Mastering Retention

In today’s episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, we are joined by Creative Game Lead Sophie Vo. She’s French- Vietnamese but currently resides in Berlin where she helps run Voodoo. In today’s episode, she talks to Tom about some hiring practices, her definition and implementation of cognitive diversity, and how she nourishes work culture—especially during Covid-times!

Highlights of today's episode:

• The process of building a new studio and team
• How she developed the WHY of Voodoo
• How she defines her dream team
• What she looks for on resumes
• Valuing company culture
• Practices she’s implemented to increase trust in her studio
• What is cognitive diversity?
• Preparing your team for the first game launch
• How to deal with firing
• Building the culture of coaching

Don't forget to check out Sophie's blog and connect with her on LinkedIn

On today’s episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, Tom talks to Renee Gittins, ED of the International Game Developers Association and CEO of Stumbling Cat. Renee is a leader in the field and she is passionate about advocating and connecting game developers in the industry. In today’s episode, she talks about her role at the IGDA, the future of Stumbling Cat and gives some tips to those who want to start their own studio.

Today’s episode highlights:

• How she got into games
• Running her own studio and being an executive director at the IGBA simultaneously
• What her role as the ED of IGDA entails
• How IGDA supports game developers
• Her advice for students that are looking to land a job in gaming
• Tips to kickstart your studio
• Important skills to have beyond your area of expertise
• Her vision for the future of her studio, Stumbling Cat
• One tip or trick on how to boost the retention rate

Sign up for the IGDA newsletter

IGDA.org

Renee's Twitter: @RikuKat

On today’s episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, narrative game designer, Isaac Phoenix, joins us to discuss everything NARRATIVE related! Games are nothing without an appealing storyline. If you are starting a game or are having questions about what are key aspects in your game to craft a good storyline you don’t want to miss today’s episode.

Highlights of today’s episode:

• Why games should have a narrative
• Defining a storyline to a game
• Examples of how games implement narratives and
• Recommendations on when and how you should use cut scenes vs dialogs
• The concept of reliability
• Adding mystery to a game
• One tip or trick on how to boost the retention rate.

If you would like to get in touch with Isaac, please contact him at:

LinkedIn

[email protected]

Article mentioned:

The Three Dimensions Of Story

On today's episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, we have a special visit from the Mobile Game Doctor! Dave Rohrl has 25 years of experience in design, production, and studio leadership that has allowed him to lead several groups of people to grow his business and help others with their design challenges.

Because of Dave's incredible journey, today's episode is one you'll want to listen to the very end. Some of today's key topics were:

• How he started the Mobile Game Doctor
• What he looks for when he is hiring?
• Split testing
• Some of the projects they've been working on
• Growth marketing in the gaming industry
• What are the right things to do when developing a game from scratch?
• What to look for to make sure the game is marketable
• One tip or trick on how to boost the retention rate.

If you would like to get in touch with Dave and the Mobile Game Doctor crew, please contact them at:

Mobilegamedoctor.com

[email protected]

On today's episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, Tom talks to the first woman to join the podcast, Antanina Livingston! She's an accomplished product manager originally from Belarus, that is currently working at Activision.

Some key topics for today's episode:

• How living in different places and speaking different languages has helped her approach live ops and content that is tailored to people in different locations
• What it means to be a product manager and the difference between being a product manager and live ops specialist
• How she approaches event/feature planning and maintaining engagement and retention
• Understanding the data to be able to influence your audience
• Managing burnout as a live ops specialist
• Regional specific content live ops requirements
• Details on what she calls the core pillars of LiveOps
• The importance of player archetypes
• Tools needed to do LiveOps
• One tip or trick on how to boost the retention rate.

In today’s episode of the Mastering Retention Podcast, Tom has a conversation with Karan Khairajani, cofounder of independent studio Firescore on all there is to know about hyper-casual games. From starting a gaming company to what KPIs are important.

Some of the highlights of today's episode are:

How he got into gaming and his entrepreneurial spirit

What it takes to start up a gaming company

CPI, LTV, and ROAS as KPI’s in gaming

The importance of working with publishers as an independent studio

Live ops for hyper-casual games

Explains ROAS – Return on Ads Spent

Soap cutting, ASMR, and knowing what’s hype right now!

One tip or trick on how to boost the retention rate

If you are interested in Crazy Labs, visit their website here and reach out to Karan through LinkedIn!

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