Retaining users is not an easy job. We spend so much time and effort in creating a good quality video game, only to see it fail. Game Development is one thing but coming up with game mechanics that will help you retain users is another. Most developers simply do not have time to look at stats and figures. They do not know what works in the market.
That is where we game designers come in. As a game designer, I tell my clients to use what is known as adaptive difficulty to retain users. Adaptive difficulty can be added into games that do not have levels.
Resident Evil 4 is a good example of a game that used adaptive difficulty quite well! The game was divided into sections or sectors, and the number of enemies would reduce if the game found that the player cannot clear a particular section easily.
For free to play games, this is extremely important! Most new game devs run Google Ads and Facebook Ads for games, and spend an average of $2 per install. The developer needs to make that $2 back!
Adaptive difficulty will:
- Make the entire game easy for players that do not know how to play well.
- Make the game challenging for players that are doing well in the game.
That way, you will retain all types of users. The more you retain, the more money you will earn through ads and IAPs.
Please let me know if you need help in getting your game designed with Adaptive Difficulty.
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