作者：Scott Davis

我是Scott，是Edge Case Games的高级数据分析师，正致力于《破裂空间》这款游戏。《破裂空间》是一款基于团队的5对5的空间战斗游戏，现在处于Steam的Early Access过程中。

我主要负责收集游戏每天所生成的无数数据。对此我是与一家能够判断任何游戏是否失衡的工作室展开合作，我们可以马上获取玩家行为并基于玩家在游戏中的游戏方式去创造出更有趣且更吸引人的游戏。

一月末我们在Steam上进行了一个周末免费活动。在这个周末结束后我收集了所有相关数据和分析，即包括多少心玩家加入了我们？这些新玩家坚持玩游戏多久？玩家打开了哪只船？这些船在玩家的控制下表现如何？多少玩家在什么时候选择退出游戏？

在我开始研究粉丝的特殊领域前，让我们先着眼于这个免费周末所创造的一些数值：

在整个周末大约有17万玩家玩了我们的游戏

其中有13.2万属于全新游戏玩家

每天平均活跃用户大概为6万人

游戏每天能够迎来大约4万新玩家

大约有6万已经2周以上不玩游戏的玩家在免费周末又回到了游戏中

我们的并发用户高潮（游戏邦注：即最多玩家同时在玩游戏的数量）大概有6000名玩家

所以让我们更深入地去分析游戏以及玩家如何玩游戏，让我们从周末玩家中占最大比例的新玩家开始。

新玩家和试验场

我们之前已经说过大约有13.2万新玩家在免费周末加入游戏中。所以这些新玩家到底可以坚持多久？他们将在哪里退出游戏？

让我们先着眼于下图，即关于在《破裂空间》的新手环节（即游戏面向所有新玩家的开放式体验）的每个步骤中分别出现了多少新玩家。

下图考虑到了游戏的试验场教程是一种可选择内容，所以新玩家可以选择略过这部分内容。

在游戏中我们经常能够看到玩家在新手环节中会随着时间的发展逐渐脱离游戏，特别是当游戏为免费游戏且吸引了各种类型的新玩家时。

graph 1.a(from gamasutra)

对于《破裂空间》来说，这个时期的玩家流失率真的非常高。最理想的情况是当玩家开始进行第一次比赛时，你所流失的玩家数量不会超过25%（当然了最理想的状况是0%，但这却是不大可能的事）。而在《破裂空间》的免费周末，我们在新手环节中便已经失去了大约66%的新玩家了。

当着眼于这些玩家是在哪个部分离开游戏时我们发现教程的流失率是最高的。当前教程的一个突出方面是它们能够带给已经完成3个比赛的新玩家正面影响—-有2.5万新玩家是在免费周末开始第2次比赛，其中85%的玩家已经完成了教程环节。这也进一步支持了我们最近想将教程作为新手环节中一个强制过程的决定，即能够限制那些不知道自己现在在做什么或者不知道如何玩游戏而想进行第1次比赛的新玩家的数量。

然而随着95%的新玩家开始进行第1个教程，更大的问题便出现了，即完成这部分教程的玩家数量并不高。就像在我们的免费周末期间，在第3部分教程结束时我们大概失去了60%从第1部分教程开始的新玩家，可想而知这一流失率真的很高。

因为我们在教程期间失去了很大一部分新玩家，所以我们将进一步着眼于这些教程并看看玩家是在哪里离开游戏的。

从图中我们可以看到在每个教程关卡中（总共3个教程关卡）达到每个目标的玩家数量以及在最初步骤便离开的玩家比例。因为大多数目标都不是线性的或可选择的，所以我们可以发现玩家并非连续去完成大多数的目标。

graph 1.b(from gamasutra)

除了可选择或非线性目标外，在每个步骤中的最高流失率出现在第1个教程和第2个教程开始之间，即这里的流失率为22%。而开始第2个教程的新玩家的用户粘性相对较高，即我们会发现从第2个教程的开始之处到第3个教程的结尾，玩家的流失率是38%—-这也更加接近我们所认为的理想流失率，虽然还是蛮高的。这清楚地表明我们需要进一步鼓励玩家坚持地玩完第一个教程，即我们不仅需要创造出更吸引人的第一个教程，也需要确保清楚地将教程奖励呈现在玩家面前，如此我们才能在3部分教程中留住更多玩家。

我们已经很努力去设计并完善游戏内容以确保新玩家能够拥有更高的用户粘性并将更多新玩家带到游戏比赛中。而实现这点的第一步便是更多地优化已经变成面向新玩家的强制内容的新手环节的体验（游戏邦注：不管是对于新玩家还是老玩家来说这么做都是好的）。

船只和全新技术树

在免费周末之前我们3次重置了游戏的技术树，并删除了包括船只和装车解锁在内的所有玩家进程。对于我们来说这能够清理游戏领域并且能够让我们更清楚地看到在免费周末期间随着新玩家的涌入，他们的用户粘性是否会受到新技术树和船只的影响。

首先让我们着眼于下图的Heatmap图表，即关于何时所有船只将被开启并且是基于多大数量。

graph 2.a(from gamasutra)

