admonetization

In character abilities leveling design, I've always been interested in finding an answer to the question: how to scale percentage-based buffs and debuffs? So that they look clear to the player, but also increase efficiency in a meaningful way.✏For example: — If you increase the percentage value, you will get stat inflation, power creep, and a feeling of more hardcore gameplay in the late game.  Or uselessness at the beginning of the game.— If based on specific fixed values (not the percent ones), it does not work well with targets of different types.— You can do it like in some MMORPGs, where the strength of the buff/debuff is calculated based on specific parameters of the character. But it's complicated and also old-fashioned in some ways.— A talent tree can work well, especially if the buffs/debuffs are given additional mechanics with […]

Reviving Player Engagement: Game-Changing Updates (Personal picks from F2P and Paid Games) In today's gaming landscape, keeping players engaged with older titles is a significant challenge. Successful live-ops games and “games-as-hobbies” have been around for a while now, some for years, others for a decade. Competing with them is tough, but growing and improving such projects to retain new audiences and entertain the old ones may be even tougher.A recent case with “Honkai Impact 3rd: Part Two” shows what some games have been attempting to do already for some time. They aim to boost engagement through massive updates, offering fresh takes on user experience, content, and quality of life features. Older and rapidly growing games tend to become too complex and overcomplicated. These updates seek to address such legacy, building hype around the main differences.In this post, I’ll showcase examples […]

How to build a place for “Game Design” talks in your team? Some tips for beginners. 📒😼✨ No matter if you work in a big corporation or in an indie studio, sometimes you may find yourself thinking: “it may be nice to talk about game development”. About design solutions in other games, market news, features decompositions and so on, maybe even with presenting something big in the process, like at a proper conference. And sometimes you may be in the situation when your boss wants it. For sure it should be not another local kitchen talk, but kind of “process”. I don’t have a simple answer on how to build the thing, but here some basic advice:1. Find and empower similar activities in your team. Writing articles, researching games, presenting - usually there is already somebody who is working on […]

What causes the gaming industry layoffs? Part 2 - "Interlude - The Ebbs and Flows of a Game Project." Thank you John Wright for giving me the idea of making this a series rather than one giant post.And thank you Carlos Salvado 🔜 GDC for having me go deeper on this.Part 1 in the comments.So we realized it isn't AI - because it's just a tool, just like Photoshop was a tool.We need people to use the tools.Do some people quit or get fired for not adapting?Sure, I've actually heard stories already.But it's a handful of people in comparison with the thousands laid off.I talked about R&D, new games, being essential to gain sustainability as a business. But why? What happens in the standard cycle of a game studio?A game and it's ideas, most of the times, come from previous […]

While the game industry is having turbulent times, recently I got happy after seeing one person from my network, who's been searching for a job for a long time, getting hired! 💪👍 The specific reason I'm happy for this person is that I had given some career tips for career development, portfolio and such, which apparently did pay out well (at least a bit) in terms of getting hired. Feels really good during these turbulent times, and I'm really proud of this person finally making it! 🎓👌In terms of jobs market in games, when looking further, what is amazing is how some people in this industry can effect positively so much to people's careers and the opportunities they get. 🤝When I look towards some persons' profiles, who I've had the pleasure to work with (including also hiring them in most […]

I have a little observation about the gaming startup market. In 2018, I was working for a public gaming company, and we were considering investing in the newly formed gaming VC fund (now one of the best on the market). They pitched that they see about 100 gaming investment opportunities a year. We had a similar deal flow, and I suppose it was the best you could get back then. >> Fast forward to the present moment. In 2023 alone, TGF received over 3000 applications, and I believe it is about the best you can get now. x30 growth in deal flow in 5 years.

New issue alert! Dive into Creative Decode #3, where we closely examine the engaging Hay Day game ad, ranked #9 and #13 on Smaato in December according to Sensor Tower 🚀Hay Day, a charming farming simulation game, offers a serene glimpse into rural life, captivating players across the globe. This issue features an in-depth analysis by Ivan Razmakhov, the Creative Production Director at AdQuantum, who decodes the artistry behind the game's advertising.Check out the ad: https://lnkd.in/dGTCTTPD We value your thoughts and insights – share them with us in the comments! 🔍hashtag#CreativeDecode hashtag#HayDay hashtag#GameAdCreative hashtag#MobileGaming hashtag#AdAnalysis hashtag#MarketingInsights hashtag#DigitalAdvertising

Let's talk about different forms of Supercell-syndrome. 1. During its brightest moments, when Supercell was at the top, everyone went copying their small independent teams model in a syndrome-like manner believing it results in greatness - eventually failing on it. Even investors & VCs fell in love with it - but if you try to pitch same now, they won't invest in you as they don't buy it.🤑😬2. Based on Ilkka Paananen's latest blog post, Supercell clearly did fall being a victim of their own Supercell-syndrome; which resulted after shipping Brawl Stars to not shipping a game and realizing the hard truth that even they need to adapt to where the market is, incl. publishers that topped them by taking engagement, monetization & distribution means to another level in unique ways. Now, as a result, Supercell is moving from small […]

We Are Warriors by Lessmore is an Ad revenue juggernaut. In less than a few months, the game has scaled its ad revenue to just about $200k/day earning an additional $33k/day in IAP revenue. Here’s how:Progression is not linked to watching Rewarded Ads. We Are Warriors uses caps on most RV placements to ensure that users stick around for longer and are more motivated to make an IAP. One of the best-performing ad placements is the RV placement for free meat which is capped at 2/day. This cap means that users can’t quickly progress through the levels and have to remain in the game for longer.81% of users in We Are Warriors watch Rewarded ads. For reference a 45% ad viewer rate on rewarded ads is considered average, 81% is simply a master class in Rewarded Ads. As the progression […]

If you watch trends, then you are laser-focused on mobile gaming. The app vertical is a petri dish of unbridled experimentation spearheaded by data experts and enthusiasts who are defining the future now. Fortunately for us, many of these experience pioneers gathered at PGC London last week to share the strategies and shortcuts that keep them at the top of their game (pun intended). Watch for more workarounds that harness our behavioral breadcrumb trail of data and what Embrace CEO Eric Futoran calls the “app exhaust” of a multitude of interactions and events to shape our in-app experiences. Tapping app event stream data for deep(er) insights Embrace is a company you’ll be hearing a lot from—and that’s a good thing at a time when app store algorithms have begun to rank games based on performance metrics and can punish games […]

This is interesting from Carta. It shows what kind of valuation caps are happening with SAFE notes in 2023. A few observations:- Sub $500K rounds are happening with a dilution of 10% or less (light blue most significant segment $5M-$7.5M)- This feels more reflecting the pre-seed and seed market of the US than Europe, where founders still are diluted by 20%-25%- Many things point out that seed is not as affected by a down market (e.g., $1M to $2M at $10M-$15M is normal from 2021)

I cannot show you the exact path, but I can point you in the right direction. The longer I've been a startup investor, the more evident it becomes where game company pitches fail: it's when you pitch a game, not a company. A typical deck introduces the company as slide number one, preceded by a team slide. Then, the deck deep dives into the game pitch and never emerges. Why is that not a good thing? First, if the game fails, the company will have an identity crisis; its whole existence was built on the idea of the game working. As a second point, a game's success is often only possible to know after it's launched. Many variables, often unknown ones, will cause a perfect game to not work in the market. If the game is still in early development, […]