28. Summary A: Design Tools

The tools referenced as “Appendix A” and “Appendix B” throughout the main chapters have been combined into this single Summary A. Whenever the main text directs you to “Appendix A” or “Appendix B,” come here.

What follows is not prose to read but a tool whose blanks you fill in. Bring together the design decisions made in Chapters 1 through 27 and bind them into a one-page FTUE design document. Detailed reviews of feedback, recovery, payment, and AI that do not go directly into the master workbook are handled separately in Summary B. A good FTUE is completed not by inspiration, but by leaving no blank unfilled.

Every filled example briefly uses the same hypothetical game: a casual game in which players decorate a cute animal character, name it, and care for it each day. Its primary users are ordinary people who rarely play games. The comprehensive samples S0–S15 in Summary B are the definitive filled examples for each tool, so follow those samples if a number or term appears different. The examples are not there to be copied. They show what belongs in each blank.

How to use these tools: My FTUE Design Document v1

This summary teaches nothing new. It only gathers the essential design decisions made in each chapter and binds them into one page. Open the master workbook below, transfer the decision from the corresponding chapter, and return to the indicated chapter to complete any blank. Detailed checks not covered by these eighteen fields continue in Summary B. Write the first part of the first screen you will improve in the final ★ field, and you have your FTUE Design Document v1.

There is a reason for adding v1 to the name. This document is a beginning, not a finished product. For now, every field is filled with assumptions and deskbound judgment. The moment real people enter the first screen, several fields will prove wrong. Do not close the document then. Choose the steepest leaking segment, revise one field, and write it again: v1 becomes v2. Measure and revise once more, and it becomes v3.

There is an order to this growth.

Revise only one field at a time. Change several places together and you cannot know what produced the effect.
Record the number before the change as a baseline, then measure again after the change.
The disposition of incoming people also changes over time. Someone who deliberately sought out the game in its first launch week and someone who happened upon it three months later pass through the same first screen differently. Look not only at newcomers but also at existing users who become lost again after a major update or season change.

The 90-minute minimum path

If your meeting is tomorrow, do not try to complete everything. Take only four things.

First fill in just six master-workbook fields, including ★: scope statement, priority layer, experiencer and mistaken assumptions, experience-cost budget, instrument panel and causality, and next action.
Write one line for each moment in your game on the T0–T10 first-moment map, then identify the single threshold with the greatest leakage.
Use the experience costs and first-five-minute budget to move expensive charges attached before the first fun to a later point.
Print the five-person interview questionnaire in Summary B and take it with you.

Together, these four take about ninety minutes and produce a first sheet you can place on the meeting table.

Tool priority guide

Priority 1 means complete it today; Priority 2, this week; Priority 3, when time permits. The durations are estimates, so replace them with your team’s pace.

Priority 1 (today): Master workbook (60 min) · First-moment T0–T10 map and scope statement (20 min) · Eight user layers sheet (20 min) · Experience costs and first-five-minute budget (30 min)
Priority 2 (this week): Convention teardown review (20 min) · Borrowing prior analogous experiences (20 min) · Eight experiencer hurdles (20 min) · Persona/migration-candidate cards (30 min) · Character roster (30 min) · Worldview migration map (20 min) · First 30 seconds/3 minutes/30 minutes/D1 design (30 min)
Priority 3 (when time permits): Sense × content pairing (20 min) · Experience types by content (20 min) · Experience-simulation analysis (20 min) · One hundred first impressions (30 min)

What follows are the empty tools into which you transfer those fields.

Tool 1. Master Workbook (FTUE Design Document)

Purpose. This master workbook gathers the design notes completed at the end of each chapter onto one page. Transfer all eighteen fields below from top to bottom, and that page becomes FTUE Design Document v1.

Fields to fill in (one line each, from top to bottom).

