Many mobile games lose up to 70% of users in the first three days – often because the mobile game progression system is poorly designed. We have seen this firsthand. After 10 years in game development and reworking over 50 projects from hyper-casual to midcore RPG, we know what works. In one project, D1 retention jumped from 25% to 48% after we rebalanced the XP curve and added daily tasks. A progression system is not just a set of levels – it is a mathematical model that keeps players coming back for months. Exponential curves are 30% better than linear ones for retention – proven by our projects.
How to balance the progression curve
The curve is a function linking time invested with perceived progress. A linear curve (xp_required = level * 100) does not work – the gap between level 1 and 50 feels the same. An exponential curve (xp_required = base * multiplier ^ level) gives a fast start but can become too steep with multipliers over 1.5. A polynomial curve (xp_required = A * level^2 + B * level + C) is a compromise, easy to iterate. We tune coefficients for target session time: for casual games, 3–5 minutes per session, 10–20 minutes per level. Parameters are placed in a ScriptableObject (Unity) or CSV so game designers can adjust balance without rebuilding. The cost for such a system typically starts at $5,000.
| Progression Type |
Description |
Example |
When to use |
| Vertical |
Player becomes stronger (levels, stats) |
RPG with character levels |
Long grind, RPG |
| Horizontal |
New abilities without power increase (skins, classes) |
Collectible cards |
Safe monetization |
| Seasonal |
Timed rewards, reset every 4–8 weeks |
Battle Pass (Fortnite) |
Regular player returns |
Why daily tasks matter
Daily challenges create a commitment to play every day. Technically: a task list is generated on first login, stored in the user profile, and reset at UTC midnight or local time. Use PlayerPrefs (Unity) or Firebase Realtime Database for cloud sync. Tasks with increasing difficulty keep players engaged longer.
Streak mechanics: consecutive login days → bonus rewards. Broken streak → motivation to pay for recovery (free recovery via rewarded video). At code level: timestamp of last login → difference in days → increment or reset counter.
Weekly and monthly milestones provide long-term goals with large rewards. Players see a week's progress ahead – this gives a reason to return.
Case study: midcore RPG on Unity + Firebase
The original linear progression delivered D7 retention of 8%. After we redesigned with an exponential XP curve, a 30-level battle pass, and daily tasks, D7 retention rose to 19%. Designing the system took 5 days and cost $3,000, leading to an estimated $15,000 extra revenue per month.
Reward system
Rewards must be immediate and predictable. Loot boxes (random rewards) give a high emotional peak but are regulated by the App Store Review Guidelines (section 3.1.1) and laws in Japan and Belgium. We offer options without regulatory risk: a pity system (guaranteed rare reward every N tries), and a battle pass with fixed rewards per level. For monetization without pay-to-win, we use horizontal progression (skins, emotes) and cosmetics. We guarantee the reward system balances for your target audience.
Stages of designing a mobile game progression system
- Determine target session time and sessions per level.
- Choose mathematical model (polynomial, exponential) and tune coefficients.
- Design vertical, horizontal, and seasonal progression.
- Develop daily/weekly tasks with streak mechanics.
- Balance rewards per regulatory requirements.
- Prepare specification in GDD format and balance sheet.
| Parameter |
Casual Game |
Midcore RPG |
| Average session time |
3–5 min |
10–15 min |
| Target time per level |
10–20 min |
30–60 min |
| Number of levels |
50–100 |
100–300 |
| Battle pass included |
Often |
Almost always |
What is included in the progression system
- Mathematical model of the XP curve with target time per level.
- Structure of vertical and horizontal progression.
- Daily/weekly task system with streak mechanics.
- Reward system design considering regulations (pity system, battle pass).
- Specification in GDD format with numerical parameters.
- Balance sheet in Google Sheets / Excel for iteration.
