Coupart Thibault - Game Data Analysis – Tools and Methods

Coupart Thibault had been studying town planning and statistics for years before he developed an in in-game data analysis. Switching from the real world to the virtual world, he studied game design and completed his transformation with his first professional experience at Corexpert. Working on a database of more than 20,000 players, he has experience with the study and analysis of data in order to deliver various insights for the company.

I would like to express my very great appreciation to Mr. Olivier Masclef for the time spent at the Gamagora video game school, my supervisor Mr Jrme Vuillemot at Corexpert, and Mr. Johan Andr-Jeanville (from a consulting firm for LudoStat data analysis) for his advice on various topics related to game data analysis.

Kevin Corti is a games and digital media professional who has experienced the designing and delivery of well over 100 mobile, social, and serious games, and e-learning and web application projects since 1997. Kevin has founded four digital businesses including SoshiGames, a UK-based social music games publisher, and PIXELearning, one of the world's first dedicated serious games developers. He was previously Head of Studio at DNA Interactive and is now Chief Evil Officer at Evil27 Games, and particularly focuses on social mobile games discovery, retention, and monetization.

Kevin Flood has worked in the console game, social gaming, and Internet gambling sectors as a CEO, CTO, and Managing Director. He currently operates a consulting company, building social games and advising social game developers on ways to improve revenue per game and player. He also works with land-based casino operators on ways to launch social and real money casino platforms.

Kevin writes a gaming blog kevinfloodblogspot.com that covers topics including social gaming, social casino, and "real" money gambling.

Kevin speaks at gaming conferences worldwide addressing the growing importance of games as a form of entertainment that continues to grow, evolve, converge, and generate a substantial amount of revenue.

Bruno Santos main background is Computer Science, which has lead him through a more technical pathway in game design since his early years in college. Nowadays, he runs a two-man game studio based in Portugal.

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Preface

Game Analytics is a general guide about the tools and the methods used in the data analysis applied to the video game field. In the seven chapters of this book, we will see a wide range of topics included in the domain, such as how to use game analytics to improve features and game design, balancing, technical tools, reporting of Key Performance Indicators, and some advanced statistical process.

What this book covers

, Context and Themes in Games , contextualizes the subject inside the current state of the video game industry. We will outline some of the economic trends that affect it, and explain why game analytics is going to get bigger and bigger. Moreover, we will highlight the topic under the angle of the sociological approach, providing a list of important gaming appetencies already identified by previous researches.

, Common Key Performance Indicators , gives a complete list of the most useful indicators, which are currently used in the video game industry, classified by type, from the acquisition and the retention of players to its monetization.

, Environment and Tools for Data Analysis , highlights tools dedicated to data mining and the treatment of data. We will have a few words about advantages of relational and non-relational databases, and explore some commercial solutions as well as free solutions.

, Game Analytics and Generation of Content , describes in detail one of the most famous process initiated with the rising of analytics, the A/B testing, and the generation of content based on data analysis. Some very concrete examples will be highlighted in which area of your game the A/B testing is usually the most interesting to perform.