Dessert DIY is Weloadin Studio’s second hit game to be published with CrazyLabs within two years. Below, is an inside look into the key insights that made this game soar to the top of the charts according to Alon Dahan, Head of Product, Asya Er, Product Owner, Vamil Doshi, Senior Publishing Manager, and Mario Royston, CEO, and Co-founder of Weloadin Studio.
How was the game idea born?
Dessert DIY is a dessert simulation game where the player makes different types of desserts like ice creams, popsicles, cones, and waffles for the customers entering a dessert shop. The game integrates various mechanics like tapping, drag and drop, swiping, etc.
The inspiration for the game came from this social trend of a person chopping ice cream on a cold stone. Furthermore, since DIY is always trending, we decided to go in the DIY direction where the player can combine ingredients and syrups to create their own ice cream flavor. At a later stage, to further improve the game’s Day 1, Day 7, and ARPU, we expanded the dessert offering to not just ice cream.
Once we started seeing success, we doubled down and attacked multiple factors including adding new mechanics, animations, metagame, and levels. The combination of all of these factors helped improve playtime, retention (D1,3,7), level funnel, inter and RV impressions – all of this ultimately helped increase ARPU and allowed us to scale profitably to a point in which we reached the #1 spot in 46 countries.
Key Takeaways
1.Tactics to reduce CPI – Reducing CPI for this game was very challenging. The below video was our first ad:
As you can see:
- The video’s UI is very busy – there’s the frozen ice cream icon in the upper right-hand corner, there are all of the icons of the desserts at the bottom of the screen.
- It’s not following the exact trend from Youtube, which was the inspiration for the game
- The camera is a top view.
CPI was drastically reduced through the below video because of the following reasons:
- The UI is much cleaner, and the icons in the previous ad were removed. We used here a solid clean background to reduce noise and focus the player on the action – now the ad is more clean and focused.
- Capture the player’s attention by starting off exactly in alignment with the YouTube trend, where the scraping is moved to the beginning of the ad.
- We changed the camera view to match the same angle as seen in the YouTube video.
2. Test new features in creatives before implementing them in the game – With Dessert DIY, we noticed that adding ‘gross elements’ like bugs, cockroaches, and poop into the creative ads, caused the KPIs to soar. Armed with this knowledge, we added these gross elements into the gameplay as well. This significantly impacted the game’s performance and ultimately reached over 50 million in downloads within a few months
This is why in some cases we recommend testing a new feature for your game through the creative first, and if proven successful (i.e., reaches positive KPIs), then the feature can be added to the gameplay.
3. Think about how I can get a reaction out of people – To get people to take some sort of action, you need to push their buttons. Many times the way to get people to react is to do something appalling (something that is not expected or is taboo). When thinking of ideas for getting a reaction, focus on concepts revolving around humor and disgust.
4. UI UX small edits that can make a big difference – Integrating the small changes listed below in addition to other elements, can move the needle in your game’s performance:
- Examine top-chart games for fine-tuning inspiration – Review hit games like Sushi Roll 3D to gain insights on important production details (i.e., the visuals, the sound effects, haptic vibrations, correct frequency, etc.) to implement into your game. Getting these details correct can make the difference between a mediocre game and a top chart.
- Integrate attractive, lively tutorials instead of plain texts or tutorial icons – In Dessert DIY, we significantly increased the level completion rate by integrating “gif-like tutorials” (to show the players what they should do).
- Integrate positive emojis – Adding happy, smiling emojis into the game encourages the player to keep playing (it serves as positive reinforcement).
Why we chose CrazyLabs over other publishers
“We collaborated with many top publishers at the beginning of our hypercasual journey but the support and trust we got from CrazyLabs are what helped us build two-hit games.
“We’re very fortunate to work with CrazyLabs for many reasons, but a few reasons that stand out are the original and data-driven approach, combined with the personal relationships with CrazyLabs’ Publishing and Product teams. The combination of these factors was Dessert DIY’s recipe for success.”
Mario Royston, CEO of Weloadin Studio
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