Lifting Retention in Hyper-Casual Games
Core loops in hyper-casual games are elite. But the meta isn’t always strong enough to keep players engaged over time. As much as players enjoy their first few levels, after a while (and particularly with the ad model) they drift away to other experiences.
This is the challenge in our collaboration with TapNation and their game Color Water Sort.
What’s particularly exciting about it is the potential for generalisable results; to help teams across mobile gaming improve their retention.
The Puzzle of Engagement
Color Water Sort is a classic water puzzle game. Players sort tubes filled with multiple colours of liquid into single colours, like so:
Bringing order from chaos is inherently satisfying and difficulty can be controlled to create an engaging balance between challenge and progression. That said there is room to improve retention, which will in turn improve the game’s Life-Time Value (LTV) and ability to flex UA.
There is more potential to be unlocked in this game.
Enhancing Player Goals
Together we agreed to focus on the concept of player goals. Experimentation has consistently shown that clear goals significantly enhance retention. They provide a sense of purpose and accomplishment, transforming what might otherwise be an aimless experience of playing level after level into a more rewarding journey.
Interestingly, Color Water Sort already has three goals in its gameplay:
Completing Levels: Players earn a reward for completing 10 levels.
Collecting Stars: Accumulating 50 stars earns players 500 coins.
Gathering Keys: Collecting 3 keys gives players the opportunity to open three chests, which contain coins and vanity rewards
However, these goals aren’t consistently surfaced to players, so their power to engage has not been fully explored.
A New Goals Screen:
To address this, we suggested gathering these goals onto a new screen that shows up between each level attempt. In the experiment players will be reminded of their goals and progress towards them each time they complete a level.
TapNation did an amazing job bringing this together in order to:
Clarify each goal: For example, "Collect 50 stars"
Highlight the reward: For example, the chest containing 500 coins
Show progress: For example, the animated progress bar showing 2 out of 5 levels have been completed
We believe this new UX will increase retention by highlighting clear, achievable milestones, making every level feel like a step towards a larger achievement. They will bring context to what can feel like an abstract experience.
Will It Work?
The experiment is going into field this week, so now we have the big questions: Is this the right approach? Will players care about these goals now they’re more clear? Or were they aware before and didn’t care?
We're excited to see how this experiment unfolds and whether our hypothesis stands the test of real-world behaviour.
What do you think will happen? Do you believe that clearer goals and rewards will significantly impact player retention?
Share your thoughts and watch out for the results when they land!