How to set up a Loading Video

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Initial Loading Experience
On web, it is critical to have a really quick loading experience. On mobile, players have more patience. However, on web you begin churning players after just 5 seconds. We recommend average loading times below 30 seconds.
One way to improve upon this is to run a loading-screen video during the initial startup while the game build is being downloaded by the browser.

How to Upload and Enable a Loading Video?

For games running on Pley Gamesites, simply enable the loading video in the Game Manager.

Video Format: .MP4 works on all browsers and is highly critical. Other formats (.mov, .webm, .avi will work, but not for all browser. Using MP4 video is highly encouraged.

Using 1080p video (or higher resolution) is recommended. Pley automatically scales down the video to an appropriate resolution for screen-size and loading time.

Go into the Game Manager > Capabilities > Loading Video.
Upload a video
Check 'Enable Loading Screen Video'.
Select a mode.
Done!

Mode	Behavior
'Always'	The loading video is always shown to players while the browser downloads the initial build.
'Play only once'	The loading video is only shown to players once during their first session while the browser downloads the initial build. In future sessions, the build is cached and no video is showed.
'Load game in background'	The loading video is always shown, until the game calls the `game_loaded` analytics method. This is used for games to run a video on top of more than the initial build download, but also the in-game loading screen.

Testing Loading Video with URL Query Parameters

Upload a video in the Game Manager.
Start the game on a release track with a query param: game.com?loading_video=true.

loading_video=once

The video will play once, the first time a player loads the game.

loading_video=true

The video will play every time the game loads.

loading_video=start_game

The video will play every time the game loads, and won't complete until the game calls the analytics events game_loaded. This means the video will run over the game, and can hide the initial in-game loading.