David talks experimentation and a lot more besides, with Michail Katkoff

When we started rebuilding our client’s Match-3 game day 1 retention (D1) was a woeful 1%. Over six weeks, we implemented a structured playbook of changes that steadily raised retention to an impressive 45%.

Shallot Games initially got in touch because they were stuck. By combining gaming expertise with experimentation techniques, we developed an innovative and effective solution.

From King to TapNation via the legendary Lawson at Heseri Games, we’ve worked in experimentation for over a decade. Over that time we’ve consistently seen how, when applied correctly, experimentation can unlock huge growth for games of any size. This article summarises what we’ve learnt across these experiences.

If completing checklists or goals helps explain idle game popularity, adding more checklists and goals will enhance retention. This is the write up to our experiment with Iteration One.

This is a write up of our first full experimentation loop with TapNation. You’ll learn what we tested, the results, outcomes of a detailed competitor analysis and what we’re doing next.

A lot, but it’s easy to think you’ve got past the simple fixes.

Core loops in hyper-casual games are elite. But the meta isn’t always strong enough to keep players engaged. As much as players enjoy their first few levels, after a while (and particularly with the ad model) they drift away to other experiences.

How Hitwicket and TXG are collaborating to grow D1 to D3 retention