PLAYROLL LAB · R&D
Four experiments, live
Working prototypes with real Plays. Each one shows the options side by side, with a recommended pick. Nothing here is linked from the site.
Faster first Play
The same Play loads three ways at once. Watch what each phone shows first, then compare the timings. Run it on your phone on mobile data for the honest picture.
- First picture
- ·
- Playable
- ·
- First picture
- ·
- Playable
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- First picture
- ·
- Playable
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C loads after A and B have already warmed the cache, so its time is a best case.
A spinner until the game has loaded. On a slow phone the first few seconds are an empty screen.
The cover shows instantly, the game loads behind it and fades in. No blank screen, ever. A small change to the feed and player.
Nothing loads until the tap. Lightest on data and battery, but adds a tap. Good for the library wall, not the feed.
Not in the race: a 3 second silent loop per Play in the feed, the real game on tap. Feels the most alive, needs a capture job and storage.
- The background loader starts on every page, Terms included, and loads up to 8 Plays (2 at a time on phones). On the homepage those compete with the first Play.
- The first Play in the feed has no cover behind it, so phones see a spinner first.
- 3D Plays like Seven Stones pull large files. A poster hides that wait completely.
Recommendation: B for the feed and the player, and run the background loader only on pages that have a feed.
Covers for every new Play
Pick an existing Play or type a new name. Three ways to make its cover, all in the clay house style.
The brief Zappy gets for option C
Every new Play gets a cover the second it is added. Zero blank tiles. Plainer than custom art.
A robot opens the Play, grabs the most colourful frame and adds the title band. True to the game, but some open on a dull start screen.
Zappy draws bespoke clay art from the description, the way the featured covers were made. Best looking, needs a quick review.
Create with Zappy, inside playroll
Three ways in. Try each phone.
ZAPPYPLAY
The full studio
Everything, one tap away. Heavy for a first visit.
CREATE WITH ZAPPY
What's the Play?
Describe an idea, a campaign, or a vibe. Zappy turns it into a Play people can't scroll past.
ZAPPY'S BRIEF
Continue in ZappyPlayWhat the CREATE tab does today. Powerful, but a cold start for someone who just wants to try an idea.
One box on playroll. Zappy shapes the idea into a brief and hands it over ready to build. Needs Arin: the app reads a prompt link value.
Start from a Play people already like. Needs Arin: the app reads brand and colour from the link.
Grip Score per Play
Play this mini feed for a minute. Tap into some Plays, swipe past others. The table scores each Play from your own session, with no change to the games.
Mini feed
6 Plays, poster first.
| Play | Views | Avg time | Tapped in | Grip |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start the feed to see scores. | ||||
Grip (0 to 100) = 40 × share of views where people tapped into the game + 60 × average time on the Play (full marks at 45 seconds). playroll can tell when someone taps into a game because the page hands focus to the game frame.
EVENTS THIS WOULD SEND TO GA4
EVENTS FROM INSIDE THE GAMES
Plays and likes per Play, which the site already has. Says what is popular, not what holds people.
Measured by playroll itself: did people tap in, how fast, how long before they swiped. Works for every Play, CodePen ones included.
Score, level and finish events from inside house games, folded into Grip. The deepest signal, needs a small SDK update.