① Familiarity inventory (Chapter 1) — Twenty things in our game so obvious to us that we omitted explanations. Mark those derived from gamer common sense.
② Game conventions to dismantle (the convention checkpoint in each chapter) — Conventions selected from four families for examination. Identify them with Tool 3.
③ FTUE scope statement (Chapters 2 and 20) — Our FTUE begins at ___ and ends at ___. Define it with Tool 2.
④ Mapping the first eleven thresholds (Chapter 3) — Which moment in our game corresponds to each threshold T0–T10. Tool 2.
⑤ Borrowing prior analogous experiences (Chapter 5) — A familiar shell to borrow and new substance to place inside it.
⑥ Priority layer (Chapter 6) — The one layer, among the Eight Layers, to persuade first on the first screen.
⑦ Experiencer and mistaken assumptions (Chapter 7) — Our experiencer type / the mistaken assumptions they brought / first hurdle, first reward, first taboo.
⑧ Migration candidate and worldview (Chapters 8 and 9) — Where the person previously lived / one primary worldview + two or three adjacent worldviews / migration hurdle and settlement reward.
⑨ Character-sense roster (Chapter 10) — Character × sense × suitable content × where the person who will like them came from.
⑩ Experience-cost budget (Chapters 11 and 16) — Costs to charge in the first five minutes and costs to defer. All seven costs.
⑪ Experience types (Chapter 12) — Three experience types to prioritize in the first thirty minutes.
⑫ Experience-simulation analysis (Chapter 13) — Five UI elements / the original experience each symbolizes / whether that experience actually occurs.
⑬ One hundred first impressions (Chapter 18) — First impressions produced by channel × layer × threshold / selection or endurance.
⑭ Time-based design (Chapter 21) — What to give in each of five segments: first 30 seconds / 3 minutes / 3–10 minutes / 30 minutes / one day.
⑮ Instrument panel and causality (Chapters 22 and 23) — Output metric to watch / input gauge I can control / causality connecting the two.
⑯ Measurement plan (Chapter 25) — What to measure with which tool / qualitative or quantitative / iteration interval.
⑰ Choices entrusted to the user (Chapter 26) — One choice that reflects taste / whether to provide freedom through the choice or reduce cost through it.
⑱ AI trust fence (Chapter 27) — One point where AI will be used / a fence of transparency, control, and correctability.
★ Next action — Exactly one place on the first screen to improve first among those indicated by this document.

How to fill it in.

Transfer one field at a time from top to bottom. If a field is blank, return to that chapter and finish it.
Once everything is transferred, fill the ★ field. Choose exactly one: the threshold with the greatest leakage, the point with the most expensive cost, or a place where the indicator is prominent but no event occurs.
If you revise several places at once, you cannot know what worked. Revise one place and measure again. That one line turns the document from something inside a book into the work that begins on your desk tomorrow morning.

Short example.

③ Scope statement: Begins the moment the user first sees an image of the cute character and ends when they finish, name, and save their own character.
⑥ Priority layer: L3 Viewer. First show a person who has looked at cute characters on social media, “I get to make something this cute myself.”
★ Next action: Users leave midway because completion takes too many steps. Remove one step on the first screen from the path to completion.

Tool 2. First-Moment T0–T10 Map and Scope Statement

Purpose. This map assigns the eleven thresholds of the first moment to your game, then overlays the start and end points of your FTUE to color its territory. It shows on one page where the first experience leaks and where it ends.

The working definitions are: FTUE = T1–T8 / NUX = T3–T10 / OOBE = a subset of T3 / UX = T0–∞.

The eleven thresholds (each threshold: name — what leaks here — scope).

Before the game
- T0 First rumor — reach and search do not happen — UX
- T1 First exposure — what it is cannot be seen at a glance — FTUE begins
- T2 First expectation — the user does not know what was promised — FTUE
First session
- T3 First entry — abandonment during download, launch, permissions, or loading — FTUE · NUX begins · OOBE
- T4 First recognition — the user does not know what kind of game this is — FTUE · NUX
- T5 First input — no reason to press — FTUE · NUX
- T6 First response — my action does not reach the world — FTUE · NUX
- T7 First failure — a failure that does not invite another try — FTUE · NUX
- T8 First reward/completion — the user never thinks, “So that’s what this is” — FTUE ends (first core fun) · NUX
Settlement
- T9 First choice/social contact — my taste and other people have no meaning — NUX
- T10 First return — no excuse to come back — NUX ends

The first payment is not a threshold. Business events such as payment and purchase are not the destination of the first experience but output metrics far downstream. The ladder of first moments ends at T10, the first return.

How to fill it in.

First write one line describing the specific screen or action in your game that corresponds to each threshold. Leave one blank and that threshold is absent from the design.
Read “what leaks here,” picture where that leakage actually occurs, and mark the single threshold with the greatest leakage.
Finally, complete the scope statement. Its start is the earliest point for which we take responsibility. Its end is one point where the user first tastes the core fun. A first battle, first deck, first character, first decoration, first collaboration, or first trade can all be endpoints. Write the first completed event of your genre’s core fun, such as the first automatic growth in an idle game or the first consequence of a choice in a narrative game. If you want to list more than one, ask, “Without which of these has the user not really played this game?” and narrow it to one.

