@@thebrownfrogYeah, right... he wants to be a publisher. That's the reason for the channel - to bring him games that are already completed, along with the resource , nothing is for free
I've been watching this over the weeks, until I had to explain to my wife why I had an UA-cam chrome tab labeled "Using Anal...". The video was excellent tho, thanks a lot for sharing knowledge!
The idea of creating a game that HELPS a streamer make a video for themselves rather than relying on them to boost your game is the perfect example of a symbiotic relationship between content creators and game developers
This is one of the reasons why Content Warning was so successful - they incorporated one of the things that made its inspiration Lethal Company so successful (how viral/shareable its moments are), and made that a core mechanic, making everyone a content creator and vastly increasing its visibility on social media
@@boad8270 Thats very true, and honestly I think Content Warning's success was always going to be limited due to its nature as a fast follow to/parody of Lethal Company - even with that initial boost of virality that it got from being initially free on Steam and having that recording mechanic, at the end of the day I think it wasn't going to survive long term when compared to Lethal Company without having more mechanical improvements or changes to differentiate it.
I've already listened to 27 minutes of this, and it's pure DIAMOND. There are so many videos out there where you learn something useful, but this one feels like finding your first diamond in Minecraft. Thank you so much!
Very rough tl;dw homework of the perquisites but still watch them because Gavin is a genius and has way more to say: Virality - * Make your game while keeping in mind it has to be a gold mine for content creators (unique envs, well-lit, well-contrasted envs, brandable characters) * Prelaunch marketing to get the ball rolling Engagement - * Engagement is a shortcut for instinctual gratification * Entertainment business is doing great when people are depressed :( Don't exploit. Human instincts to satisfy - * Social interactions * Making order in Chaos * Problem solving * Exploration (collecting, gathering...) * Enhancements (speed, power, crafting...)
This isn't a video you can understand without watching. And all the work is done by your mind thinking, this info is meaningless if you don't make an effort to think about it on your own
Insanely valuable video. Thriller pacing in novelwriting & film is essentially the same concept. It's all about maintaining a controlled waveform of tension, then partial release at regular milestones, then ratchet tension up again even higher. Never let it fall below an engaging level. This is the essence of the "page turner". Always stay juggling, never drop the ball. Incidentally, "wave periodization" where each wave crests just a bit higher than the last is one of the most effective techniques in any form of training... mental or physical. You're essentially training the viewer/player.
6 minutes in and Ive paused to say this. Youre gonna get these 2 hours from me, as well as the watch time for your other 13 videos. Everything you have said has had immense value in "Indie Game Dev Mindset". And im new to the game, so I appreciate it.
I absolutely love and appreciate your videos! It would be amazing to see a video or series where you take a break from the hardcore topics and do something more casual, like scrolling through or playing random games on Steam while sharing your thoughts. It could also give real examples of all the topics we’ve been discussing.
Really good video. Thanks a lot for sharing all of this. One thing I'd like to point out is that you analyzed only one channel. It is focused on horror (despite having non-horror games here and there) and has no commentary. I feel like that could skew things a lot. For example, action scenes having big dips. Would a roguelike focused channel have bad retention for action scenes? It could be the opposite. And maybe that said roguelike channel would actually have dips in jump scare moments because those watching are not fans of that. The points raised are completely valid, but I think they can't be taken as a general rule. Each developer should consider their own game and their own target channels.
Thank you so much for sharing such a large amount of your hard work with us. This might take a few viewings to get through, but I feel like my Indie game dev mojo is increasing quickly and steadily. I really appreciate the time you have taken to share this
"How do I increase retention? Maybe if I tell them to watch all my other videos, uhhh make this one 2 hours, uhhh tell them to watch it a couple times, hmm"
Great video, watched through the whole thing and wrote a lot of applicable notes for my demo's design that will help me get the design and structure a lot tighter. Thank you for these videos they are truly informative!
i always thought that it was odd that there was no loading/death/level complete scenes in a difficult game about climbing...now i understand the genius behind that
Very thankful for these videos Gavin! We all appreciate you sharing this info. It is interesting to think that we are not only creating games, but also tools for youtubers to use to increase their views and retention!
Thank you so much for these deep analysis video's and collecting and preparing all this data. You are teaching me way more value as the game development study I just completed, and it's all for free! Can't wait to apply some of these concepts into my game.
