UX Secrets of Royal Match
This episode is a deep dive into the user experience (UX) strategies that make Royal Match not just a game, but a phenomenon in the mobile gaming world.
Jan 11, 2024•28 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Mastering Retention
Join us each week as we talk to top mobile game product and liveops people about data, retention, design, economy, engagement, monetization and everything in between. We're all about improving how F2P mobile gaming can be done.
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Episodes
Lessons from Royal Match
In this episode Tom Hammond and Neil Edwards dive into the intricacies of mobile game retention and monetization, using the popular game 'Royal Match' as a case study. They explore the psychological aspects of game design, focusing on how 'Royal Match' enhances player engagement and spending through clever level design, emotional connections, and strategic use of in-game events and challenges. The discussion highlights the importance of understanding player behavior and leveraging game mechanics...
Dec 14, 2023•46 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Mastering the Art of LiveOps
In this episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, host Tom Hammond welcomes Thiago Leite, a seasoned professional from InnoGames, known for their work on Forge of Empires. Thiago shares his journey from mechanical engineering to game design, offering unique insights into the world of LiveOps. The discussion delves into the nuances of player segmentation, the intricacies of designing engaging live operations, and the art of balancing player experiences in games like Forge of Empires and Elvenar...
Nov 29, 2023•44 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Gaming Startups: Paths & Pitfalls
Tom Hammond from UserWise hosts a discussion with Anton Gorodesky and Dmitriy Byshonkov, from MyGames. They chat about the challenges and nuances of starting a game studio, raising funds, and navigating the gaming industry. Tom emphasizes the challenges aspiring entrepreneurs face in starting their own game studio, such as raising money and choosing the right game genre or platform. Anton and Dmitriy share their experiences in the gaming industry. Anton, the head of industry relations at MyGames...
Nov 02, 2023•41 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Genshin Impact: UX, Monetization, and Player Engagement
The world of game design is a complex landscape, filled with challenges and opportunities. One of the key aspects that often gets overlooked is the importance of user experience and monetization strategies. In this episode, Tom and Neil dive into these crucial elements and offer actionable insights to elevate your game development process.
Sep 21, 2023•41 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Ep 119: Unlocking Personalization In Your Game
Yael Yakomi, a mobile gaming expert, dives into the significance of personalization in mobile games. She emphasizes the enhanced gaming experience that personalization can offer and discusses the challenges and innovative solutions in implementing it. Yael also provides insights into future trends, including AI-driven personalization, and highlights how platforms like UserWise are revolutionizing the industry by empowering game creators to personalize content without developer support.
Aug 17, 2023•54 min•Ep. 121
Ep. 118: Understanding Player Needs and Localization
Joakim Hoglund, Head of Studio at Fun Rock, shares insights on designing games for a target audience and the importance of understanding user needs. This episode doesn't disappoint. Tom and Joakim talk about: Designing games for a target audience and understanding player needs Challenges of creating games for a region you aren't familiar with Fun Rock's solution of hiring a team that understands the culture and audience Benefits and drawbacks of creating separate servers for different regions Ro...
Jul 06, 2023•32 min•Ep. 120
Ep. 117: LiveOps in Web 3 Games
The Mastering Retention Podcast recently featured an episode discussing how Live Ops work in the context of Web 3 games. The guest speaker was Patrick Gorrell, the Chief Technology Officer of Splinterlands, which is a trading card game hosted on the blockchain.
Jun 01, 2023•53 min•Ep. 119
Ep. 116: Secrets to Game Evaluation and Product Management
Tom Hammond interviews Meric Atesalp, Senior Product Manager at Pixelberry. They discuss game evaluation, ways to evaluate new games, and how to determine if a game will perform well. Meric also talks about his role as a product manager, the skills and competencies that are necessary to become a good game product manager, and what he learned from his experience in the gaming industry. They also discuss mechanics that he has found in other games that could solve problems in his own game, and how ...
May 25, 2023•52 min•Ep. 118
Ep. 115: Game Design and Bucketing User Progression
In the latest episode of the Mastering Retention Podcast, Neb Mitrikeski, a veteran game designer and product manager, talks about his journey into game design, from making super casual games to working on complex game economies. He also discusses the Ketchup mechanic problem in RPG and hero collector games and how games can address it. Plus, he shares insights on bucketing systems and bucketing user progression over time.
May 18, 2023•59 min•Ep. 117
Ep 114: The Brilliant UX Design of Marvel Snap
In the latest episode of the Mastering Retention Podcast, user experience expert Neil Edwards discusses the brilliant user experience design of Marvel Snap. Edwards is the co-founder and head of UX at a full-service design studio in the video game space. Marvel Snap’s core gameplay is described as phenomenal, not just as an engaging, emotional, and compelling experience as a player but also as a brilliant product. Edwards notes that the game’s core has the potential to make live ops easier or ha...
