Mastering Retention

This episode is a deep dive into the user experience (UX) strategies that make Royal Match not just a game, but a phenomenon in the mobile gaming world.

In this episode Tom Hammond and Neil Edwards dive into the intricacies of mobile game retention and monetization, using the popular game 'Royal Match' as a case study. They explore the psychological aspects of game design, focusing on how 'Royal Match' enhances player engagement and spending through clever level design, emotional connections, and strategic use of in-game events and challenges. The discussion highlights the importance of understanding player behavior and leveraging game mechanics to create a compelling and addictive gaming experience.

In this episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, host Tom Hammond welcomes Thiago Leite, a seasoned professional from InnoGames, known for their work on Forge of Empires. Thiago shares his journey from mechanical engineering to game design, offering unique insights into the world of LiveOps. The discussion delves into the nuances of player segmentation, the intricacies of designing engaging live operations, and the art of balancing player experiences in games like Forge of Empires and Elvenar. Thiago's expertise shines as he explains how to cater to diverse player profiles, from different age groups to varied gaming preferences, ensuring a captivating and personalized gaming experience. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the behind-the-scenes of game development, particularly in the realm of LiveOps and player engagement.

Tom Hammond from UserWise hosts a discussion with Anton Gorodesky and Dmitriy Byshonkov, from MyGames. They chat about the challenges and nuances of starting a game studio, raising funds, and navigating the gaming industry.

• Tom emphasizes the challenges aspiring entrepreneurs face in starting their own game studio, such as raising money and choosing the right game genre or platform.
• Anton and Dmitriy share their experiences in the gaming industry. Anton, the head of industry relations at MyGames, talks about his roles and the co-founding of Invest Game. Dmitriy, on the other hand, shares his journey from being a journalist to a game designer and then to business development at MyGames.
• The discussion touches upon the current state of the gaming market, noting a decline in investments compared to the boom in 2020 and 2021. They attribute this to market correction and the challenges of making hit games.
• Tom brings up the topic of choosing the right platform for game development, considering the various options available like mobile, PC, console, and user-generated content platforms. The importance of understanding the nuances of each platform and the team's expertise is emphasized.
• When discussing the ideal co-founding team for a game studio, the need for a tech person, a marketing person, a product person, and an administrative person is highlighted.

The world of game design is a complex landscape, filled with challenges and opportunities. One of the key aspects that often gets overlooked is the importance of user experience and monetization strategies. In this episode, Tom and Neil dive into these crucial elements and offer actionable insights to elevate your game development process.

Yael Yakomi, a mobile gaming expert, dives into the significance of personalization in mobile games. She emphasizes the enhanced gaming experience that personalization can offer and discusses the challenges and innovative solutions in implementing it. Yael also provides insights into future trends, including AI-driven personalization, and highlights how platforms like UserWise are revolutionizing the industry by empowering game creators to personalize content without developer support. 

Joakim Hoglund, Head of Studio at Fun Rock, shares insights on designing games for a target audience and the importance of understanding user needs. This episode doesn't disappoint. Tom and Joakim talk about:

• Designing games for a target audience and understanding player needs
• Challenges of creating games for a region you aren't familiar with
• Fun Rock's solution of hiring a team that understands the culture and audience
• Benefits and drawbacks of creating separate servers for different regions
• Role of player-driven decisions in game design
• Emphasis on the importance of localization and being immersed in the culture of the target audience when designing games

The Mastering Retention Podcast recently featured an episode discussing how Live Ops work in the context of Web 3 games. The guest speaker was Patrick Gorrell, the Chief Technology Officer of Splinterlands, which is a trading card game hosted on the blockchain. 

Tom Hammond interviews Meric Atesalp, Senior Product Manager at Pixelberry. They discuss game evaluation, ways to evaluate new games, and how to determine if a game will perform well. Meric also talks about his role as a product manager, the skills and competencies that are necessary to become a good game product manager, and what he learned from his experience in the gaming industry. They also discuss mechanics that he has found in other games that could solve problems in his own game, and how mini-games can help bring down user acquisition costs and provide daily engagement to the user. 

In the latest episode of the Mastering Retention Podcast, Neb Mitrikeski, a veteran game designer and product manager, talks about his journey into game design, from making super casual games to working on complex game economies. He also discusses the Ketchup mechanic problem in RPG and hero collector games and how games can address it. Plus, he shares insights on bucketing systems and bucketing user progression over time.

In the latest episode of the Mastering Retention Podcast, user experience expert Neil Edwards discusses the brilliant user experience design of Marvel Snap. Edwards is the co-founder and head of UX at a full-service design studio in the video game space.

Marvel Snap’s core gameplay is described as phenomenal, not just as an engaging, emotional, and compelling experience as a player but also as a brilliant product. Edwards notes that the game’s core has the potential to make live ops easier or harder based on its design.

