How to make people love your game in 90 seconds or less
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Dori Adar presents: How to Make People Love Your Game In 90 seconds (or less) 5 min read! A High Quality Deck!
Transcript of How to make people love your game in 90 seconds or less
Dori Adar presents:
How to Make People Love Your Game
In 90 seconds (or less)
5 min
read!
A High Quality Deck!
Whether you’re going steady, friends for the weekend,
or just making out in the bathroom...
We all have relationships with our games.
But we only have so much time and patience for new friendships.
So no matter how profound, beautiful or fun your game is
Only 20% of games make it past the first play session.
And I wanna get your game ready for the most important event of its life.
The First Date
Part 1
First Impression
Be Casual
The player launches your game for the first time.Put on your best smile. Your 1st date begins.
You have less than 3 minutes to get the user hooked or at least interested.
The player must go through your 1st game loop to completion in the first session.
Here’s how some games do it:
Splash screen
Loading screen
Intro clip Map TutorialBooster pop up Gameplay RewardCover
page
Here’s how some games do it:
Too long!
Appears too late!
Splash screen
Loading screen
Intro clip Map TutorialBooster pop up Gameplay RewardCover
page
The trick is to skip unnecessary steps.
Spider Man Unlimited (Gameloft)
Splash screen
Loading screen
TutorialCover page
Gameplay Reward
Straight into the action with minimum
explanations.
Epic reward- killing a boss in the
first gameplay.
Tutorial Gameplay RewardSplash screen
Loading screen
Cover page
Tutorial Gameplay Reward
Intro clip comes after the gameplay, as a part of the reward for killing the boss.
Result: Less users skip the video.
Intro clip
Core loop time: 90 seconds
Spider Man Unlimited doesn’t let the player die during the tutorial, so completing the loop is inevitable.
Good call, Spidey!
Monument Valley (US TWO)
Splash screen
Loading screen
Tutorial Gameplay
Splash + loading screens combined. No cover page!
Cover page
Reward
Splash screen
Loading screen
Tutorial Gameplay
Dive into the first puzzle.
Cover page
Reward
Splash screen
Loading screen
Tutorial Gameplay Reward
Cover page as a beautiful reward.
Cover page
Core loop time: 25 seconds
Flappy Bird (Dong nguyen)
Splash screen
Cover page
Tutorial Gameplay Reward
The surprising “game over” is the reward in Flappy bird.
Core loop time: 10 seconds
Sure, the smaller the game the less amount of time it takes to complete the first loop.
But even if your game has what it takes to be considered “marriage material”
Do not say it on your first date.Be casual.
Part 2
The Date
Know when to leave
We feel anxious when are interrupted in the middle of something.
Stop a song in the middle and you’ll be singing it in your head all day.
(I actually have the perfect song for you at the end of this deck, so you can try it!)
Stopping session “in the middle” will get the player to play the game more frequently.
This means that your game has to tell the user when to stop playing.
Candy Crush Saga, among others, uses the “Energy” method, AKA lives.
There are more elegant ways, however, to signal the player to leave the game.
Boom Beach has a very clear “end session”:No enemies on the map.
Monument Valley uses chapters for clear start and end sessions.
And in this game (Cow Evolution), after 2 mins of cow-merging there’s just nothing to do until the next money batch.
To sum it up: keep the date short and leave the player wanting more.
Part 3
The Pursuit
Be Classy!
You should call after the first date.Just don’t beg.
The key here is to push the right trigger at the right time.
This depends on when your player is accustomed to playing and what he considers a reward.
Push notifications will work better when personalized.
Using the player name, level, or current mission can do wonders to players’ retention.
Better yet, be funny. Be seductive.
I never got a booty notification from a game, but I’d sure love to!
Ahmm..
Whatever you do, be sure to track these campaigns.Push notifications are not to be dismissed.
How to Make It Through Your First Date
First ImpressionThe gamer must go through the first loop to completion!
Sessions should be designed to leave the gamer hungry for more.The Dates
The right time + the right trigger + personalization. Monitor your campaigns.
The Pursuit
Excuse me….
Did you find this deck useful?Care to share it with your friends?
Email [email protected] if you have any questions.I’d love to hear from you!
Dude! I have a question!
Why must I be seductive, manipulative, and play all those...games??
Yes, Game. What do you want???
Why can’t I just be….ME?
Because you give yourself away for FREE,that’s why.
(Wanna hear your song? It’s on the next slide)
* Thank you Sarah Keyes and Meital Harel for helping me out with this deck!
