Batam, Indonesia
Points, levels, rewards and challenges that keep people engaged
Gamification Services
Gamification is the use of game mechanics, such as points, levels, badges, challenges, streaks and leaderboards, in products and programmes that aren't games, to encourage a specific behaviour. Soluease designs and builds gamification for apps, loyalty programmes and teams. We are also a game studio, so the mechanics we recommend are ones we use and tune in our own games.
Where gamification works
- Customer loyalty: points, tiers and rewards that encourage repeat visits and purchases.
- App engagement and onboarding: progress bars, first-week challenges and streaks that turn new users into regular ones.
- Employee engagement and training: missions, badges and team leaderboards for sales goals, learning programmes or safety habits.
- Events and campaigns: quests, check-ins and prize draws that get people to explore an event or a brand campaign.
The main mechanics, and what each is for
| Mechanic | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Points | Rewarding many small actions | Points with nothing to spend them on soon lose meaning |
| Levels and tiers | Long-term status and progress | Top tiers that feel out of reach put most people off |
| Badges and achievements | Getting people to try more features | Too many badges make each one worthless |
| Streaks and daily rewards | Building a daily habit | Punishing one missed day too hard drives people away |
| Challenges and missions | Focusing attention on a goal this week | Vague goals; keep them short and specific |
| Leaderboards | Friendly competition | Ranking casual users against power users demotivates them, so group players fairly |
How we design it
- Start with the behaviour. What should people do more often, and how will we measure it?
- Pick the fewest mechanics that drive it. Rules people understand in seconds beat clever systems nobody reads.
- Prototype and pilot. Test with a small group before rolling out to everyone.
- Measure against a comparison group. Compare people who get the mechanic with people who don't, so you know what actually changed. We do the same in our own games.
- Tune and refresh. Rewards, challenges and seasons need regular updates to stay interesting.
Mechanics we run in our own games
- Daily missions and a 7-day gift streak in Oceanic Bliss.
- A Daily Challenge where everyone plays the same map, with daily and all-time leaderboards and 8 achievements, in Sawit Operation.
- Combos that reward skill: in Sawit Operation, cash pickups build a combo up to x5.
- Power-ups, boss battles and achievements in Witch vs Zombies.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between gamification and a game?
A game is played for its own sake. Gamification borrows game mechanics to make a non-game activity, such as shopping, learning, exercising or using an app, more motivating. We do both. Our guide to gamification explains it in more detail.
Does gamification work for every business?
It works best when there is a clear, repeatable behaviour to encourage and a way to measure it. It works poorly as decoration on a product people don't find useful in the first place.
Can you add gamification to our existing app?
In most cases, yes. We design the mechanics and build them into your app or website, working with your team or your codebase. For campaigns, we can also build a separate app or mini-game.
Start a project
Tell us what you want people to do more of at [email protected] or through the contact form. We also build games and web and mobile apps.