Core loop integrity
Does the moment-to-moment action still deliver the fantasy your marketing sells?
Service 02 / Independent
An outside read on a design you're too close to.
Every team in production develops blind spots - not from a lack of talent, but from months of shared assumptions nobody re-tests. An audit is a fixed-scope, honest look from outside those assumptions.
What we review
Onboarding & first session
Where new players stall, misread, or quit - mapped minute by minute.
Progression & pacing
Curve modelling against your telemetry, including the mid-game sag almost every game has.
Balance & economy
Dominant strategies, dead content, broken sinks and inflation risks.
Retention drivers
What actually brings a player back on day 7 and day 30 in your genre - and whether you have it.
Feature cost vs. value
Which roadmap items are worth their build cost, and which to cut without regret.
The process
- 01
Intake
A build, your goals, your telemetry if you have it, and a 90-minute call with the design leads.
- 02
Play & map
We put real hours into the game and map every system a player touches.
- 03
Teardown
Each system stress-tested against your target audience, genre benchmarks and stated goals.
- 04
Findings report
Every finding scored on severity, player impact and effort, ordered into a fix sequence.
- 05
Walkthrough
A live session with your team to challenge the findings and agree what gets done.
What you get
- Written findings report, ranked and scored
- System maps for the areas reviewed
- Recommended fix sequence by milestone
- Live walkthrough and Q&A with your team
Scope & timing
- Duration
- Two to three weeks from build handover
- Fee
- Fixed, quoted upfront after intake - no hourly surprises
- Confidentiality
- NDA signed before we see anything; findings are yours alone
Ready to find out what's breaking?
Send us the build and what worries you about it. We'll come back with scope, timing and a fixed fee.
Request an audit