Obviously not all the way through the video yet, but at around 17:30 you note the 13% dip after a death, and I don't believe that data point has been correctly attributed. It looks to me based on the graph that the real dip is actually almost 0% difference but rather, the general bleed is being masked by the peak created by people RE-WATCHING the actual death. loving the video mate, just wanted to point out something that maybe sheds a new light on something.
@@ScientiaLudos It's all good, honestly I 100% agree with your conclusion on deaths. I know I skip forward on deaths most of the time! Getting access to these analytics is a public service so thank you.
your channel is a gold mine but i have to point out you look like you dont get any sleep!! cant wait to see the day when you have healthy looking eyes. keep up the great work!!
Huge W masterclass, do you have any information regarding what causes a viewer to purchase the game after seeing gameplay, there must be some factors that incentivize the purchase instead of just watching youtubers play it
What I'm thinking is putting a streamer mode in a game that cuts out all the retention drop stuff for recording and streaming but the normal mode is when one isn't streaming.
Its similar on tips around good presentation talks. Its all about the promise at the start and how its delivered by the end. The world really acts the same in most situations
Good stuff. Watched it over 3 hours in another device and took notes of baout 6 pages. Interesting where games and videos overlap and where they don't.
So many playthroughs, even from the big names, start with at least five minutes in the menus, despite them being the same old same old. OMG, unless the character creator is totally fascinating, cut anything before gameplay starts. I have always hated "reading a game," and it seemed that I was alone, but your retention data suggests that many gamers agree. I want to play a game and be the main character, not be a side character who reads the main story. Personally, if I arrive at a village and it seems that I need to chit chat with everyone in town to progress, unless the game is awesome, I usually quit and never return to the game.
First, thanks for the video. This is valuable data. * A note about End Credits - The dropoff is ok, since the alternative is just the game ending (100% dropoff). It's completely fine that some people skip it. Not to disregard your analysis, but for a developer (rather than a UA-camr choosing which game to make a video about next), there is a very important thing to remember - YT retention is not sales, and may even be harmful to sales. By far not every game *should* be designed to maximize UA-cam retention. I don't have the videos saved, but I've watched more than one detailed video about this topic - sometimes (pretty often!), there is an inverse relation between a games popularity on UA-cam / Twitch, and its sales. The most intuitive examples are beautiful games with shallow mechanics and linear stories (which is fine by itself, since they are just tools used to elevate the story). Actually, extreme examples here are visual novels. Why is it bad for them to be popular on UA-cam? Because once you've seen someone play the game, you no longer have any reason to play them yourself! Not only would you be repeating the same linear story, you'd also be paying for the privilege, too. On the other hand, games with deep and complex mechanics may be bad for retention, but if those mechanics are appealing to the audience (as players), a certain percentage of those dropped views are actually people going on to read more about the game, and potentially buy it. I can tell from personal experience that I had bought a few games this way, while many games that retained me as a viewer never made it into my steam library. Of course, some games can have the best of both world, but that's mainly either multiplayer games, or games which rely heavily on procedural generation. Basically, UA-cam retention is only good for you (as a developer) if the viewer knows (or rather, believes) that there is much more to the game than what he saw in the video. In other words, to actually buy your game after watching he video, the viewer must believe there still exist sufficient *goals* for him to achieve, which weren't covered by he video. An example for this is roguelikes, where even after watching a few runs, there is massive variation left for the player to explore (and, most importantly, the viewer knows it). If you build your game purely for UA-cam views and disregard actual conversion to sales, you are gonna have a bad time.
For sure, virality just gets you attention, and on it's own doesn't do anything for sales conversions. This is why in other videos I've talked about how you need to design a game with both attention and conversions in mind. Player agency, replayability etc. are crucial for conversions, but good conversion rates with low visibility are just as worthless as a super viral game with no conversions. The more you optimize both multipliers, the better the game will perform. Edit: Note on the credits... Video ending doesn't equal a 100% dropoff, because since the video is ending, the length is shorter, and the average viewed percentage is higher, since people aren't leaving during the credits. UA-cam isn't just taking into account the amount of time spent watching a video, they also factor in the percentage of the video that you watched. Because of this, whatever the end of the video is, no matter the length, it's best for people to watch until the very end, as opposed to dropping off at any point.