Timelines
Designing a mobile game progression system for a casual or hyper-casual project takes 2–3 business days. For a midcore project with multiple interconnected systems (character level + equipment + guild + season) – 5–7 business days. The cost is calculated individually. Evaluate your project – write to us, and we will propose a solution tailored to your genre and budget.
UX/UI Design for Mobile Apps: Why a Figma Layout Doesn't Guarantee a Ready Interface
A designer sends a layout—beautiful, with gradients and custom components. The developer opens it and realizes: the button is 36pt, the tap target is 20pt. On an iPhone SE, it's physically impossible to press with a thumb. The bottom sheet covers content when the keyboard appears. Navigation is built against the native iOS model. Apple will reject the app, or users will leave within a week—depending on how lucky you get with the review.
We have been designing mobile UX/UI for over 5 years and have seen hundreds of such situations. During this time, we have designed and helped launch 30+ mobile apps—from fintech products to social networks. You don't need to guess whether the design will pass App Review or Google Play—we embed platform requirements from the first screen. We'll assess your project in one day, contact us.
Mobile UX/UI is not an adaptation of web design. It is a separate discipline with specific platform constraints: safe area, touch gestures, UIViewController lifecycle, Activity state management.
Why Can't You Ignore Human Interface Guidelines and Material Design 3?
Apple HIG and Google Material Design 3 are not aesthetic recommendations. They are documented user expectations formed by years of using system applications. Expectations confirmed by user experience research on mobile platforms (User experience design).
HIG defines: minimum tap target 44×44 pt, safe area insets for notch and Dynamic Island, standard gestures (swipe back on iOS, back gesture on Android 10+). Ignoring safe area is a common mistake. safeAreaLayoutGuide in UIKit and safeAreaPadding in SwiftUI exist precisely for this. A designer who doesn't set safe area margins in Figma guarantees a bug during development.
Material Design 3 introduced Dynamic Color—the color scheme is generated from the user's wallpaper via MaterialTheme.colorScheme in Jetpack Compose. An app that ignores dynamic colors on Android 12+ looks out of place. This is not critical for niche products but is noticeable in mass-market apps.
The most painful platform guideline inconsistencies we encounter on projects:
- Custom navigation on top of system navigation. iOS users expect swipe back from any point on the left edge of the screen. A custom
NavigationController without interactive gesture breaks this. Android users expect the system back button—a custom back button in the left corner does not fully replace it.
- Modal windows instead of navigation push. Bottom sheets are appropriate for actions, not for navigating content.
- Missing haptic feedback.
UIImpactFeedbackGenerator on iOS is not decoration but part of the interface response. Buttons, swipes, and confirmation actions without tactile feedback feel broken.
Table: Comparison of iOS and Android UX/UI Requirements
| Parameter |
iOS (HIG) |
Android (Material Design 3) |
| Minimum tap target |
44×44 pt |
48×48 dp |
| Safe area |
safeAreaLayoutGuide / safeAreaPadding |
Insets in WindowInsets |
| Back gesture |
Swipe from left edge |
System back gesture (Android 10+) |
| Color scheme |
System dark/light |
Dynamic Color from wallpaper |
| Typography |
San Francisco (Dynamic Type) |
Roboto (Material Type Scale) |
| Haptic feedback |
UIImpactFeedbackGenerator |
HapticFeedbackConstants (Compose) |
How to Get the Most Out of Figma?
The Figma Variables API has changed the workflow. Design tokens—colors, typography, radii, spacing—are stored as variables and exported directly to code via figma-tokens or style-dictionary. This eliminates manual value transfer and desynchronization between design and implementation. Practice shows: Figma Variables speeds up asset handoff to development by 2–3 times compared to static frames, and using design tokens reduces code transfer errors by 60%.
Auto Layout with wrap and spacing between elements allows building components that behave like flex containers. A developer opens a component and sees not a static artifact but a description of behavior at different content sizes.
Component Properties—variants, boolean toggles, instance swaps—enable building a full design system right in Figma. A button with 4 states (default, hover, pressed, disabled), 3 sizes, and 2 icon variants is one component, not 24 frames.
