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Developer tips for success with Player Analytics and Google Play games services

Posted by, Lily Sheringham, Developer Marketing at Google Play

Editor’s note: As part of our series featuring tips from developers, we spoke to some popular game developers to find out how they use Player Analytics and Google Play game services to find success on Google Play. - Ed.

Google Play games services, available in the Developer Console, allows you to add features such as achievements and leaderboards to your games. Google Play games services provides Player Analytics, a free games-specific analytics tool, in the Developer Console Game services tab. You can use the reports to understand how players are progressing, spending, and churning backed by a data-driven approach.

Bombsquad grows revenue by 140% per user with Player Analytics

Independent developer Eric Froemling, initially created the game Bombsquad as a hobby, but now relies on it as his livelihood. Last year, he switched the business model of the game from paid to free-to-play. By using Player Analytics, he was able to improve player retention and monetization in the game, achieving a 140% increase in the average revenue per daily active user (ARPDAU).

Watch the video below to learn how Eric uses Player Analytics and the Developer Console to improve gamers’ experience, while increasing retention and monetization.

Tips from Auxbrain for success with Google Play games services

Kevin Pazirandeh, founder and CEO of games developer Auxbrain, creator of Zombie Highway, provides insight into how they use Google Play games services, and comments:

“While there are a few exceptions, I have not run into a better measure of engagement, and perhaps more importantly, a measure for change in engagement, than the retention table. For the uninitiated, a daily retention table gives you the % of players who return on the nth day after their first play. Comparing retention rates of two similar games can give you an immediate signal if you are doing something right or wrong.”

Kevin shares his top tips on how to best use the analytics tools in Google Play games services:

1. You get Player Analytics for free - If you’ve implemented Google Play game services in your games, check out Player Analytics under Game services in the Developer Console, you’ll find you are getting analytics data already.
2. Never assume change is for the better - Players may not view changes in your game as the improvement you had hoped they were. So when you make a change, have a strategy for measuring the result. Where you cannot find a way to measure the change’s impact with Player Analytics, consider not making it and prioritize those changes you can measure.
3. Use achievements and events to track player progress - If you add achievements or events you can use the Player progression report or Event viewer to track player progress. You’ll quickly find out where players are struggling or churning, and can look for ways to help move players on.
4. Use sign-in to get more data - The more data about player behavior you collect, the more meaningful the reports in Player Analytics become. The best way to increase the data collected is to get more players signed-in. Auto sign-in players, and provide a Play game services start point on the first screen (after any tutorial flow) for those that don’t sign-in first time.
5. Track your player engagement with Retention tables - The Retention table report lets you see where players are turning away, over time. Compare retention before and after changes to understand their impact, or between similar games to see if different designs decisions are turning players away earlier or later.

Get started with Google Play Games Services or learn more about products and best practices that will help you grow your business on Google Play globally.

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Android Developer Story Peak Games generates majority of global revenue for popular game ‘Spades’ on Android

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Google Play team

Founded in 2010, Turkish mobile games developer Peak Games started developing games targeted to the local market and is now scaling globally. Their game ‘Spades Plus’ is growing in the US and the game generates over 70% of its mobile revenue from Android.

Watch Erdem ?nan, Business Intelligence and Marketing Director, and ?lkin Ula? Balkanay, Head of Android Development, explain how Peak Games improved user engagement and increased installs with Google Play Store Listing experiments and app promotion right from within the Developer Console.

Find out more about how to use run tests on your Store Listing to increase your installs and how to promote your app or game with Universal App Campaigns from the Google Play Developer Console.

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Android Developer Story Vietnamese games developer Divmob finds more users with localized pricing on Google Play

Based in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, games developer Divmob has grown quickly from an original team of five people to 40 employees since it was founded three years ago. Divmob now has over 40 million downloads across its various titles, including the popular game, Epic Heroes War.

Watch Ngo Van Luyen, CEO & Founder at Divmob, and his team explain how introducing sub-dollar pricing in various markets resulted in a 300% increase in daily transactions, and increased the number of paying users threefold.