@@ScientiaLudos I completely agree with the fact that both multipliers should ideally be balanced, at least to the largest extent possible without damaging the eventual game too much (all of this is vague, but that's because there are too many variables depending on each specific game). I just thought it important to mention here, since with so much (well deserved) focus on virality, it's easy to lose sight of the main goal. ... regarding the video ending, are you certain? If people watching to the very end has significant weight (as opposed to total watch time), aren't basically everyone who have an outro shooting themselves in the foot?
Defo worth mentioning 👌. "aren't basically everyone who have an outro shooting themselves in the foot?" Yep they are. That's why all the largest channels that get the most views keep their outros as short as they possibly can.
"Hook people at the start of the video, transition them to an amazing story that they are invested in, have no dull moments, and then have a satisfying payoff at the end of the video with an abrupt ending." - leaked Mr Beast handbook. You can see how they wrap up the videos really fast after the payoff
Thank you so much for sharing your research! Would you be willing to share the Google sheet document as well? 🙏 I would love to dive into the data as well and see if maybe there's more stuff that could be learned from it. Regardless, thanks again for sharing this! :)
Amazing video with invaluable insights. Just one comment, this isn't virality. Virality is how much viewers engage with content through commenting, sharing, reposting, and stitching. Which I would argue would probably have some different takeaways from just audience retention
As an 8 year old I wanted to get into making games so I could explore my creativity, make art and express myself. Finding that making games nowadays is the opposite of that is just depressing.
Don't get discouraged man, most of art has always been made with constraints. That being said, you can still just make the game you want, as long as you treat it like a hobby and dont care so much about making buckets of money.
Games have always been like this, to a stronger extent but games have always been a product-- you can personally choose to not view them that way and as art, which they also are, and make what you want to make, it just becomes less financially feasible that way unless you can support yourself and the game through other means. At the end of the day we all gotta eat and have a place to sleep.
You could pick and choose which of these things you want to pay attention to. Most of them don't seem to affect the core gameplay that much. If anything, most of the advice is about stopping interruptions that make people bail, and you would want that in most games anyway. It's the difference between Mega Man X vs. Mighty No. 9. Mega Man X just throws you into the action, and it's awesome. Mighthy No. 9 starts with all this exposition and I lose all interest.
great video thank you . note that this data is sourced from a niche UA-cam channel's viewers and may not represent the broader or more diverse video game market
I'm with you on a lot of the things you're saying, but you have to keep in mind that some people use Alpha Beta Gamer's videos to help them complete a puzzle or a part of the game. That's why I think in some games, when finishing a level, there's a significant drop in retention, even when the transition between levels is really quick.
I just started watching and can't wait to learn. And I've never seen this channel before. (Just subbed!) But I'm so distracted by that door that I already know I'm gonna have to rewind a few minutes because I zoned out on it. Is that part of the retention strategy?! 😅😅😂
Keep in mind avoid over thinking all of this stuff. Don't sacrifice actual mechanics in-game that are more enjoyable for your players just because they don't translate well to a viewing format. Gavin said himself in earlier videos these aren't meant for beginners, this is only if you already know what you're doing and you REALLY want to minmax. Especially the bit with the credits well yeah... it's the end of the video. Credits roll and the youtuber was about to end it anyway. Doesn't matter at that point.
Do you have any information on the age range of the viewers? There are multiple paths to virality and I think "lets play" viewership is good to reach a younger audience but then you have games like vampire survivors or balatro that have relatively horrible views but still go viral from a different path.. probably reaching a more mature audience. EDIT: so both VS and Balatro have also strongly benefited from lets plays (splattercatgaming and northernlion) though it's still true that these games would fit awkwardly with your model which could be shown by the lack of views they both have. I still think it's an age thing where games that target older gamers need less views to get the ball rolling and have a better conversion rate.
A game doesn't need to be packed with boss fights, jump scares, and chase scenes to benefit from being streamed. Regardless of what kind of game you make, it's still imperative in marketing to reach out to streamers. He's just giving some analysis on what common features he'd use to make the most viral game possible. While a good thing to consider, I think that can't be your only concern when designing a game. As he said, these are just guidelines.
@@heyheythrowaway I'm not disagreeing. I'm just suggesting that his analysis has a younger market bias and the techniques you'd use to go viral with an older audience may have similarities but are ultimately different.
Def a good point. Mass virality is much rarer and more difficult without a younger target demographic. More mature target demographics typically require better word of mouth, or use of the Steam algorithm.
About jump scares and re-watching content: I sometimes only pretend to watch when jump scare happens then I'm re-watching it to see it, but not actually be jump scared :P It this a cause of the bump? I don't know but I'm doing that ;)
24:41 well the player get the idea of core loop and leave, so what? How does the fact that the viewer watches to the end correlate with the player's interest/disinterest? I subscribe to alpha beta gamer and when I watch such videos, I fast forward a couple of clicks to the middle and then fast forward a couple of clicks to the end.
I'm not sure that there's enough proof that all those deeps are negative. Perhaps a good chunk of people use non commentary gameplay channel to decide if they want to buy that game. And for example, when level ends, there's a decent percentage of people that decided that they do want to play it. So they close the video to go and buy the game. So some percentage of people in those drops may close they video, not because they are not like what they see, but because they do like what they see and they don't want to spoil the game for themselves even more, cause they want to buy and play it.
UA-cam videos about games have verifiably very very low conversion rates. We’re talking 1 sale per tens to hundreds of thousands of views (in very rare scenarios you can get perhaps 1 sale per few thousand views, but this is only for hyper positive review videos). At those scales there is no scenario in which a game would look so fun that it’d cause any noticeable dip in retention.
@@ScientiaLudos It makes sense for most youtube channels, cause people watch those mainly for youtuber. PewDiePie, Markaplier etc. but that is not the case for non commentary gameplay channel. That's why I think some percentage of those who close video might be buyers. Or you do have some proof that that is not the case even for non commentary gameplay channel?
the fact that everytyhing is so engineered for attention retention is sad. Like, kudos to you, it works, but it can't be good for people. I wonder if there's a nuanced, effective way to encourage people to keep watching even when the current moment is uninteresting
This is just raw data sir. Blame people don't blame Gavin. Why do people view and engage with content in this way? Who knows. I sometimes skip around videos here and there but I usually watch from beginning to end most videos I decide to watch. I don't relate at all to these metrics as a youtube viewer myself.
I dropped everything to watch this
^this guy brought me here
Thanks Thomas
I am here because of you, Thomas. Thank you
This channel feels like a secret club
@@thebrownfrogYeah, right... he wants to be a publisher. That's the reason for the channel - to bring him games that are already completed, along with the resource , nothing is for free
I've been watching this over the weeks, until I had to explain to my wife why I had an UA-cam chrome tab labeled "Using Anal...". The video was excellent tho, thanks a lot for sharing knowledge!
This is amazing, thanks so much Gavin. I keep similar notes but yours are way more detailed, so interesting to see
@davidwehlegames, do you know how to get these retention graphs from any youtube video? Do you make it as well? I didn't find it anywhere.
The idea of creating a game that HELPS a streamer make a video for themselves rather than relying on them to boost your game is the perfect example of a symbiotic relationship between content creators and game developers
This is one of the reasons why Content Warning was so successful - they incorporated one of the things that made its inspiration Lethal Company so successful (how viral/shareable its moments are), and made that a core mechanic, making everyone a content creator and vastly increasing its visibility on social media
@@AceDroo i mean Lethal company still did a lot better if we go by overall popularity
@@boad8270because it was first lol
@@boad8270 Thats very true, and honestly I think Content Warning's success was always going to be limited due to its nature as a fast follow to/parody of Lethal Company - even with that initial boost of virality that it got from being initially free on Steam and having that recording mechanic, at the end of the day I think it wasn't going to survive long term when compared to Lethal Company without having more mechanical improvements or changes to differentiate it.
I've already listened to 27 minutes of this, and it's pure DIAMOND. There are so many videos out there where you learn something useful, but this one feels like finding your first diamond in Minecraft. Thank you so much!
Very rough tl;dw homework of the perquisites but still watch them because Gavin is a genius and has way more to say:
Virality -
* Make your game while keeping in mind it has to be a gold mine for content creators (unique envs, well-lit, well-contrasted envs, brandable characters)
* Prelaunch marketing to get the ball rolling
Engagement -
* Engagement is a shortcut for instinctual gratification
* Entertainment business is doing great when people are depressed :( Don't exploit.
Human instincts to satisfy -
* Social interactions
* Making order in Chaos
* Problem solving
* Exploration (collecting, gathering...)
