Onboarding, also known as the First-Time User Experience (FTUE), comprises the first few minutes of gameplay that new players experience. The FTUE introduces the game, interface, and mechanics, and may include tutorials that teach players how to play. The success of a FTUE is determined by how well it achieves two metrics:
- Day 1 retention
- Onboarding goals
Day 1 retention
Day 1 Retention is gauged by the amount of players who make it through the FTUE, known as the Player Funnel. The funnel is widest at the top and narrowest at the bottom as fewer players complete each step. All games lose some amount of players along this path.
The onboarding experience aims to limit drop-off between steps and retain as many new players as possible. To identify and "plug" leaks in your funnel, you can use Experiments. By running A/B tests on specific tutorial steps, you can measure the causal impact of different designs, such as a shorter dialogue sequence versus a guided arrow, to see which version leads to higher completion rates.
Games with high D1 retention metrics often owe that success to effectively accomplishing their onboarding goals through constant iteration and data-driven testing.
Onboarding goals
Many of the most successful onboarding experiences follow these high-level practices:
- Teach the essentials
- Get to the fun quickly
- Leave players wanting more
Teach the essentials
For successful onboarding, players need to grasp controls for navigation and interaction. Displaying complex, unfamiliar controls on-screen or incorporating them in a tutorial can be beneficial.
Besides controls, onboarding should also impart knowledge of the game's Core Loop, the repetitive actions for progress that define the game. It is critical that players understand both what they are expected to do and why they should do it.
Get to the fun quickly
New players typically decide their interest in a game within minutes. To retain them, you must quickly demonstrate value through:
- Game progression
- Social motivators
- Starter items and currency
Progression
Progression is felt when a player gets better, gains access to new systems, and achieves goals. A great way to facilitate this is through Player XP-Based leveling systems.
Keeping thresholds low for a player's early levels allows them to level up quickly and feel the fun of progression immediately. You can use Configs to tune these XP thresholds in real-time. This allows you to smooth out the progression curve or adjust rewards based on live player behavior without needing to restart servers or push a full update.
Social motivators
Social players often prefer onboarding experiences that provide opportunities for collaboration and competition. If your game relies heavily on social interaction, consider using Experiments to test different matchmaking parameters during the FTUE to see which social groupings lead to better long-term engagement.
Starter items and currency
Providing free items like equipment or soft currency allows players to engage with your systems early. However, finding the right balance is vital. The goal is to give players the opportunity to enjoy the utility or self-expression afforded by those items to encourage future playtime.
By using Experiments, you can gift different starting amounts of currency to different groups of new players to see which leads to higher retention. Once you find the ideal balance, Configs allow you to update that starting value globally and instantly for all future players.
For more on core loops, see Core loops.
Leave players wanting more
By the end of onboarding, players should be aware of the full range of content available. Designing these two characteristics effectively keeps players coming back:
- Goals
- Moments of joy
Goals
Providing short, mid, and long-term goals help players conceptualize future play sessions and envision their future success. These goals can take a number of different forms: skill trees, season passes, quests, collections, and more. Surfacing these goals in highly visible places, either in the game-world or the UI, provides a frequent reminder to players of what they're working towards.
Moments of joy
Joy can be elicited through rewards, delightful animations, and celebratory visual effects when a player achieves a milestone. Ending the onboarding experience with an intentionally designed moment of joy leaves players feeling accomplished and excited to return for their next session.