Find out more about local pricing models on Google Play

We recently introduced new features in the Google Play Developer Console to help you meet local expectations when setting prices, to make purchases more attractive to your users. The Developer Console will now automatically round pricing to local conventions in each market, and you can also set up pricing templates to manage pricing across multiple currencies more efficiently, and easily make bulk changes to the prices of multiple apps and in-app products in a single click. Learn more about the improved local pricing tools.

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Games developer Dots share their Do’s and Don’ts for improving your visibility on Google Play

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Developer Marketing at Google Play
Editor’s note: A few weeks ago we shared some tips from game developer, Seriously, on how they’ve been using notifications successfully to drive ongoing engagement. This week, we’re sharing tips from Christian Calderon at US game developer, Dots, on how to successfully optimize your Play Store Listing. -Ed.

A well thought-out Google Play store listing can significantly improve the discoverability of your app or game and drive installations. With the recent launch of Store Listing Experiments on the Google Play Developer Console, you can now conduct A/B tests on the text and graphics of your store listing page and use the data to make more informed decisions.

Dots is a US-founded game developer which released the popular game, Dots, and its addictive sequel, TwoDots. Dots used its store listings to showcase its brands and improve conversions by letting players know what to expect.

Christian Calderon, Head of Marketing for Dots, shared his top tips with us on store listings and visibility on Google Play.

Do’s and Don’ts for optimizing store listings on Google Play

Do’s	Don’ts
Do be creative and unique with the icon. Try to visually convince the user that your product is interesting and in alignment with what they are looking for.	Don’t spam keywords in your app title. Keep the title short, original and thoughtful and keep your brand in mind when representing your product offering.
Do remember to quickly respond to reviews and implement a scalable strategy to incorporate feedback into your product offering. App ratings are important social proof that your product is well liked.	Don’t overload the ‘short description’. Keep it concise. It should be used as a call-to-action to address your product’s core value proposition and invite the user to install the application. Remember to consider SEO best practices.
Do invest in a strong overall paid and organic acquisition strategy. More downloads will make your product seem more credible to users, increasing the likeliness that a user will install your app.	Don’t overuse text in your screenshots. They should create a visual narrative for what’s in your game and help users visualize your product offering, using localization where possible.
Do link your Google Play store listing to your website, social media accounts, press releases and any of your consumer-facing channels that may drive organic visibility to your target market. This can impact your search positioning.	Don’t have a negative, too short or confusing message in your “What’s New” copy. Let users know what updates, product changes or bug fixes have been implemented in new versions. Keep your copy buoyant, informative, concise and clear.
Do use Video Visualization to narrate the core value proposition. For TwoDots, our highest converting videos consist of gameplay, showcasing features and events within the game that let the player know exactly what to expect.	Don’t flood the user with information in the page description. Keep the body of the page description organized and concise and test different structural patterns that works best for you and your product!

Use Google Play Store Listing Experiments to increase your installs

As part of the 100 Days of Google Dev video series, Kobi Glick from the Google Play team explains how to test different graphics and text on your app or game’s Play Store listing to increase conversions using the new Store Listing Experiments feature in the Developer Console.

Find out more about using Store Listing Experiments to turn more of your visits into installs.

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Get your apps and games ready for space with Google Play April Fools

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Google Play team

Google Play lets you distribute your apps and games to over 1 billion active Android users around the world. With advances in space exploration and the advent of galactic tourism, there will be a high number of users beyond this world that developers need to start thinking about, too. Google Play can now help you reach them. We’ve added new features to the Google Play Developer Console and updated the material design guidelines, to help you design, test, and distribute your apps and games in space.

Here’s a look at how The Guardian, one of the largest English-news organizations in the world, enhanced its Android app to enable astronauts and space travellers to stay informed and up-to-date, while in orbit or on the surface of the moon.

"I am pleased to have The Guardians application to test the growing Interplanetary Internet" says Vint Cerf, distinguished visiting scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Googles Chief Internet Evangelist. "The interstellar version is in development and Im looking forward to having more Google Play apps and games tested in space flight."

Get your apps and games ready for take off today.

