After launching on Google Play and the App Store, we noticed a concerning dropout pattern. Most users downloaded the app but never created accounts. Of the roughly 1% who did create accounts, only about two-thirds went on to create a character. Of those, only half actually engaged with the game. That left us with just 10 active players.
The Problem
Version 1.3.6 required 12 or more screens and approximately 16 or more distinct actions before a user could start playing the game. The flow looked like this: account creation, login, character creation, character selection, tower selection, and then a cutscene before finally reaching gameplay. That's a lot of friction for someone who just wants to try out the game.
The Solution
In version 1.5.15, we reduced the number of screens by 50% and consolidated the flow down to approximately 9 actions. The key changes included:
- Combined the character name input and type selection into a single screen instead of separate steps.
- Eliminated redundant confirmation screens that asked users to verify choices they had just made.
- Streamlined post-creation workflows to get players into the game faster.
Results
The results were encouraging. We more than doubled our active players from 3 to 8. Our analytics showed that most account creators now proceed all the way to gameplay, which was a significant improvement over the previous funnel where users dropped off at nearly every step.
While these numbers are still small in absolute terms, the improvement in conversion rate validated our hypothesis that onboarding friction was the primary barrier to engagement.