Treasure Hunt Feature

Case Study: "Treasure Hunt" Event Feature

Project Overview
As a Product Manager at Glu Mobile, I led the development of a feature called "Treasure Hunt," a new in-game event for the game Cooking Dash, designed to boost player engagement and drive revenue growth. The event allowed players to complete progressively challenging tasks, such as collecting coins, completing levels, and earning stars. For each completed task, players received rewards, and upon completing all tasks, they earned a larger, high-value reward, such as gold bars (the game's hard currency).

Objectives

1. Increase user engagement by creating a recurring, interactive event.
2. Drive revenue growth through enhanced in-game progression incentives.
3. Leverage existing systems to minimize development resources and time.

Challenges

• Balancing task difficulty to maintain player interest without discouraging completion.
• Integrating the event seamlessly within the existing game mechanics without substantial code changes.

Solution
The "Treasure Hunt" event was designed to build on the existing game framework, requiring minimal new code. By reusing the existing coin collection, level completion, and star-earning systems, we created a series of escalating challenges, with rewards incrementally increasing in value. The final "big reward" incentivized players to complete the full set of tasks.

Results

• 20% increase in user engagement: Players interacted more frequently with the game due to the added challenge and rewards.
• 12% lift in monthly revenue: The allure of rewards, particularly the hard currency, led to an increase in in-app purchases.

Key Learnings
Leveraging existing systems for new features is an effective way to drive results without heavy investment in development time. The success of "Treasure Hunt" demonstrated the value of strategically planned events that align with user motivations while encouraging sustained engagement.

‍