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15 best sports games for Android

Sports games have had a hard time keeping up with other genres in terms of quality. These days, youll find games with a little bit of polish, but the biggest, most in-depth titles are generally freemium games. That is disappointing, but that doesnt mean they arent worth playing. Despite a relatively weak selection, there are some decent games in the sports genre. Lets take a look at the best sports games for Android!

• Get your blood pumping with the best action games for Android!
• Are you into baseball more than other sports? Check out the best baseball apps for Android!

9 Innings Baseball

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
9 Innings Baseball is a baseball game thats released every year by Com2uS. It has a mixture of card-collecting mechanics along with actual baseball mechanics which adds up to a pretty solid experience. Youll be able to find the latest rosters, 1400 total players, and all 30 MLB teams are present. The premise is to collect player cards, level up players, and then play them in the game. The developers do an excellent job of keeping rosters current based on things like trades as well. Its a freemium game and definitely plays like one, but its still fun.

Archery Master 3D

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Archery Master 3D is one of only a handful of Archery games on mobile that are any good. It features over 100 levels for you to complete across four locations. Youll also be able to earn and unlock over 20 pieces of archery equipment. Of course, the graphics are pretty decent too. The game play mechanics are simple to learn and the objectives change with each level. The only caveat is that the game is freemium and will require some grinding to upgrade your equipment. That annoyance aside, the game itself is pretty good.

FIFA 16

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
FIFA 16 is the latest game in the FIFA franchise and its one of the most popular sports games available on mobile. Like most freemium sports games, this one combines actual soccer (football) game play along with a card collecting element. The idea is to build your ultimate team using the cards that you collect. The game has had its issues, especially on older devices, but it remains the most complete soccer game available to date. It has updated rosters, over 10000 players, and over 500 licensed teams.

Fishing Hook

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Fishing games are wildly underappreciated on mobile because some of them are quite good. Fishing Hooks claim to fame are its above average graphics and simple game play. Youll toss your line out, catch fish, and then battle to bring them in. Its also one of the few freemium games that allows for offline play. Like most freemium games, this one requires a ton of grinding so dont be surprised if it gets repetitive after a while. Its a pretty fun game until that happens.

Golf Star

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Golf Star is one of the better golf games available on Android. It includes a full career mode where youll engage in various tournaments and aim to complete missions and quests. Youll also have access to a couple of online multiplayer modes, including one vs one golfing or a game of skins with up to four people. It also includes weekly tournaments to keep things interesting and a guild system so you can keep in touch with friends. Its a freemium game with all of the same freemium pitfalls so do beware of that.

Homerun Battle 2

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Homerun Battle 2 is a popular and highly rated baseball game. Its also one of the most simple. Your sole purpose in this game is to crush the most epic home runs that you can. It features a variety of game modes, including one-on-one duels, four player co-op missions, arcade mode, and even an training mode. Unlike most sports games, which focus on realism, this game embraces its cartoon nature by adding in a bunch of fictional stuff to make it more fun. The online play is excellent and this is definitely a cut above most freemium titles.

Madden NFL Mobile

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Madden NFL Mobile is EA Sports NFL offering. Its updated yearly to include the latest rosters from every NFL team and you wont have to install any additional apps. Like most, this is a card-collecting title mixed with an actual football game so you will see mechanics built-in for both. It has a 16-game season mode complete with the playoffs and the Super Bowl. In terms of sports games, this one is actually pretty good. It does have the same premium pitfalls as others but they dont seem to be as pervasive as youd normally see.

NBA Jam

[Price: $4.99]
NBA Jam is a cut above most other sports games and thats not just because its a port of an excellent 1990s sports game. This is an arcade-style basketball game where you and one AI teammate take on two opponents. The rules are loose which means you can shove people around to get the ball back. It features real players from all 30 NBA teams, local multiplayer, online multiplayer, and a classic campaign mode like you used to see on console. Its a pay-once game with no in-app purchases. Youll also find its a breath of fresh air compared to most freemium titles.

NBA Live

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
NBA Live is the officially licensed NBA game thats out now. Its what you would expect out of an NBA game that focuses on realistic graphics and game play. Like others, this has card-collecting mechanics so you can collect basketball players and then form teams with them. It features updated rosters for every NBA team along with a variety of game modes to keep things interesting. Included is a season mode as well as an online head-to-head mode where you can challenge other players. Its a freemium game and has all of the problems associated with it, but its actually pretty good for a mobile game.

