Game Analytics – The Challenge of Mobile - The Mobile Challenge - Understanding Player behavior - Impact Mapping - Advanced Visualization; Dynamic user behavior horse race graphs - Interventions and Experiments; Multivariate Experiments in the mobile space and client-side interventions

3. Thomas Hulvershorn
Outplay Entertainment

4. Established 2011 in Dundee
Outplay Entertainment is a fast growing, venture-backed Developer and Publisher of social and mobile Games.

5. Understand Performance
Verify Assumption
Support Design
Discover Insights
Thomas Hulvershorn

6. Complex F2P Business Model
Understand Free to Play mechanics
Game is installed on Client site
Experiments and Dynamic changes tricky
Expect Hacking, Fraud, Bad Data
“Big Data” volume
Deal with 4-5 Mio events per day
Game can be played Offline
Anonymous Players
Challenges
Thomas Hulvershorn

7. Profit =
- Costs
Players LTV

8. Profit
+ Income
- Costs
Operational
Acquisition
Partner…
Players
LTV
Paid
Unpaid
Retention
1d On-boarding
7d Mid Term
30+d Long Term
Customer Support
Stability and Availability
Community Management
Game Design…
Adverts…
Game Content
Payer / HVC…
Engagement…
Demographics
Products
Appeal / Ease / Value for Money
Pricing
Provider
Appeal
Type
Condition / Model
Frequency
Content
F2P Opportunity Map
Technology / Devices
Discovery
Cross Promo / Viral
Direct Acquisition…
Indirect Acquisition…
Store Ranking
Organic…
Marketplaces
Strategic Partner
Player Type
∅ Ads
∅ IAP
∅ App. Purchase
Thomas Hulvershorn

9. “I want us to add
more Levels!”
“We need to have
Daily Challenges”
“The Tutorial is
too long”

10. Impact Mapping… …methodology helps defining our Strategy
Why do we want these features implemented?
What are the assumptions behind the choice?
How do measure the success of our selection?
Quantify Goals, validate Assumptions and measure Impact…
...Games Analytics

11. >What is the Goal?
>Who can help you?
>What Impact do you expect?
>How can this be done?

16. Thomas Hulvershorn

17. 60%
+20%
3%
+5%
5%
95%
Thomas Hulvershorn

20. Sample Group A
Sample Group B
Control Group
Project Stakeholders
Real Time Analytics
ETL Layer
Analysts
Tracker
Store Data
Analytics Events
Game on Store
Download
Deploy new Version
F2P
Data Feedback Driven
Deployment Game Life cycle
Player
Launch
Cloud
Game Settings
Outplay Server
Modify Settings
Set up Experiments
Game
Settings
Producer
Feature Backlog
Targets
Designer
Game in Vault
Product Team
New Version
Sign off and Store Submission
Game Development
Client
Update
Thomas Hulvershorn

21. Retention 7d / 14d
Revenue 7d/14d
Control Group

22. Inspired by http://drewconway.com/zia/2013/3/26/the-data-science-venn-diagram
Coder


Scientist
Designer

23. Potential Players
Outplay Gamers
Genre Lovers
Demographics
Social Friends
Community
Invested Players
Paying Players
Loyal / Returning
Skilled Players
Absorbed
Encourage Spending
Increase Retention
Educate Players
Game is Fun
Make it worthwhile
Reward Loyalty
Balance Game
Vary Game
Players on the decline
No follow Purchase
More Infrequent
Stuck, No progress
Shorter Sessions
Loosing Interest
Lost Interest
Game Installed
Campaign
Organic
First Launch
Players on the Fence
Non Paying
Rarely Playing
Noob Player
Short Sessions
Cross Promo
Re Targeting / Engage Dormant Players
Optimise Campaign Set up
Cross Promo Other Games, Retargeting
Dormant Players (not playing)
Never got it
Active Dislike
Passive Dislike
Lost Players (uninstalled)
Unexplained / Technical
Social Players
+ Organic Growth
+ Invested Players
+ Demographics Info
Player Journey
Never Launch
Re Engage
No Interest
Thomas Hulvershorn

24. started level
2014-07-02
All users who started a level that day
Each row represents one event fired by one particular user during that day

26. 2014-07-01
2014-07-02
2014-07-03
2014-07-04
first launch
started level
competed level
failed level

27. first launch
started level
competed level
failed level

28. Users per event per day

30. Event Matrix
User Index Data

34. Technology Setup
3rd Party Tool for Data Gathering / Storage and Ad Hoc Analytics
Internal dedicated Analytics server „Daten Butler“
Multiprocessor, SSD, Linux Server
Runs all scripts (Ruby and ‚R‘)
Stores offline data
Launch Ceremony Daten Butler 08/14

35. >For Cohorts, by individual user, with selected properties
>Allows to answer ALL relevant questions!

38. Priority is Player Satisfaction and Fun “If your game sucks, data won’t save you”
Data Analyst
at Outplay

39. >Outplay.com
>Twitter @DerHUL
>Further Reading
>‘The Lean Startup’, Eric Ries
>‘Data Analysis’, Phillip K. Janert
>‘Impact Mapping’, Gojko Adzic
>‘Freemium Economics’, Eric B. Seufert
>‘Data Visualisation with D3.js Cookbook’, Nick Qi Zhu