| name | t1k:designer:base:events |
| description | Limited-time event design — LTE mechanics, event currency, event shop, seasonal/collab events, event monetization, event art briefs, press cycle, influencer activation, store featuring alignment |
| effort | medium |
| keywords | ["event","LTE","limited-time","seasonal event","collab","event banner","event shop","event currency","themed event"] |
| version | 1.12.0 |
| origin | theonekit-designer |
| repository | The1Studio/theonekit-designer |
| module | base |
| protected | false |
Game Events Design
When This Skill Triggers
- Designing a limited-time event (LTE) from scratch
- Designing event currency, event shop, or event milestones
- Planning a seasonal event (Halloween, CNY, Holiday)
- Designing a collaboration event (IP collab, crossover)
- Monetizing an event (event banner, bundle, premium pass)
- Writing event names or copy that doubles as marketing
- Planning event art brief aligned to store screenshots
Decision Tree
LTE Architecture
Event Tiers
| Tier | Duration | Systems |
|---|
| Minor | 2-3 days | Daily quest variant |
| Standard | 5-7 days | Event currency + shop |
| Major | 14-21 days | Event pass + shop + banner |
| Season | 60-90 days | Battle pass + ranking + LTE |
Event Flow Checklist
→ references/event-design-templates.md — event brief template, milestone track, collab checklist
Event Economy
- Single event currency per event (multiple = drop in engagement)
- Earn split: daily quest 40% / event mode drop 40% / login 20%
- Earn rate: free player earns ~70% of shop over full event duration
- Shop size: 6-10 items; 1 exclusive + 3-4 re-run items + 2-3 consumables
- Mid-event refresh: swap 2-3 items at midpoint — announce on social
- Currency expiry: 7-day grace period after event ends (urgency without punishment)
→ references/event-economy.md — earn rate tables, pricing formulas, currency flow model
Event Monetization
Revenue tier order:
1. Event banner / limited-time gacha (highest)
2. Event premium pass (paid track)
3. Event bundle ($4.99-$9.99: exclusive cosmetic + 2× currency + booster)
4. Premium bundle ($19.99-$29.99: same + extra cosmetic + banner pull)
5. Currency top-up / accelerator
- Banner pity: per-banner counter only — does NOT carry across banners
- Reveal banner contents 48h before launch (community hype cycle)
→ references/event-monetization.md — bundle formulas, banner rates, pity tables
Marketing Perspective
Events are marketing. Every decision should be evaluated for shareability, pressability, UA leverage.
Event Name as Marketing Copy
- Name must be evocative and searchable (players search for guides/leaks)
- Test: "Would a TikTok thumbnail with just this name get clicks?"
- Good: "Phantom Eclipse Festival", "Crimson Harvest", "Neon Carnival"
- Avoid: "Spring Event 2026", "Monthly Challenge", "New Content"
D1/D7/D30 Impact
- Major LTE: event-week D7 cohort typically 5-10% higher than non-event cohort
- ARPDAU during major events: +25-50% vs baseline
- Post-event LTV: event completers show 30-40% lower churn in following 30 days
- Event creative outperforms evergreen UA ads by 1.5-3× CTR
Store Screenshots (Mandatory for Major Events)
- Update screenshots 2 days before event launch (Apple review buffer)
- Screenshot 1: event key art + name; Screenshot 2: exclusive cosmetic
- Submit for Apple In-App Events slot (free editorial-adjacent placement)
→ references/event-marketing-playbook.md — press cycle, influencer brief, store checklist
Case Study: BackpackCrawler / Backpack Inu
Full detail: references/event-monetization.md §BPC + references/event-design-templates.md §BPC. Sources: Story.md §12, Systems.md §2.3-2.4 §3.3 §20, revenue-mix.json (locked 2026-04-29, Round 3 corrections 2026-05-02).
3 Monthly Major Events (12-week season)
- Wk 4 — "The Annual Picnic": cozy seasonal, exclusive Picnic Blanket cosmetic + 2× Seeds drop weekend
- Wk 8 — "Black Friday Returns": re-run vault, shop-bundle anchor, premium pass refresh tier
- Wk 12 — "Quarterly Earnings": 8-Act gauntlet (whole campaign back-to-back) + Mythic-tier reward drop
5 Rotating Weeklies
Take Your Pet to Work Day · Casual Friday · All-Hands Meeting · Pizza Party · Office Olympics — each ~15-25h prod, theme-tied to the workplace satire pillar; Wk 11 gets "Mochi's Photo Album" mini-event (lore re-collection, dead-week mitigation).
