Game Analytics in the material about analytics distinguishes two basic concepts – telemetry and metric. Sometimes they are used as synonyms, but this is not entirely justified.
TelemetryTelemetry is the collection of data at a distance.
The most common source of such information can be called user telemetry, that is, information about the behavior of users received by clients or servers. For example: what items they buy, how long they play and when, how they interact with other users, etc.
MetricTelemetry data is stored in databases, which allows you to convert them into interpreted data.
Data such as the average number of bugs fixed per week, daily income, DAU, etc. It is they who represent the metric of the game.
For example, Medal of Honor telemetry data may include data on the player’s position in the virtual environment, the weapon used, and information about accurate shots and misses. Based on this information, a metric is output: the total number of hits/misses, their ratio for each level or map, etc.
Using data from past periods, you can output a metric of future behavior. Nevertheless, such information will always be associated with a certain uncertainty, while correctly collected telemetry data represent facts.
The game metric is divided into three categories:User metric: Data that relates to users.
- For example: the total time spent by the user in the game, the average number of in-game friends, etc.
- Functional metric: data on the performance of the technical infrastructure and software of the game. They are especially relevant for online games. For example: data on the stability of the game server.
- Process metric: data about the game development process. For example: comparing the volume of tasks with a diagram of their execution, calculating the average time of development and implementation of new content, etc.
Having defined the key terms, Game Analytics offers to figure out how to find useful information about game analytics.
Links to previous materials on this topic:Game Analytics: Getting started with Analytics
- How to evaluate the user experience?
- Game Analytics: Getting started with analytics.
- The basicsEditor’s note: The original was written by Anders Drachen, chief game analyst at Game Analytics.
Source: blog.gameanalytics.com