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Associate Product Manager


**ALL CONTENT SHARED HERE HAS BEEN APPROVED BY ROBOTO GAMES

Production

Product & Growth

 

Content Integration Pipelines

Goals:
  • Outline how different content is implemented and integrated into Stormforge
  • Define what an Artist’s definition of done is depending on the asset
  • Define clear handoffs between Art, Engineering, and Design
  • Find areas where Art or others can take on more steps in the content integration process
  • Improve iteration time and quality by allowing Art to iterate on assets in engine themselves

As we were moving from Pre-Production into Production, I noticed a bunch of art assets were being completed but not actually being tested in-game. I took on the challenge to define how all types of content were actually integrated into the game. After interviewing my artists, designers, and engineers, I was able to come up with a document that outlined all content integration pipelines, as well as establish clearer definitions of done for Art assets.

I'll walk through a couple of examples:
Legend

Enemies
[ART] 3D Model
  • Artist creates the 3D Model for the Enemy

[ANIM] Animation Block-In
  • Animator rigs and weights the model, he creates the Animation Controller and Animation Blend Tree for the Enemy in Unity

[ENG] Integration
  • Engineer sets up the Behavior Tree for the Enemy and creates the Prefab
  • Engineer implements or adds placeholders for all requested:
    • Animations
    • SFX
    • VFX

[DES] Spreadsheet
  • Designer adds the Enemy to the respective Creatures balancing spreadsheet, including information for the following:
    • Creature HP
    • Attack Damage
    • Lootsets
  • This spreadsheet is to have all Creature data in one place for overall balancing

[DES] Tuning
  • Designer tunes following Enemy stats
    • Creature HP
    • Damage
    • Lootsets
  • Designer provides feedback on any animation and behavior fixes needed

Craftable Items
[ART] 3D Model
  • Artist creates the 3D Model for the Craftable

[ART] Internal Prefab
  • Artist turns the 3D Model into an Internal Prefab

[UI] Icon
  • UI/UX Designer creates an Icon for the Crafted Item and connects it

[UI] Localization
  • This step ensures that item names and descriptions are localized to other languages
  • UI/UX Designer adds the Name Loc ID and Description Loc ID

[DES] Recipe
  • Creating a recipe makes it so that the Craftable can be crafted in-game
  • Designer creates a Recipe, outlining the Resources Required to craft the item
  • Each Recipe also needs an additional component to specify:
    • Crafting - Crafting Recipe Data
      • What type of Crafting Station it can be crafted at
    • Refining - Refining Recipe Data
      • If crafted at a Refinery, need to specify crafting duration (e.g. the amount of time to smelt ore into an ingot)
    • Furniture - Furniture Building Component
      • If it is a Furniture piece, it will be added to our Build Mode menu

**But some Craftables are a little more complicated...

Weapons/Tools
[ART] 3D Model
  • Artist creates the 3D Model for the Weapon/Tool

[ART] Internal Prefab
  • Artist turns the 3D Model into an Internal Prefab

[ANIM] Animation Block-In
  • Animator creates new animations for the Weapon/Tool (e.g. swinging a sword, charging up a bow)
  • Animator creates the Animation Controller and Animation Blend Tree

[ENG] Integration
  • Engineer implements all of the following for the respective Weapon/Tool:
    • Animations
    • SFX
    • VFX

[UI] Icon
  • UI/UX Designer creates an Icon for the Weapon/Tool and connects it

[UI] Localization
  • This step ensures that item names and descriptions are localized to other languages
  • UI/UX Designer adds the Name Loc ID and Description Loc ID

[DES] Recipe
  • Creating a recipe makes it so that the Craftable can be crafted in-game
  • Designer creates a Recipe, outlining the Resources Required to craft the item

[DES] Spreadsheet
  • Designer adds the Weapon/Tool to the respective balancing spreadsheet, including information for the following:
    • Attack Damage
    • Harvesting Damage (if it's a Tool)
  • This spreadsheet is to have all Weapon/Tool data in one place for overall balancing

[DES] Tuning
  • Designer tunes damage and animation timing for the Weapon/Tool
  • Designer provides feedback on any animation and behavior fixes needed

Defining these pipelines was crucial in understanding all of our hand-offs and how the different disciplines should be collaborating. It also helped to ensure content was actually being added with all its respective requirements and tested in-game.

 

Project Roadmap

I was given the opportunity to take on ownership of the Engineering roadmap and expand said roadmap to include Art and Design teams.
Gantt Chart for each member across Engineering, Art, and Design teams

I collaborated with art and design directors to help define the features and assets we needed for upcoming milestones and made sure all of our tasks met these requirements. Then, I had Production Syncs with engineers, artists, and designers to verify their priorities with director feedback. Finally, I translated these tasks into higher-level "Epics" and scheduled the Gantt for each member all the way out to the end of the project. This provided greater transparency and visibility into the entire project, allowing us to define clear goals for upcoming milestones and stay ahead of potential blockers.

I maintained the sheet, updating it weekly based on each team member's progress, and had many opportunities to drive consensus on feature prioritization. I also checked in with each member periodically to make sure they were on track according to their Gantt.

Furthermore, I identified blockers and dependencies between the different teams, ensuring that Design stayed ahead in defining specific asset requests and feature specifications and that each artist and engineer had the right information and assets to work with. Moreover, I would call out where features were potentially slipping, and then propose solutions to founders and discipline directors.

 

Cross-Discipline Production

I ran day-to-day production for a team of 24 across Engineering, Art, and Design, as well as our outsourced Audio team.

