Atlas of Doors · progress report

3 Free Months

A card game you play in your browser. No install, free the whole time. The first line of code was written on June 18; the first stranger played on June 27. This is what happened in the 3 months and 2 days since, in plain words, and what changed in the last month.

The big picture

A run is one playthrough, from the first door to the boss. It takes about five minutes.

If 100 people open the game…

All people who opened it, scaled down to 100.

What the game looks like

Pick a path, walk the map, fight with cards, take a reward.

Choosing a path The descent map A card fight Choosing a card reward

Month 3 against months 1 and 2

Day by day

Came from a paid adCrazyGames trial (free)Everyone else (free)

Dotted lines mark the seven seasons. Jun 18 – 26 is the build, before anyone was invited; the first ad ran on Jun 27. Hover or tap any day.

Where players come from

Free players who found us on their own, per week

Search, links, word of mouth. No ads, no portal.

…but they are far better players

Out of every 100 new players from each source, how many…

Paid adsCrazyGames trialFound us on their own

Do they stay?

Came back the next day, and a week later

Share of new players, by the month they first arrived.

Next-day return, week by week

Each dot is everyone who arrived that week.

Do paid visitors actually play?

Out of every 100 people an ad brought in, by the month they arrived.

Month 1Month 2Month 3

Ads: we stopped paying for clicks

Same money, different order to Reddit

Before (Aug 4 – 27): "bring me clicks". After (Aug 28 →): "bring me people who win a run".

What a month of ads costs and buys

Spend is approximate (daily budgets).

What we built

Seven seasons in three months. 77 releases, close to one every day. There is now plenty of game, which is why the next stretch is about making it better, not bigger.

Four bets, and how they landed

Not everything worked. The ones that did not still told us who the game is for.

The people who stuck around

Registered accounts

Committed players active each day

Committed = played on 2+ days, 10+ minutes a day.

What's next

Better before bigger. One number to move: how many players come back tomorrow.

1

Make the game feel better

More animation and punch, smoother on slow phones, and sharper cards that combo. No new cards for a while.

Measured by: next-day return, time in the first session.

2

Earn the first money

Try different ways to sell Diamond Keys. Never pay-to-win: money cannot change the odds of a run.

Measured by: first sales, buyers per 1,000 players.

3

Try short video

AI video is now cheap enough to test TikTok-style clips as a second way to reach people.

Measured by: cost per player who wins a run, against Reddit.

4

Grow free traffic

More presence in more places, and a community that talks to each other. Free players are our best players.

Measured by: self-found players per week (now about 130).

5

Review the ad budget

Once the "pay for winners" campaign has a full month of data, decide whether to spend less.

Decision due: early October.

6

Season VIII, later

It is planned. It waits until the game we already have is worth coming back to.

Gate: the day-after number moves first.

Worth adding to the plan

    How these numbers were made
    Play Atlas of Doors — free, no download

    Tell us what you think

    Questions, doubts, ideas. We read every one.