NHL SuperCard

[Price: Free]
NHL SuperCard is a pure card collecting game. It features more than 450 currently active NHL players along with some legendary players for you to collect. The central premise is to collect players, build teams, and then duel those teams with others online. Unlike most sports games, this relies on a simulation system instead of actually playing the game with the players you have. You can power up your cards as well. Its not amazing, but its definitely not bad.

Patrick Kanes Hockey Classic

[Price: $2.99 with in-app purchases]
If you want to actually play some hockey, Patrick Kanes Hockey Classic is your best bet. This one is a flat out hockey game where you can play hockey as a member of Team USA or as Patrick Kane in the NHL. It features a variety of game modes, including Winter Classic, Face-Off Mode, Playoffs Mode, and Rivals Series. It says it has in-app purchases, but there doesnt seem to be any present when we looked. Its a pay-once game right now, but dont be shocked if they include IAPs in a future update.

Rapala Fishing

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Rapala Fishing is a lot like the other fishing game on this list. It features realistic style graphics along with simple controls that will have you tossing your lure into the water in no time flat. It features various locations across North America where you can go to catch various types of fish. It boasts having no timers or energy so you can fish as long as you want to. There are also things like daily events that you can engage with to keep it interesting. The freemium strategy isnt overly aggressive and this is definitely a great way to kill a few minutes.

Ratrod Studio

[Price: Free]
Ratrod Studio is a development studio that makes a lot of sports games. Their collection includes a snowboarding game, two skateboarding games, and even a hockey fighting game. Each game has a Lite version that you can demo and see if you like it. Most of the games only cost $0.99 or $1.99 for the full versions. The games seem pretty good, especially the snowboarding games. The only caveat is that even the pro versions have in-app purchases. Click the button below to check out their full collection!

Stick Sports

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Stick Sports is another gaming studio that specializes in sports games. The selection isnt very large but contains a pretty decent tennis game with Stick Tennis Tour and the only good cricket game that would could find with Stick Cricket 1 and 2. There is also a soccer game if you want to check that out. The graphics are consistent between the games and the controls arent half bad either. The only real downside is that these games havent been updated since 2015.

True Skate

[Price: $1.99 with in-app purchases]
True Skate has been around for a long time and it remains one of the best skateboarding games available. It was among the first to use the disembodied skateboard and then using your fingers to move it and perform tricks. The main game features several skate parks that you can roll through and it has more for sale as in-app purchases. Its a fun game with one of the least offensive freemium strategies that weve seen because most of the IAPs are DLC which isnt that bad.

Related best app lists:

• Pull the trigger on one of these excellent FPS games!
• Or roam around and enjoy yourself with one of these sandbox games!

If we missed any of the best sports games for Android, tell us about them in the comments!To see our complete list of best app lists, click here.

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Find success on Google Play What app developers can learn from games

Posted by Matteo Vallone, Business Development Manager at Google Play

There is much common ground between freemium apps and games businesses when it comes to achieving success. Users are, however, more used to paying for games than apps, stemming from the history of traditional gaming consoles. Moreover, mobile games are also able to easily offer ‘virtual goods’ across a range of price points to suit every pocket. This means that game developers have had plenty of opportunity to learn about how to improve onboarding, conversion, and ultimately the user Lifetime Value (LTV). So what can app developers learn from game developers? Here are some best practice tips and insights from successful game developers that can be applied to many apps, today.

Drive app success the game developer way:

Retention is king, and retention drives conversion. For games developers, retention is the key measure of game quality and whether it appeals to players.

Most game developers will “soft launch” to beta testing communities or test markets. During this phase, the game is tweaked to optimize retention by looking into specific areas, such as tutorial completion, level difficulty and conversion. Developers can then track retention using the Cohorts reports in Google Analytics. Once retention is satisfactory, the developer can go to full launch and start investing in user acquisition.

The first seven days after install are the most critical for retention: users install several apps to try them, and decide in the first few days which ones they want to keep using. If you can retain for that time span, your app is more likely to become part of the user’s daily routine.