* Enhancements (speed, power, crafting...)
This isn't a video you can understand without watching. And all the work is done by your mind thinking, this info is meaningless if you don't make an effort to think about it on your own
These insights are amazing. I'm grateful to have stumbled across your channel. Great value provided.
Insanely valuable video. Thriller pacing in novelwriting & film is essentially the same concept.
It's all about maintaining a controlled waveform of tension, then partial release at regular milestones, then ratchet tension up again even higher. Never let it fall below an engaging level. This is the essence of the "page turner". Always stay juggling, never drop the ball.
Incidentally, "wave periodization" where each wave crests just a bit higher than the last is one of the most effective techniques in any form of training... mental or physical.
You're essentially training the viewer/player.
6 minutes in and Ive paused to say this.
Youre gonna get these 2 hours from me, as well as the watch time for your other 13 videos.
Everything you have said has had immense value in "Indie Game Dev Mindset".
And im new to the game, so I appreciate it.
2h video of absolute gold information? This is a blessing, thank you.
BRO, you're such a goat for sharing all of this! Thank you! ❤
Locking in for the next 2 hours
U read my mind
You should make a video or a series of videos analyzing already viral games to point out mechanics that made the games viral
I absolutely love and appreciate your videos!
It would be amazing to see a video or series where you take a break from the hardcore topics and do something more casual, like scrolling through or playing random games on Steam while sharing your thoughts. It could also give real examples of all the topics we’ve been discussing.
Wow, I am sitting here, watching and actually taking notes. Thank you for this!
This is actually the best advice I've heard for indie game developers
Really good video. Thanks a lot for sharing all of this.
One thing I'd like to point out is that you analyzed only one channel. It is focused on horror (despite having non-horror games here and there) and has no commentary.
I feel like that could skew things a lot. For example, action scenes having big dips. Would a roguelike focused channel have bad retention for action scenes? It could be the opposite. And maybe that said roguelike channel would actually have dips in jump scare moments because those watching are not fans of that.
The points raised are completely valid, but I think they can't be taken as a general rule. Each developer should consider their own game and their own target channels.
Thank you so much for sharing such a large amount of your hard work with us. This might take a few viewings to get through, but I feel like my Indie game dev mojo is increasing quickly and steadily. I really appreciate the time you have taken to share this
What an amazing video. Thank you! Someone who isn't a UA-camr and game developer would not have thought to do this analysis. Brilliant.
I mean this is incredible, thanks for all the effort you put into this and providing this info to everybody. Big kudos.
"How do I increase retention? Maybe if I tell them to watch all my other videos, uhhh make this one 2 hours, uhhh tell them to watch it a couple times, hmm"
Saw the text document and knew this was going to be some of the best advice ever!
Can’t thank you enough. Really appreciate these super valuable insights
Gavin, it's just insane how much effort you put into this! Thank you
Great video, watched through the whole thing and wrote a lot of applicable notes for my demo's design that will help me get the design and structure a lot tighter. Thank you for these videos they are truly informative!
These things make sense and can help both developers and streamers. You are a good man.
i shall sleep with gavins game dev affirmations blasting into my ears
i always thought that it was odd that there was no loading/death/level complete scenes in a difficult game about climbing...now i understand the genius behind that
29:50 lol Gavin begins to panick
loll
Very thankful for these videos Gavin! We all appreciate you sharing this info. It is interesting to think that we are not only creating games, but also tools for youtubers to use to increase their views and retention!
Wow, amazing work. Will consider all of this when I get back to game making
Thank you so much for these deep analysis video's and collecting and preparing all this data. You are teaching me way more value as the game development study I just completed, and it's all for free! Can't wait to apply some of these concepts into my game.
Obviously not all the way through the video yet, but at around 17:30 you note the 13% dip after a death, and I don't believe that data point has been correctly attributed. It looks to me based on the graph that the real dip is actually almost 0% difference but rather, the general bleed is being masked by the peak created by people RE-WATCHING the actual death. loving the video mate, just wanted to point out something that maybe sheds a new light on something.
Certainly could be, would make sense with this being a horror game. Probably should have shown more non-horror examples for player deaths, but oh well
@@ScientiaLudos It's all good, honestly I 100% agree with your conclusion on deaths. I know I skip forward on deaths most of the time! Getting access to these analytics is a public service so thank you.