Scope-statement template.

“Our FTUE begins at ( ___ ), ends at ( ___ ), and NUX begins there.”
“Endpoint = first core fun = ( ___ ).”
Add one more line: “Is this endpoint I wrote a gamer’s rite of passage, or a moment our users will genuinely enjoy?” If the endpoint is “defeat the first boss” but users did not come for combat, rewrite the field.

Short example.

T5 First input: Gently stroke the character with a finger. / T8 First reward: “I have my own character” (aha moment).
Statement: “Begins the moment the user first sees the cute character and ends when they finish, name, and save their own character.” Endpoint = completing and saving the first character. It is not a gamer’s rite of passage but a moment our user will genuinely enjoy.

Tool 3. Game-Convention Teardown Review

Purpose. Divide the conventions inherited by games into four families, then examine each one with four questions. The aim is to retain the essence while removing inertia from things gamers read through context but ordinary people experience as noise.

Four questions (checkpoint items).

① Premise: What does this convention take for granted? From which genre was it inherited?
② Shared-understanding check: Do ordinary people share that premise, or is it an agreement known only to gamers?
③ Experience cost: Which of the seven costs does it charge ordinary people?
④ Replacement/redesign: What can replace it while retaining only the essence? What familiarity will we borrow, and what will we provide anew?

Candidate conventions to examine (delete those absent from your game and add others that need attention).

Controls/UI: virtual joystick and WASD / grid inventory / minimap, quest markers, and HP bar
Progression/structure: NPC tutorial / levels, experience points, and skill tree / difficulty selection and game over
Economy/systems: gacha and probability / stamina and hearts / two currencies, soft and hard
Culture/tacit assumptions: “Games are supposed to be hard” / “Tutorials are for skipping” / genre abbreviations, meta, and tier discourse

How to fill it in.

In each design chapter, select only one or two conventions connected to its subject. Do not try to address all of them at once.
Beyond the candidates above, your genre may include saves and checkpoints, daily missions and attendance rewards, or long presses and double taps. Add those that apply.
Pass each selected convention through the four questions in order. There is one rule for judgment: retain tradition only when it serves as a tool that helps the experience. If tradition merely leaves inertia behind by making the interface simulate an experience, discard or revise it.
A genre convention can be either a promise or a cost to a newcomer. Ask which it is every time.
When completing ④, separate the familiarity to borrow from what you will newly provide.

Short example.

Acquiring characters through gacha and probability: ① Good characters are drawn and collected by chance (inherited from collection games). ② Not shared; it looks like gambling to ordinary people. ③ Breaks attachment + pressures spending. ④ Do not make users draw on the first screen; let them meet. Replace the vertical ranking of rarities with a horizontally equal roster.
Permanently displayed minimap/HUD: ③ Attention + time (learning how to read it buries what must be pressed now under information). ④ Turn off what is not needed on the first screen.

Tool 4. Borrowing Prior Analogous Experiences

Purpose. The user is not a blank sheet but one already densely written. Break down by medium the expectations they bring from elsewhere, then decide what to borrow to remove explanations and what to provide anew. A borrowed form brings its borrowed promise, so do not borrow it if you cannot keep that promise. Tool 9, the Worldview Migration Map, handles the broad picture of expectations and reasons to return by origin. This tool deals narrowly with the details of control conventions in each medium.

What to record for each medium.

Expectations brought along (a script that predicts what comes next)
What to borrow (familiarity to take from that medium)
Cost (the price imposed by that medium)
Taboo (a line whose violation causes immediate departure)
Judgment: borrow it unchanged / borrow only the form / discard it

Candidate media: YouTube and short-form video / social media / webtoons / messengers / commerce / fandom / existing games / amusement parks.

How to fill it in.

Treat each medium as one item. Divide its expectations into four branches: expectation, what to borrow, cost, and taboo.
Choose one of three judgments. Borrow bodily familiar agreements unchanged, discard conventions that first provoke aversion, and for everything in between borrow only the form while replacing its contents with your own.
Ask first for every medium: What does a person from this medium expect on the first screen? / What familiarity can we borrow to remove an explanation? / What price does that medium charge? / What taboo makes them turn away immediately when violated? / Can we actually keep the promise carried by the form we borrowed?

Short example.

