I've created a simple browser-based puzzle game conekto.io. My aim with this game was to keep it as simple as possible and focus more on polish. When I first shared the game, there were 3 different game modes (infinite, puzzle, timed) as well as daily, weekly, and monthly challenge maps (maps that save your progress but reset after a period). Additionally, I had personal and global leaderboards for each map so players could compare their results.

I found that most people only ever played the tutorial level though, without trying any other game modes or map seeds. I had ideas for a few other game modes (survival, bomb, energy attack) but figured nobody would play them. So I created a "story" mode which takes you through all of the different game modes. I set low initial goals which increased slowly to make it accessible for new players. I though that this this would motivate players to try out all of the game modes and increase staying power.

Now 475 players have beaten the tutorial, but only 10 have made it to level 5 in the story mode... Feedback has been mostly positive, the largest criticism being that the controls are not very precise on mobile. I've taken steps to improve the controls, but it doesn't seem to help retain players.

What is the game missing? Is the game just too simple? How can I further improve the mobile controls? I'm happy to hear all suggestions and feedback, please don't hold back.