Getting Started

Offer

The offer is the core component of the Metica platform. An offer consists of a bundle containing one or more game items, combined with various merchandising attributes applied to it. These attributes can include visuals for presentation, time limits for availability, personalization rules based on player data, and more. At any given time, your game can request personalized offers from Metica to display to players based on their attributes such as location, inventory, spending history, etc. To continuously optimize offer performance, you can iterate on existing offers by creating new versions with tweaked attributes, merchandising approaches, or bundle composition. Additionally, you can run experiments by making controlled variations to offers and testing their effectiveness through A/B splits or multi-armed bandit approaches. By treating offers as the core unit that combines game content with intelligent merchandising, the Metica platform empowers you to deliver highly personalized and optimized in-game purchase experiences that can drive engagement and revenue.

Scheduling

Scheduling modes help control when the offer should be available for a given player.

Behavioral

A behavioral offer is an offer that is always on but only becomes visible after the player meets the eligibility rule. Example: A level 10 offer that could be displayed by players at any point in the year but only after they finally reach level 10. In the example above two different players who likely trigger the offer at very different times. The exact timing is relative.

Scheduled

Scheduled offers only activate at a specific point in time that is shared by all players. They’re typically linked to a calendar event like a seasonal sale, a new battle pass season, or a major content release in your game. The start and end dates inform the offer’s general availability. The offer will never be made available to players before its start date and never after its end date.

Recurring

Recurring offers share many similarities with scheduled offers with the exception that they can repeat on some cadence that you defined. This makes them ideal for automating daily offers for example.

Eligibility Rule

Eligibility rules are a way to define who should qualify for this offer and who shouldn’t. Your most successful offers will likely be ones that are highly personalized – they’re tailored to a specific moment in each player’s journey (e.g. losing the 3rd level in a row). When composing an eligibility rule you can combine user properties (e.g. user.level) and boolean logic (e.g. AND, OR) to write complex expressions that will be evaluated every time your game requests offers for each individual player.

Bundle

A bundle represents the commercial proposition that’s behind an offer: Which items, in which quantities, and at what price–currency. A bundle can be as simple as a single item being sold for 50 gems (game currency). With bundles, Metica is responsible for their personalization and merchandising while the game itself takes care of the visual rendering, the purchase handling (validating payment), and fulfillment (delivering virtual goods upon payment).

Placement, Creative and Layout

Placements, creative and layout allow you to control where and how an offer is presented in-game.

Layout

(Not Mandatory) Layout indicates the display type of offer, i.e. it could be an icon, or a small box, or a big box, etc. if the game doesn't need/have this sophistication Metica can provide a default layout.

Placement

(Not Mandatory) In Metica, a placement is simply an id that identifies a piece of in-game real-estate. For example, a particular tab in a shop or a position in a corner of game’s home screen. The placement expresses a maximum number of available slots for offers to be displayed. Furthermore, each placement must specify the layout it is compatible with. If the game doesn't need multiple placements Metica can provide a default placement.

Creative

(Not Mandatory) Most games tend to implement the visual rendering of offers in a way that’s unique to them and to the circumstances of their game implementation. Therefore, in Metica, creatives are developed by your game developers then imported into Metica you can later reference them in different offers. Each creative is associated with a layout. If the game doesn't need this sophistication Metica can provide a default creative.

Catalog

The Catalog is a collection of items that represent various objects that can be sold or used within the game. Items can include virtual goods like swords, potions, battle passes, as well as in-game currencies like gems or coins. Each Item in the Catalog can define its own reference value, expressed either in real-world fiat currency (e.g. USD, EUR) or in terms of one of the game's virtual currencies. This allows you to model the relative value and pricing relationships between different Items.

For example, you could define that a Mythic Sword is worth $4.99 USD or 500 Gems, while a Potion is worth $0.99 or 100 Gems. The in-game currencies themselves (e.g. Gems) are also represented as Items in the Catalog. The Catalog provides a centralized place to manage all the purchasable content and virtual economies within your game. Having well-defined Items with assigned values allows Metica's systems to analyze bundles, pricing, and make intelligent offer recommendations.