Spell Pals

Project Context

Spell Pals was an asynchronous Facebook Instant Game built around a Boggle-style word-search experience.

Players could challenge friends and family through Facebook and Messenger integration, testing vocabulary skills through short social game sessions. The game also included ad integration and analytics tracking so the team could understand player behaviour and tune the experience over time.

Retention features were a major part of development. Social sharing, Messenger bot flows, tutorials, power-ups and other mechanics were designed, implemented, tested and sometimes removed based on A/B testing and player data.

I supported development by reworking parts of the interface and implementing A/B-tested features, including tutorial flows, power-ups and Facebook shareables. The team consisted of two developers, one artist and one producer.

Live Feature Testing

The project changed regularly as retention ideas were tested. Tutorial flow, power-ups, shareables and UI states all needed to be implemented in a way that could survive A/B testing, where a feature might be adjusted, replaced or removed after player data came back.

That made separation between word-game rules, platform SDK behaviour, UI states and analytics useful in practice. It kept experiments from turning into permanent coupling across the game.

Facebook Instant Games SDK

The Facebook Instant Games SDK connected the game to Facebook and Messenger. That covered player entry, friend challenge flows and platform-specific behaviours needed for asynchronous social play.

The SDK also provided access to platform metrics and context around session behaviour, which informed ongoing iteration.

Ad Integration

Spell Pals included ad integration to support monetisation. Ads could be shown at appropriate points in the experience, such as between rounds or after completing a game.

Ad placement and frequency were considered alongside analytics so the experience could remain balanced rather than feeling disruptive.

Messenger Integration

Messenger integration allowed players to challenge friends, receive updates and re-enter the game through social flows. That helped the game fit the Facebook Instant Games model, where distribution and retention are closely tied to social sharing and friend-to-friend interaction.

Analytics And A/B Testing

Analytics tracking gave the team visibility into behaviour such as session length, retention and engagement. Feature decisions could then be based on observed player behaviour rather than assumptions.

A/B testing was used across areas such as difficulty, tutorial flow, power-ups and social sharing mechanics. Many features changed or were removed as the team learned which ideas were effective for player retention and engagement.