E3, for a lot of us, is comparable to Christmas; an entire week when our favorite websites and social media pages serve as a floodgate through which we receive exciting new from the press conferences, expo floor, and more. Whether you’re all about new game reveals, innovative tech demos, or learning what people have to say after going hands-on with anticipated titles, one thing’s for certain: it’s a very good time to be a gamer.

An E3 All About Games

Although every E3 has its highlights, it was awesome to see just how game-focused this year’s show was. As a trade fair specifically focused on the video game industry, it can be odd to say that some of the past few E3’s have been more about tech and future plans. This was due to both Sony and Microsoft doing their best to convince fans that their shiny new console was the one to buy, which meant giving the actual games less attention.

Fortunately, this year was one of the better shows in a long time for the fact that almost every major company and publisher focused on games and nothing else. No accessory demos, console specs, or talk of entertainment apps; just game reveals, trailers, and gameplay footage. What’s also great is that it wasn’t only big-budget AAA titles but also indie games that were shown off.

Learning From Past Mistakes

Of the three major contenders in the console market, Microsoft was perhaps the most impressive when it came to having a solid game lineup to show. It was almost expected after the negative response they had received for their previous conferences that most felt gave too much time to entertainment apps and other neat but non-game features. Microsoft came in full force at E3 2015 and did not disappoint, especially after delivering perhaps the most unexpected yet exciting announcement of all: backward compatibility for Xbox One.

Plenty of upcoming games like Halo 5: Guardians and Rise of the Tomb Raider were shown off. Both look incredible. As with every generation, it has taken the latest consoles a while to finally start showing us what they’re truly capable of, and the previously mentioned titles are prime examples.We also got to see the first reveal trailer for the highly anticipated Dark Souls 3, which also looks fantastic visually.

Even more memorable, however, were the slew of new titles Microsoft revealed, one of the most exciting ones being Gears of War 4. It was a title we all knew was in the works, but it was great to see some gameplay, especially when it looks to draw from the original Gears of War’s small but interesting horror elements. ReCore, which is being made by the legendary Keiji Inafune and ex-Retro devs, and Gigantic, a free-to-play shooter MOBA, also look promising. Of course, most people still can’t get over that amazing Hololens demoed with Minecraft.

Affirming That The Best Is Yet To Come

If there’s’ one word to describe how Kazuo Hirai and team arrived at E3, it’s “confident”.

Boasting plenty of momentum after months of seeing the PS4 outsell its competitors, Sony did an amazing job of reminding fans why picking up their console was the best choice. Even if their biggest surprises involved looking at the past, it was nonetheless a conference to remember for any PS4 owner out there.

In the big reveal department, Sony stole the show (even if there were only two new titles that really captured attention). The first was The Last Guardian, a game that was announced in 2009 only to never be mentioned again until now. The other exciting reveal was the long-awaited remake of Final Fantasy VII, a title that, despite Square Enix mentioning various times that they didn’t want to develop, is finally coming soon.

Also worth mentioning is Horizon: Zero Dawn, a title that was revealed via a captivating gameplay trailer that had a female warrior taking down a large robotic dinosaur. Sony also did a good job of showing off titles we already know are coming, including Uncharted 4, No Man’s Sky, and Firewatch.

A Window To The Immediate Future

Unlike the other companies, Nintendo opted to only discuss titles that were making their ways onto store shelves and digital stores soon. For this, they received quite a backlash from fans who were disappointed by the lack of heart-stopping reveals the Japanese company is known for. Even though we didn’t get the new Metroid or F-Zero reveal most of us wanted, Nintendo still did a decent job of showing us why it’s good to be a Wii U and 3DS owner.

Perhaps the most impressive showing was from a game that has already received a lot of attention in previous Nintendo Direct: Super Mario Maker. Being able to craft your own levels using the art style of several iconic Mario games has plenty of people counting down the days until September. Star Fox Zero, which is being co-developed by PlatinumGames, suffered a few gripes from its unimpressive visuals, but nonetheless looks exciting due to its classic Star Fox gameplay and transformable vehicles.

Also revealed was The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes, a 3 player 3DS game that no one saw coming, but looks to be a highlight for 3DS owners this coming holiday season. Of course, you’ve probably already heard of the backlash for the reveal of Metroid Prime Federation Force, a game that looks neat but people already hate because it isn’t Metroid Prime. Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, Hyrule Warriors Legends, Fire Emblem: Fates, and Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam were other notable title announcements.

[su_note]Want a career in game design? Learn more about the School of Game Design at the New York Film Academy. [/su_note]

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Over the past few years we’ve seen many big name developers and publishers enter the mobile game market. From Sega and Blizzard Entertainment, to Epic Games and Konami, there are quite a good number of veteran game companies known for their high-profile console and PC games that are finding success with their iOS and Android titles. Even Nintendo has recently struck a deal with DeNA to start putting their iconic franchises on our portable devices. With the mobile game market expected to reach 28.9 billion by 2016, who can blame them?

Bethesda Softworks was one of the few developers that hadn’t tested the waters for themselves, despite releasing some of the most successful AAA titles in recent years. This all changed during the 2015 Electronic Entertainment Expo, when they simultaneously revealed and released something hardly anyone saw coming: an iOS game based on the acclaimed Fallout franchise.

