We at devtodev collected 70 great links which could be useful for game analysts and tried to organize them in the most logical way possible - by topic of interest giving you enough resources to learn from.
You will notice that this list involves some links to our devtodev articles and other materials, and the only reason is that we think these links are really awesome.
General info about metrics in games
1. Let’s start with the basics in game analytics. Check these 28 basic metrics to keep an eye on when developing games.
2. And here are 25 key metrics to track your user loyalty.
3. Also, take a look at these 17 most important metrics in mobile games.
4. Here’s a whole video about the basic game metrics.
User acquisition analytics
5. The automation is on the rise, which among other things led to the increased amount of frauds. Here’s a full book on bots, fake domains and other frauds in online advertising.
6. Everyone knows a simple formula that lifetime value must be greater than the cost to acquire, but it can mean a lot of things. Check this article on what customer acquisition costs are made of.
7. Acquiring quality users is one of the main keys to your game’s success. Check out these basic principles on attracting more users.
8. LTV must be bigger than CPA but there are more factors that you need to consider your customer acquisition costs. Here’s how to take into account all the pitfalls and think about CPA in more depth.
Retention, FTUE & Onboarding
9. Retention is one of the most important metrics to track in your games and apps. Here are the basic notions about it.
10. One way to retain users is to make them fall in love with your game from the first sight. Here’s how to find the AHA-moment and a whole case study from Twoodo.
11. And there’s another article on AHA-moment and a case study from Facebook.
12. Onboarding is one of the most vital stages in your product lifecycle. Check out these 67 tips that will help you with your mobile app onboarding.
13. Tutorials in games are essential to make your game more accessible to your players. Here’s some advice on how to make a good tutorial in games.
14. A player retention strategy will help you return users to your app and/or game. Find out these 10 ways to improve retention in games.
15. With onboarding being a common practice to introduce the app, some may miss the point making this process truly valuable for their users. Learn these do’s and don’ts on onboarding in mobile apps.
Monetization
16. Let’s start with the trends. Here three of the main ones that are transforming the mobile app economy.
17. It takes a lot of effort to create a game and you need to make sure that you’ll be able to cover its costs and make money out of it too. Here’s a comprehensive guide on mobile game monetization.
18. Everyone needs more highly-monetizing users in their game. Here’s all about the whales and how to catch them.
19. How to calculate how much money your game will make by the end of the year? Check out these 9 proven tips that will help you improve the accuracy of revenue forecasting.
20. Seasonality can influence your revenue and you must be ready to forecast it. Here’s everything about revenue seasonality and all its aspects.
21. If you want to tap into to the 60-billion revenue of the industry, check these mobile game monetization strategies.
LTV as the main monetization metric
22. Find out how much your business will gain from an individual player by calculating Customer Lifetime Value (CLV, or LTV).
23. Then use these 11 tips to increase your LTV.
24. Here’s a full webinar on how to calculate Lifetime Value.
25. And a review of the few different ways to calculate LTV.
Behavioral economics and pricing
26. What’s the best price and how to find the right one for your? Here’s a list of pricing experiments and studies to get ideas from and test on your own games.
27. Is removing comma in your price helpful? Do .99 in the end work? Here are 42 psychological tactics to make your price more effective and attractive.
28. AppStore has their own price tags and pricing strategy.
29. Everyone can make wrong decisions based on data. Here’s an article on cognitive biases of game analysts.
30. Get to know these 5 monetization patterns that are based on a behavioral economics principle and work as a charm.
Analytics methods
Segmentation and cohort analysis
31. How you can use cohort analysis when developing apps
32. According to Richard Bartle, there are four main types of players: killers, achievers, explorers, and socializers. Find out all the details on how to use this classification in games here.
33. Find out how you can tweak your game according to what you know about your users with RFM-segmentation.
34. User segmentation by their monetization behavior is also very important. Each customer segment responds to different stimuli and has a different potential for further monetization.
35. Here you can read about user segmentation and retargeting as a new trend in mobile app marketing in various industries, including game industry.
36. Most startups get it by now — churn is bad. The good news is that if you're willing to take a dive into the numbers, you can find out exactly why users stop using your app. Cohort analysis can help to decrease users churn.
Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
37. Forecast your retention based on neural networks.
38. Games have long been seen as the perfect test-bed for artificial intelligence (AI) methods, and are also becoming an increasingly important application area. Here you can find a great ebook on using AI in games.
39. Check out this beginner’s guide to AI in games and get to know available tools that will help you approach the AI problems and how you might start to implement them in the language or engine of your choice.
40. Machine learning helps quickly identify the changes in trends and user behavior that affect the overall experience that ultimately translates into revenues. Here you can find 4 ways to apply machine learning ML in games.
A/B tests
41. A/B testing is one of the primary tools in any data-driven environment and here’s an introduction for starters.
42. And read on statistical analysis and A/B testing to find out whether your A/B tests actually affect user behavior.
43. If it is still not enough for you please check this step-by-step A/B-testing encyclopedia which has a lot of useful links.
44. The Bayesian approach to A/B testing permits more dynamic analysis of the information. Check these 102 great slides about A/B Testing for Game Design Iteration with GDC Vault.
45. For getting more academic knowledge read "Bayesian Methods for Hackers".
46. Here you can find an article about Data Driven Development and A/B-testing.
47. Hypothesis testing is a way of systematically quantifying how certain you are of the result of a statistical experiment. Read more about it to be able to apply your knowledge to A/B tests to determine whether new features actually affect user behavior.
Game Analytics and Game Design
48. Edvice has a special free online course on game analytics. It is a great fit for everyone who is interested in the game industry and game development, regardless of their education or experience in analytics.
49. Here you can find 9 basic analytics tips for game developers which can help you to be more efficient.
50. It could be very useful to read and understand some mathematical analysis of somebody else’s games before making your own analysis. Please check the article about The Math of Clash Royale.
51. Sometimes a simple spreadsheet is enough to make a basic analysis. Here’s more about it.
52. After the game is launched, it is extremely important to track the right metrics to make informed decisions. Find out the article about game analytics in a soft launch stage.
53. There are lots of analytical systems and tools on the market. We at devtodev have compared some of these systems specified for mobile games and then have written a useful article.
54. Volume discounts don’t increase profitability for video games… Are you surprised? No matter yes or no this economics study of the University of Chicago is worth to read.
55. Starting promotional activities with discounts can be a part of a monetization strategy for many projects. However, in reality, we see that not everyone knows how to evaluate their effectiveness properly. Find out the ebook with some insights and conclusions that will help you make your promo activities successful.
Benchmarking: the metrics you should follow
56. Benchmarks are very useful for quick evaluations before making decisions. Here are the 33 mobile games benchmarks.
57. Here you can find Cost Per Install Global Database which you can use whether you want to monetize your mobile app or grow your mobile user base.
58. In this video, you’ll find a report on KPI Benchmarks for Mobile Games.
59. Compare your app to the rest of the industry. Adjust's industry-first Global Benchmarks shows you exactly how your mobile marketing measures up.
Basic Resources
60. You can always find devtodev’s articles, webinars and ebooks on game analytics, game design, ASO and other gamedev topics at our Education Center.
61. Add MobileDevMemo to your bookmarks! It is an aggregator of useful articles about mobile development and analytics in particular.
62. And maybe you should examine this great blog about F2P-games development -
63. The Free to Play Game Design Bible is an encyclopedia of good classified and useful articles about f2p-games development.
64. Gamasutra is probably one of the main game development resources in the world.
65. 80.lv is also a useful source of valuable information about the gaming industry and its recent trends.
66. GDC Vault is one more valid source with all videos GDC reports.
67. One of our faves - DeconstructorOfFun - the main platform to follow deconstructions of games and thoughts on the free-to-play games and what makes them successful.
Podcasts
68. Become a successful game developer and learn from the 150+ interviews with game developers from different sides of the game industry at GameDevUnchained.
69. Also, check The Psychology Of Video Games - each episode presents a specific topic about psychology and video games. By the way, their blog is amazing too.
70. DeconstructorOfFun also has a podcast, which you can tune in to and follow the long conversations on game design and product management.
We do hope that you liked the list and would be able to use all the links in it to improve your games.
