MARC TOBIAS KUNISCH: Developers have
been creating Instant Apps for over a year
now, enabling users to enjoy their apps by simply tapping
a link or pressing a button in the Play Store
instead of installing the entire app.
But we didn't want to stop there.
Games are a big part of the user experience on phones.
For this reason, we've extended the Instant App technology
to games.
Welcome to Google Play Instant, where apps and games
can be played instantly.
You might have seen the UX best practices for Instant Apps
that we published last year on the Android Developers Channel.
If you haven't yet, they're worth checking out.
The link is in the video description below.
Don't worry.
I'll be here when you come back.
But since games are a little different than apps,
I'd like to talk a bit about the user experience
specifically for games on Google Play Instant.
There are many different ways that users can access
a game without installing it.
Users may be coming from an ad, a link on a website,
a message from a friend, the Play Games app, Google Search
results, or the Try Now button on the Play Store.
Consider what you want your gaming experience and Google
Play Instant to accomplish.
Do you want it to be a standalone game that
is completely instant?
Or can you make the first level of your game
available to be accessed instantly, allowing users
to try out your game?
Developers have created this sort of companion
to their existing games.
This experience creates excitement with your gamers
by showing off the most exciting parts of a game
before installation.
There are plenty of exciting options to choose from.
Think about which route you want to take, and be deliberate
when building out your Instant experience.
In doing so, you'll increase your reach
by providing value to your gamers.
We've created a new loading UI for launching games
from Google Play Instant.
We think it's much more appropriate for a gaming
experience.
And users have been telling us that they love it.
It sometimes takes a little longer to launch a game
than it is to launch an app.
So it was important for us to keep users entertained
while a game is loading.
To avoid users abandoning your experience,
try to get them into the gameplay as soon as possible.
If it is necessary to show an additional loading
screen in the game, try to shorten it as much as possible.
You can load in additional parts of your game
during runtime using the Google Play core library.
When prompting users to install your game or to preregister,
show a button in your UI that uses the words Install
or Preregister.
In games, it is usually better to not just
rely on the Download or Install icon alone.
You can choose to show the prompt permanently
in your UI between levels or as part of the main menu.
Whether you choose only one of these options or all of them,
make sure that your users can have a great experience even
without installing your game.
Your Instant experience shouldn't
be reduced to an ad banner.
It is important to save your users' progress when they play
your game after installing it.
In particular, their achievements
and their purchases must not go missing after they've
decided to install your game.
You can use the cookie and storage APIs to do this.
People will want to keep the magic battleaxe
that they fought so hard for against those ugly goblins
in that dungeon.
As it is possible to access games on Google Play Instant
by simply clicking a link, some users
will access them serendipitously or unintentionally.
For those users, it is important to have
a way back out of the game if they choose to leave.
Do not disable the Android Back button
at the bottom of the screen.
It is fine to show a warning when
it is pressed to alert users they're about to exit the game.
But it is good practice not to disrupt
established navigational patterns.
Google Play Instant is a fantastic way
for users to share their gaming experience with friends
and let them try it out themselves.
In your game, make it easy for users
to invite others to join them.
Players are much more likely to join if they're not only
invited by someone they know, but also get
to try out the experience before they commit
to purchasing it themselves.
To recap, when designing a user experience
for your game on Google Play Instant,
consider the right entry points and use cases for your game.
Remove any unnecessary latency, and let your users experience
the game as quickly as possible.
Think about the right moment in your experience
to prompt for installation and preregistration.
Make sure your users maintain their progress
after installing the game.
Don't disable the Android Back button.
And provide a way for users to share a game with others.
We believe that games on Google Play Instant
are a great way to remove friction for your users.
We can't wait to see what you will build with it.
You can find everything I talked about here and much more
on g.co/instantapps.
Also, check out our recommendations
for building a good user experience in your Instant
apps.
You can find the link in the description below.
Thanks for watching.
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