What makes game analytics different?

In the world of mobile gaming, analytics play a crucial role in defining new product roadmaps. In contrast to many other industries where data is gathered from ‘flattening’ the world into workable data which can reduce the scope of what is possible to monitor, we have the luxury of being able to track everything within our games. For game analysts, this increases the possibilities for exploration and offers a much more holistic perspective of our products. These are just some of the reasons why Martin and Onur, our Game Data Analysts, believe game analytics is so interesting.

Meet Martin and Onur, our Game Analysts 👋

Taking the user perspective into account is a key part of game analysts’ work – we have a wide variety of users both in terms of their skill-set and playing intentions. We have players who enjoy more challenging puzzles and play a huge amount of levels each day, but also inexperienced players who are opening our game for the first time, or even trying out a mobile game for the first time in their lives. All of these different user perspectives push our analysts to take a deep dive into game dynamics and into considering different analytics points. It is important to clarify here that this is of course keeping complete user privacy – our focus is on tracking what our players DO and understanding how they PLAY.

“Having this analytics sandbox allows us to get very creative,” Martin explains, “We can pretty much gather any hypothesis and run with it. In other industries, that’s not always possible. On top of that, we have millions of users, which means that we have access to huge amounts of data. This allows us to get very reactive in our work.”

The ability to gather loads of data and to gather it quickly, allows us to move fast in shifting things like our in-game economy or to get input on new features we’re developing. When the team moves so fast, they can make a real impact on the products. “We are a big part of the company and the decisions that are being made. We want to ensure that we are always working in a very data driven way,” adds Martin.

A holistic view of our products

Within our analytics, we can track step-by step what our users are seeing and doing. We can see how they interact with individual levels, tasks, events, features and offers. Do they click out of different screen views? What things do they accept, which ones do they deny? What is the order in which they receive offers and what impact does this have on their purchasing habits? When they get into the game, what is the first thing they see? What is the last thing they do?

Our analysts therefore work with a wide range of hypotheses. They come up with many of them through their own interaction with the game or project they’re supporting. Onur shares an example: “Recently, whilst playing Lily’s Garden, I set the hypothesis that a different placement of a particular button would make me want to play another level. And so I set up the analysis and designed an A/B test, to see whether my theory holds true in real life. The best thing is that I could see the results very fast – we have a wide user base and so significance is achieved quickly, particularly compared to other clinical trials.”

This ability to track everything in real-time creates variety for our analysts in how they use the data and in the types of tasks they get to do. “As data analysts, we do not sit in a separate room somewhere in the building, filling in spreadsheets. We are on the floors, sitting directly with the teams, whether that’s supporting individual games or marketing teams, and helping them work in a data-driven way,” explains Martin.

Analytics impact on every step of the way

It is our ambition at Tactile to be as data-centric as possible. Our analysts are not just “SQL Monkeys” – they are a key part of every step of the way, from ideation to shipping and even LiveOps, balancing and marketing. Data benefits the entire production pipeline. On top of this, they help ideate on the product side, they have a hand in the design aspect, they help set-up A/B tests, analyse results and help teams drive key takeaways. They’re completely intertwined in all of our projects and so their say really matters. “People will listen to your opinions,” says Onur, “and you can very quickly see the impact of the changes which were applied because of your findings.”

This is especially true when working on a brand new game. Martin started off as a product analyst on our biggest game, Lily’s Garden, which is a great starting point for someone joining the gaming industry for the very first time. However, as Lily’s Garden is an established game, the approach to making changes is different compared to a new game. Lily’s Garden has a large group of long-term players who enjoy the game as it is and it’s important to not change it too much, so as not to let them down in terms of their player experience. In a new game, the product itself and player experiences are still being refined and shaped, which means that players are expecting more changes to come.

The opportunities and challenges of a new game project

After a couple of years on Lily’s Garden, Martin took the opportunity to join one of our newest game projects, Simon’s Cat Match, which was already in production, but not yet fully released.

Having a data person on a new game as early on as possible in its development cycle is really important for two key reasons; one, it helps to set the foundation for analytics on a wider scale and two, it allows the team to keep moving fast and stay data-driven whilst doing so. Martin elaborates: “This means that we’re able to use data to validate big risks and be confident that the changes we are making to the game are positive improvements. We’re a small team, but our ambitions are big and we want to keep growing our game, so it’s crucial for us to stay agile.”

