<aside> đź’ˇ Note: This is only one interpretation of building strong game mechanics, please feel free to comment and share others!
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Now let me show you how this all fits together into a Game Thinking Roadmap. This matrix gives you a timeline for iterating your product to life. Along the top, you’ll see the 4 stages of your customer’s path to mastery. Down the side, you see the stages of product development—from MVP thru Beta and Ship
When you’re first bringing your innovative idea to life, focus on your Learning Loop—the habit-building experience. At this stage, that’s FAR more important to get this loop working than to create onboarding or mastery. As you scale your development towards Beta, you’ll build out and develop the other stages as well—using this chart as a guide. This is how great games and products come to life. A few years ago, I was frustrated—and a little heartbroken—when I failed to get a brilliant young entrepreneur I was coaching to focus on his app’s Learning Loop. Instead, he got seduced by the siren song of beautiful onboarding—and decided to ship that onboarding experience as his MVP. Lots of people tried the app—but hardly anyone stuck around, because there wasn’t any compelling reason to return. Don’t let this happen to you. Unfortunately, I see this all too often— but the teams who actually produce hits don’t operate that way. Instead, they stay focused on “finding the fun” (as we gamers call it)—that core value, that pleasurable repeatable activity that gets people to come back. If you get that right FIRST—you can build from there, find success, and start to drive long-term engagement.