Fallout Shelter almost instantly reached the top of the App Store, and even stayed in the Top 5 in terms of grossing for many days. As of this writing, it sits just one position outside of the Top 30, which is not bad for a game that serves as Bethesda’s first mobile game. Even more interesting is the fact that the main devs didn’t even expect it to reach the level of success it has. Pete Hines, the Vice President for Marketing at Bethesda, had the following to say during an interview with Gamesindustry.biz:

“To be honest, I’m not sure what we expected. It’s not like we’re a pretty well-known iOS and iPhone developer where we’ve been down this road before and it’s going to go like this. But it seemed like it ought to be pretty popular, the whole idea of, ‘This thing exists and you can go play it today.’”

The Importance Of Timing

Of course, Hines also notes that timing had a lot to do with Fallout Shelter’s success. Much like Nintendo’s Metroid Prime: Federation Force, which received backlash from fans due to not being the main franchise entry players want, releasing Fallout Shelter before the reveal of Fallout 4 may have proven disastrous. Instead, the iOS title not only became a financial success, but is also doing its part to raise hype for the upcoming Fallout 4 set to release November 10th on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

Having their first iOS title become a big success is good reason to continue releasing games in the mobile gaming market, but Hines has also made it clear that, for Bethesda, it isn’t all about the money. Instead, they want to make sure they develop something fun that a wide range of players can enjoy. Doing so requires plenty of preparation, which was done with Fallout Shelter. In fact, the E3-revealed title was already finished and ready for release long before the unveiling of Fallout 4.

As more and more developers shift some of their resources to the growing and profitable mobile game market, it will be interesting to see how this affects the AAA titles we’re used to seeing on PC and consoles. Like Konami, who has already announced their future plans of focusing more on iOS and Android titles, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Bethesda take longer to develop the next Elder Scrolls in order to release a mobile spin off beforehand instead.

[su_note]Dream of becoming a game designer? Learn more about the School of Game Design at the New York Film Academy. [/su_note]

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When creating a free-to-play (F2P) game, most developers focus on tracking the obvious: number of downloads, installs, and in-app purchases. While there’s nothing wrong with keeping an eye on these metrics, it is important to study how your players are interacting with your game by receiving details on the performance of specific elements.

This will help you make the necessary tweaks and adjustments you otherwise wouldn’t know you needed. For example, realizing that no one is trying to complete your game’s achievements can say a lot about their level of difficulty or fun. As we’ll mention later, achievements can even affect how many people stick around long enough to use your cash shop.

Below are five ways to help you see which parts of your game are acting strongly, and which are making you lose players.

1. Have stages to complete

The first one on this list is perhaps the most important because it could be the easiest way to compare players based on their level of skill and progress. Although time-based measures can sometimes be effective, you may not receive very useful information if you’re comparing data from a player who just installed your game with someone who has been checking it out for a month or two. And since outside factors such as poor internet, or gamers who multitask while playing games, can mess up your time-based data, developers with experience instead recommend stages, levels, or whatever you’d like to call them.

Stages are perfect because they allow you to measure different groups of players based on their progress. You can then see which stages need to be toned down in terms of difficulty, especially when a low percent of the players that completed the previous stage are able to complete the one in question. The more stages your players check out, the more likely they are to invest at the cash shop.

2. Analyze the First Time User Experience (FTUE)

Studies show that most players tend to open up a F2P game and only play it a few minutes before deciding if it’s worth keeping or not. That is why it’s very important to track the user flow during this initial time, and see at what point players lose interest. Like we previously said, the longer someone plays your game, the more likely they are to buy something with actual currency. The best way to track the FTUE of your game is by either flagging certain events the first time they appear, or having players go through a specific sequence of events.

For example, you can set it up so that you know when players install the game, open the title screen, start and complete the tutorials, collect the post-tutorial reward, start the first stage, complete the first stage, and so on. If a large percentage of players stop playing during your tutorials, you know there’s something that needs to change.

3. Know what players are buying

There’s nothing more exciting than seeing that a good number of players like your game enough to spend their hard-earned virtual currency on new stages, items, and more. Of course, it’s even more thrilling when that virtual currency was obtained by paying actual money, and not just grinding for it in-game. Either way, you should keep track of how many players are earning your game’s currency by playing the game and how many are doing in-app purchases.

Like many popular F2P games, such as Clash of Clans, your game probably gives (or will give) players two options for earning currency: pay actual money or perform certain goals that earn you the currency. And like Clash of Clans, you want to design a perfect balance between the two so that players keep coming back never feel like the only way to truly enjoy the game is by paying real cash.

4. Ask them to link their social media sites

You’re not likely to find an F2P game that doesn’t ask you to link your Facebook, Twitter, or other social network profile to the game. This feature is very useful to developers, as it not only allows players to invite others to the game, which is a great way to gain popularity, but it also gives them access to specific demographic information.

The reason you want to track his is simple: if no one is linking their social media profiles with your game, then perhaps the incentive isn’t enough. In other words, you should be giving them rewards for doing so to increase the chances of it happening. Study which rewards convince players to link their profiles so that you have a better chance of drawing in new players.

5. Have achievements or objective system

A good number of F2P games feature achievements that are not necessary to progress further, but allow players to give themselves a pat on the back and feel good. If there’s one thing that Gamerscores, Trophies, and Steam Achievements have taught developers over the last decade, it’s that gamers love receiving that sense of over-achieving, and being able to show it off as well.

So what do achievements have to do with earning profits via a F2P model? Simply put, players that find your achievements interesting enough to try and complete are more likely to spend money in your cash shop. This is because they will spend more time in the game and get more invested, which usually results in buying items that will help them earn the remaining achievements.

[su_note]Dream of becoming a game designer? Learn more about the School of Game Design at the New York Film Academy. [/su_note]