Hit 40 million downloads: how was the development of the hyper-casual game Pencil Rush 3D

Artem Legonkov, co-founder of Flime

Pencil Rush 3D is a variation of a runner in which the user needs to pick up as many colored pencils as possible during an obstacle course race. At the end of the level, with the help of collected pencils, the player “paints” the picture offered to him.

How did the idea of the game come about

Developing a successful hyper—casual game is always a challenge. How to find such a combination of visual style and gameplay that will give a low cost of installation (CPI) on tests?

We decided to experiment and combined ASMR, a genre with a traditionally low installation cost, with a runner, which often has high retention metrics. For a snack, coloring elements were added to the title, thereby creating additional motivation for the user.

As a result, it turned out to be a game in which just passing the level and getting to the finish line is no longer enough to feel victory. The goal of the Pencil Rush 3D user is, among other things, to paint the finish picture, and this cannot be done in one race. It was the setting of a specific goal, directly related to the main game mechanics, that allowed us to create a complete product, where each subgenre complements the gameplay.

What about metrics?

Immediately after creating the idea, we moved on to developing a prototype of the game. In other words, to develop a version with a minimum number of levels sufficient to pour it into the store. This version usually does not allow you to check in-game mechanics, but allows you to evaluate the future CPI.

The first tests on the prototype in the US showed a CPI of $0.26 on iOS and $0.22 on Android. At the same time, the CTR was 7% with a fairly high CPM (the cost of a thousand impressions).

It was clear that we needed to improve metrics, so we continued to experiment with creatives, color and behavioral schemes. Not all experiments were successful. For example, the creative, which is presented below, had a very small number of installations, and the algorithm did not want to pick them up further.

And this creative’s CPI was around $0.4 on iOS and $0.3 on Android.

In parallel with the experiments, we have prepared a retention version of the game. By this we usually mean the version in which the content should be enough for 10 minutes of gameplay. Usually a player spends 6-8 minutes getting acquainted with a hyper-casual game, after which he may not return. The task of the retention version is to “stretch” the content for two days, which will allow you to check R1 (retention of the first day).

The retention version of Pencil Rush 3D had ten levels and four paintings to paint. This was not enough — R1 was only 24%. Most players quickly mastered the content, noticed the repetition and left the game. Five days later, we released an update that already had more levels and pictures. R1 rose to 34%. It became clear that the game has potential, so we moved on to the next stage of development. We had to improve all aspects of the game, add content and work with monetization.

There were a lot of changes that we made to develop a full version of the game. For example:

• we have added new obstacles: falling books, breaking glass and spinning compasses;
• we have uploaded new bonuses: a pencil case with pencils for advertising at the end of the level and a reward for a fully drawn picture;
• the mechanics were complicated: the pencils collected by the player could now fall outside the track, and the tracks themselves became more tortuous;
• made pencil management more responsive;
• improved the color scheme;
• added epic pencil skins (for example, with it the red pencil looks like it’s made of lava);
• changed the position and behavior of the camera;
• the number of levels was brought up to 40 and more than 15 pictures were uploaded.

All these improvements have raised R1 to 43%.

Monetization

In Pencil Rush 3D, we used two types of advertising: fullscreen (interstitial) and rewarded (rewarded). There were difficulties with the second type. It was necessary to find an interesting place to place creatives.

Initially, we followed the standard path: we added a currency multiplier, “three upgrade buttons”, keys with chests containing special “skins” for pencils, etc. However, it soon became clear that users were bored with these approaches, and they work significantly worse than a year or two ago. So we started experimenting again.

It turned out that a good place for rewarded advertising should be closely related to the essence of the game. In the case of Pencil Rush 3D, this is the end of the level when, after running through an obstacle course, the player stops to “paint” the picture. At this point, we can offer the player to purchase a pencil case with additional pencils so that the picture is completed faster.

It is important to clarify: in Pencil Rush 3D, the player does not know what the finished picture that he “paints” will look like. He sees a white canvas on which segments are gradually being painted over in different places. The more runs the player has made and the more pencils he has collected, the more complete the picture becomes. If the user is impatient to see the finished picture, then he will not mind watching an advertisement to get additional pencils.

Now rewarded advertising before coloring the picture brings 60% of all the rewards shown in the game.

Another successful placement of rewarded advertising turned out to be associated with pencil skins. Previously, users could get a skin (or in-game currency) in a chest, which could be opened with special keys. The player found the keys during the race. In the updated version of Pencil Rush 3D, the user began to pick up the skin itself on the track and pass the level with it. However, after the race, the player needs to watch an advertisement to save the skin forever. This ad accounted for another 15% of the impressions of the rewards.

As a result, these two placements increased the number of impressions more than three times, from 1 to 3.5 ads on day zero.

Each game update increased the length of the game session:

What’s going on with the game now?

Shortly after the global launch, we added a metagame in the form of an art gallery to Pencil Rush 3D. Players have the opportunity to collect painted paintings and show them to visitors. This update has significantly increased long-term retention, and the game is still making a profit.