YouTube/short-form video: swipe up and the next item arrives immediately → borrow the upward swipe unchanged to move between characters. The taboo is making users wait through loading or an intro.
Webtoons: scroll vertically and consume one episode in a single flow → borrow only the form (the end of the scroll leads to the next decoration step, not the next episode).
Fandom: collect, keep, and show content featuring a favorite character → borrow only the form (a horizontally equal roster instead of rarity tiers). Concentrate the novelty in one thing: “The character I made recognizes me and lives with me each day.”

Tool 5. Eight User Layers Sheet

Purpose. The first screen speaks simultaneously to all eight layers accumulated within one person. For every element on the screen, determine which layer it addresses, whether it is a convention only gamers can read or a sign ordinary people can also read, and whether to turn it on now or defer it. Mix four or more layers on one screen and it speaks clearly to no one.

The eight layers (deeper involvement from bottom to top — need / failure signal).

L1 Customer — value worth money and time / installs but never opens
L2 User — low friction and utility / abandons at the sign-up screen
L3 Viewer — something worth seeing and immediate comprehension / watches the first screen for a few seconds, then closes it
L4 Button Presser — immediate response and confidence / stops without a first action
L5 Player — challenge, mastery, and sense of control / does not retry after the first failure
L6 Console/Operator — overview and sense of operation / never opens the full screen or settings
L7 Character — a personal story inside the world / skips naming
L8 Resident — a world and relationships in which to stay / does not return the next day

What to record for every first-screen element.

Which layer it addresses (one letter from C·U·V·B·P·O·Ch·R)
Whether it is a convention only gamers read or a sign ordinary people also read
Whether to turn it on now or defer it

How to fill it in.

Choose the very first screen that appears. Identify each element on it and mark with one letter which layer it addresses.
Count the marks. If four or more layers are mixed on one screen, retain only one priority layer and defer information for the others to the next screen.
Mark every element as a gamer convention or an ordinary-person sign. Turn on HP bars, cooldowns, and minimaps only when a layer that reads them as information has reached the screen. An HP bar is noise to a viewer who has only just begun looking, but information to a player who wants control.
Pair the completed sheet with the failure signals above and use it as coordinates for reading abandonment. Abandonment at sign-up means the User layer is blocked; skipping naming means the Character layer is blocked.

Short example.

A cute character hops in and waits for a hand → Viewer and Button Presser / ordinary-person sign (cuteness) / turn on now.
Indicators for safety, no ads, and no spending pressure → Customer (the user themself, considering installation and spending) / ordinary-person signs / turn on now.
Stat numbers and resource gauges → Console/Operator and Player / gamer conventions / defer.

Tool 6. Eight Experiencer Hurdles

Purpose. There is no single kind of beginner. Divide the broad group called ordinary people into eight experiencer types according to what they do not know, then record what each does not know, where each first gets stuck, and what must not be violated. No first experience can satisfy everyone, so select one primary experiencer and address that person’s first hurdle and taboo first. A false beginner does not arrive empty-handed but carrying the wrong baggage, so also examine the “mistaken gamer common sense” they brought.

What to record for each type.

What they do not know / first hurdle / first reward / first taboo / mistaken gamer common sense brought along

Eight types: genre beginner / franchise beginner / platform beginner / worldview beginner / economy beginner / social beginner / returning beginner / spectator. (The first branch is whether someone is a gamer or an ordinary person. Ordinary people ask only, “Can I finish in three minutes? Can I play without paying? Can I do it with friends?”)

How to fill it in.

Treat each type as one item. Record what they do not know, the wall they meet on the first screen, what you give back after they cross it, and the line that makes them leave if crossed.
The last field distinguishes an empty-handed beginner from a false beginner. Genre beginners carry abbreviations, franchise beginners the assumption that “the previous title worked this way,” and platform beginners the controls of another device.
Once you choose a primary target, measure separately the rate at which that person crosses the first hurdle. A single overall abandonment rate mixes genre beginners leaving because terminology stopped them with social beginners leaving because rankings intimidated them, hiding the cause inside one number.

Short example.

Genre beginner (someone who has played only casual puzzles): does not know what to do because there are no stages to clear (first hurdle) → the character responds immediately when stroked (first reward). Mistaken assumption: “A game is about clearing stages.”
Spectator (a light user who watched through video and social media): “Can I watch without feeling uneasy?” (first hurdle) → the pleasure of seeing a cute character appear. Taboo: immediately demanding sign-up or payment. On the same screen, give something to touch to the person who acts and something delightful to watch to the spectator.

