the genre. We’ve previously released articles on mistakes to avoid when you are creating a F2P game, but this time I want to focus my attention to puzzle. What makes a good puzzle? How can you make your game stand out? And most importantly, what mistakes should you avoid when working on yours? Here’s what I found… 1. Avoid breaking natural progression Progression tactics are a great way to get your player up to speed without overwhelming them. (Afterall, you wouldn’t start a newbie on a grandmaster level of...
8 min read
#Game Design

4 Key Steps to Making a Successful Hyper-Casual game

Hyper-casual games became the hottest trend in the industry when developer Voodoo saw an exponential increase in downloads, which made them the third best performing game developer worldwide in 2017. Only Google and Facebook performed better, and the message was made clear: hyper-casual games are in-demand and can be extremely successful. Since having sustained this popularity, hyper-casual games now generate between $2 billion and $2.5 billion in annual revenue. People across the globe are now spending more time than ever playing games, and perhaps more significantly, they’re also engaging with advertising more – a trend that has played to the strengths of hyper-casual’s unique monetization model. The first quarter of 2020 saw hypergrowth in the hyper-casual vertical, with global installs doubling from December 2019 to March 2020. Users weren’t only downloading more hyper-casual games, they were also playing them more...
10 min read
#Ads & Monetization

Improving F2P mobile games with subscription

Subscription as a revenue model is a relatively new concept to the consumer world, but definitely not unheard of. Amazon Prime, Netflix, Spotify, Tinder, Deliveroo and even Duolingo, there are many different services out there that adopted this in the last decade, and it’s just growing. But how about in gaming? More specifically, mobile gaming? How can you really implement a subscription service and increase your revenue, without disrupting your existing revenue streams? We answer just that. The New Era of Monetization When the first iPhone launched in 2007, ‘premium’ was the dominant business model for mobile games. And by 2009, everyone was publishing $1 games such as ‘Angry Birds’, ‘Doodle Jump’, and ‘Cut the Rope’… With any new piece of technology, things started to develop fairly fast,  and soon Free-to-Play was introduced. By 2011, more than half of all...
9 min read
#Data & Analytics

Early Testing Strategies to Maximize Your Hyper-Casual Game’s Potential

Editors note: This article was written by Vivian Dong, Senior Publishing Manager at JoyPac. This is based on their most recent webinar, which you can watch here. Testing is the most important part in the whole process of hyper-casual game development. When you have an exciting new game idea, you need to quickly answer the most fundamental questions: Will your idea be appealing enough to draw in players? When they download and play it, will they keep playing it? Will it make money? To answer these questions, you’ll need to start testing as early as possible. We recently hosted a webinar on early testing, along with Gabriel Stürmer, CEO at Clap Clap Games, and Kristina Truvaleva of Business Development & Global Partnerships at ZeptoLab. Here are ten lessons we took away from the webinar. Lesson 1: Test your idea’s marketability...
2 min read
#GameAnalytics Updates

Supporting BAME game dev teams with industry insights

A few days ago, we issued a statement mentioning that we are willing to do our part to support the black community, as well as other ethnic minorities. Since then, we’ve been discussing ways to do this, not just now in the short term, but on an ongoing basis. We are a small company, but something we do have plenty of is data and insights. We also have a wonderful community of talented indie game developers from around the world, who are working very hard to get their first hit. Knowing which mechanics, genre, or publisher to pick can make a massive difference in a prototype’s success, and insights are essential to that decision process. We put two and two together and we’ve decided to offer up to 12 months free access to our premium insights service, Benchmarks+, for indie...
6 min read
#Marketing & Publishing

Gamer psychology and the 4 types of rewarded video users

This article was originally written by Or Shahar, General Manager U.S. at ironSource. You can find their version on the Level Up blog, and Game Daily. Successful games must satisfy a wide range of users, each with diverse values, needs and desires. To speak to all audiences, developers often design gameplay according to psychological factors, grouping players according to behavioral or emotional commonalities. After grouping these players according to commonalities for game design and mechanics, developers can also apply the same logic to ad monetization features like rewarded video, which functions as an integral part of the gameplay. In contrast to ad units that can’t be integrated as a core feature and don’t allow for much optimization beyond timing and frequency, rewarded video, when properly implemented, offers developers a wider variety of optimization options for their monetization strategy. In addition,...
Best tools for game dev
13 min read
#Strategies

Time-Saving Tools For Mobile Game Developers

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in 2016. As it’s been a while since we’ve explored what the best tools are that you should be using, we thought we would go ahead and give this post a refresh. Let us know if you think we’ve missed anything important.  How can you lower acquisition costs, improve engagement and drive more purchases? Where will you find the time? From basement to studio, game developers manage a growing remit of technical skills… yet the hours in a day stay fixed. For sure, there are thousands of time-saving apps and services that you can make use of – but figuring out which are best is tricky. That’s why we’ve curated a list of the top game development tools, as voted for by game developers, to help steer you in the right direction and free-up your time to...