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10 signs you might be working on a dead game 🚩

10 signs you might be working on a dead game 🚩 (you don't want to miss them)𝟭. 𝗡𝗼 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 👀↳ Without direction, priorities scatter and time is wasted. 𝟮. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲. 🎮 ↳ If developers don’t enjoy it, players won’t either. 𝟯. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗶𝘃𝗼𝘁𝘀 🔄 ↳ Frequent changes derail progress and drain morale. 𝟰. 𝗡𝗼 𝗨𝗦𝗣 🪝↳ A generic game can’t stand out in a crowded market. 𝟱. 𝗨𝗻𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘀 🌀 ↳ When no one knows who’s responsible, chaos reigns. 𝟲. 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 🛑 ↳ Finger-pointing creates toxicity and stalls solutions. 𝟳. 𝗟𝗼𝘄 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 📉 ↳ Players don’t come back if the game doesn’t hook them early. 𝟴. 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗽 ⁉️ ↳ Adding more instead of fixing the basics only bloats the game. 𝟵. 𝗡𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 🗨️ ↳ Empty forums and social […]

Anton Slashcev December 30

Journal

Creative Animation Alert!

🎉 Creative Animation Alert! 🪛 Spotted this fantastic end-of-level reward multiplier animation in Screw Tile by ABI Game Studio. The screw animation adds such a unique and satisfying touch to the experience. 🎨👏Love seeing creative design ideas like this—kudos to the team for making rewards feel extra rewarding! 💡✨Check out the game here:iOS: https://shorturl.at/0UhwSAndroid: https://shorturl.at/MTvzj

Michael Kopelovich December 30

Journal

What gaming has taught me

What gaming has taught me—and what I tell non-gaming founders: social gameplay is the engine behind long-term user retention. Here’s how it works. 1. Players who form in-game friendships stay 2-3x longer. I've talked to veteran players who say they would've quit ages ago if not for their guild relationships.2. The best social mechanics connect solo and group play:- Rewards from guild activities help individual progress- Individual contributions strengthen the guild- Creates a powerful engagement loop3. Live events and competitions give social groups clear goals to rally around. When players collaborate towards shared achievements, it builds lasting bonds.4. The data is clear: games with strong social features consistently show higher D90+ retention rates. No other feature comes close to matching this impact.5. Building meaningful social systems early is crucial. You can't bolt them on later and expect the same results.

Joakim Achren December 27

Highlights

Brutally Honest #144

Hey, FAM! What’s up? 🥃 Drink talk Happy Holidays to everyone. The annual UA & Creatives Learnings article is coming! Stay tuned.. 🦩Tip of the week Experimenting with Runway prompts taught me how subtle changes can completely transform the outcome of a video. Here's how I refined my process: 1. The Iteration Process First Attempt: The camera shakes wildly while zooming in. Not ideal, but it kickstarted experimentation. Second Attempt : Prompt: "The camera slowly pushes in on the bird looking at the egg and then on the machine in the background. The machine slowly rotates its arm." Result: Improved focus, but the random opener didn't feel cohesive. Final Version: Prompt: "Subject sadly looks at the egg, machinery in the background slowly moves its arm." Added the MidJourney-generated image as the first frame to set the tone. Focused prompts on […]

Matej Lancaric December 27

Journal

Decrease the CPIs. Whatever it takes!

𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗣𝗜𝘀. Whatever it takes! 🚀 The creative inspiration flow has shifted—𝟰𝗫 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗶𝗴 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀, and it all comes down to one important thing: 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. 👇 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄:4X games -> Casual & Puzzle games -> other genres As we’ve seen in our Creative Trends episodes and discussed repeatedly in this creative investigation column, games like Royal Match (Dream Games) and even Fishdom (Playrix) take cues from the 4X genre. Why? Because the stakes are higher than ever, 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗣𝗜𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹.To achieve this, they’re adopting tactics and hooks previously dominated by 4X games—runner gates mechanics, King’s Nightmares (think "minigames"), Monstrous Sharks, and slingshots. It all comes back to one thing and one thing only. Emotions, AKA near-death experience. These moments of tension and […]

Matej Lancaric December 27

Journal

Live Ops features to boost Retention

Live Ops features to boost Retention Based on the Playliner research, here are 7 proven Live Ops features that can boost retention for your game:1. Daily bonus • 🎁 Rewards players for logging in daily. • 🔄 Encourages habitual play with escalating rewards for consecutive logins.2. Daily quests • 📅 Fresh tasks reset every 24 hours. • 🎯 Keeps players motivated with achievable short-term goals.3. Push notifications • 🔔 Gentle nudges to remind players of events or updates. • ⏰ Timing is key to re-engage without annoying.4. Mini-games • 🎮 Adds variety with small games inside the main game. • 🌀 Keeps the experience fresh and reduces monotony.5. Collection systems • 🃏 Let players collect items or characters to complete sets. • 🌟 Appeals to collectors and provides long-term goals.6. Season pass • 🕒 Time-limited rewards system that motivates continuous […]

Anton Slashcev December 27

Journal

Why Business Modeling Your F2P Mobile Game is Important?