Tool 7. Persona/Migration-Candidate Card

Purpose. A persona drawn from demographics ends up in a drawer. A useful persona includes the person’s pride, attachment, and medium of origin, enabling decisions about what to show first and what to hide on the first screen. See the person as a migration candidate moving into our world, and the persona becomes a relocation plan rather than a portrait for reports. If the card immediately tells you what to show first, it is complete. If not, it is a sign that you remain at a single demographic data point.

What to record on one candidate card.

Name and one-line description / medium of origin / experiencer type (one of the eight in Tool 6) / entry layer (L1–L8 from Tool 5)
Need (what they seek to accomplish) / pain point (what makes them uncomfortable) / goal / likes / dislikes
Convention prohibited on the first screen / which character greets them / first-screen pass rate (a separate field for each candidate)

How to fill it in.

One card represents one candidate. Draw three to five primary candidates, starting with medium of origin rather than demographics, and ask where this person has been living until now.
The three classifications—origin, experiencer, and layer—converge on this card. Put familiar actions and aims under needs, and discomforts under pain points.
Games reach the heart more deeply, so add the texture of games to likes and dislikes. Do they want to show others or enjoy quietly? What gives them pride or embarrassment? Do they pour attachment into characters or find satisfaction in operating a system efficiently?
“Convention prohibited on the first screen” is the card’s core field. Write one gaming term or convention you must never use with this person. For someone who cherishes characters, it might be classifying them as a “collector type”; for a webtoon reader, freedom that suddenly leaves them lost.
If you chose several candidates, do not treat the first-screen pass rate as one aggregate. Separate and record it by candidate. Leave it blank before launch, then fill it with measured results.

Short example.

Name: A light user who watches cute-character videos every day but has never made a character themself.
Medium of origin: cute-character videos/social clips / experiencer: spectator / entry layer: L3 Viewer.
Need: keep a beloved character closer in everyday life / pain point: anxiety about harsh ads and leaking payments.
Prohibited convention: immediately pushing sign-up and payment screens at a light user who came to look.
Greeting character: a puppy that hops in and giggles (protection and care).

Tool 8. Character Roster (Resident Registry)

Purpose. Treat characters not as graphic assets but as interpreters of the world. On the first screen, people do not actually meet the world; they meet a character who lives there. Each character attracts a different sense, that sense suits different content, and the person who will like it comes from a different origin. Connect these four in one line and finish with a sentence written in terms of sense rather than performance, and you can decide who stands at the very front of the first screen.

What to record for each character.

Name and one-line role (do not record rarity or stats)
Sense cluster it attracts (one of the eight below)
Suitable content (one first piece of content called forth by that sense)
Origin of the person who will like this character
One sentence written in terms of sense, not performance

Eight sense clusters (the same list as Tool 10): protection and care, exploration and discovery, admiration and display, play and response, collection and ownership, speed and mastery, rapport and conversation, safety and comfort.

How to fill it in.

Select three to five characters to place on the first screen.
For the sense cluster, identify the first one activated among the eight above. If a character fits none, it is still merely a picture whose sense has not been decided. If it activates more than one, choose the strongest.
Sense calls forth content. When sense and content conflict, people feel dissonance.
Record the origin of the person who will like the character (fandom, webtoon reader, short-form viewer, and so on), and the prior analogous experiences from Tool 4 separate by character.
Write a sentence translated into sense instead of performance. Not “a high-attack damage dealer,” but “a soft child you want to hold and keep looking after.”
Mark the character liked by the migration candidate you are recruiting first. That character is the interpreter who stands at the very front of the first screen.

Short example.

Puppy — protection and care / holding, stroking, and caring / attachment to dolls and character fandom / “A soft child your hands reach for because you want to keep looking after it.”
Frog — play and response / a short rhythm game where taps produce immediate reactions / people accustomed to short-form video / “A child that bounces in immediate response to a tap, making you want to tap again.”
Cat — exploration and discovery / looking into corners and slowly becoming friends / webtoon readers / “A child who does not readily come close, making you want to know it even more.”

Tool 9. Worldview Migration Map (Primary/Adjacent)

Purpose. Measure a worldview not by the volume of its lore but as a place people can enter and live. Each world of origin is a different migration distance from ours. Rate the distance from each origin; record the familiarity to borrow (visa), the promise on the first screen (settlement reward), and the reason to return; then decide whether to recruit it as primary or guide it slowly as adjacent. This map covers the broad expectations attached to every medium and IP of origin.