让我们先解释下什么是heatmap。每个水平行都代表着船只被开启的顺序，所以第一行便表示每个玩家最先打开的是什么，红色补丁表示的是最多玩家最先打开的船只。第二行也是如此，即关于最多玩家第二次打开的船只，以此类推。

heatmap图表呈现给我们的是平均每个玩家通过技术树所经历的旅程：

Colossus是玩家最有可能第一个打开的船只

然后移向Protector

然后打开Brawler，Hunter或Reaper

最后玩家将移向Enforcer（如果之前没有打开Reaper便是Reaper）

在打开技术树之后阶段的Interceptor，Disruptor或Equalizer之前

一些来自上图的统计数据也能够绘制出一张有趣的图表。即大概有89%的玩家所打开的第一艘船只是Colossus。大概50%的玩家第二次打开的船只是Colossus（比例为26%）或Protector（比例为24%）。

随后让我们着眼于玩家在打开下一艘船只前需要玩多久的游戏。在下图中你将看到玩家在两艘船只开启间的平均比赛次数。

下面的长条图代表的是玩家在第2次，第3次，第4次（以此类推）开启船只间的平均比赛次数。

graph 2.b(from gamasutra)

你可以发现在第2次和第6次开启船只之间玩家参与的比赛数量是缓缓上升的，因为这时候他们还没有足够的资源去开启下一艘船只。这种指数上升方式也是我们希望看到的。而当我们发现玩家在开启第8艘船只所玩的游戏次数大大减少时，我们便知道技术树开始出现失衡。当玩家打开第7艘船只时，数值开始变得不稳定，不过在免费周末期间到达这个点上的玩家数量还较少，所以比起之前的步骤这里的数值比较不能代表更广的玩家基础。

当去估量这前6个开启阶段的基本趋势时会发现，那些始终保持一致的玩家将完成429场比赛才能打开全部23艘船只。但如果玩家希望随着时间的发展去提高自己的分数和经验值的话，他们能打开的船只数量便会减少。

在明确了玩家将基于何种顺序并花多长时间去打开什么船只之后，我们的下一个目标便是基于设计师的假设去验证这些数字。我们将明确是否需要做出任何调整去完善整体的技术树平衡，并确保玩家不会太快完成所有游戏内容，并且不会在技术树中过长停留于同一个位置上。

对此我们只需要着眼于我们为《破裂空间》所收集的一些分析内容。在致力于Edge Case Games的3月时间，我一直承受着团队成员总是想了解包括关键参数和详细行为分析在内的游戏性能的压力。我们会继续在《破裂空间》中推动基于数据的文化并通过利用这些数据去做出更多完善。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Fractured Space – Analysing our Free Weekend

by Scott Davis

Hello, my name is Scott and I am the Senior Data Analyst here at Edge Case Games, working on Fractured Space. Fractured Space is a 5-v-5 team-based space combat game, currently in Early Access on Steam.

I am in charge of combing through the millions of rows of data the game is generating each day. With this data I work with the entire studio to help highlight any game imbalances we can immediately spot, as well as deriving the behaviour of the playerbase so we can work to make the game more enjoyable and engaging based on how we see players are playing the game.

At the end of January we had run a Free Weekend on Steam. Following that weekend I had pulled together various stats and analytics on how the Free Weekend went down – how many new players joined us? How long were these New Players sticking around for? Which ships were people unlocking? How were these ships performing in the hands of players in-game? How many players were quitting out of games and when?

Before I start delving into particular areas of analysis, let’s take a look and some of the top line numbers from the Free Weekend:

Over the whole weekend we had around 170,000 players play the game

Around 132,000 of those were new players to the game

The average number of players firing up the game per day (Daily Active Users) was around 60,000

The game was averaging around 40,000 New Players per day

Around 60,000 Players who had previously not played the game for 2 weeks or more had come back to play the game on the Free Weekend

Our peak Concurrent Users (the most players we had in the game at one time) was around 6,000 players

So, let’s dive into some deeper analysis of the game and how people were playing, starting with the group that made up the majority of our players over the weekend – the New Players.

New Players & the Proving Grounds

We said earlier that around 132,000 new players had joined the game over the Free Weekend. So how long were these new players sticking around for, and where were they dropping out?

Let’s start by looking at the below graph (graph 1.a), which shows how many new players got to each step of Fractured Space’s Onboarding – the game’s opening experience for all new players, from booting up the game all the way to starting their first match.

The graph below takes into account that the game’s Proving Grounds tutorials are currently optional and so new players can skip them altogether if they want to.

It is not uncommon in games to see the number of players drop off over time as they move through a game’s onboarding, especially when the game is free and can attract any number and types of new players.

The level of drop-off is quite significant in Fractured Space at this time. Ideally, from the point a new player boots up the game to them starting their first competitive match, you would like to only lose no more than 25% of players along the way (ideally 0% but we can’t all get what we want). In Fractured Space over the Free Weekend however, we lost around 66% of new players during player onboarding which is not all that great.

