Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Google Play Games App Overview


Last Wednesday, Google released the Google Play Games App.  According to Google:  "[it's] is the easiest way for you to discover new games, track achievements and scores, and play with friends around the world."

What I really enjoy about the app is the ability to easily see all of the games that I currently have installed that include the Game Play Services.  Previously you basically had to just look at the developer's release notes to find out if they had incorporated Game Services.

Furthermore, the release of this app is definitely an opportunity for developers who may have been sitting on the fence on whether they should give the Game Services a try.  You essentially get free exposure for your game by integrating with Google's service.  This could also really drive engagement, as each game the user plays is displayed prominently with a badge showing the current number of achievements they have won.

The interface is very simple and clean.  You have several pathways to discovering new games and new people for your Google+ circles.  Have you downloaded the new Google Play Games app yet?  What are your first impressions? Leave comments below.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

[Android Tips]: Play Store 'staged rollouts' with Google Analytics

Recently the Google Play Store has added the ability for developers to release a new version of their application's apk progressively by means of staged rollouts.  According to Google this allows you to "get feedback on your new app or app update early in its development and make sure your users are happy with the results."  With the release of the latest version of Word Crank, our flagship game, we decided to take advantage of this new feature.

Staged Rollouts


We released version 1.5.0 of our application to 20% of users initially and then monitored the results in Google Analytics.  In order to distinguish the engagement of the users on the latest version of the app from the others, we created two new custom segments in our primary Dashboard view.  The first segment included all users with version 1.5.0 of the application and the other segment included all other versions of the application.

Custom Segments

 

Once these segments were created we monitored the statistics for a few days and then gradually increased the percentage of rollout to 100%.  This is an extremely useful tool in making sure your new release increases user engagement and the desired traffic goals of your application.

Have you tried staged rollouts?  Leave a comment below.

Monday, June 10, 2013

[Android Tips]: Getting users to +1 your app

In order to improve your application's ranking in the Google Play store, you should get users to +1 your app.  You can do this using GooglePlayServices and the PlusOneButton Android UI element.  Here is a simple layout file that includes the plus one button:

[code]
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:padding="10dip"
android:background="@android:color/black" >

<com.google.android.gms.plus.PlusOneButton
xmlns:plus="http://schemas.android.com/apk/lib/com.google.android.gms.plus"
android:id="@+id/plus_one_button"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
plus:size="tall"
plus:annotation="inline" />

</LinearLayout>
[/code]

It creates the following User Interface Component:
google_plus_button_layout

 

 

Then in your MainActivity's onResume method you can check to see if the layout is visible and then initialize the button:

[code]
@Override
protected void onResume() {
super.onResume();

if (plusLayout.getVisibility() == View.VISIBLE) {
// Refresh the state of the +1 button each time the activity receives focus.
mPlusOneButton.initialize(mPlusClient, APP_URL, PLUS_ONE_REQUEST_CODE);
}

}

[/code]

 

The APP_URL is the link to your app on the Google Play Store

The PLUS_ONE_REQUEST_CODE is any integer value >= 0

Building on the AppRater code base, you can modify it to set a flag when you want to show the plus_button_layout to the user, similar to the following:

[code]

public class AppRater {
private final static int DAYS_UNTIL_PROMPT = 1;
private final static int LAUNCHES_UNTIL_PROMPT = 4;

public static void app_launched(Context mContext) {
SharedPreferences prefs = mContext.getSharedPreferences(PreferenceConstants.PREFERENCE_NAME, Activity.MODE_PRIVATE);
if (prefs.getBoolean(PreferenceConstants.PREFERENCE_SHOW_PLUS, false)) { return ; }

SharedPreferences.Editor editor = prefs.edit();

// Increment launch counter
long launch_count = prefs.getLong("launch_count", 0) + 1;
editor.putLong("launch_count", launch_count);

// Get date of first launch
Long date_firstLaunch = prefs.getLong("date_firstlaunch", 0);
if (date_firstLaunch == 0) {
date_firstLaunch = System.currentTimeMillis();
editor.putLong("date_firstlaunch", date_firstLaunch);
}

// Wait at least n days before opening
if (launch_count >= LAUNCHES_UNTIL_PROMPT) {
if (System.currentTimeMillis() >= date_firstLaunch +
(DAYS_UNTIL_PROMPT * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000)) {
editor.putBoolean(PreferenceConstants.PREFERENCE_SHOW_PLUS, true);
editor.commit();
return ;
}
}

editor.commit();
}

}

[/code]



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