What to record for each world of origin.

Migration distance (near/distant/hazardous)
Visa: familiarity to borrow
Settlement reward: promise on the first screen
Reason to return
Primary/adjacent judgment

How to fill it in.

Record where the migration candidate used to live (webtoons, short-form video, fandom, other games, and so on).
Classify migration distance as one of three types.
- Near: only one neighborhood away. Almost everything familiar can be brought unchanged.
- Distant: reachable only after leaving behind half of what was familiar.
- Hazardous: brought expectations collide head-on with our grammar; poor guidance sends the person back from the entrance carrying only aversion.
Under visa, record the familiarity brought from the origin (episodic rhythm, immediacy, attachment, decoration). Under settlement reward, write the promise of the first screen (atmosphere and first action, not proper nouns or cutscenes). Under reason to return, state in the candidate’s language why they come back. Fandom returns for a daily check-in, drama and webtoon audiences for the next episode, and gamers for greater mastery.
Set as primary the origin from which the most people can settle across the shortest distance, and the next-shortest as adjacent. Do not force hazardous migration on the first screen; make it adjacent or defer it.
If there are several origins, do not push everyone through the same entrance. With only one entrance, someone lands in a neighborhood that is not theirs.

Short example.

A person deeply attached to a favorite character: near / visa = the feel of decorating and collecting + attachment / shape a puppy character directly and make it “mine” / primary.
Webtoon reader: distant / visa = episodic rhythm + anticipation of what comes next / slowly befriend the cat / adjacent (guide gradually).
Gamer accustomed to rank and efficiency: hazardous / do not force a fit on the first screen / defer until long after attachment comes first.

Tool 10. Sense × Content Pairing

Purpose. Lay out the eight sense clusters to see at a glance which content each sense calls forth. The moment you decide a character’s sense, the first action to give is nearly determined. Use this as a reference for finding pairs when assigning senses to characters in Tool 8. Do not confuse it with the Eight Layers in Tool 5 or the eight experiencer types in Tool 6; this is a different list.

What to record for each of the eight senses (all eight rows are fixed; do not delete or add any).

Content called forth by this sense / our game’s first action / suitable character

Eight senses: protection and care, exploration and discovery, admiration and display, play and response, collection and ownership, speed and mastery, rapport and conversation, safety and comfort.

How to fill it in.

Record the content naturally called forth by the sense (protection and care calls for decoration and nurturing; play and response calls for a minigame that answers a tap immediately).
Record the one action that provides the content on the first screen. If there is no action to give, leave it blank. A sense with many blanks is one through which our game cannot beckon to that person.
Under suitable character, write the Tool 8 character for whom that sense activates first. If a sense has no character, a person arriving through that sense has no face that makes them stop on the first screen.
Mark the sense row of the candidate you will recruit first. The first action in that row must come to the very front of the first screen.

Short example.

Protection and care → hold, stroke, and nurture → name and stroke the puppy → puppy.
Play and response → a short activity that answers immediately when tapped → tap the frog in rhythm → frog.
Speed and mastery → a challenge at which one quickly improves → (defer on the first screen) → (no corresponding character).

Tool 11. Experience Types by Content

Purpose. A feature list is not the same as an experience list. Adding a collection feature does not automatically create the pleasure of collecting. Divide the experiences people have through content into ten types, then record where our game can provide each and which origins desire it. Once complete, choose the three experiences the primary user wants and place them in the first thirty minutes.

What to record for each of the ten experience types (all ten rows are fixed).

One-line definition / common example / form our game can provide / which origin wants it

Ten types: sensation · understanding · choice · achievement · ownership · relationship · world · ritual · display · discovery.

How to fill it in.

Do not try to memorize the ten types. Use them to name in one word what our content provides.
Under “form our game can provide,” write one line stating where the game gives that experience. Leave it blank if there is nowhere.
Under “which origin wants it,” record the origin trained to desire that experience (drama viewers want world, commerce users ownership, and short-form viewers sensation).
Mark the experiences wanted by the primary user’s origin, then include them among three experiences to provide in the first thirty minutes. Do not remove the other seven; move them to “defer.”
Show all ten on the first screen and users leave without knowing what they came to do. Make only three clear.

Short example.

Sensation = the tactile pleasure of coloring and changing shapes (short-form viewers).
Ownership = possess the completed character as “mine” (people accustomed to commerce and collection).
Relationship = the character says my name and follows me (character fandom).
First-three priorities for thirty minutes: sensation, ownership, relationship. Defer the rest.

