admonetization

🧩 Collaboration between UA and Product teams is key to success at every stage of Game Development. Product teams can benefit from UA by gaining insights through Market Research, A/B tests, Technical Tests etc.Swipe below for the UA Roles and how Product/UA work hand-in-hand throughout these phases:🔍 Concepting Phase🚀 Development Phase🎯 Launch Phase📈 Growth Phase For every studio – the collaboration between User Acquisition (UA) and Product is essential to achieve success. By aligning UA strategies with product development goals, studios can create games that identify potential issues early on, meet player needs, and thrive in the market. This blog explores the UA roles in each phase of development and how UA can support product development throughout every phase. Include UA from day one It’s a common misconception that UA efforts only start when a game is ready to launch. […]

When I started, the focus was on Casual games and IAP. Things like rewarded videos and interstitial ads weren’t as established as they are now. Back then, the strategy was to optimize for paying users - you accepted that 95% of your players wouldn’t spend any money, and it was the other 5% who essentially covered your user acquisition costs and generated profit. That was the golden age of “whales” and targeting before things like ATT and IDFA deprecation rewrote the rulebook. Then came new ad formats that let us monetize non-paying users, which played a big role in the rise of Hyper Casual games. It’s funny because now I see some companies going back to practices from 2015 or 2016, refocusing on quality over quantity. IPM is no longer the main metric of success, and we can see this […]

Why do you need a Game Economy Designer? The answer is simple: Profitable game for the developers, Engaging and fun game for the players...A designated game economist can:✦ Define Your Resources, ✦ Lay a Healthy Foundation,✦ Create Engaging Rewards,✦ Monitor Necessary Details,✦ Maintain a Healthy Balance,✦ Scale the Economy Over Time,✦ Integrate Monetization SeamlesslyFor the game. Tag a game economy designer,Let them know more about the community.

1. Godot Engine (Game Engine) https://godotengine.org/2. Blender (3D Art) https://www.blender.org/3. GIMP (2D Art) https://www.gimp.org/4. Taiga (Planning) https://www.taiga.io/5. Twine (Narrative) https://twinery.org/6. Drone (CI/CD) https://drone.io/7. Penpot (Whiteboard) https://penpot.app/- Excalidraw (Whiteboard) https://excalidraw.com/8. Ardour (Sound) https://ardour.org/9. AppFlowy (Documents) https://www.appflowy.io/10. Colyseus (Networking) https://www.colyseus.io/

Breaking into the gaming industry is tough. I did it without any help.Here’s how:1. Start reading job adsYou need to know what companies are looking for.• Check daily job postings• Understand industry trends• Note the common requirements2. Identify missing skillsFind out what you lack.• List the gaps• Prioritize the most crucial ones• Compare your skills with job ads3. Enforce your skill setFill those gaps with dedication.• Take online courses• Practice regularly• Build a portfolio4. Build your networkConnections are key.• Attend industry events• Join online forums• Reach out to professionalsRemember during the process:• Patience is Key• Sustainable Learning• Have fun and enjoy the processOur industry needs you.

Alright enough pleasantries, let's talk insights.Part 3: Some revenue tactics and trends 1. Did you know some networks are claiming a "DMA tax" on top of their reported spend? Effectively distancing their reported gross ROAS further from the actual Net value? -> Remember to keep updating your net revenue tax tables every quarter with your finance team, the numbers on your dashboard might be outdated, which will lead you to make bad judgment calls.2. Ad skip-its seem to be on the way out versus VIP no-ads subscriptions. It kind of makes sense, it's a bit of a mechanism to convert hypercasual games to hybrids rather than a feature thought with UX in mind from the ground up. It's a bit overly complex of a concept to teach. The real question then becomes: Is a VIP no-ads subscription the end-all-be-all for […]

03 - Designing with Perspective: How Cameras Shape Levels When designing levels, the choice of camera system is a critical factor that shapes not only the technical possibilities but also the artistic direction and, most importantly, the player's perception of the environment. In the image, three distinct urban elements—represented by differently colored shops—illustrate how spatial composition shifts depending on the camera perspective.Camera-Dependent Constraints and Opportunities in Level Design:🎥 Top-down 2D- 🛑Constraints: With only one wall facing the camera, composition is more restricted. This requires careful design to ensure that the limited perspective feels natural on screen.- 🟢Opportunities: Despite these limitations, top-down views allow for highly abstracted environments, where composition plays a key role in guiding the player. This perspective is ideal for puzzle-based gameplay or minimalist design.🎥 Isometric- 🛑Constraints: The addition of depth introduces challenges with occlusion and visibility, particularly in complex, multi-layered […]

Each year, I speak with hundreds of founders for the first time. New entrepreneurs tend to be cautious, guarded, and hesitant to open up. In contrast, those who've launched a startup before just shrug off many uncertainties about what can and cannot be talked about with an investor. It's natural human psychology. When stepping into unknown territory, like the realm of VC funding, first-time founders often lack the vocabulary and confidence to speak up. However, through meetings with investors and vicariously watching YouTube videos where founders pitch, they learn that investors aim to partner with founders on their journey. This relationship is akin to finding a co-founder; while the discussions differ, the overarching dreams of making a startup big remain the same.Communication should come from a place where you not only aim to impress the investor but also evaluate them. […]

After investing in a startup, here's how I help founders: - Do business development work (find clients, help close deals)- Share feedback (product, strategy, plans, big decisions, etc.)- Encourage the founder to respond proactively to challenges (stalemate, short runway)- React to investor updates, requests, emails, etc.- Proactively share market intel- Help with raising the next round (plan the raise, help with pitch deck, share my VC Rolodex)- Find people who are better positioned to assist with any of the above than I am- Finally, host a founder hotline, picking up the phone when it rings