There are some simple ways to progressively build user engagement. It’s important to present a strong story that explains why that app is relevant to the user, while introducing them to key features. Then place features that offer the user value early, so they can be found without much effort.

This is a not a one-size-fit-all. To find the right solution, a developer needs to first make assumptions on what user flows can improve retention and then run A/B tests to validate or correct them. For example, a developer could think that introducing sign-in later in the user flow might improve retention. Also, the developer needs to keep in mind what the key long term engagement metrics are for the individual app (such as photos uploaded or the number of articles read) and measure the impact of the different onboarding flows on those metrics as well.

In general, these principles are good places to start optimizing your onboarding:

• Look for ways to let the users experience the app straight away, rather than taking them through a long, complex setup.
• Present “activation moments” — such as registering an account, uploading a video, or finding friend — gradually
• Start by requiring minimal investment by the user, then ask them for more details as they are needed to use the apps features.
• Treat permissions as a service for the user. For example, if you want users to register, show them in advance that, by making their experience more personal, they’ll get more value from the app.

Finally, ensure the user can understand the value of your app before you start asking them to pay. Game developers are particularly good at letting their users try most or all product features for free in in a set number of days or sessions.

A great tool to help analyze how users are engaging (or not) with the app is through the Flow Report in Google Analytics. Using this report, a developer can see how users navigate through the app and where they leave to identify potential roadblocks.

Understanding different groups of users in-app purchase behavior is the key to devising strategies to encourage them to spend.

Start by identifying groups of users by how they spend and much they are likely to spend. It may be by age group, the channel that brought the install, or in-app behaviour. Use the Segment builder in Google Analytics to identify and define these groups of users. Then, tailor in-app purchase offers to match the segments spending behavior. For example, for segments where multiple users tend to spend more in one go, but spend infrequently, offer them in-app features bundled together.

Users are also more likely to spend, if the purchasing experience is frictionless, and even more so when they can see how the expenditure will add value. So:

• Present purchase opportunities to users when they’re most likely to need or want it — and explain to the user why it’s relevant.
• Make purchasing accessible easily from within the app with a minimum number of taps. For example, offer an upgrade button on the footer of relevant screens.

Like all good game developers, they focus on building good experiences that retain and engage users through constant testing and analytics. First impressions are important, so users need to be able to quickly understand the importance of the app and easily navigate through the onboarding experience. And to start generating revenue, it is important to be thoughtful about how to make in-app purchases actionable.

Watch Matteo’s Playtime 2015 session ‘The rules of games, for apps’ to hear more in-depth insights which app developers can learn from games with best practices and developer examples:

You can also watch the other sessions from Google Playtime 2015 to learn more about tools and best practices which can help you find success with business on Google Play.

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Announcing the Google Play Indie Games Festival in San Francisco Sept 24

If you’re an indie game developer, you know that games are a powerful medium of expression of art, whimsy, and delight. Being on Google Play can help you reach over a billion users and build a successful, global business. That’s why we recently introduced programs, like the Indie Corner, to help more gamers discover your works of art.

To further celebrate and showcase the passion and innovation of indie game developers, we’re hosting the Google Play Indie Games Festival at the Terra Gallery in San Francisco, on September 24.

This is a great opportunity for you to showcase your indie title to the public, increase your network, and compete to win great prizes, such as Tango devices, free tickets for Google I/O 2017, and Google ad campaign support. Admission will be free and players will get the chance to play and vote on their favorites.

If you’re interested in showcasing your game, we’re accepting submissions now through August 14. We’ll then select high-quality games that are both innovative and fun for the festival. Submissions are open to US and Canadian developers with 15 or less full time staff. Only games published on or after January 1, 2016 or those to be published by December 31, 2016 are eligible. See complete rules.

We encourage virtual reality and augmented reality game submissions that use the Google VR SDK and the Tango Tablet Development Kit.

At the end of August, we’ll announce the group of indies to be featured at the festival.

You can learn more about the event here. We can’t wait to see what innovative and fun experiences you share with us!