Tool 12. Experience-Simulation Analysis

Purpose. A spectacular sign and the truth of what it signifies are unrelated. The signifier only points to the experience signified; without a real event behind it, a more spectacular sign is exposed more quickly. Pick up each UI element on the screen, record the original experience it points to and the reward the user expects, then record the risk of misunderstanding created when the sign is copied but the event is left empty. This is most useful when borrowing from a competitor.

What to record for each sign.

Original experience (signified) / reward the user expects / risk of misunderstanding if copied but left empty

Candidate signs to examine: hearts / levels / draws / progress bars / quest markers and other things that imitate an experience.

How to fill it in.

Select at least five signs from the first screen (reward popup, level-up presentation, combo effect, progress bar, rarity badge).
Record the real event to which each sign points (a heart is an event of receiving recognition, a level an event of becoming better than yesterday, a progress bar meaningful progress).
Record the misunderstanding a user will receive if you copy only the sign and leave the event behind it empty. Collect only signs and you make an app with a Like button but no liking.
Once complete, compare the scale of each sign with the scale of its event. Mark signs that are large while their events are small, then reduce the sign or create an event of equal scale before it. Leaving an empty sign in place is not an option.

Short example.

Heart: an event where recognition and affection pass between two parties → if pressing it produces no character response, it becomes a red picture that points to nothing.
Draw: the thrill of obtaining something rare → if the first meeting is paid through a probability table, users encounter a transaction before attachment.
Completion cheer (character barks): achievement after finishing something substantial → if fireworks erupt after every single button press, the cheer becomes a lie and nothing remains believable.
When borrowing a sign, borrow the whole experience it signifies. Borrow a combo and include controls that demand skill; borrow a reward popup and place something worth accomplishing before the reward.

Tool 13. Experience Costs and the First-Five-Minute Budget

Purpose. This tool does two things. For each of the seven costs, record where our game charges it and how to reduce it; then create a budget that allocates only one cost at a time during the first five minutes. It places “do not charge before giving” onto an actual timeline.

The seven costs are attention, time, opportunity cost, social cost, failure, personal information, and spending anxiety. All are most expensive on the first screen because the most costs are charged together before the user has experienced any fun. This tool aims to defer those charges until after the first fun arrives.

What to record for each cost.

Where our game imposes it / whether it must be charged now (yes/no) / how to reduce it or where to defer it

First-five-minute budget (lay it out chronologically and allocate only one cost to each position).

For 0–30 seconds / 30 seconds–1 minute / 1–2 minutes / 2–3 minutes, record one cost charged in that segment and the reason.
Draw a line at “first fun arrives.” If heavy costs cluster before the line, move them behind it (3–4 minutes or 4–5 minutes).

How to fill it in.

Start with “where imposed” for every cost. Dense explanations impose attention; loading and long tutorials impose time; immediate leaderboards and forced sharing impose social cost; losing the first attempt imposes failure; login and permission requests impose personal information; and a day-one product window imposes spending anxiety.
Most costs charged before the user grasps the first fun should be marked “no.” State where each “no” cost will move. Move sign-up until there is something to save, permissions to just before the action that requires them, payment offers until after value is understood, and rank comparisons until after confidence develops.
Two or more costs in one first-five-minute field signal overcharging. Keep only one and move the others to the fields below.
Keep the fields above the “first fun arrives” line as empty as possible. Make the first screen “look free” by keeping costs invisible before the line.
After launch, the screen with the most departures is the point charging the highest cost. Read the location by cost type and revise the budget.

Short example. The user meets a cute character for five minutes in the noise of a subway commute.

0–30 seconds: one character wagging its tail (no cost; make the first impression look free).
30 seconds–2 minutes: choose just one color (attention; the one decision required for the first input).
2–3 minutes: name and complete the character (no cost). The first fun arrives here; draw the line.
After 3 minutes: a light sign-up prompt saying “to save” (personal information; worth paying now that there is something to save).
Payment appears nowhere on this table. Defer it as an output metric much farther downstream.

Tool 14. First 30 Seconds / 3 Minutes / 30 Minutes / D1 Design

Purpose. Divide the first experience into time segments, deciding separately what to give and what to defer in each. The user’s question changes every thirty seconds, so the same explanation can be poison in the first thirty seconds and medicine at three minutes. Record anticipated abandonment for each segment to identify in advance where the slope is steepest.

What to record for each of the five segments.