Event Monetization (Tier 3 Heavy IAA stack)
- Banner pity (per-banner, no carry): 1.6% featured rate displayed; soft pity at 70 pulls; hard pity at 90 pulls
- Bundle attach to event: Standard $4.99 (4-5× value) → Premium $9.99 (6-8× value) → Whale $49.99 (10× banner pulls + cosmetics)
- Event ARPDAU lift: target +25-50% vs $0.17-0.19 base case (realistic_base_corrected scenario)
- D7 dual-threshold: target 20% / floor 18% — auto-revert kill-switch to Tier 2 if D7 < 18% any week
Cozy-IAA Compromise (Acknowledged)
Tier 3 ad density (interstitial 1/run + 3-banner placements + push pressure) erodes cozy perception 5-10% per soft-launch survey. Mitigations baked into every event: Frank-voice sponsor framing on every ad surface, dual-tier ad-free pass escape valve ($4.99 / $9.99), opt-in push only with anti-FOMO copy, hard exclusions on emotional moments (post-death, FTUE, Day-1).
Why This Matters for Event Design
Every event LTE in BPC inherits the cozy-pillar contract: event design must front-load Frank-voice sponsor framing and back-load the ad-free pass cross-sell. No event ships without a 1-question Pollfish cozy-perception survey at Wk 4 + Wk 8 (target ≥3.8/5; floor 3.4/5).
Recent Comparable Games — Event Design
→ Full per-game breakdown in references/event-design-templates.md §Benchmarks. Summary:
- Royal Match — Propeller Rush: weekend tournament, +14.6% revenue lift, single-mechanic tournament structure (PocketGamer)
- Survivor.io: bi-weekly events sustain $5-6M/mo at year 3; TikTok-driven UA + event creative outperforms evergreen 2-3× CTR (Gamesforum)
- Genshin Impact — double-banner events: ~+30% revenue uplift on 6-week patch cycle; banner reveal 48h before launch is the press-cycle gold standard (Bittopup)
- Marvel Snap — monthly seasons: first-Monday cadence + thematic cross-promo + season-pass anchor; predictable cadence = press-cycle-friendly (Marvel Snap Zone)
- Brawl Stars — Brawl Pass + brawler drops: 6-8 week cadence + Brawl Talk reveal cycle (community hype 72h before launch)
- Stumble Guys — IP collabs: monthly collab cadence (Avatar: TLA, My Hero Academia, PAC-MAN, NERF, Hot Wheels) — collab events outperform original IP events by 1.5-2× peak DAU (Scopely)
AppMagic 2025: midcore games run 20-40 events/month; industry grew 73→89 events/mo per game; seasonal peak is October (Halloween portfolio = ~9 concurrent events at top games). (AppMagic LiveOps 2025)
Anti-Patterns
| # | Anti-Pattern | Problem | Fix |
|---|
| 1 | Generic event name | Not searchable, not shareable | Evocative name = marketing copy |
| 2 | Exclusive only via gacha | Regulatory risk; player hostility | Always provide a f2p grind path |
| 3 | No store screenshot update | Missed featuring opportunity | Update screenshots for every major event |
| 4 | Collab without legal clearance | IP dispute forces removal | Legal review before art production |
| 5 | Banner pity carries globally | Devalues future banners | Pity resets per-banner |
| 6 | Event shop static all event | No return visit hook | Mid-event item refresh |
Cross-References
game-liveops — Cadence: how events fit into the monthly live-ops calendargame-economy-design — Event currency earn rates, shop pricinggame-shop-offering — Event shop offering algorithms and pity mechanicsgame-quest-design — Daily event quest structure, milestone reward hooks
Reference Files
| File | Coverage |
|---|
references/event-design-templates.md | Event brief template, milestone tracks, collab checklist |
references/event-economy.md | Event currency earn rates, shop pricing, currency flow model |
references/event-monetization.md | Banner design, bundle formulas, pity tables, revenue tiers |
references/event-marketing-playbook.md | Press cycle, influencer brief, store screenshot checklist |
