Inside the experiment: How TXG and Shallot Games are increasing revenue in casual games
At The Experimentation Group (TXG), we believe the best games come from balancing science and creativity. Our ongoing collaboration with Shallot Games puts this philosophy into action.
We’re working together to design and build a new feature aimed at significantly enhancing monetisation in their hit title, Coffee Golf.
Throughout the project, we’ll take you behind the scenes to share the data driving our approach, our decision-making process, and the insights we uncover.
Building on success
Earlier this year, we helped Shallot Games boost Coffee Golf’s RPI by 75%. We were able to do this by building a deep understanding of their player base and game design. From that, we introduced Tour Mode, a saga-style progression that unlocked microtransactions, breaking the previous limitations of a single, one-time, ad-free order.
Tour Mode is still pretty rough and ready, so we’re confident there’s more potential in it. The goal of this work is to realise that.
Maximising exposure
The first step was deciding where to build. With Tour Mode now a second mode along with Daily Classic, we didn’t want to dilute exposure.
● Daily Classic is the foundation of the game and where the most engaged players spend their time.
● Tour Mode is the newer feature - are enough players engaging with it to justify building there?
Looking at the data, the answer was clear.
Early player behaviour clearly favours Tour Mode. Almost 80% of players start there before shifting to Classic around three months in.
Engagement metrics are also stronger in Tour. Players consistently complete more rounds per session there - by around a factor of five initially - compared to Classic.
Streaks squared
Based on this, we’re confident about the type of feature we want to build
The basis of Coffee Golf’s success is the daily competition offered by Classic; we want to bring that to Tour.
Streak events like Royal Match’s Lava Quest add competition to a saga progression in a way that has consistently monetised well. They’ve been estimated to increase revenue by 27% in Royal Match, 42% in Toon Blast and 26% in Candy Soda. They look likely to be a strong fit for what we’re trying to achieve.
Building on that, qualitative feedback from the most passionate Coffee Golf players gave us inspiration for a twist on the feature.
After each attempt in Daily Classic, players’ scores are compared across the base, allowing them to see if they’ve finished in the top 10%, top 25% or outside of that. This is also recorded over time in a calendar. Many of the most-engaged players have told us they grind hard to maintain their streak of top 10% or top 25%.
We are including these elements to create something that appeals to a broad range of Coffee Golf players:
● The core group, who should enjoy an event built on completing a streak of levels each day
● The most engaged, who can continue to build week and months-long streaks of top finish
Progress so far
The feature has been mocked, moved into development and, most importantly, given a name - Gator Quest.
What’s next?
Once it goes live we’ll share the final specs and an initial read on that.
This project is a testament to the power of collaboration and experimentation. By building on our previous work with Shallot Games, we’ve been able to take on a more ambitious challenge - and we’re excited to share the process with you.