Creatives

Hyper Casual

2023
Creatives overview
● In the next slides you will find around 200 creatives from top hyper casual games in past
year based on US downloads

● Despite many changes in the hyper casual market, still the creative and low CPI is the
starting point but there should also be a focus on stronger mechanics for KPI’s

● Many creatives of games that worked and did well are a starting point for other new
games mainly replacing theme or UI to create a different experience and a new game so
slide are for learning how to build the correct creative but are also great for ideation

New 2023 icon will help focusing on new games

Recommended icon will help focus on categories that are more relevant
Tips
Published game creative as ideation starting point
● Sometimes you don’t need to innovate much but change enough to be different
Reference creatives
● Sometimes small changes are enough and
using a creative of a successful runner but
changing the theme works great most of times

● Take a deeper look at all top 50 hyper casual

games and choose the best creatives they use
as a starting point, change the theme and
game topic while maintaining the same things
that worked in the original creative

● Make sure that for most of ideas you have

references from recent games that worked
well
Reference creatives
● Another nice example to a new idle game by
Rollic and a good chance that the blob merge
creatives might have inspired it

● Changing control from drop to merge to hold

and merge and changing category from puzzle
to idle made it different enough creating new
experience for users.

● So this is another nice example where

published game that did very will with cute
shapes, colors and easy to understand
gameplay can inspire new type of game
Colors in creatives
● Use few different colors to
better explain the game in
a short creative

● Red Vs Green in gates,

merging same colors,
mixing colors and more
can all help reduce CPI

● Can work in simulation,

runners, puzzles and all
games
Focus on fast growing and often changes
● What works well in gate runners but also in other games is the change of size using
gates, tap or any other action as those fast changes catch the attention
Top themes
● Thinks about millions playing your game so focus on common themes and avoid going
to niche themes

Numbers

Cars

Animals Weapons Money

Colors Axes, Arrows,

Bombs

Shapes:
Balls, Cubes
Digging, Cleaning, Gates, Multipliers
Cutting, Chopping
Daily actions, Places to visit
Some themes just work better than others - Cars
● Driver simulator creatives can bring nice CPI as many other creatives using cars

● Some games that did work and managed to scale has puzzle or idle/idle arcade
gameplay to increase playtime and retention
Key areas of Focus
❏ Level Difficulty - Variety, test both fail and win
❏ Colors - Vibrant and bright colors can help get users attention
❏ Contrast - Make sure not to use many colors and focus on contrast
❏ Characters - Main game character or asset should be in focus
❏ Enemies VS Boss - Sometime boss and big enemies can increase exetiment
❏ Solo VS PVP gameplay - Solo highlight your character while PVP focus on the battle
❏ Camera Angles - Choose the best or try few, also show more zoomed in creatives
❏ Background/Environment - Keep is clean and simple to focus on gameplay
❏ Hook - Make sure to highlight tho hook in the creative that should get user attention
❏ Highlight Gameplay - Highlight the playable zone or action needed to play
Categories
Categories overview
● Runners - Always trending and relevant, gate runners showing changes as tall man run
are great way to get lower CPI while idle runners as weapon craft run have nice playtime

● Puzzles - Great retention but usually higher CPI so try and simplify gameplay and make
sure puzzle game is easy to understand in creatives

● Race/iO - Focus on growing and progression to try and lower CPI

● Platform - Focus on simple environment but also on satisfying and clear progression
● Shooting - Aiming, Monsters and demolish can help with CPI
● Idle - Higher CPI usually but many idle games reach nice retention numbers
● Simulation - Great for CPI but those categories are struggling in the new hyper casual so
still CPI can be nice but invest more time thinking about stronger engaging mechanics
Runners
Gate Runners
● Trending since Count Masters in 2021 Showing very visual changes using gates,
changes can be in amount, size, year and more