May 11, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 116
Ep. 113: How Voodoo is Disrupting the Gaming Industry
This week's guest is Alvaro Duarte, VP Casual Games at Voodoo. In this episode, Alvaro reveals Voodoo's business model, unique approach to game development, and the screening process for Voodoo's games. Voodoo has a unique approach to game development, releasing games that are in a "sooner state of product" and then iterating on them after they are live. The screening process for Voodoo's games is rigorous, and they look at gameplay, retention metrics, CPI, and ROAS targets, among other things....
May 04, 2023•51 min•Ep. 115
Ep 112: Understanding Player Needs
In this episode of the Mastering Retention Podcast, host Tom Hammond speaks with Antanina Livingston, a product manager and liveops extraordinaire! Antanina shares her insights on how to approach feature and event planning, the importance of understanding player needs, and how to manage burnout in the liveops team. She also discusses the challenges of managing burnout and the importance of understanding different cultures and languages in the gaming industry. Highlights: Antanina Livingston shar...
Apr 20, 2023•50 min•Ep. 114
Ep. 111: Player Segmentation Generates More Sales
In this podcast, Tom Hammond, CEO at UserWise, and Sam Abbott, Head of Monetization at Rec Room, discuss how player segmentation can lead to stronger monetization in mobile games. They delve into the importance of understanding individual segments and creating tailored games that appeal to those segments. They also explore how to break down player behavior and analyze actions within the game to better understand and serve different segments. "You can't just look at the average. You really need t...
Apr 06, 2023•56 min•Ep. 113
Ep. 110: Running LiveOps Without Interfering with the Core Game
In this episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, Dafna shares how LiveOps teams focus on events and promotions to engage players, drive retention, and monetize games. Successful LiveOps events are those that balance the core gameplay loop of a game while introducing new features, challenges, and rewards to keep players interested. She also highlights the importance of understanding player behavior, segmentation, and time zones in planning LiveOps events, and the need to balance creativity wit...
Mar 30, 2023•46 min•Ep. 112
Ep. 109: The Core Principles of LiveOps
On today’s episode we're gonna talk about the great world of LiveOps. Join Oscar Clark as we dive into the three must-haves for games as services: capturing data, configurations, and selling. The meaning of Games as a Service from his perspective. The difference between LiveOps and Games as a Service. The first step to starting a LiveOps campaign. Games as a Service and LiveOps as promises to players. Tips for capturing data. Tools for configuring oversight. Principles for selling free-to-play g...
Mar 01, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 111
Ep. 108: Effective Tools for Gaming Success
On this week's episode of Mastering Retention, Tom is joined by Bakyt Aidaralieva (Head of Player Experience at Rovio) to discuss the many different types of tools and platforms used in the gaming industry, which tools are better than others, the importance of player feedback, and so much more! Here are your cheat codes: 0:59 How did Bakyt Aidaralieva get into the video game industry? 8:29 What tools and platforms are needed to run a game as a service? 12:23 Lessons learned from seeking player f...
Jan 12, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 110
Special Edition: Starting your own game studio
Founders of game studios who have "been there and done that" share their top secrets and tricks on how to start your own game studio.
Dec 15, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 110
Ep. 107: New Games
On this week's episode of Mastering Retention, Tom is joined by Jesse Kroon (Game Designer at Product Madness) and Stanislav Minasov (VP of Product at AppMagic) to talk about the process of creating a new game. The guys have a detailed discussion about where to look for inspiration, how to flesh out a game concept, what all goes into making certain decisions about your game, intellectual property, and so much more! Here are your cheat codes: 0:46 How did Jesse Kroon and Stanislav Minasov get int...
Dec 08, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 109
Ep. 106: Advertisement, Marketing & User Acquisition
Creating a game is only half the battle - getting others to download and share your game is vital to the long term success of your game and/or studio. Acquiring users through marketing campaigns and engaging advertisements is no simple task. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Janos Perei (Head of Growth at Voodoo) about many different forms of advertisements and marketing campaigns, their complexity, the importance of making marketing the foundation of your studio, and how UA shou...
Dec 01, 2022•41 min•Season 1Ep. 108
Special Edition: The Ultimate Game Economy Discussion
The group discusses what a game economy is, and how it can be used to drive player engagement and content discovery in a game. They use a midcourt RPG game as an example to illustrate their points. The conversation is about designing a game economy. The different aspects that should be considered include the currencies, the transaction systems, and the overall strategy. Scarcity can also be a factor in the economy. ▬ Contents of this video ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 0:00:00 Introductions 0:05:25 What is a gam...