A brand new game is a blank slate and therefore presents a lot more possibilities, but this also comes with more challenges. As the only analyst, Martin has been a big part of the team by supporting and enabling all the changes that are being made in the game. Every new feature, every adjustment and change needs to be tracked and tested properly before it gets released to the entire player base. “This is challenging because of the quantity of the users and also because of the in-game balancing, when we make several changes at the same time,” explains Martin, “Moving fast also means not being able to A/B test everything. This is when methodology and scientific rigor become even more important.”

In his day-to-day, Martin works closely with the game’s Product Manager, as well as other area leads (for game art, animation, level design, programming and QA). As a team, they do a lot of spitballing and brainstorming, so everyone is a big part of making decisions. Martin specifically is involved in everything from designing new features, design tweaking, providing data on existing users, assisting with solving problems, bugs and investigating crashes. He has a real impact on the final look and feel of the game.

Supporting the core of our games

Onur, just like Martin, started on Lily’s Garden product team, but recently moved to working with our Gameboard team. This team is responsible for everything relating to our core gameplay (match-3 puzzles), in particular level design.

Making match-3 puzzle games is our core business and so it’s key for us to ensure that our game levels are both appealing and challenging for all the different user bases we have. “The insights from data are an irreplaceable part of this process,” explains Onur. In his work, he collaborates closely with Product Managers, Level Designers and Gameboard Artists, who are the main drivers of what our users are experiencing in the game.

When it comes to Level Design, Onur needs to support the team with a holistic analysis at all times. “Working with levels has so much depth, it’s almost like working on another game in itself,” adds Onur. What he means by this is that we need a lot of visibility in order to make our levels both challenging and visually appealing – we need data on how our users are progressing through levels, how they are navigating within the levels, which actions they’re taking and how they’re interacting with other parts of the game (such as events). We are also interested in observing different player behaviours, for example whether they are getting disinterested or quitting the game after a certain point. “On top of this, there are things that need to be reworked, design decisions that need to be made and adjusted, and reward structures which need to be established. Analytics needs to stay on top of this at all times,” concludes Onur.

The impact of a strong analytics function

Being so involved in every part of the business, from product development, to core gameplay and even marketing – the impact of our analytics team is huge.

For Martin, the biggest impact in his work comes from driving people towards making decisions based on data, not hunches. “Or at least, to have them use data to confirm or disregard hunches,” he says. “It’s really rewarding being able to reinforce decision making and to see something in the game that you had a direct impact on.” For Onur, this impact is the biggest motivator. He explains: “Trends change so rapidly. A tiny change on the economy side or within another side of the game can create an adverse impact on the trend you’ve been following. This is why it’s so important to detect these things and problem-solve quickly.”

But the impact goes beyond just recommending a change on the feature and seeing it come to life.”Games are so important these days – they’re a huge part of people’s lives and they bring joy to people. It’s truly amazing to be a part of that,” Martin wraps-up perfectly.

We’re hiring! Come grow with us 🌱 (link is valid until role closes)

Relocating to a new country is a life-changing experience! Whilst there’s a lot of positive emotions around it, the move can also be stressful and overwhelming. How will it be once you get to your destination? Will it be easy to get settled in? Are the public institutions well organized? Is there a good public transportation system in place that is easy to navigate?

At Tactile, we relocate people from all over the world and many of us have been through this experience, asking ourselves the same questions and feeling the same concerns. So to help you get better prepared for your potential move to Denmark, we have put together a comprehensive Relocation Guide.

Depending on where you are in your hiring journey with Tactile, you can refer to one of the 3 sections of the guide, which holds the key information for you to know at this point in time:

We hope that this guide helps you to feel more prepared to start your new life in Denmark 🙌

🗣️ If you’re currently in the interview process with Tactile

If you are currently based outside of Denmark and are considering to move here, there is some key information that is good to know very early on.

Already in the initial conversations during the recruitment process, we like to cover the following:

For things like salary, it is important to look at market ranges and general life costs, so that you understand what level of life a certain compensation package can secure you. It is important to put this number into the context of Copenhagen/Denmark.