I’m not at work anymore but I’ll listen to it at work tomorrow 🙏🏻
your channel is a gold mine but i have to point out you look like you dont get any sleep!! cant wait to see the day when you have healthy looking eyes. keep up the great work!!
Legit masterclass
This is good quality, comprehensive research. Impressive.
This is fantastic Gavin, thank you for sharing.
Thank you for the information, Gavin!
For sure watching this whole thing tomorrow, keep up the great videos!
Love content like this! thanks
Huge W masterclass, do you have any information regarding what causes a viewer to purchase the game after seeing gameplay, there must be some factors that incentivize the purchase instead of just watching youtubers play it
What I'm thinking is putting a streamer mode in a game that cuts out all the retention drop stuff for recording and streaming but the normal mode is when one isn't streaming.
This dude is doing a great job please don't delete these beautiful videos i will comeback to them and take some notes NiceVideo
Its similar on tips around good presentation talks. Its all about the promise at the start and how its delivered by the end. The world really acts the same in most situations
Good stuff. Watched it over 3 hours in another device and took notes of baout 6 pages. Interesting where games and videos overlap and where they don't.
Edit: 13
I would love to see the retention data for this video. Great video!
kudos ! This gives some external Motivatioon.. Thanks sir !
Watching this, it's now obvious to me why you were so successful with Choo Choo Charles.
Thanks for the great insight, I'll save that for the future
this is so good ❤
So many playthroughs, even from the big names, start with at least five minutes in the menus, despite them being the same old same old. OMG, unless the character creator is totally fascinating, cut anything before gameplay starts. I have always hated "reading a game," and it seemed that I was alone, but your retention data suggests that many gamers agree. I want to play a game and be the main character, not be a side character who reads the main story. Personally, if I arrive at a village and it seems that I need to chit chat with everyone in town to progress, unless the game is awesome, I usually quit and never return to the game.
What's bro got behind that door that he needs THOSE many locks for 😂
Great stuff, awesome that you crunched so much data. Do you have any info on click through rates and how that affects virality?
Thanks for going thu this.
I would be so interested if you did like one or two videos just on normal youtube analytic stuff
First, thanks for the video. This is valuable data.
* A note about End Credits - The dropoff is ok, since the alternative is just the game ending (100% dropoff). It's completely fine that some people skip it.
Not to disregard your analysis, but for a developer (rather than a UA-camr choosing which game to make a video about next), there is a very important thing to remember - YT retention is not sales, and may even be harmful to sales.
By far not every game *should* be designed to maximize UA-cam retention. I don't have the videos saved, but I've watched more than one detailed video about this topic - sometimes (pretty often!), there is an inverse relation between a games popularity on UA-cam / Twitch, and its sales.
The most intuitive examples are beautiful games with shallow mechanics and linear stories (which is fine by itself, since they are just tools used to elevate the story). Actually, extreme examples here are visual novels.
Why is it bad for them to be popular on UA-cam? Because once you've seen someone play the game, you no longer have any reason to play them yourself! Not only would you be repeating the same linear story, you'd also be paying for the privilege, too.
On the other hand, games with deep and complex mechanics may be bad for retention, but if those mechanics are appealing to the audience (as players), a certain percentage of those dropped views are actually people going on to read more about the game, and potentially buy it. I can tell from personal experience that I had bought a few games this way, while many games that retained me as a viewer never made it into my steam library.
Of course, some games can have the best of both world, but that's mainly either multiplayer games, or games which rely heavily on procedural generation.
Basically, UA-cam retention is only good for you (as a developer) if the viewer knows (or rather, believes) that there is much more to the game than what he saw in the video. In other words, to actually buy your game after watching he video, the viewer must believe there still exist sufficient *goals* for him to achieve, which weren't covered by he video.
An example for this is roguelikes, where even after watching a few runs, there is massive variation left for the player to explore (and, most importantly, the viewer knows it).
If you build your game purely for UA-cam views and disregard actual conversion to sales, you are gonna have a bad time.
For sure, virality just gets you attention, and on it's own doesn't do anything for sales conversions. This is why in other videos I've talked about how you need to design a game with both attention and conversions in mind. Player agency, replayability etc. are crucial for conversions, but good conversion rates with low visibility are just as worthless as a super viral game with no conversions. The more you optimize both multipliers, the better the game will perform.
