#Knights and dragons beta tester upgrade#
#Knights and dragons beta tester android#

By being more generous, we were able to drive longer and more engaged play sessions on day 1, which in turn led to better long term retention rates.

#Knights and dragons beta tester upgrade#

We also decided to give players more rewards, allowing them to more easily upgrade their knights and quest farther into the game. This not only reduced tutorial length, but provided some familiar structure to the first time player experience.

Similarly, we realized players did not need to be guided through basic actions such as buying a building and so moved these actions from the tutorial into post-tutorial quests. By moving this step later in the tutorial and adding an auto-complete option we allowed players to continue through to the more addictive combat and armor crafting steps unhindered, saving customization for more committed players. With dropout points identified, the team revamped ineffective steps, eliminated non-essential actions, and doubled down on familiarizing players with the actions most critical for future success in the game.ДЇor example, we noticed a significant number of players were dropping out at the character customization step. This was accomplished by setting up and analyzing player funnels, and monitoring each step of the tutorial individually to observe player dropout points. Using GREE's analytics dashboards coupled with IUGO's eye for design and user experience, we were able to nearly double tutorial completion without reducing tutorial length. This rise to the top was not an overnight success, however.ДЄfter releasing in select countries for beta testing, the team spent multiple months iterating and improving the core user experience. Knights & Dragons has also been a commercial success, consistently generating over $1 million in revenue per month on iOS alone for the GREE and IUGO partnership. In fact, by the end of April 2013, Knights & Dragons ranked as the #1 RPG on the App Store in 20 countries and was described by notable outlets such as Forbes as 'a refined mobile RPG', proving that we were on track to achieving something great.

#Knights and dragons beta tester android#

With a rare combination of addictive gameplay, strategy and social collaboration, this game has been a hit with fans, maintaining a 4.5 star or higher rating on the App Store since launch, and it's been a top 20 top grossing game on both iOS and Android The result of this experiment is Knights & Dragons - which was developed in collaboration with IUGO and launched on the App Store in December 2012. These complementary strengths created a synergy that was too good to pass up, leading us to embark on our first project together. GREE has a history of producing commercially successful free-to-play games both in the US and internationally, due to our focus on game analytics and operating games as a service complete with regular live events. When they approached us with an idea for a fun-loving adventure RPG set in medieval times, we jumped at the opportunity to work together. IUGO has a track record of making high-quality mobile games loved by their players, such as Lil' Pirates and Animal Academy. That's exactly the question GREE and IUGO Mobile Entertainment set out to answer in our first collaboration.

What happens when you combine cutting-edge game mechanics with a fun and approachable RPG theme? Jori Pearsall is director of product at GREE International.