The Challenge
Onboarding is everything for Nitro Games. Without a strong tutorial, players were misusing features, skipping mechanics, or bouncing too quickly. As Leo Kihlman, Lead Game Designer at Nitro Games, put it:
“Because of the tests run with PlaytestCloud I have seen big increases in our Day 1 Retention just with a good FTUE.”
The challenge was clear: build tutorials that truly matched how new players experience the game — not how designers think they should.
The Solution
Instead of starting with a pre-written tutorial, Nitro Games flipped the script. They uploaded builds of Heroes of Warland without any tutorials to see what players understood naturally and where they stumbled.
To push the limits, they deliberately recruited players outside their target audience (e.g., casual female players unfamiliar with shooters). If those players could grasp the mechanics, then onboarding was working for everyone.
From there, Leo and his team built tutorials guided directly by these insights. Each new sprint delivered an updated build, tested again with PlaytestCloud’s player base. Over multiple cycles, they refined not only the steps themselves but also the timing of when features were introduced — ensuring explanations came exactly when players needed them.
The Results
Through this iterative process, Nitro Games developed a step-by-step, story-driven tutorial using a “mini battle pass” approach. This transformed onboarding into a smoother, more engaging experience.
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Tutorial pass rate climbed to 90%
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Day 1 retention improved significantly
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Established a repeatable process for future titles
By the time Heroes of Warland went into soft launch, Nitro Games could confidently scale testing to thousands of players, validating both tutorial design and overall game marketability.