Nov 24, 2022•2 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 107
Ep. 105: The Origins & Future of Muuula Games
This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Erez Baron (CEO & Co-Founder at Muuula Games) in detail about all that went into launching Muuula Games. The guys also discuss segmented pricing within your game, dive deep into the world of Brain Games, and so much more. Here are your cheat codes: 0:40 How Erez Baron got into the video game industry. 4:45 Segmented Pricing. 18:28 The origins and future of Muuula Games 21:01 Brain Games 31:28 The process of starting a game studio. 34:30 What ...
Nov 17, 2022•53 min•Season 1Ep. 106
Ep. 104: Innovation & Iteration
You do not have to reinvent the wheel in order to create a beloved and successful game. Sometimes tweaking an existing formula or feature can be enough to make your game stand out. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Patrick McGrath (Founder at Stealth Mode) about innovating within a genre, making slight changes to your game, launching a game from scratch, and so much more! Here are your cheat codes: 0:45 How did Patrick McGrath get into the video game industry? 8:09 Launching a ne...
Nov 10, 2022•58 min•Season 1Ep. 105
Ep 103: Maintaining Your Game Economy (with Haider CW)
In-app purchases are the main way most games make their money, so getting players to not only continue playing your game, but continue purchasing items within your game is hugely important. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Haider CW (Director of Economy at Scopely) about how to fine tune your game economy to fit your game and audience, the importance of proper economy maintenance, and so much more! Here are your cheat codes: 0:35 How did Haider CW get into the video game industr...
Nov 04, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 103
Ep. 103: Maintaining Your Game Economy
In-app purchases are the main way most games make their money, so getting players to not only continue playing your game, but continue purchasing items within your game is hugely important. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Haider CW (Director of Economy at Scopely) about how to fine tune your game economy to fit your game and audience, the importance of proper economy maintenance, and so much more! Here are your cheat codes: 0:35 How did Haider CW get into the video game industr...
Nov 03, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 104
Ep. 102: Live Operations and Feature Development
This week on Mastering Retention, Tom is joined by former recruiter, Matt Hood (Game Lead at Carry1st) to talk about what tips and tricks he has learned about the video game industry from his time as a recruiter. Tom and Matt also speak in great detail on the state of live operations and the future of feature development. All of that and so much more packed into this week's episode of Mastering Retention. Here are your cheat codes: 0:30 How did Matt Hood get into the video game industry? 2:50 Le...
Oct 27, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 103
Ep. 101: A Roadmap To Optimal Ad Placement
Whether you are promoting your game or advertising in your game, optimal ads and ad placement is key. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Mobile Ad Monetization Expert, Yael Takomi (Mobile Gaming at Facebook) about setting realistic expectations for new users, segmented ad placement, the use of analytics in ad placement, and so much more! Here are your cheat codes: 0:45 How did Yael Takomi get into the video game industry? 4:06 How does a player become a user? 5:45 How to tell the ...
Oct 20, 2022•53 min•Season 1Ep. 102
Ep. 100: Mastering Retention
This week’s installment of Mastering Retention is a special one, as Tom celebrates the 100th episode with the help of Yosi Tal (Senior Product Manager at Papaya Gaming). The two of them commit the entire episode to the topic of retention. They discuss features and emotions that drive retention, segmentation, player progression goals, maximizing the first time player experience and so much more! Here are your cheat codes: 1:19 How did Yosi Tal get into the video game industry? 5:37 The pillars of...
Oct 13, 2022•46 min•Season 1Ep. 101
Ep. 99: Starting From Scratch & Getting Acquired
Almost everyone in the video game industry dreams of launching their own game studio, but not everyone realizes what all that encompasses. This week on “Mastering Retention”, Tom speaks with Andrey Korotkov (CEO at Zillion Whales) about how to come up with creative ideas, how to launch a game studio, what to look for in potential co-founders, and the process of having your company acquired. Here are your cheat codes: 0:45 How did Andrey Korotkov get into the video game industry? 11:34 Mushroom W...
Oct 06, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 100
Ep. 98: Games as a Service
As the video game industry continues to emphasize additional content and liveOps, it is time to stop thinking of video games as products and more like services. This week on the Mastering Retention Podcast, Tom is joined by Fred Lepont (Head of Product at Ultracine Studios) to discuss player motivations, segmentation, and LiveOps. Here are your cheat codes: 0:46 How did Fred Lepont get into the video game industry? 9:44 Defining LiveOps. 12:16 The importance of developer input. 15:10 Games as a ...
Sep 29, 2022•54 min•Season 1Ep. 99
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