This week's guest is Alvaro Duarte, VP Casual Games at Voodoo. In this episode, Alvaro reveals Voodoo's business model, unique approach to game development, and the screening process for Voodoo's games. Voodoo has a unique approach to game development, releasing games that are in a "sooner state of product" and then iterating on them after they are live. The screening process for Voodoo's games is rigorous, and they look at gameplay, retention metrics, CPI, and ROAS targets, among other things.

In this episode of the Mastering Retention Podcast, host Tom Hammond speaks with Antanina Livingston, a product manager and liveops extraordinaire! Antanina shares her insights on how to approach feature and event planning, the importance of understanding player needs, and how to manage burnout in the liveops team. She also discusses the challenges of managing burnout and the importance of understanding different cultures and languages in the gaming industry. 

Highlights:

• Antanina Livingston shares insights on how to approach feature and event planning, the importance of understanding player needs, and how to manage burnout. (0:20)
• Livingston talks about her background in business and how she transitioned to the gaming industry. (3:44)
• The importance of understanding different cultures and languages in the gaming industry is discussed. (8:47)
• Livingston shares her thoughts on how to approach feature planning and event planning in a way that maintains player retention. (13:07)
• The challenges of managing burnout in the live ops team are addressed. (19:13)

In this podcast, Tom Hammond, CEO at UserWise, and Sam Abbott, Head of Monetization at Rec Room, discuss how player segmentation can lead to stronger monetization in mobile games. They delve into the importance of understanding individual segments and creating tailored games that appeal to those segments. They also explore how to break down player behavior and analyze actions within the game to better understand and serve different segments.

In this episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, Dafna shares how LiveOps teams focus on events and promotions to engage players, drive retention, and monetize games. Successful LiveOps events are those that balance the core gameplay loop of a game while introducing new features, challenges, and rewards to keep players interested. She also highlights the importance of understanding player behavior, segmentation, and time zones in planning LiveOps events, and the need to balance creativity with return on investment.

On today’s episode we're gonna talk about the great world of LiveOps. Join Oscar Clark as we dive into the three must-haves for games as services: capturing data, configurations, and selling.

• The meaning of Games as a Service from his perspective.
• The difference between LiveOps and Games as a Service.
• The first step to starting a LiveOps campaign.
• Games as a Service and LiveOps as promises to players.
• Tips for capturing data.
• Tools for configuring oversight.
• Principles for selling free-to-play games.
• What does a LiveOps team look like?

On this week's episode of Mastering Retention, Tom is joined by Bakyt Aidaralieva (Head of Player Experience at Rovio) to discuss the many different types of tools and platforms used in the gaming industry, which tools are better than others, the importance of player feedback, and so much more!

Here are your cheat codes:

0:59 How did Bakyt Aidaralieva get into the video game industry?

8:29 What tools and platforms are needed to run a game as a service?

12:23 Lessons learned from seeking player feedback.

16:03 Discord can be a useful tool.

19:55 CRM’s in the gaming world & effective CRM tools.

24:33 Player and customer support.

26:52 The importance of player feedback & Identifying helpful player feedback.

32:35 Server back end tools.

35:05 LiveOps tools.

41:21 Analytics tools.

43:28 Best way to segment players.

46:06 How to keep more players around longer.

Founders of game studios who have "been there and done that" share their top secrets and tricks on how to start your own game studio.

On this week's episode of Mastering Retention, Tom is joined by Jesse Kroon (Game Designer at Product Madness) and Stanislav Minasov (VP of Product at AppMagic) to talk about the process of creating a new game. The guys have a detailed discussion about where to look for inspiration, how to flesh out a game concept, what all goes into making certain decisions about your game, intellectual property, and so much more!

Here are your cheat codes:

0:46 How did Jesse Kroon and Stanislav Minasov get into the video game industry?

4:12 How to conceptualize a new game idea.

10:17 Deciding which genre your game should be.

14:44 What you gain from talking to existing players.

19:01 Repurposing an existing game concept.

24:35 Finding inspiration in other types of games.

32:45 Intellectual Property.

44:21 How to keep more players around longer.

Creating a game is only half the battle - getting others to download and share your game is vital to the long term success of your game and/or studio. Acquiring users through marketing campaigns and engaging advertisements is no simple task. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Janos Perei (Head of Growth at Voodoo) about many different forms of advertisements and marketing campaigns, their complexity, the importance of making marketing the foundation of your studio, and how UA should work hand-in-hand with LiveOps.

Here are your cheat codes:

0:42 How did Janos Perei get into the video game industry?

2:25 How to think about ad performance.

7:32 Ad efficiency.

9:54 Integrated UA Funnel.

12:38 Gameplay ads.

16:04 Misleading ads.

19:30 How not to waste ad impressions.

25:43 Multi-touch attribution.

27:54 UA and Marketing should be your foundation.

31:58 Failing to engage users.

33:47 How to get users to recommend your game to a friend.

39:30 How to keep more players around longer.