Title: A few months ago, I released a small game called Fast Flood[0]. It&#x27;s a mix of the Flood game and Wordle.<p>It did well on launch (&gt;50k users played it in the first days) and has kept a group of ~300 loyal users that play the game every day, even though I didn&#x27;t do anything to improve it for a long time[1]. These users spend an average of 6 minutes on the site and return every day or so.<p>The site has limited traffic today, but the users who visit are very engaged with the game, so I&#x27;ve started thinking about possible ways to get more people to play it. A week ago, I released an update that focused on fixing some existing bugs, a slight UI redesign, and, more importantly, tried to get people to share the game by adding a leaderboard[2]. Let me explain this last part.<p>Assuming that the game was engaging, my guess was that people shared games for three reasons:<p>1. Because the game dynamics require it (multiplayer-only games)<p>2. In-game or financial incentives (e.g., Play-to-earn, referrals programs, etc.)<p>3. Status (e.g., I feel good because I solved guessed today&#x27;s Wordle quickly)<p>Given that doing 1 adds too much complexity, and I don&#x27;t have the money for 2, I thought 3 could be a good option. I had two ideas. Either allow people to set up tournaments with friends where they could compete and compare results. Or a global leader board, where people could compete with everyone who played.<p>I chose the latter option and released these changes last week. It hasn&#x27;t made much of a difference, making me wonder if my theory about why people share games is correct.<p>As a newcomer to game design, I hoped more experienced game developers&#x2F;designers could provide insights about:<p>1. What makes users want to share games?<p>2. For daily puzzle games, have you seen any interesting approaches that make people more likely to share them?<p>Also, I have limited web dev experience. Please excuse me if my UI makes your eyes bleed :P<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;fastflood.dylancastillo.co&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;fastflood.dylancastillo.co&#x2F;</a><p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;_dylancastillo&#x2F;status&#x2F;1510655616607522822" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;_dylancastillo&#x2F;status&#x2F;151065561660752282...</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;_dylancastillo&#x2F;status&#x2F;1550135314521284610" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;_dylancastillo&#x2F;status&#x2F;155013531452128461...</a>
Upvote: