Hey everyone, thank you for trying out Adult Store Simulator. Seeing the download numbers go up and getting your feedback has been really exciting! To make the most of all the playtesting, I’ve been gathering gameplay and client health metrics to get a better view of bugs and areas for improvement. Since you’re following the project, I wanted to share some of that data and how I’m using it to improve the game.

Failing to save

A critical bug that I really wish I’d caught earlier showed up after I added error logging post-release. Honestly, I didn’t expect the game to be downloaded thousands of times, so I didn’t think to add much logging. Given my background in big data product development, I should’ve known better.. but hey, live and learn.

I’m now tracking all game exceptions and prioritizing them above everything else. The issue here was that saving didn’t work after completing the first day. Some of you reported this as lag on the end-of-day screen, but what was actually happening was the client failing to save—and it didn’t know how to recover. You spamming the save button later blew up my phone, and I quickly jumped on the fix.

Obviously, not being able to save is a critical bug that likely cost the game hundreds of potential players.

Tutorial Conversion

The demo is primarily guided by the tutorial, which includes telemetry I use to build a conversion funnel. I look at this through the lens of where the game becomes confusing or boring, more than as a measure of onboarding success. Below is a small analysis of my current thinking but I will be experimenting with the total conversion over time.

1. Step 7: Discard Box (12% drop-off)
   Players, on average, spend about one minute on this step. It’s arguably the easiest task—just carry the empty box to the dumpster and throw it away. So the 12% drop-off here is a red flag. My guess was that players weren’t finding the dumpster in time and gave up.

   
   To fix it, I moved the dumpster to the front of the building. This resulted in a 50% relative improvement, dropping the abandonment rate from 12% to 6%. Some might say that’s a minor thing to focus on, but if players are leaving because they can’t find a dumpster, I’d call that high-impact.

2. Step 16: Reach Level 2 (17% drop-off)
   This is one of the longest steps. After walking players through the basics, the tutorial tells them to reach level 2 by stocking shelves and selling more products. I’m not surprised this is where people drop off; it’s the first point where you have to grind a bit.
   
   To help, I added a reward: a free poster. The idea is to keep players motivated. Let’s be honest.. most people are downloading this game for the NSFW content, and that doesn’t unlock until level 4. Gotta get through the basics first.

If you’re into this kind of content, I’ll keep sharing updates here. I’m also building out a Patreon that will include access to a real-time metrics dashboard and the ability to help shape the roadmap. Subscribe to my patreon here.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for downloading Adult Store Simulator! Y’all have made the past few days very exciting. More to come!