Firebase Analytics vs. Flurry vs. Google Analytics (coming soon)

[Adam Schroeder]

I'm testing out Firebase using a beta branch of FGL Enhance which lets me inject multiple SDK into my final game binary.  Firebase is a brand new addition and I'm comparing it against Flurry which I what normally use.

Today I'm going to publish an update that also includes Google Analytics, even though it seems like they are pushing you to Firebase if it's on a mobile app.  All of the logging we call through Enhance library will get sent to all three services.

The main dashboard of Firebase is fantastic but where I'm struggling is looking at the events and funnels. 

I'm trying to create a simple funnel/view that will show how far people progress in our game.

We are calling custom events Startlevel and LevelEnd with parameters showing the actual level number.  If I look on Flurry for StartLevel I can see all the data per level:

If I look at Firebase I only see the main event:

I'm not able to see the level parameters. I looked through filter options.  From reading the help documents it sounds like the only way to see this data is to export it to BigQuery?   I'm actually doing that now but I think I have to wait a day for the first export to happen.

On Flurry, I can create a funnel using events and parameters within them.  This show players starting level 0 through 6.

Is it possible to do the same through Firebase somehow?  Is it recommended to flatten the event structure?  We could call 'Startlevel0', 'Startlevel1', 'StartLevel2', etc. instead of passing that as a parameter.

I'm getting ready to test user acquisition through Admob and would like to create funnels from that using the custom parameters we have within our events now.   The messaging support isn't available in Enhance yet but should be added soon.

Am I missing some functionality?  Any advice?

I'll check out Google Analytics to see how it compares.  I started with Firebase because it seems like that is where Google is pushing people now.

[piotr.br...@digitalvirgo.pl]

Hi there,

I am not an expert, but i think that Firebase analytics shows only aggregate events count on main dashboard. What you need to do is to create Audience and setup your parameters there (like on particular even StartLevel with parameter level equals 1 etc.). Be aware that audiences after creation need at least 10 unique users that sends data and probably up to 24h to setup correctly from my experience.

Cheers,

p.

[Adam Schroeder]

Hi, thanks for the suggestion!  I had looked into that yesterday and setup an audience but it didn't seem to work.   I tried again today.

Should Firebase show the parameter names included with an event?  I don't see anything when I try it:

I typed the name in manually but it didn't find any users, or it's going to take the 24h to setup like you mentioned.

It's possible that the data isn't being sent correctly to Firebase.  The developer of the game gave me the APK and then I've processed it through Enhance so a lot of this is black boxed to me.   

I do have the exports into BigQuery now but I don't know what to do next with it.  Does anyone now the easiest way for me to look at the raw data so I can confirm all the event and parameters are there along with the exact names being used?

[Brzostowski, Piotr]

As far as i know you need to put custom parameter name as you have done already. The thing is that Audiences needs min of 10 unique users that will send that event with proper parameters values to shows up on dashboard. Look at the hint (?) At column. 

About big query i will not help you. I have not exported my data there yet.

Cheers

P.

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[Adam Schroeder]

Setting up the audience with a custom parameter is really confusing.  Today it is showing that there are 2 total users that hit the levelIndex=1.  

Flurry data shows over 300.

The BigQuerry export was mostly a dead end.  I'm looking for easy tools to analyze our data and with BigQuerry you'd do it all manually or create your own reporting.   I was able to verify that the event data was being sent correctly.  Here is a small sample of the data.

For funnels within FireBase I think the best option is to flatten the events.  With this example I'm measuring image unlocks vs. levelStarts.  It was very easy to setup with the flattened event names:

This gives us a nice and easy funnel view:

I'm waiting on an update to Enhance in order to see the event data within Google Analytics.   Once that is ready I'll update this thread to show the options that GA provides with this data & event structure.

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[Adam Schroeder]

Another thing we are have started exploring is using the event names recommended:

https://support.google.com/firebase/answer/6317498?hl=en&ref_topic=6317484

and

https://support.google.com/firebase/answer/6317494?hl=en&ref_topic=6317484

It's been difficult figuring out how to apply these to our specific game and our first attempts are not 100% right but it's interesting to see these particular events expose the parameter data in different ways.

[Neo]

Hi Adam,
I just saw your post.
I have a question please.
How good is working FGL Enhance for you? Were you finally able to add Firebase SDK to your app via their system?
I tried today with one of my app, the app sized increased to about 10MB and after all, the app was not starting.

I would appreciate if you can share your experience with them here. Their idea is really great.

THanks

Neo

[Adam Schroeder]

Hi Neo,

Enhance is working great for us.  We have it in around 20 apps now and planning to continue rolling it out.   The support for Firebase is still Analytics only.  

Have you contacted them about your problem?  We have occasionally had issues when an existing SDK we included in the app conflicted with something we added through Enhance but they have been very good about supporting us and helping work through any issues.

I do have a lot more to share in this thread, just need to find a block of time to compile everything and write it up.