In the Applovin blog, Belka Games employees Pavel Sudakov, head of r’n’d department, and Evgeniy Gilmanov, head of the monetization department, shared a few insider tips on creating an engaging gaming experience. To intelligently ensure engagement and retention for every gamer.

Read the original Applovin article here.

User engagement and retention are part of game planning

In early discussions with the R&D department, user engagement and retention metrics are more important than monetization metrics.

Belka Games builds a product hypothesis and relies on market data, forecasts, and a long-term retention strategy. The key is to prove that the game is engaging, and the goal is to achieve benchmarks based on the game cycle, not through LiveOps or additional retention mechanics.

The novelty and fascination of the games

The company avoids surprises for game developers: it constantly and meticulously analyzes the market and competitors and keeps its finger on the pulse of gaming trends. Belka Games gives players new, more exciting gameplay mechanics and LiveOps than other studios, so they are constantly improving and upgrading the core gameplay.

For example, the team knows solitaire gamers love arcades and board games; Bermuda Adventures fans prefer deep design mechanics, such as dressing up their favourite characters. Understanding who is playing the game and what types of experiences users will get are essential.

Tactics in the game Bermuda Adventures

Bermuda Adventures by Belka Games

Belka Games has created a good story, strong plot and script. The team avoided the same mistakes the competitors made and considered what they learned after the release of Funky Bay.

Variety was at the forefront. This approach helped the game show positive results from the start, which allowed the work on the product to continue.

Belka Games project metrics

The team’s main goal for user engagement is 100% ROAS in the first 360 days. The studio uses both in-app and advertising monetization and optimizes ROAS and setup costs. Suppose every game event is attractive to users. In that case, it means that the audience understands the mechanics, participates in the circumstances and that LiveOps positively impacts the gaming experience.

The company achieves KPIs by focusing on the golden cohort retention formula: D1 = 40%, D7 = 20%, D30 = 10%. The studio also focuses on long-term retention.

Side note: TapNation tips for improving CPI.

Another checklist item is analyzing the first session and every step where the user encounters a problem to improve understanding of the engagement funnel.

The developer also keeps an eye on LiveOps metrics: engagement and monetization so that each new feature adds value to the user experience. Belka Games adds LiveOps early on to allow users to feel emotionally connected to the game.

The studio uses tutorials to introduce the LiveOps feature that users can’t miss so that every gamer gets a new gaming experience.

The benchmark after the initial launch is to get 50% of DAUs to participate. Before that, the team informs users about the event through a Facebook group and uses iOS and Google Play to promote the event.

Changing strategy based on data

Belka Games uses 5- and 30-day periods for retargeting campaigns and return bonuses. ARPDAU is not the primary metric because it contains many cohorts of users, so the studio uses revenue per install- RPI, for accurate affiliates.

A product can have a good RPI on day seven but a weak one on day 30, and this affects the LTV and ROAS model, so the team increases the metric and the ratios.

Mistakes in user engagement and retention

Every game feature adds new value and gameplay experience for users. Therefore, there must be a good reason to make changes to a game. Belka Games also runs additional A/B tests further to justify the change and the impact on gameplay.

Cogortization shows that not every feature or event works for the entire audience, so it’s important to know what works or doesn’t work for daily active users and make changes accordingly. It’s also important to pay close attention to gameplay complexity. Every gamer has different skills, and you must give the most exciting and challenging gameplay session.

Another common omission of novice developers does not understand the importance of improving event onboarding or mechanics. If the user doesn’t understand a feature the first time, they will have no reason to return. So the goal at Belka Games is to engage and monetize every cohort.

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