1️⃣ Section 1 of our Relocation Guide (pages 4-11) will help you to do so! 👌

The topics we cover in Section 1 of our Relocation Guide
🤝 If you’ve signed the contract and are about to move to Denmark

Big congrats on your offer! We’re looking forward to welcoming you to our Tactile team very soon! 🥳

Now it’s time to kick-start your relocation process 👏

Our People Coordinator will reach out to you via e-mail to get all the details we need to apply for your visa (if required), book your flights and temporary accommodation, and to help relocate any accompanying family members.

2️⃣ Section 2 of our Relocation Guide (pages 12-23) will help to set your expectations regarding the relocation process with Tactile.

💡For a complete overview, please visit Life in Denmark.

Relocation TL;DR
✈️ If you have just arrived to Copenhagen

You made it to Denmark! Velkommen ❤️

Now we have to get you set up with all the practical stuff. There are a lot of bureaucratical processes in Denmark, but it’s pretty straightforward to sail through them and our People Coordinator will be there to support you throughout the entire journey. Once you receive your civil registration number (CPR) and yellow health card, you’re pretty much good to go 👏 You’ll be able to open a bank account, access your health insurance, receive salary, pay tax, create your digital ID and even borrow books from the library 😄

3️⃣ In Section 3 of the Relocation Guide (pages 24-39), we go over what the standard bureaucratic process looks like, depending on where you come from (Non-EU or EU).

💡For a complete overview please visit the International House.

The key practicalities you need to go through to get set-up in Denmark
Your ‘Getting set-up in Denmark’ checklist if you come from a Non-EU country
Your ‘Getting set-up in Denmark’ checklist if you come from an EU country

Do not worry – we know this is a looooot of information and it can be overwhelming to take it all in – we are here to support you every step of the way. You will receive all the information again when it’s relevant, so that you don’t have to think about everything all at once.

This Relocation Guide is here to support you wherever in your recruitment journey you might be and it serves as your go-to place to find any information which you might need. We also invite you to check out our Relocation to Denmark FAQs.

💡In general, Danish authorities provide a lot of useful information online, and we very much recommend that you consult those too. We recommend:

Contact information for key Danish authorities
List of most useful apps to get you set-up in Denmark

Good luck with your move! 🍀

It’s Time for Talent – with Asker Markussen

Hi, my name is Asker, it’s nice to e-meet you! 👋

I initially joined Tactile in 2021 as a 3D Character Animator in the Creative Marketing department. A couple of years later, I got the opportunity to move to game production, where I now work as the Lead Animator on one of our newest games. In my role, I oversee all animation and work closely with the art team to create a fun experience for our players.

Meet Asker 👋
🚀 Before Tactile

I was always glued to the screen as a kid. Playing video games and watching every animated show I could find, so it was always my dream to work in games and movie production.

After high school, I knew I needed to grow not just as an animator, but also as a person. I enrolled in an online animation school at Animation Mentor and started a university program in software development at ITU at the same time. It was a lot of work, to say the least, but I learned so much.

After finishing the online animation course, I was offered a job at Tactile Games. Without much hesitation, I took a big risk and dropped out of university to work at Tactile full-time as a character animator.

💜 Joining Tactile

When I joined, I was totally green when it came to working full time in a professional environment and working as a 3D animator, so there was plenty of growing to do!  Luckily, the whole team in Creative Marketing made sure to take good care of me. People are extremely supportive here. Feedback and daily communication is essential to the development of the employees and the work we do at Tactile.

Everyone on the team is always giving feedback to each other, even cross-disciplinary

Joining tactile had a great impact on my growth as an animator. This was the first time I had been surrounded by like minded people who were all interested in creating art and animation and were all motivated to learn and grow their craft.

💪 Having an impact

I am currently on a team working on one of our new games. I spend most of my time animating in Maya, giving feedback and implementing art and assets in Unity. It is a great mix between artistic and technical skills that I find very fun and there is always more to learn.

My favorite part of working with a new, smaller team is that experimentation and fast iteration is possible. It is so much fun to see great ideas have an impact on the final product and that everyone can work together and collaborate on a specific vision.

It is also very rewarding to see your hard work become part of a bigger product and how a lot of work and polish can take a game from good to great.

📚 The keys to success

If you are looking to get into animation in the gaming industry here’s some tips from my experience:

Thanks for sharing, Asker! 💜