● Good common enough concept and theme where the creative can clearly show a
significant change can bring very good marketability and KPI’s
Gate Runners
● Few more gate runners with common themes, Food, Cars, Wedding and other themes
as weapons, money and more that worked well since 2021
Gate Runners - Learn from what worked well
● Tall Man & Scale Man are games with similar concept of size changes in gates swerving
Vs sliding, Runners swerving is a more engaging mechanic that works better in KPI’s

● Build a Queen creative is very similar to Tall Man Run mainly changing the character and
the body changes
Simple Runners - Shapes, Colors & Numbers
● Many times just keeping it simple is enough and using shapes (Cubes, Balls),
Numbers and Colors change can bring low CPI
Stacking Runners
● Used to work well at the beginning
of hyper casual with many
satisfying ways to stack
items/body parts and more

● Coffee Stack still works mainly to

the common coffee theme and
the idle arcade layer in the game
that helps increase playtime

● Twerk Race took Fat 2 Fit creatives

changing game theme, Fat 2 Fit is
from an old trend of runner with
Opposites that is less trending
now
Idle Runners
● Trending in 2023 with weapon craft
run and others mainly thanks to
much higher playtime compared to
other type of runners

● Currently works with weapons and

harder to scale only by showing
gameplay as CPI is usually higher
compared to other Runners

● Higher Playtime is due to constant

upgrades, gates changing pace
during mid level, slow progression
using 3 blocks in level end with a
prize and goal at the finish that is
harder to reach and takes time and
upgrade with slow progression
New puzzles inspired from successful puzzles
Puzzles
Puzzles - Tap in the correct order
● Tap in the correct order to release or arrange people or different items

● Popcore using similar colors and creatives Flow in their different puzzle games
Puzzles - Tap in the correct order
● More simple to simple solve puzzles with easy to understand creatives

● Fail creatives work nice sometimes and overall the creative should be simple with
only few assets making it easier for users to understand game goal
Puzzles - Match with usually Higher CPI
● More of Hybrid Match games that usually start with $1+ CPI but have much better
KPI’s and can also monetize with IAP

● Some are trying to simplify the gameplay but showing creatives that are similar to
the gameplay but with some changes
Creatives must simplify gameplay
● It’s very common in puzzle matching games to show some kind of a matching but to
simplify the gameplay, remove assets that are not needed and make it easier to
understand the game
Puzzles - Text to help understand the goal
● Steal it, Find it, Untie it, Solve it and many more examples of simple puzzles of doing a
specific action to solve levels also explaining in a short text to help understand the
goal of the game
Puzzles - Understand the Mechanic and Audience
● Puzzle games are for all but some games with themes for younger audience might have
lower CPI but mechanic is not enough to monetize using IAP as paper fold or emoji puzzle

● Other puzzles with match will have higher CPI but are more challenging and for wider
audience including adults and can be monetize using IAP so can still work with higher CPI
Puzzle - Same mechanic into 3 different games
● Nice Example to 3 different
games using a classic hyper
casual slide mechanic and
creative 3 different games and
creatives

● Stacky Dash using a character

and 3D forward stacking
progression, Amaze has the
classic gameplay while Tomb
of the Mask with the unique art
and constant movement

● Sometimes in puzzles and

other game it’s all about
changing the camera or
adding movement to create
new experience for user
Puzzle - Solve Mini games
● DOP 1-5 games are very successful in this puzzle category but other games are doing
well

● Usually those games have different levels with different scenarios where each one can
be used as a creative
Puzzle - Move body parts to solve a scenario
● Type of puzzle games that
had nice CPI and good
marketability as the
creatives mix between a
simple puzzle mechanic to
move the character to solve
something and simulation
games that usually show
character and decision
making or other actiones
Race/iO
IO Games using Stacking/other to grow
● Some iO games are classic hyper
casual games

● Hole.io has the satisfying hole

eating so many creatives not
even showing other users

● Bridge Race and Paper.io using

colors and different growing

● Bridge Race using 2 Colors to

show PVP, Stacking items and
also using them for progression
making the game goal very clear
Race games
● Cars, Balls, Water Slide and
other themes work nice in
creatives with clear forward
Race progression