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Grow your games business on Google Play Game parameters management video recording streaming ads and more

With mobile gamers across 190 countries, Google Play Games is made up of a vibrant and diverse gaming community. And these players are more engaged than ever. Over the past year, the number of games reaching over 1 million installs grew by 50 percent.

Today, at our annual Developer Day at the Game Developers Conference, we announced new platform and ads tools for developers, of all sizes reach, to reach this global audience and accelerate the growth of their games business. Check out below the full range of features that will help game developers build their apps, grow their user base, and earn more revenue.

Making Google Play Games better for players

In February, we introduced Gamer IDs so that anyone could create a gaming persona. We also simplified the sign-in process for Google Play Games so players could pick up playing their game more quickly. We’re also working on product enhancements to make Play Games a little more social and fun, which will mean more engaged players who’re playing your game for longer. One example is the launch of Gamer friends (coming soon!), where your players can add and interact with their friends from within the Google Play Games app (without needing a Google+ account).

We’re also launching the Indie Corner, a new collection on Google Play, that will highlight amazing games built by indie developers. You can nominate your awesome indie game for inclusion at g.co/indiecornersubmission. We’ll pick the best games to showcase based on the quality of the experience and exemplary use of Google Play game services.

Grow your game with powerful new features from Google Play game services

In January, we added features to Player Analytics, the free reporting tool of Google Play game services, which helps you understand how players are progressing, spending and churning. Today, we previewed some upcoming new tools that would be available in the coming months, including:

• Game parameters management: With game parameters management, you will be able to update gameplay and game economy parameters without the need for APK changes or resubmitting your app. You’ll be able to optimize virtual goods and currencies from the Developer Console or the Google Play Developer API.

• Video Recording API: You will be able to easily add video recording to your app and let users share their videos with their friends and on YouTube in a few simple steps. We are also adding live streaming functionality to allow your fans to broadcast their gameplay experiences in real time on YouTube.

• Predictive Analytics: The Player Stats API now has Predictive Analytics to help you identify which groups of players are likely to spend or churn, and we are adding new predictions for how much a player is likely to spend within 30 days and the probability that a player is a high spender. This allows you to tailor experiences for these players to try to increase their spend or engagement. Learn more about the
  
  Player Stats API.

New ad formats and targeting to find, keep and monetize high-quality gamers

Promoting your game and growing your audience is important, but it’s just as important to reach the right audience for your game, the players who want to open the game again and again. That’s why today we’ve unveiled new features that make it simpler to reach the right audience at scale.

• Search Trial Run Ads: In the next few weeks, we’ll launch a new way for users to try your game out when they do a search for games on Google through a new ad format, Search Trial Run Ads. After tapping “Try now”, an individual can play your game for up to 10 minutes, and then download the game in full if they choose. These ads will appear to smartphone users on WiFi. Using this format, you can drive qualified users who are likely to stay engaged with your game after install.

• Portrait Video Ads: More than 80% of video ad views in mobile apps on the Google Display Network are from devices held vertically, but often these videos are created for landscape viewing. Over the next few weeks, we’re launching Portrait Video Ads for a full-screen, immersive portrait video experience. Developers have seen significant improvement in both click-through and conversion rates, resulting in lower cost per install and more installs.
• Active User Targeting for Games: In the coming weeks, we’re rolling out a new type of targeting for Android apps that allows you to show ads to users who have spent more than 30 minutes playing games, or who have played a Google Play Games integrated game, in the last 30 days.

Earn more revenue in your game with AdMob

AdMob helps game developers around the world maximize revenue through in-app advertising. At GDC, we also announced a new way to help you earn more through AdMob Mediation. Rewarded advertising is a popular form of game monetization -- users are given the choice to engage with ads in exchange for an in-app reward. AdMob Mediation will enable you to easily monetize your apps with rewarded video ads from a number of ad providers. Supported networks and platforms include AdColony, AppLovin, Chartboost, Fyber, Upsight and Vungle, with more being added all the time.

You can learn more about this, and all our ads announcements on the Inside AdWords blog.

This is just the start of what we’ve got planned for 2016. We hope you can make use of these tools to improve your game, engage your audience, and grow your business and revenue.

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