Edit: Note on the credits... Video ending doesn't equal a 100% dropoff, because since the video is ending, the length is shorter, and the average viewed percentage is higher, since people aren't leaving during the credits. UA-cam isn't just taking into account the amount of time spent watching a video, they also factor in the percentage of the video that you watched. Because of this, whatever the end of the video is, no matter the length, it's best for people to watch until the very end, as opposed to dropping off at any point.
@@ScientiaLudos I completely agree with the fact that both multipliers should ideally be balanced, at least to the largest extent possible without damaging the eventual game too much (all of this is vague, but that's because there are too many variables depending on each specific game).
I just thought it important to mention here, since with so much (well deserved) focus on virality, it's easy to lose sight of the main goal.
... regarding the video ending, are you certain? If people watching to the very end has significant weight (as opposed to total watch time), aren't basically everyone who have an outro shooting themselves in the foot?
Defo worth mentioning 👌. "aren't basically everyone who have an outro shooting themselves in the foot?" Yep they are. That's why all the largest channels that get the most views keep their outros as short as they possibly can.
"Hook people at the start of the video, transition them to an amazing
story that they are invested in, have no dull moments, and then have a satisfying
payoff at the end of the video with an abrupt ending." - leaked Mr Beast handbook. You can see how they wrap up the videos really fast after the payoff
This Man is a Hero Among Game Devs!
I just subbed a couple of videos ago and just noticed that door.
"gooners" really got me haha
Thank you so much for sharing your research! Would you be willing to share the Google sheet document as well? 🙏 I would love to dive into the data as well and see if maybe there's more stuff that could be learned from it. Regardless, thanks again for sharing this! :)
The Google sheet would be incredibly useful for re-enforcing the concepts through examples!!! I agree!.
Great inspection, if you able to share the excel file as well that'd be awesome! Thank again!
Amazing video with invaluable insights. Just one comment, this isn't virality. Virality is how much viewers engage with content through commenting, sharing, reposting, and stitching. Which I would argue would probably have some different takeaways from just audience retention
As an 8 year old I wanted to get into making games so I could explore my creativity, make art and express myself. Finding that making games nowadays is the opposite of that is just depressing.
I feel the exact same way, it really sucks
Don't get discouraged man, most of art has always been made with constraints. That being said, you can still just make the game you want, as long as you treat it like a hobby and dont care so much about making buckets of money.
Games have always been like this, to a stronger extent but games have always been a product-- you can personally choose to not view them that way and as art, which they also are, and make what you want to make, it just becomes less financially feasible that way unless you can support yourself and the game through other means. At the end of the day we all gotta eat and have a place to sleep.
You could pick and choose which of these things you want to pay attention to. Most of them don't seem to affect the core gameplay that much. If anything, most of the advice is about stopping interruptions that make people bail, and you would want that in most games anyway. It's the difference between Mega Man X vs. Mighty No. 9. Mega Man X just throws you into the action, and it's awesome. Mighthy No. 9 starts with all this exposition and I lose all interest.
welcome into adulthood Brother
who is bro hiding from
Publishers
Incredible work! What tool did you use to check retention rates of videos?
I don’t think he will tell
Alpha Beta Gamer provided the channel statistics for the study
great video thank you . note that this data is sourced from a niche UA-cam channel's viewers and may not represent the broader or more diverse video game market
great info, so usefull . Thanks!
cool channel and video, nice insights
I'm with you on a lot of the things you're saying, but you have to keep in mind that some people use Alpha Beta Gamer's videos to help them complete a puzzle or a part of the game. That's why I think in some games, when finishing a level, there's a significant drop in retention, even when the transition between levels is really quick.
I just started watching and can't wait to learn. And I've never seen this channel before. (Just subbed!) But I'm so distracted by that door that I already know I'm gonna have to rewind a few minutes because I zoned out on it. Is that part of the retention strategy?! 😅😅😂
Love that humor!
Loving that music at 24:06! :D
Keep in mind avoid over thinking all of this stuff. Don't sacrifice actual mechanics in-game that are more enjoyable for your players just because they don't translate well to a viewing format. Gavin said himself in earlier videos these aren't meant for beginners, this is only if you already know what you're doing and you REALLY want to minmax.