A particular focus on where we are losing these players lies within the largest stage of our onboarding journey, the tutorials. The good thing about the current tutorials is that they are having a positive effect on new players that come out having completed all three – of the 25k new players that started a second match during the free weekend, around 85% of these players had completed the tutorial. This has backed up a decision we’ve recently made on making the tutorials a mandatory step of the onboarding, limiting the number of new players that are getting to their first match that don’t know what they are doing or how to play the game.

However, with around 95% of new players starting the first tutorial, the larger problem is that not a high enough percentage of players are completing them. During the free weekend we lost 60% of new players that started the first tutorial by the end of the third tutorial which, following our previous rule that we would like to only be losing no more than 25%, is far too high.

We’re losing a good portion of new players during the tutorial, so let’s take a deeper look at these tutorials and see where players are dropping out in the below graph (graph 1.b).

This shows the number of players that get to each objective in each of the three tutorial levels (each colour representing the 3 levels) and the % drop off from the previous step. It doesn’t look all too smooth or sequential as most objectives can be completed in a non-linear order or are optional altogether.

Beyond the optional or non-linear objectives, the highest drop off in a single step is between the end of the first tutorial and the start of the second, where a drop off of 22% of players is seen. However, those new players that do start the second tutorial do remain relatively engaged, were we only see a 38% drop off from the start of the second tutorial to the end of the third – which is closer to the drop-off rate we would consider more ideal, but still too high. What this clearly shows is that we need to be doing more to encourage people to stick around following the first tutorial, including making the first tutorial more engaging as well ensuring the tutorial rewards are clearer for new players, driving as many as we can through to the end of the third tutorial.

We have been working hard on designing and planning improvements to keep new players more engaged and ensure that as many new players as possible are making it into a match. The first step of this will be a more polished onboarding experience for new players that will, of course, become mandatory for all new players (which is a very good thing for all players old and new).

Ships & the New Tech Tree

Prior to the Free Weekend we carried out a complete reset of the game’s Tech Tree, wiping all players’ progress including ship and loadout unlocks. This levelled the playing field somewhat for us and was a great opportunity for us to see, following the influx of new players during the free weekend, how players fresh to the game were engaging with the tech tree and which ships were the most appealing to them.

First off let’s take a look at the below Heatmap graph (graph 2.a), which shows for all ships when they are being unlocked and in what quantity.

Let me explain the heatmap in a little more detail. Each horizontal row represents the order in which a ship was unlocked, so the first row signifies what each player had unlocked first with the darker, redder patches showing what ships the most players were unlocking first. The same applies for the second row, showing what ships players were unlocking the most second and so on. There are players that have unlocked more than 12 ships by now, but in too small of numbers to be counted as a significance in the larger picture.

What the heatmap shows us, when taking a step back and looking at the whole picture, is the journey the average player is taking through the Tech Tree:

The Colossus is most likely to have been the ship they unlocked first

Before moving onto the Protector

Then unlocking the Brawler, Hunter or the Reaper

Later on people are moving onto the Enforcer (or the Reaper if they hadn’t already)

Before unlocking the Interceptor (with the kick-ass Rail Gun), Disruptor or Equalizer in the later stages of the Tech Tree

Some particular stats to pull from the above chart also do paint an interesting picture. Around 89% of all players’ first ship unlock was the Colossus. Around 50% of all players second unlock was either the Colossus (26%) or the Protector (24%)

Next up, let’s take a look at how long players are having to play before their next ship unlock. Below you will see a graph showing the average number of matches players are playing between Ship unlocks.

The below Bar Chart (graph 2.b) shows the average number of a matches players are playing between their 2nd, 3rd, 4th unlock and so on.

As you can see, between unlocks 2 and 6 we see a slow climb in the number of matches a player takes part in before having enough resources to unlock their next ship. This type of exponentially increasing number is something we want to see. As soon as we see a player that can on average unlock their 8th ship in less games than their 6th ship, then we know that there is a potential imbalance in the tech tree. The numbers get a bit more erratic from Unlock 7 onwards, but with a smaller number of players getting to this point over the Free Weekend, the averages become less representative of the wider playerbase than those steps before it.

Calculating a basic trend those first 6 unlock stages are showing is, a player who can stay consistent on average would have to complete 429 matches to unlock all 23 unlockable ships. However this would probably end up being much less if a player was to improve their Credits and XP yield over time through their performance.

The next steps for us, upon seeing what ships people are unlocking, in what order, and how long it is taking them to unlock these ships, is to validate these number against the assumptions of the designers. We’ll see if we need to make any adjustments to improve overall tech tree balance, and ensure players aren’t getting through all of the game’s content too quickly – and not having to over-grind for any particular position on the tech tree.

This is just a breif look at some of the analysis we are pulling together for Fractured Space. Whilst having only worked at Edge Case Games for three months now myself, I was overwhelmed with how much everyone on the team strives to know how their game is performing at a deep level all the way from key metrics to deep behavioural analysis. We will continue to drive a data-aided culture on Fractured Space and seek out any and all improvements that can be informed through the use of data.

I hope you enjoyed the article. What is great about sharing articles like this is having other people spot anything i might have missed in the data. Please reach out to me if you have any questions or leave a comment below that i will try and answer.（source：Gamasutra）