What keeps players coming back to your game long after D30? It all comes down to understanding their motivations and designing experiences that resonate with them. In part 2 of our D30+ playbook series, we’re sharing tangible ways to turn engagement into long-term retention.
1. Adapt to player motivations as they evolve with progression
Boosting retention and engaging players beyond D30 starts with understanding who your players are and what drives them. By identifying these patterns with behavioral data, you can design your game in a way that resonates with players’ goals and keep them invested in your game.
Players get drawn into your game on a certain promise - whether it’s a relaxing gameplay, an innovative mechanic, or the thrill of a new experience. Partly because of the ad-based nature of user acquisition, these promises are what “sells” the game. But more often than not, basic mechanics aren’t enough to sustain long-term retention.
For example, in Screw Master 3D: Pin Puzzle, players get drawn in with captivating screw mechanics, a calming experience of unscrewing screws, falling parts, and a rotating 3D shape. However, after a few of these peaceful levels, even players who subscribed to the game’s initial idea might get bored and churn.
To solve this, the Supersonic team and EOGAMES Studio gradually added layers to the mechanic, like limited space for wrong screws, strategic rotations, and more complex level designs with new challenges that require logic and calculation to succeed. With these additions, the game’s relaxing nature evolved into a true puzzle, becoming challenging, engaging, and rewarding.
2. Create a clear path to satisfaction with seamless LiveOps
Make sure your LiveOps feel natural for your gameplay. For example, if your game has a slow, investigative vibe, longer tournaments closely align with how players engage. For fast-paced games, shorter, more high-energy tournaments are likely a better match. The goal is to keep things aligned with your game’s DNA while keeping players hooked.
Player patterns can help inform when to organically integrate LiveOps. For instance, if you see that engagement dips at certain points in time, try adding gameplay incentives like milestone rewards or launching time-limited events like competitive races or flash challenges to reignite interest and boost engagement.
Effective LiveOps that are designed to feel natural and rewarding, can pave the way for sustained player satisfaction and boost retention well beyond D30. Keep in mind that players who consistently engage with competitive LiveOps aren’t just drawn to the prizes that they receive on their way to the top. What keeps them coming back is their motivation to complete the task ahead of them, or reach the first place, so focus on creating experiences that fuel this drive.
Quests are one of the most effective LiveOps tools for boosting retention. In Screw Master 3D: Pin Puzzle, weekly quests encourage players to complete game-related activities. Some happen passively, like through level completion or continuous logins, while others require activation through boosters. Players earn rewards for engaging with the game’s rich features, plus they can earn milestone rewards along the way to keep them motivated throughout the week.
3. Turn your game into a habit
Consistency is key to turning your game into a long-term habit that becomes part of a player’s life. To achieve this, create recurring LiveOps events that players love and look forward to, like weekly challenges or weekly bonus levels that match their interests. Next, reinforce the habit with clear reminders and cues that ensure players know exactly when to join the event.
Worried that your players will get fatigued? Habits aren’t fatiguing if they’re fun, so this is where UX becomes critical. With regular weekly challenges, you can create a buzz, build up excitement, and keep players engaged even before they kick-off.
4. Appeal to different levels of engagement
When considering the LiveOps suite for your game, remember that retention is built from the ground up. High D30 retention can only be achieved with high D14 retention, which in turn relies on D7 retention, D3 and D1.
Want players to return tomorrow? Offer daily bonuses or daily challenges. Aiming for D3 engagement? Try 48-hour or 72-hour tournaments. Looking to boost D7 retention? Weekly quests, calendars, or collections can keep them hooked. And to keep players engaged beyond D30, longer collection features like card albums, sticker albums, or expeditions work well since they usually require longer commitment to complete.
Optimize your game where it’s needed most, starting with short-term engagement and building upward. Without solid D7 retention, D30 optimization has a slim chance to work. In addition to team expertise, this approach requires a robust data framework and analytics to guide your decision making at every step of the way.
Retaining players beyond D30 isn’t just about mechanics. It’s about creating experiences that feel rewarding, natural, and fun. From powerful analytics and thoughtful meta design, to seamless LiveOps or a well-balanced economy, these strategies help keep players invested in your game long-term.
Looking for ways to optimize your UA strategy beyond D30? Check out Part 1 of our blog series:
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