● Flying, Sliding and any Fun

experience in creatives is also
something that can help
lower CPI
Platform
Platform Games
● We don’t see many new platform in top charts

● Creatives usually show a simple goal as score a basket, Flip the bottle or any other left to
right progression
Satisfying creatives
● Other Platforms games work with satisfying cutting creatives or PVP race

● Balls dropping creating a very satisfying downwards progression

More Platform and other games
● Simple Color and Shapes also work in other up movement creatives, Balls and Ballons
growing and going up trying to avoid obstacles
Shooting games , PVP
and Monsters
Sniper, Aim and Monsters work well
● Many Sniper or other aiming creatives have low CPI as they are targeting users that like
playing those shooting games, what Camo Sniper did is more of a mix between a puzzle
game and a sniper game that help it reach new audience.

● Big Monsters to Kill or Demolish (using pixels) is also something that works well
Other different types of shooting games
● More types of shooting games, from platform tap timing to shoot, puzzle and FPS runner.

● All creatives try and show clear gameplay and game goal
Using Color to show the PVP battle
● Many war games using the Red Vs Blue colors to show the battle better

● Clash or big changes in color also help show winning or battle progression
Idle and Idle Arcade
Idle Arcade
● Idle Arcade games usually have higher CPI compared to other categories

● Mainly common jobs or activities did well as Supermarket, Hotel, Restaurant and others
so avoid going to niche themes

● Stacking, Upgrading or serving people all work well in creatives

Other Idle games (mainly idle clickers)
● Other idle game that did well are trying to simplify gameplay using 1 clear object that is
the game main theme, from gears to balls and more.

● Roblox mini game or maybe other viral and common games or videos can also inspire a
theme for an idle game that usually has nice D1 retention but higher CPI
Satisfying actions
Some satisfying actions work well
● Many creatives with some kind of satisfying action bring nice CPI and this includes:
Digging, Melting, Cutting, Cleaning, Fixing, coloring and other actions that show some
kind of satisfying progression or stacking different object by doing something and using
them later to progress
More satisfying actions
● More examples for digging, cleaning, cutting and more, However most of those creatives
go to idle arcade gameplay with upgrades and are harder to scale so worth thinking of
other gameplays and mechanics
Hide
Hide and Find - Different type of games
● Games and creatives that come from different categories but also show a character
trying to hide or escape others or the other way of finding something trying to hide
Hole
Hole Games
● Hole eating objects and growing is
very satisfying and also helps
make the game theme unique

● Nice way to see and learn how

taking a creative of game that
works and changing the theme is
enough taking Hole eating that
worked for years in Hole.io and
replacing city with a weapon
theme creating a top charts game

● Hole creatives can still be relevant

but not as iO or Attack Hole
mechanic and need to bring
something new
Text
Text Games
● We see less of those games
but creatives showing text
scenario with decision
making or Trivia can also
work well
Simulation / DIY / Viral
Simulation - Role Playing decision making
● Used to work better few years ago and now might bring low CPI but harder to create KPI’s

● School teacher themes, Airport or border control, Cops , president and other games
where you need see different situations and need to make a decision
Simulation DIY - Mix and Art
● Also used to work better few years ago but some are still holding on nice thanks to
common theme as phone case or tie dye

● Simulation games and DIY are one way to try and get low CPI but most games will
struggle as they don’t have strong mechanic and also lack progression
Simulation - Art and Coloring
● Coloring or mixing colors can also bring nice CPI

● Most of coloring games are based on TikTok or other Viral videos that had many views on
social media
Simulation - Female Audience
● Another type of games targeting mainly Female audience using hair, Nails, Dolls or other
makeover creatives
Simulation - Creating Something / Viral
● More games that are inspired by Viral videos that had many views and transformed to a
playable hyper casual game

● Creatives usually show a satisfying simple action and goal, From creating a wooden
shape using tools, to make a face, organizing products, making ice cream and more.
Drawing
Simulation - Drawing
● Another way to get low CPI and we see many of those drawing games that bring nice CPI