Goal of this segment / what to give / what to avoid (defer) / how to measure / anticipated abandonment

Five segments and the question the user asks in each:

First 30 seconds — “What is this? Is it for me? Is it safe?”
30 seconds–3 minutes — “What am I supposed to do?”
3–10 minutes — “So what is fun about this?”
10–30 minutes — “Is this worth continuing? Does it have depth?”
D1 (one day later, T10 First Return) — “Should I open it again?”

How to fill it in.

Fill in the goal for each segment first. The first thirty seconds are identity and safety (see what kind of game it is at a glance, match the advertisement, feel reassured); 30 seconds–3 minutes are first input and response; 3–10 minutes are first achievement; 10–30 minutes are a sense of future growth, the big picture, and choice; D1 is one working reason to return.
Under “what to give,” record only one thing to place in the user’s hands in that segment. Choose one priority per segment and arguments about where to place things disappear.
Under “what to avoid,” write what to defer. If long explanations or NPC guidance appear under “what to give” in the first thirty seconds, move them to “what to avoid.” Move an explanation down to the first segment where its feature is needed.
Under “measurement,” record a number that measures passage through the segment. Tutorial completion measures only “Did they do everything we told them?” so place first-fun reach and next-day return beside it.
Estimate “anticipated abandonment” even if only as a guess, then replace it with measured results after launch. The steepest segment is the next place to address.

Short example (abandonment numbers are hypothetical).

First 30 seconds: goal = safety and identity / one cute tail-wagging character / avoid worldview exposition and company logo / 30-second retention / 100→70.
3–10 minutes: goal = first achievement / name and complete the character / avoid guidance about unlocking additional characters / first-completion rate / 40→30.
D1: goal = reason to return / character waves and says, “See you tomorrow” / D1 return / 25→8.
These numbers belong to the same hypothetical set as the instrument-panel definitions and funnel example in Summary B (first completion 30, thirty-minute retention 25, D1 8).

Tool 15. One Hundred First Impressions

Purpose. A first impression is not one sheet but many combinations created where channel, layer, and threshold cross. Lay out those combinations, generate first impressions, and record “the promise made by this first impression” in every field. A preview is a promise, not an advertisement, and it should promise only what the first screen can keep. Once the combinations are visible, you can see where too little was promised to one person and the wrong thing to another.

Three axes.

Channel: advertising (short-form/banner) / store details / friend recommendation / video and streaming / community / organic search
Layer: use only the Eight Layer terms from Tool 5 (Customer L1 / User L2 / Viewer L3 / Button Presser L4 / Player L5 …). Spectator and returning user belong to the eight experiencer types in Tool 6, not to layers; do not mix them into this axis, though you may add them as notes.
Threshold: T0 First Rumor / T1 First Exposure / T2 First Expectation

What to record for each combination (channel × layer × threshold = one first impression).

Experience this person brings from outside the game / promise made by this first impression / whether the first screen can keep it

How to fill it in.

Set the values of the three axes to fit your game. Include only channels where you actually meet people and only the layers met in each channel.
Do not try to fill thirty combinations at once. Begin with six combinations by crossing your two highest-volume channels with one priority layer and three thresholds, then expand to at least thirty.
Under “experience brought along,” record the familiarity the person has outside games. Someone who waited for webtoon episodes, someone who swiped through short-form videos, and someone who filled a shopping cart in commerce each bring different eyes to the first screen.
Under “promise,” write one sentence: “The person who sees this first impression opens the first screen expecting a ( ___ ) experience.” Frame the promise through an experience they know, not a spectacular video: waiting for the next episode like a webtoon, playing one short round at a time like short-form video, or raising something with a friend.
For every field marked “cannot keep,” fix one of two things. Lower the promise to what the first screen can provide, or raise the first screen to the level promised.
Examine store details separately. People stay only seconds, so the first few images determine conversion. Mark whether the first image shows “what I will get to do with this.”

Short example.

Short-form ad × Viewer (light user) × T1 First Exposure: the pleasure of watching cute-character videos → “I create a brightly smiling character” → can keep (the first screen begins with that character).
Store details × Customer (a user deciding whether to install) × T2 First Expectation: criteria used to choose character apps → “Complete it alone, quickly and without pressure” → can keep (one decision per screen).
One picture of a brightly smiling character is already a promise. Do not promise brightness you cannot keep.

Next comes “Summary B: Measurement, Review, and Reference”—the workbench where the tools completed here are measured in front of real people, leakage is found, and the results are traced back through principles and terminology.