STORY BOARDS

Development of trailers for the App Store and Google Play based on data-driven analysis: Working in collaboration with our App Store specialists, we AB tested a vertical approach with actual gameplay to Tap Titans 2’s App Store video against a horizontal version using modified gameplay elements. The horizontal version won, with a 30% higher conversion rate. We postulate that the cleaner UI gave more emphasis on the gameplay and the bigger screen was able to highlight the game’s vibrant graphics.

When Tap Titans 2 introduced the ability for players to change their Player Tab Backgrounds, the new designs sparked the creative team to come up with statics to prominently feature them. The beauty of the concept is its simplicity: showing the backgrounds combined with the Swordmaster in recently released equipment sets, along with the heroes taken from a previously succesful creative. It proved to be a winning formula, with our AB test results showing versions 1 and 6 having 40% ROAS, top performing CPP and I2P.

The original Beat the Boss mobile games were released at a time when cartoon violence was still an acceptable norm in the App Stores. Taking inspiration from South Park, the game enabled players to relieve stress by using everyday tools to a wide array of real world arsenal to vent out against a heavily satired “Boss” character. Updating the game to today’s standards was quite an undertaking with loads of back and forths with the App Store. The final resolution was to replace the Boss with a robot to make the action more palatable.

Showing 2 different types of personalities playing the same game with varying results has sparked a trend in the mobile advertising landscape. We tried the “Noob vs Pro” concept for ourselves and it successfully nailed our KPI targets, more importantly providing us with outstanding ROAS. It was our top creative for a considerable period of time from 2019-2020. At some point, it began eating up most of our ad spend, not allowing other creatives to scale. It was time to find an alternative that can take the king off its throne.

We’ve decided to deconstruct Noob vs Pro at it’s core, analyzing it’s layout and how it’s elements  relate to the psychology behind it. Presenting our findings at our company’s Townhall, we’ve shown that the split-screen with slowed down movement on the left and action-packed gameplay on the right represents a form of competition. Aside from this, the difference between the costumes of the Swordmasters are also highlighted, which shows that customization is possible in the game. Both of these are key reasons why most players spend most of their time playing our mobile game.

The Skill Tree concept features a divided screen with slow-paced movement on the left showcasing the Hero with varying equipment and Skill Trees, and fast-paced gameplay on the right, 2 contrasting elements simulating a sense of competition.

Borrowing elements from other games that influenced us, such as Megaman for the intro, combining vibrant transitions that flows perfectly with the in-game visuals captured directly from the game and tense background music.

This concept also has 4 iterations. On a personal note, to my surprise– the Sorcerer version was our top performer. This only goes to show that bias has no place in this line of work (I was rooting for Knight). Finding out the winner of a split test can be exciting. And it’s equally fun dissecting an ad  as you try to determine why it exactly won.

Taking advantage of this winning formula, we created Hero Skills for Game Hive’s next game, Battle Bouncers:

READY TO SERVE

Whether you have a question, want to explore collaboration possibilities, or require expert advice, please use the form below to leave a message: