From a small Excel sheet to a successful app: The Story of R6 Analyst

So how does one person go from taking some notes for his own R6 Siege matches, to creating a successful gaming app used daily by thousands of players? Let’s find out.

Meet Onno, the founder of a successful online shop and long-time gamer from the Netherlands. He’s the person behind the popular R6 Analyst app.

Online shop owner by day, gamer and app creator by night

We all have our favorite computer games, right? Well, Onno’s favorite one is Rainbow Six Siege. What he likes the most about it is that players can win by planning ahead, using tactics and outsmarting their opponents. In many other games out there, he just feels it’s more about being able to aim faster and relying on mechanical skills. When he’s not playing computer games, or board games (which he really likes too), Onno is busy running his online business. He started it several years ago and put a lot of time and effort into it. He really does love it. But since R6 Analyst was released, he started finding himself really juggling between operating his business and working on the app. Thankfully, the hard work he put into his business at its earlier stages allows him to now spend more and more time working on his app.

R6 Analyst is his pride and joy, and there is always more work to be done on it. So between operating his online shop, working on the app, and playing Rainbow Six Siege — let’s say Onno’s plate is never empty.

Better, faster, smarter — winning the game with data

OK, so what exactly is it? What does the app do?

R6 Analyst is an overlay app for Rainbow Six Siege. It shows all sorts of relevant in-game information, and players can use it to track their performance, analyze their moves and well, just overall play the game in a more effective and knowledgeable way.

Most of its features are actually solutions to issues that Onno encountered as a player. Let’s take the Smart Ban feature, for example. When playing, Onno felt that he was missing data-based recommendations on which operators he should ban during a match. It needed to be something that would tell him which operator should be banned in order to disrupt his opponent’s playstyle, without disrupting his own. And none of the other apps he found for R6 Siege solved this issue exactly like he wanted to. Sure, there were similar features in the other apps — but they all focused more on the enemy team than on Onno’s team. So it was really important for him to design this feature differently, and to put just as much focus on the player’s team. And that’s exactly what he did with it: The R6 Analyst Smart Ban feature automatically analyzes the play history of both the player’s team and the enemy team, and makes smart ban suggestions.

Actually, putting a lot of emphasis on analyzing the player’s team is one of the things that makes R6 Analyst stand out. This focus is apparent across all of the app’s features. Let’s look at Map Statistics as another example: Onno wanted something that would show him which strategies work best and in exactly which maps. So instead of winging it and relying on hunches, he went ahead and created a feature that does just that. It also shows players which strategies don’t work very well in certain maps, so they could easily know what they need to work on. Practice makes perfect, doesn’t it?

An app is born

Nowadays, R6 Analyst is a full-blown app used by more than 75,000 players. But it started as something quite different. At first, it was simply a way for Onno to automate the process of collecting data for his own matches.

“At the beginning I was making decisions based on feeling and intuition. But there’s a lot of information out there, and data is something I was very comfortable working with, thanks to my background in data science. So I thought that if I could gather the data, the decisions I make would be more informed and accurate,” he explains.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the idea of applying data analysis into R6 Siege came to life. So the concept was great; it allowed Onno to analyze his gameplay, keep track of his tactics and strategies, and make decisions based on data. It all worked nicely. But the method of gathering the data itself and keeping track of it was, well — just boring. After around 5–6 months of manually writing down stats and numbers, he just grew tired of it. Onno wanted to keep using data in his gameplay, but he had to find some easier way to do it.

“I really needed a way to automate the process of gathering the data,” Onno continues. “At first, I was using Excel. But it was so boring to type stuff into it after every match, you know? So instead, I wanted to find an automated way to do it. And that’s where Overwolf really helped.”

The need for automation is what led to the creation of R6 Analyst. The app was originally intended for Onno’s use only, but that changed soon after his relationship with Overwolf started.

“Once the app was running, I said to myself, ‘this could be really useful for other people, not just me’.”