Especially the bit with the credits well yeah... it's the end of the video. Credits roll and the youtuber was about to end it anyway. Doesn't matter at that point.
Does skipping parts of a video count toward the retention stats?
Great vid
Do you have any information on the age range of the viewers? There are multiple paths to virality and I think "lets play" viewership is good to reach a younger audience but then you have games like vampire survivors or balatro that have relatively horrible views but still go viral from a different path.. probably reaching a more mature audience.
EDIT: so both VS and Balatro have also strongly benefited from lets plays (splattercatgaming and northernlion) though it's still true that these games would fit awkwardly with your model which could be shown by the lack of views they both have. I still think it's an age thing where games that target older gamers need less views to get the ball rolling and have a better conversion rate.
A game doesn't need to be packed with boss fights, jump scares, and chase scenes to benefit from being streamed. Regardless of what kind of game you make, it's still imperative in marketing to reach out to streamers. He's just giving some analysis on what common features he'd use to make the most viral game possible. While a good thing to consider, I think that can't be your only concern when designing a game. As he said, these are just guidelines.
@@heyheythrowaway I'm not disagreeing. I'm just suggesting that his analysis has a younger market bias and the techniques you'd use to go viral with an older audience may have similarities but are ultimately different.
Def a good point. Mass virality is much rarer and more difficult without a younger target demographic. More mature target demographics typically require better word of mouth, or use of the Steam algorithm.
is using comic sans for Cuffbust an attention or an action multiplier
what's behind the door..
my retention is dipping
About jump scares and re-watching content: I sometimes only pretend to watch when jump scare happens then I'm re-watching it to see it, but not actually be jump scared :P It this a cause of the bump? I don't know but I'm doing that ;)
what's behind that door with so many security to close it? Zombies?
Grapple hoops looks sic lol
The fact this is free is insane.
Damn! We living in the best timeline where this video is free.
14:50 Think i nailed that one personally
Hey Gavin, how can we connect?
resume @1:44:00
how is the retention on this channel then :_D
Dude, what the hell are you trying to keep out of that room 😂?
24:41 well the player get the idea of core loop and leave, so what?
How does the fact that the viewer watches to the end correlate with the player's interest/disinterest?
I subscribe to alpha beta gamer and when I watch such videos, I fast forward a couple of clicks to the middle and then fast forward a couple of clicks to the end.
'hmm maybe if i comment that means im only one of 133 indie devs... Haha all the silly viewers that didn't comment, they'll never make a hit game...'
This is Quest
oh boy, 2 hours, let me guess, it's your favorite topic!
Bro why you got so many locks on that door?
And your eyes so red..
Just a couple asks prior to me watching this...
W
First hour club here we goooooo
I'm not sure that there's enough proof that all those deeps are negative. Perhaps a good chunk of people use non commentary gameplay channel to decide if they want to buy that game. And for example, when level ends, there's a decent percentage of people that decided that they do want to play it. So they close the video to go and buy the game. So some percentage of people in those drops may close they video, not because they are not like what they see, but because they do like what they see and they don't want to spoil the game for themselves even more, cause they want to buy and play it.
UA-cam videos about games have verifiably very very low conversion rates. We’re talking 1 sale per tens to hundreds of thousands of views (in very rare scenarios you can get perhaps 1 sale per few thousand views, but this is only for hyper positive review videos). At those scales there is no scenario in which a game would look so fun that it’d cause any noticeable dip in retention.
@@ScientiaLudos It makes sense for most youtube channels, cause people watch those mainly for youtuber. PewDiePie, Markaplier etc. but that is not the case for non commentary gameplay channel. That's why I think some percentage of those who close video might be buyers. Or you do have some proof that that is not the case even for non commentary gameplay channel?
Basically design a game for someone with ADHD lol
By the way, your door has NYC vibes
the fact that everytyhing is so engineered for attention retention is sad. Like, kudos to you, it works, but it can't be good for people. I wonder if there's a nuanced, effective way to encourage people to keep watching even when the current moment is uninteresting
This is just raw data sir. Blame people don't blame Gavin. Why do people view and engage with content in this way? Who knows. I sometimes skip around videos here and there but I usually watch from beginning to end most videos I decide to watch. I don't relate at all to these metrics as a youtube viewer myself.
Yeah, this 2 hour video of watching a human talk isn't gonna let the ADHD crowd get any value from this... just sayin