Exercise 1 · Playable Deconstruction & Gameplay Alignment
Paper.io 2 Playable Deconstruction & Fixed Builds
Below is the performance ranking of the three Paper.io 2 playable ads, a plain-English breakdown of what works and what breaks the funnel in each build, and playable versions where I fixed the broken settings — audio, the forced store cut-offs, the boost and camera tuning, and the leftover particles.
Which Playable Performed Best?
Winner: PO2_03 (1st Place), followed by PO2_02 (2nd Place), and PO2_01 (3rd Place).
PO2_03 wins on Installs Per Mille (IPM) and store conversion because it turns core Paper.io territory capture into a 4-second win before sending the player to the App Store. PO2_02 gets strong first-second thumb engagement from its runner gate choice, but loses store conversion because the runner intro does not match Paper.io gameplay and the ad redirects before the player captures a single piece of territory. PO2_01 performs worst: it is completely muted, moves too slowly, and forces a store redirect the moment the user lifts their finger after the first drag.
1st Place · Winner
PO2_03 (Fill Map)
Highest IPM and store conversion. Fast 4-second island completion, secret power-up unlock, and a 6-screenshot store carousel at peak excitement.
2nd Place · Runner-Up
PO2_02 (Runner Gate)
High initial thumb hook on the Donut vs. Burger gate, but low conversion due to genre mismatch and a premature 2nd-release redirect.
3rd Place · Last
PO2_01 (Classic Slice)
Worst IPM. Muted audio, slow movement, hidden progress UI, and a 1st-release redirect trap that hijacks players before they close a single loop.
Playable #1 in Test Doc · 3rd Place in Performance
PO2_01 — Classic Paper.io 2 Slice
What works well
- Instant brand recognition: The pastel arena, pink territory, and 3D borders look just like the real Paper.io 2 store page.
- Clear steering tutorial: The infinity-loop hand animation shows how to steer in a continuous curve without needing text instructions.
- Urgency cues: The crown banners ("You got the crown!") and the red timer alarm in the last 10 seconds create competitive pressure when a player reaches them.
What is broken in the original file
- First-release redirect trap: Lifting your finger after the very first drag immediately opens the App Store. Players get cut off mid-turn before capturing any territory, which inflates accidental clicks and ruins store conversion.
- Muted audio: All sound effects and music are turned off in the settings, even though 14 audio files are packed inside the file.
- Slow movement and distant camera: The player cube moves slowly and the camera sits far back. I tried raising both and reverted it: the extra speed over-amplified the boost that fires off a kill, so the shipped pacing is the calmer choice here.
- Wide boost zoom: Cutting a line widens the camera field of view sharply. I left it as shipped too, because tightening the zoom made the camera look like it snapped in on the player right after a kill.
- Hidden progress UI and broken name tag: The progress bar, leaderboard, coin counter, and kill counter are all turned off, and the player's name tag shows a stray bracket (
]) instead of "You".
What I fixed in the playable
- Removed the first-release redirect trap: In the original playable, lifting your finger once immediately opened the store. I turned the automatic redirect off completely, so the round now ends on the built-in 30-second timer and the win/lose screen offers the install button. The player decides when to leave.
- Turned on music and sound effects: In the original file, audio was disabled. I enabled both background music and sound effects on the first tap.
- Restored the original boost and camera: I reverted my earlier speed and camera edits. The cube now accelerates exactly as much as Voodoo shipped it, and the boost framing stays wide, so the camera no longer snaps in close on the player after a kill.
- Kept the HUD off on purpose: The leaderboard, kill table, coin counter, and progress bar stay hidden. They add visual noise to a three-second first impression without helping the player understand the loop, so the clean board is the better sell here.
Playable #2 in Test Doc · 2nd Place in Performance
PO2_02 — 3D Runner Gate Intro into Arena
What works well
- Strong first-3-second hook: Choosing between the Donut and Burger gates on a 3D runway gives the user an immediate left-or-right decision.
- Smooth transition into the arena: Instead of cutting to a new screen, the runway connects directly to the circular Paper.io board and the camera pans up into the main view.
- Active arena atmosphere: Four named bots are already moving and fighting for the crown when the player enters the board.
What is broken in the original file
- Two-release auto-redirect cuts off the arena: The playable redirects to the store after 2 finger releases. Release #1 is spent swiping through the runner gate. Release #2 happens the first time the user lifts their thumb in the Paper.io arena—before they even close their first loop.
