Since 2019, GameLemo has been launching games that offer users around the globe engaging and simple gameplay experiences which capture the details of everyday life. The lean studio of 11 people is based out of Shanghai, China, and they worked closely with the Supersonic office based in the region to grow their latest hit, Arm Simulator.
Hear from Chen Cheng, Founder of GameLemo, as he describes partnering with the Supersonic team to get their game to #1 on Android just 3 days after launch - even while working remotely through the outbreak of a pandemic in their city.
Looking to the top charts for inspiration
The Supersonic team often shares trends and market insights with us, which is how we saw the ragdoll mechanic was trending. In fact, Supersonic’s Move People inspired us to create our own game using this mechanic.
During initial testing, our prototype’s CPI was $0.61, but retention rate showed users enjoyed playing the game - D1 retention was 24%. Supersonic saw our game had potential because retention was promising and there was a great opportunity to build out many different levels featuring diverse themes and characters - they already saw the success of doing this with Move People. We began building out the game together with Supersonic keeping in mind our main priority: adding more levels.
Testing different level concepts
As we began building new levels, we tested each new theme and concept to see what boosted in-game metrics, like retention and playtime. We discovered that levels featuring daily activities and pets performed well, like the level we added featuring a cat pushing over a computer.
Supersonic gave us the freedom to explore our own level concepts while working closely alongside our team and providing valuable feedback. This feedback often inspired our own level ideas that improved overall game performance.
"Supersonic trusted and supported us where we needed them most while still giving us room to make our own decisions."
- Chen Cheng, Founder of GameLemo
They trusted and supported us where we needed them most while still giving us room to make our own decisions - compare this to our previous experience working with a publisher, where we received little feedback and were rarely able to act independently.
Reaching #1 on Android within 3 days
At the same time we were building out the game’s levels, we ran A/B tests that set it up for success in launch. The Supersonic team was a huge help here especially - they suggested we start by running similar A/B tests as Move People because our game shared some similarities. A few examples of the tests we ran included:
- Adding a voice over: increased ARPU D3 and retention D1 by 13.8%
- Introducing Story Mode: boosted playtime D0 by 16.4% and ARPU D3 by 11.9%
- Letting users touch anywhere on the screen to control the character: gave retention D7 a 33.3% boost and increased playtime D0 by 11.8%
These were very successful and helped us optimize Arm Simulator more quickly and efficiently. Also, we were able to see the results of the A/B tests on the dashboard and work closely with Supersonic to analyze and understand them.
On the UA side, the Supersonic creative team helped us improve the ads we built internally, like tweaking the UI to make the experience more simple and seamless for users.
With all of our creative and game improvements, by soft launch Arm Simulator had achieved the following KPIs:
- D0 playtime: 1400s
- D1 retention: 38%
We reached #1 on Android in the US just 2-3 days after launch and reached the top 5 on iOS. And we’re not done yet - we’re continuing to run A/B tests with the Supersonic team to achieve more scale and profit.
Feeling the trust from a publisher
Throughout the entire publishing process, we felt the trust and dedication of the Supersonic team. Even with the pandemic causing our entire team to work remotely, we worked seamlessly with each other to grow the game to the top quickly and efficiently. This is a testament to our own skills and the efficiency of Supersonic.
“Supersonic gave full trust to our production team, gave support to areas that we’re good at, and encouraged us to try new ideas.”
- Chen Cheng, Founder of GameLemo
As we continue to improve Arm Simulator, we’re also testing new gane concepts with Supersonic - we can’t wait to grow our next hit together.
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