When I initially started at Roboto, my production efforts were mainly focused on tasking out our design specs. I created clear and detailed tasks that could be efficiently executed across the disciplines, adding priority, categories, dependencies, and more. As time went on, I was trusted to keep each of our boards organized and ensure smooth hand-offs between Art, UI/UX, and Engineering.

After further researching the Survival Crafting genre and our competitors in the genre, I was eventually able to prioritize tasks on my own. I also learned how to drive consensus on these priorities without authority, using user research data on player values and our defined feature sets for upcoming milestones.

Once I gained more experience, I was pulled into higher-level production work, such as developing pipelines for how different assets were integrated into the game, as well as developing and maintaining our project roadmap.

 

Calculating Cost per Steam Wishlist

I compiled data from our Meta Ad campaigns and Steamworks Wishlist Reporting to track the impact of our ad spending on Steam wishlists.

To read the sheet, look at the Aggregates rows. Each row shows the total money spent, total number of results, and average cost per result across all campaigns for that respective day. On the right of Column F is where Steam data is incorporated. After subtracting baseline wishlists from the day's wishlist balance increase, I was then able to calculate the estimated cost per Steam Wishlist (in the final column) per day.

True cost values are hidden for privacy reasons

  • Campaign
    • Name of the Ad Campaign that was running
  • Date
    • The date
  • Amount ($) Spent on Campaign
    • Total amount of money in $ spent on the Campaign
  • # of Results
    • The number of users that clicked the ad and then clicked the "Add to Wishlist" button on our website
    • Note that clicking the ad redirects to our website, and not directly to the actual Steam page
      • This is because if we redirected to the actual Steam page, we would not be able to implement pixel tracking to send data back to the Meta Ads Manager for it to optimize
  • Cost ($) per Result
    • Amount ($) Spent on Campaign / # of Results
  • Aggregates
    • Totals and averages for respective columns
  • Steam Wishlist Balance Increase
    • Increase in Steam Wishlists on that day
  • Baseline Wishlists
    • Number of wishlists we get daily when running no ads
  • Estimated Wishlist Increase from Campaign
    • = Steam Wishlist Balance Increase - Baseline Wishlists
  • Estimated Cost ($) per Steam Wishlists
    • = Amount ($) Spent on Campaign / Estimated Wishlist Increase from Campaign

 

A/B Testing Ads

Using user research, I designed an ad thumbnail highlighting Stormforge's Co-Op capabilities, achieving a 32.15% lower cost per result compared to other ads in the campaign.

Challenge:
User research revealed that our target audience of survival crafting players highly valued Co-Op capabilities when deciding to explore a game on Steam. We needed to create an ad thumbnail that would resonate with this audience, highlighting Stormforge's Co-Op feature to drive engagement and conversions.

Solution:
Working alongside our Senior UI/UX Designer, I proposed a thumbnail design that highlighted the Co-Op element of Stormforge.
Co-Op Thumbnail

We selected a campfire scene to evoke a sense of community and adventure. The characters in the image were designed to look like they could be real players, helping viewers imagine themselves in the game. This simple yet powerful image aligned with what our audience valued most: having fun with friends!

And this was the Original thumbnail that we were testing against:
Original Thumbnail

Results (First 5 days of A/B Testing):
The Co-Op thumbnail significantly outperformed the Original thumbnail during the A/B testing phase:
  • 32.15% lower cost per result
  • 35.09% higher result rate
  • Generated 79.59% more results

After the inital 5 day A/B testing phase, Meta Ads Manager funneled a majority of the campaign budget into the top-performing ad, which in this case was the Co-Op ad.

Across the entire campaign:
  • 63.77% of the total campaign budget was allocated to the Co-Op ad
  • The Co-Op ad consistently ranked Above Average in Quality Ranking, Engagement Rate Ranking, and Conversion Rate Ranking compared to 8 other ads in the campaign (rated by Meta Ads Manager)
  • As the campaign scaled in spending, the cost per result dropped by another 37.68%, further enhancing its cost efficiency at scale

By leveraging user research and focusing on key gameplay features that mattered most to our audience, we created an ad that not only outperformed others but became the centerpiece of our entire campaign.

 

Writing Product Specifications

I also got to write up a couple product/design specs for Stormforge. Super fun opportunity!


 

Stormforge Press Kit

I helped develop the Stormforge Press Kit, based on research into other games' Press Kits, compiling game content and information into a Google Drive to be shared with the public (journalists, content creators, influencers, etc.).


 

Steam Page GIFs

I created GIFs for the Stormforge Steam page based on user research on what Survival Crafting players valued most in their games.

SURVIVE THE STORMS
  • STORMS!
    • Highlight our main differentiator first and foremost

FIGHT DARK FORCES
  • Combat focus
    • Combat gameplay
    • Enemy variety

EXPLORE SORANA
  • Exploration focus
    • Multiple biomes

GATHER, CRAFT, BUILD
  • Core Survival Crafting gameplay loop
    • Gather
    • Craft
    • Build
    • Complex builds that can be made in-game

GREAT TOGETHER
  • Co-Op/Multiplayer focus
    • Show that the game can be played with multiple people

ENDLESS VARIETY OF MODS
  • Modding focus
    • Show a sneak peek into our Modding capabilities

 

Social Media and Email Marketing

I helped create Social Media and Email Marketing content for Stormforge. Also learned how to use Mailchimp and create email campaigns!

SkillUp shouts out Stormforge at Gamescom (YouTube Shorts)

Mailchimp Email Marketing

 

Community Management

I was the Community Manager for the Stormforge Discord and took ownership over replying to all comments across all social media platforms. I set up various roles and channels using Discord's Community Onboarding tool, providing game updates regularly to increase community engagement and online presence.


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