- Disconnect between the runner intro and Paper.io gameplay: The 4-second runway takes too long before territory drawing starts, and users who tap expecting a gate-runner game bounce on the Paper.io 2 store page.
- Easy accidental self-kills: The player moves very fast in the arena and dies immediately if they cross their own trail while adjusting from left-right swiping to 360-degree steering.
- Frame drops during camera transition: Rendering real-time water reflections every frame causes stutter when the camera tilts up into the main arena.
- Hidden leaderboard and coin counter: The game announces "YOU GOT THE CROWN", but the leaderboard and coin counter are turned off.
What I fixed in the playable
- Removed the store cut-off entirely: In the original playable, lifting your finger twice sent you straight to the store on your first turn in the arena. I turned off the release counter and the gameplay timer, so the arena keeps running and the player leaves when he decides to.
- Shortened the runner runway and cleaned up the start: In the original file, the runway was too long and the starter cube dragged a colored footstep trail behind it. I shortened the road from 100 to 60 units, moved the skin gate closer, and turned the footstep particle off so the cube starts clean.
- Prevented accidental self-kills and smoothed steering: In the original file, crossing your own line killed you immediately at high speed. I disabled self-collision, made the player immortal during onboarding, and lowered arena speed slightly so turns are easy to control.
- Turned on the leaderboard and coin counter: I enabled both HUD elements so players can see their rank and score climb as they capture territory.
- Switched the background to a clean sky color: I replaced the heavy water reflection pass with a flat sky-blue background to keep frame rates smooth during the camera transition.
Playable #3 in Test Doc · 1st Place Winner
PO2_03 — Micro-Island 90% Fill into Secret Power-Up
What works well
- Immediate motion in frame one: Before the user touches the screen, a 3D Burger is already spinning in circles and painting a rainbow trail on a tiny island under the prompt "Fill the map to win".
- Fast, frustration-free first win: The starting island is tiny, there are no bots in Stage 1, and crossing your own line cannot kill you. Any player can fill 90% of the island in 3 to 4 seconds while collecting 3D coins and audio rewards.
- Strong mid-ad payoff: Hitting 90% unlocks a secret reward popup, wraps the player in a fiery tornado effect, switches to upbeat bonus music, expands the island to four times its size, and spawns 4 slow bots with the prompt "Conquer the map!".
- High-intent store end card: Instead of a blind redirect, the ad shows an App Store preview carousel with 6 gameplay screenshots and a CONTINUE button, which qualifies the user before they land on the store.
- Lightest file and smoothest frame rate: At 3.58 MB with a simple sky-blue background, it loads faster and runs smoother on budget phones than the other two ads.
What is broken in the original file
- End card opens before the player can use the power-up: Right after the secret popup closes and the map expands with 4 bots, the end card triggers immediately. The player sees "Conquer the map!" and their new fire effect, but cannot make a single move on the expanded board before the store carousel covers the screen.
- Secret reward uses the exact same Burger skin: The player starts as a Burger, and the secret unlock also assigns the Burger skin. Aside from the fire effect, the 3D character model does not change.
- Ugly rainbow and star particle on the secret unlock: The reward wraps the character in a rainbow star burst that renders as a flat, noisy sprite at this scale and swallows the model entirely. The asset cannot be re-authored from the config, so the VFX had to come off rather than be tuned.
- No camera zoom-out on map expansion: When the island expands four times in area, the camera field of view stays flat, making the board expansion feel less dramatic.
What I fixed in the playable
- Kept level 2 fully playable with no automatic end card: In the original playable, the store carousel popped up the instant the secret unlocked, and a second redirect fired on the next tap. I turned off every redirect trigger (click, timer, and bot kills) so the player can actually play the expanded arena that "Conquer the map!" promises.
- Upgraded the secret skin to a faster Unicorn: In the original file, unlocking the secret kept the same Burger model at the same speed. I changed the reward to a larger Unicorn skin and increased its speed by 22% so the upgrade feels rewarding. The rainbow and star VFX stay off: it renders badly at this size and muddies the character silhouette.
- Added camera zoom-out on unlock and enabled the coin counter: I added a 12-degree camera zoom-out when the arena expands so the player clearly sees the larger map and the 4 new bots, and turned on the HUD coin counter.