Jetpack Zombie Territory

Current State

Focus

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Validation Question

Can Jetpack Zombie Territory improve first-minute comprehension, start conversion, and long-tail engagement enough to stand as its own game, or does the current territory mechanic underperform too much versus the simpler Merge Jetpack Zombie format?

Setup

incomplete (primary_reference, reference_thesis)

Primary Reference

—

Reference Thesis

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Open Questions

• What exact quality-of-life and experience improvements would be required for Jetpack Zombie Territory to get a fair next test?
• Are those changes small enough to justify one more territory Player Fit, or would they amount to a larger redesign?
• Does the territory format have enough upside over the simpler Merge Jetpack Zombie loop to justify that cost?
• Should the next Jetpack work instead target merge-board depth or another secondary reference on the original Merge Jetpack Zombie format?

Next Actions

• Move Jetpack Zombie Territory to Decision Pending and decide whether the QoL/experience improvement cost is justified before updating the experiment plan or implementing more territory work.

Latest Findings

• Latest Poki Player Fit for jetpack-build003.zip: average session 128.4s, p90 321.1s, median 70.0s, under-3m sessions 80.6%, Poki start rate 72.0%. Snapshot note: basically the same export as before but with the complete jetpack-build003.zip Poki Player Fit test
• Jetpack Zombie Territory is tracked separately from Merge Jetpack Zombie because the territory version behaves like a different game, not a build iteration of the older lane/action format.
• The project context records territory build jetpack-build006-territory.zip as the relevant territory build, with 94.0s average session, 70.0s median, 191.0s P90, 11.8% three-minute reach, 88.2% under-three-minute sessions, and 64.6% gameplay start rate.
• The state also contains old-build comparator evidence from jetpack-build003.zip, which should remain useful as a benchmark but should not be treated as the territory game's own product baseline.
• Current positioning: the territory idea may require broader quality-of-life, readability, first-minute comprehension, and overall experience work to become viable, rather than a small tuning-only pass.
• Before scheduling more territory implementation, decide whether the likely required improvements have a good cost-benefit ratio. If the territory format needs substantial product experience work to reach a competitive signal, the better portfolio move may be to preserve learnings and focus Jetpack effort on Merge Jetpack Zombie or another secondary-reference direction.

Updated

2026-09-21T12:14:02.105711Z

Active Hypotheses

None

Latest Experiment

None

Latest Analysis

Decision pending on Territory cost-benefit

Jetpack Zombie Territory should move to Decision Pending: the next question is not simply whether more polish could improve it, but whether the quality-of-life and overall experience changes required to make the territory format work are worth the cost versus other Jetpack directions.

Findings

• Jetpack Zombie Territory is tracked separately from Merge Jetpack Zombie because the territory version behaves like a different game, not a build iteration of the older lane/action format.
• The project context records territory build jetpack-build006-territory.zip as the relevant territory build, with 94.0s average session, 70.0s median, 191.0s P90, 11.8% three-minute reach, 88.2% under-three-minute sessions, and 64.6% gameplay start rate.
• The state also contains old-build comparator evidence from jetpack-build003.zip, which should remain useful as a benchmark but should not be treated as the territory game's own product baseline.
• Current positioning: the territory idea may require broader quality-of-life, readability, first-minute comprehension, and overall experience work to become viable, rather than a small tuning-only pass.

Interpretation

Before scheduling more territory implementation, decide whether the likely required improvements have a good cost-benefit ratio. If the territory format needs substantial product experience work to reach a competitive signal, the better portfolio move may be to preserve learnings and focus Jetpack effort on Merge Jetpack Zombie or another secondary-reference direction.

Open Questions

• What exact quality-of-life and experience improvements would be required for Jetpack Zombie Territory to get a fair next test?
• Are those changes small enough to justify one more territory Player Fit, or would they amount to a larger redesign?
• Does the territory format have enough upside over the simpler Merge Jetpack Zombie loop to justify that cost?
• Should the next Jetpack work instead target merge-board depth or another secondary reference on the original Merge Jetpack Zombie format?

Next Action

Move Jetpack Zombie Territory to Decision Pending and decide whether the QoL/experience improvement cost is justified before updating the experiment plan or implementing more territory work.

Latest Player Fit

jetpack-build003.zip

Imported: 2026-09-14T19:57:38.996865Z · Captured: 2026-09-14T20:17:01Z

Latest Poki Player Fit for jetpack-build003.zip: average session 128.4s, p90 321.1s, median 70.0s, under-3m sessions 80.6%, Poki start rate 72.0%. Snapshot note: basically the same export as before but with the complete jetpack-build003.zip Poki Player Fit test

No live performance evidence imported yet.

No Poki playtest recordings imported yet.

Latest Decision

None