Onboarding: How to Keep Your Players After the First Minutes of Gameplay
summary
Most new installs quit after one or two sessions so onboarding focuses on measurable hooks not vague promises. Deliver 15 seconds to real gameplay (Criminal Case) and a simple plot beat to give purpose (Boom Beach). Give an immediate, winnable challenge — Real Racing 3 uses a rolling start and ghost multiplayer for early thrill — and show long-term scope (progression trees, hundreds of tanks). Use open-loop objectives and rewards to pull players back, and stagger ad frequency (after 1st failure, then 3rd, 5th).
AI-written summary · about
chapters (8)
- 0:00Start
- 0:15Early Game Retention
- 6:18One Get the Player into the Game As Fast as Possible
- 9:34Boom Beach
- 13:05Rolling Start
- 17:53The Progression Tree
- 18:42Open Loops
- 21:54When Is the Good Time To Introduce Ads
related talks
24mOnboarding UX design tips for mobile
23mIs your game's on-ramp better than Facebook's?
36mOnboarding — A Matter of Survival
21mLow budget growth tactics that every games developer should know about
49mMastering the Creed: Onboarding the player in AC Mirage and Dawn of Ragnarök
34mUser Onboarding for the Long Run
20mInstant Games - The Good, the Bad and the Future
20mCreating and Retaining a Lifelong Playerbase