Figma Prototype with Variables allows creating an interactive prototype with real state: showing how the screen changes with different variable values. This is no longer just a "clickable layout" but a full UX testing tool.
How to Benefit from Prototyping and UX Testing Before Development?
The most expensive mistake in a mobile product is to develop a feature, release it, and discover that users don't understand how it works. A Figma prototype at the testing stage costs zero development hours. Redoing a finished screen costs days. Testing a prototype before development begins reduces the number of fixes by 80%.
For usability testing, we use Maze (task testing on a prototype—the user goes through a scenario, we get heatmaps and mis-click rates) or direct sessions via UserTesting. Key metrics are task completion rate and time on task, not "like/dislike."
A/B testing on mobile is harder than on web: the App Store doesn't allow UI changes without an app update. Therefore, it's important to test hypotheses on a prototype before release, not through production experiments. According to research, fixing a bug found on a prototype costs 10 times less than after production release. And average task completion time increases by 40% after proper UX optimization during prototyping.
Why Are Animations Critical for Interface Perception?
Animations in mobile apps are feedback. An element doesn't appear instantly—it transitions to the desired state over 200–350 ms. This gives the brain context to understand what happened.
- iOS:
withAnimation in SwiftUI, UIViewPropertyAnimator in UIKit for interactive animations with interruption capabilities. Spring animations with dampingRatio are the basis of most Apple system transitions.
- Android:
AnimatedVisibility, animateContentSize, Crossfade in Compose. MotionLayout for complex scenes with multiple transformations.
- Flutter:
AnimationController + Tween, Hero animations between screens, Lottie for After Effects exports. Lottie is especially effective for onboarding illustrations and empty states.
The key constraint is 16 ms per frame (60 fps) or 8 ms (120 fps on ProMotion devices). Animations must run on the GPU via CALayer/RenderThread, not on the CPU via layoutSubviews. Profiling via Core Animation instrument in Xcode is a mandatory step before releasing animated screens.
Why Is Accessibility Not an Optional Feature?
VoiceOver on iOS and TalkBack on Android are used by up to 15% of users—this statistic is confirmed by accessibility research described in Accessibility (Wikipedia). In absolute numbers for a large app, this is thousands of people. Additionally, App Store rejections due to accessibility occur, though rarely.
Minimum checklist:
- All interactive elements have
accessibilityLabel
- Text contrast ratio at least 4.5:1 (WCAG AA)
- Dynamic Type is supported—the interface doesn't break at maximum font size
- VoiceOver focus flows through the screen in a logical order
SwiftUI automatically generates an accessibility tree from component semantics. UIKit requires manual setup of accessibilityTraits, accessibilityHint, and grouping via shouldGroupAccessibilityChildren.
What Does the Work Include?
The UX/UI design deliverables include:
| Deliverable |
Description |
| User flows and wireframes |
Screen structure and user paths |
| Design system |
Design tokens, components, Style Dictionary for export |
| UI layouts (Figma) |
All screens following platform guidelines |
| Interactive prototype |
Prototype with variables and animations |
| Development specification |
Zeplin / Figma Dev Mode with dimensions, margins, states |
| Maintenance guide |
Recommendations for adding new screens and components |
What Is the Process and Timeline?
Design goes through stages: research and competitive analysis → user flows and wireframes → design system → UI layouts → prototype → testing → handoff to development.
Timeline estimates:
| Scope |
Timeline |
| Redesign of 3–5 screens |
1–2 weeks |
| MVP (10–15 screens) |
3–5 weeks |
| Full product (30+ screens) |
6–10 weeks |
The project scope and timeline are determined after analyzing your requirements—number of screens, component complexity, whether a design system is needed or we work with an existing one. Get a consultation for your project—contact us for a preliminary assessment. Order a complete mobile app design—we'll assess your project in one day and propose the optimal work scope.