● Main problem with those games is that it’s hard to get nice KPI’s with drawing mechanic
that mainly looks nice in creatives but struggle to scale in current hyper casual market
Hyper Casual in 2023
Overview
● It is harder to publish hyper casual games in 2023

● Some categories became less relevant as it’s not only around CPI but also around
playtime and retention

● Many of new published games are not innovating much and take things that worked
in the past to different directions

● Many publishers try and go Hybrid and we see more idle games, puzzle games, war
games and more that can bring higher retention but harder to scale with higher CPI
so still CPI and good marketability is the starting point
Do list - Hyper Casual in 2023
1. Follow Market trends and top charts to see what’s trending

2. Select a theme for wide audience and don’t go to niche

3. Always have a reference game that was successful and understand why

4. Marketability first - what will the creative show and why will it have low CPI ?

5. Select a category and mechanic that can bring you nice playtime and retention

6. Think and try implement progression layers from the first prototype

Talk and consult with your publisher - We test many games and can share information
 Idle gun runners (6+ months)

Follow Market Trends

● Play new games and understand why they work

● Each time a new trend pops up, few games that follow
it will be published, Pressure washing run started idle
runners and now many weapon runners are published

● Count Masters was #1 few years ago and still we see

Gate runners (3+ Years)
those strong gate runners as Tall Man Run and become
a queen so strong trends can stay for years

● You might think that runners are part of the old hyper
casual but seeing those idle weapon runners with high
playtime and gate runners with great marketability
still in top charts is a reason to try and make those
trending games as well
Theme
● Select a theme that is common and many people can enjoy playing

● Avoid going to niche themes and concept and think that your game will later be
scaled and played by millions so make sure the theme can be scaled

● Things we see or items we use everyday as Cars, Money and more

● Weapons work well for male audience while other themes as makeover or others can
work on female audience better so targeting a specific large audience can help

● Use Shapes and Colors keeping the concept simple and enjoyable for all ages, most
successful games can be enjoyed both by kids and adults at the same time
References
● Always have a reference game that was successful and
in top charts in the past few months, understand the
game to learn it and try to take things from it but make it
different enough

● Avoid using only games from 2-3 years ago or more for
a reference as most of them worked in a different hyper
casual environment and won’t work now so you can try
and combine them with recent trending games

● Attack Hole is an example of taking the hole creatives

and gameplay that worked well for years in Hole.io as
the main reference and bring a different weapon theme
CPI First
● With hyper casual market going hybrid the CPI was put aside in
many games but it’s still important to understand and think about
creatives alongside game idea and what will bring low CPI

● Show fast changes and movement, Gates work well but and other
action or movement that creates some kind of visuale change can
also work very well so don’t be afraid to exaggerate with changes
● Try and make users understand the next move they need to do
● Use simple colors and not too many
● Keep the environment clean to help user focus on gameplay
without unnecessary assets
● Make sure the game theme and what you want to show in
creatives are getting enough attention from users
Category and Mechanic
● In Some categories it’s “easier” to reach nice retention numbers from the first
prototype with basic content as puzzles, idle, runners, Pvp and more while other games
will struggle reaching those numbers even with many content

● Some mechanics work nice to get 20% D1 but can’t hold a game alone to 40% so make
sure to select engaging mechanics as swerving, joystick, tap and more and it’s ok to
use few different mechanics in a prototype

● Sometimes taking a creative that worked in any top chart game and simply changing
the category, camera, theme or mechanic can bring new innovative game
Progression
● Try and implement some kind of progression layer even in the first prototype

● Difficulty increase and new elements in puzzle games prototype with 20+ levels

● Bigger goal of reaching something that will take time in runners or other games while
progressing slowly to achieving it every upgrade and every new level

● Build a basic economy where next level is easier or user earns more and always
unlocking and progression and only enjoy the core gameplay

● Merge layer in any game that can be the loop for the game to earn coins in the
gameplay and use them in the merge layer
Hybrid
New puzzles inspired from successful puzzles
Thank you