Is your game's on-ramp better than Facebook's?
summary
Argues that player session design — called sessioning — decides retention more than genre or graphics, and that the critical metric is whether the game passes the Starbucks test: can a meaningful interaction start within seconds so a player can say yes to playing now. Uses Pocket Planes vs Legend of Grimrock, Hearthstone daily missions, Fallout Shelter load delays and energy mechanics to show concrete tradeoffs: fast load, hidden or parcelled energy, appointment and social hooks, and how poor on‑ramps lose users to Facebook.
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chapters (10)
- 0:00Intro
- 1:00Sessioning
- 6:52Who passes
- 7:51Starbucks test
- 10:19Good games
- 12:49Energy
- 15:05Energy downsides
- 17:47Return hooks
- 18:15Appointment mechanics
- 19:19Social mechanics
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