Business modeling is key nowadays, when the mobile games funnel is operated from top of the funnel approach, in building and Live Operating your mobile game(s) successfully.This article discusses, in short, about key points and principles of business modeling — and why it’s needed for successful new game development and Live Ops in mobile games business.Why Business Modeling?The answer lies within two basic principles:1. Healthiness of your product in terms of LTV > CPI:Having your e.g., ROAS profiled properly against your UA efforts.One step down more from ROAS?Overall with that you can look into your retention metrics, retention curve, monetization KPIs as well as UA metrics, cohorts, and so on.Helps you to realize if you have business case, or not — navigation / exploration tool during iterative development; find more about iterative development and method here (https://gamesalchemy.substack.com/p/2-get-iterative-game-development):2. Prioritization for your […]

Antti Kananen December 26

Journal

Blossom Sort by Zeromaze scaled to $60K a day

Blossom Sort by Zeromaze scaled to $60K a day with only 20K downloads per day 😅. This unconventional take on the sort puzzle is packing more than 1 trick up its sleeve. Read the full rundown here 😎: Instead of the usual sorting mechanic, like water puzzles or Colorwood, where you can move pieces only on the same color pieces, here you can freely move flowers 🌺 around the pots even though they will be put near a flower that is a different type. Breaking this major sorting rule gives the game a much more relaxing feeling and also solves one of the fail state problems. As fail state here is is either done by running out of time ⏳ or running out of space to move flowers. Even though the game runs a lot of ads, it still monetizes […]

Jakub Remiar December 26

Highlights

DoubleU Games Acquires Turkish Studio Paxie Games

DoubleU Games Acquires Turkish Studio Paxie Games in a Deal Valued at Up to $67 MillionStrategic Entry into the Fast-Growing Merge-2 Puzzle Market South Korean mobile gaming giant DoubleU Games has agreed to acquire Paxie Games, a leading Turkish gaming studio renowned for its hit title Merge Studio: Fashion Makeover. This strategic acquisition, valued at up to $67 million, marks DoubleU Games’ entry into the high-growth Merge-2 puzzle genre and strengthens its global portfolio. Under the agreement, DoubleU Games will acquire a 60% stake in Paxie Games for $27 million at closing, with the remaining 40% to be purchased over three years, contingent on achieving financial performance milestones. The transaction, financed through treasury shares and cash, will close in Q1 2025. Founded in 2021 by Direnç Çelik, Hüseyin Anıl Özmen, Refik Anıl Bulut, and Sarenur Başel, Paxie Games has achieved […]

Ömer Yakabagi December 26

Journal

Mobile Gaming in 2024

Mobile Gaming in 2024 Here’s the wrap-up: 𝟭. 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀• Total downloads hit 53.9B (+0.5% YoY). • In-app purchase (IAP) revenue climbed to $58.9B (+2.9% YoY). • The average revenue per download (RPD) was $1.17. 𝟮. 𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰: • My Supermarket Simulator 3D: 64M downloads, $3.6M IAP revenue. (https://lnkd.in/eR4tr5f4) • Squad Busters: 46.1M downloads, $61M IAP revenue. (https://lnkd.in/e5D_Hpfd) • Screw Puzzle: 45M downloads, $5.3M IAP revenue. (https://lnkd.in/eWs_quhj) • Pokemon TCG Pocket: 35M downloads, $160.1M IAP revenue. (https://lnkd.in/eU-Cv42S) • Capybara GO: 14.1M downloads, $52M IAP revenue. (https://lnkd.in/e7MGwKdp)𝟯. 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹: • 23,095 new games launched. • New games brought in $3.43B in IAP net revenue (5% of total revenue). • They accounted for 5.57B downloads (9.7% of total downloads). • Success rate: ±1.3% (measured as games earning $1M+ in IAP revenue). 𝟰. 𝗧𝗼𝗽 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲𝘀: • Match 3D: +46%, […]

Anton Slashcev December 26

Highlights

User Acquisition & Creative Learnings 2024

The article breaks down the game-changing lessons in User Acquisition (UA) and creative strategies for mobile marketing in 2024. It's packed with insights you can't afford to miss, from diversifying UA channels and leveraging AI-driven optimization to mastering creative production and adapting to shifting platforms. It highlights how detailed creative briefs, effective communication, and experimental tools like TikTok Creative Challenges helped marketers stay ahead in a rapidly changing post-IDFA world. As we gear up for 2025, the stakes are higher than ever. Success lies in embracing AI-generated UGC, incentivized ads, and playables to drive engagement, slash CPIs, and scale effectively. This guide provides the playbook for dominance, with actionable steps for refining your strategies, optimizing your teams, and staying ahead of the competition. Don’t fall behind—future-proof your UA strategy now! Dive into this must-read guide and equip yourself with the tools and tactics to crush it […]

Matej Lancaric December 26

Journal

R&D Framework for Game Prototyping

🕹 R&D Framework for Game Prototyping 🕹 Below is the framework we often use when starting work on new projects:I. Pre-Production (2-4 weeks)1. Idea Generation: ▶ Market analysis, gathering references; ▶ Brainstorming to pick the most promising ideas2. Greybox Prototyping: ▶ Focus on a single core feature; ▶ Find the fun factor3. Conceptualization: ▶ Preparing the GDD, user flow, and key shots;▶ Selecting the right tools and creating a roadmapII. Production (4-10 weeks)4. Features Development: ▶ Concentrate on key gameplay mechanics and speed in development;▶ Minimal meta or progression5. Content Creation: ▶ Craft key art, and fun levels, and use ready-made assets;▶ Secondary art, vfx, sounds, etc. can be draft6. Minimum Viable Product: ▶ Ensure the game offers 20-40 minutes of engaging gameplay with a distinctive style and polished game feel▶ Better fewer, but betterIII. Product-Market Fit Validation (1-3 weeks)7. […]

Anton Slashcev December 26

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