Quickly after beginning his journey with Overwolf, he realized something else, just as important: not only could his app be relevant to the entire Rainbow Six Siege community, but it could also turn into a source of income for him. “There was a very clear indication that this could potentially earn me money, if I put some ads in the app and stuff like that — which I really hadn’t even considered,” he says as recalls his very first communications with Overwolf. “This can be a job, basically.”

The tale of Overwolf and R6 Analyst

Onno has known Overwolf long before he was even thinking of creating an app. He first encountered the platform as a player, using other Rainbow Six Siege apps developed with it. So by the time he wanted to create his own app, he already knew that Overwolf was the way for him to go.

Now experiencing the platform from a developer’s perspective, Onno highlights 3 features in Overwolf that he personally finds the most useful:

First of all, Easy coding. He found that Overwolf’s user-friendly tech framework allows developers to build apps using simple HTML and JavaScript. “You can basically write it the same way you write a website, it’s the same programming languages. So it’s very accessible,” he explains. “I built the website for my own company, so I was already familiar with how to build stuff like that. Rather than having to build a whole program, all I have to do is build a ‘website’, and then it just becomes visible in the game — which is awesome.”

Next, he mentions the Game Events API. That’s the very tool that tracks important events happening in-game: Match start, match end, kills, deaths, victories… Pretty much any event that’s interesting to monitor. “The whole point of me building the app was to automate the tracking of things that happen in the game. And that’s something that the platform does for me, it’s the special secret sauce that Overwolf has,” Onno adds, chuckling.

Last but not least, he highlights Overwolf’s Monetization and ad support. As part of the company’s “From passion to profession” mindset, the team brings many ideas to the table — a lot of them around ads and app monetization. Using the platform, developers can monetize their apps through a unique approach, fit especially for gamers. Most Overwolf team members are gamers themselves, so everyone is well aware of how important it is to have a smooth, uninterrupted gameplay experience. Keeping all ads non-intrusive and never interrupting the game are among the top priorities here. “Overwolf handles all the ads, which in the end — is how I make money from it. And that’s what allows me to spend so much time on the app,” Onno summarizes.

Future plans and an appetite for creation

R6 Analyst has just recently reached the 75K-player mark, and Onno expects it to keep growing, hitting the 100K-player mark within the next six months or so. “I have a lot of ideas that I want to implement in R6 Analyst. I think I can spend at least a couple of more years just making more features for the app,” he says, laughing.

When asked about the possibility of creating apps for other games, Onno replied that all options are on the table. His passion for gaming and creating in-game content isn’t limited to one game only, and he doesn’t rule out the possibility of building something for other games later on down the line.

“Every time Overwolf adds game-event tracking to a new game, I say to myself ‘Hmm, that could be interesting… Do I want to build an app for that game? Do I have a good idea?’” He never stops challenging himself and asking these questions. It’s all part of his hunger for creating content, and part of the driving force behind R6 Analyst.

The thing is, he currently spends so much time playing Rainbow Six Siege, so there’s barely enough time left to play other games and seriously explore building apps for them. “If I were to play a different game that’s supported by Overwolf, I would definitely build an app for it. Assuming I had a good idea, of course.”

Onno believes that not only is it exciting to build a new app and try to grow it, but it’s also a fun and interesting way to play the game. “I like thinking about the game in a critical way, asking myself how I can get better at it, how I can get certain information in a clearer way, and whether I can provide this information on-screen using Overwolf,” he says.

For Onno, creating in-game content is more than just something he enjoys doing. It’s a constant, empowering state of mind, and it adds a whole new layer of excitement to everything. He knows that he has the power to not only play the game as it’s originally been designed — but actually create new experiences and functionalities that can entirely change the way it’s played.

Power to the players

At the end of the day, once you start walking down the path of creating in-game content, there’s no turning back. Almost any game that you love playing can become your own creative sandbox, as long as you have a good idea of how to make it even better than it already is. In many cases, that tiny improvement that you have in mind could make the gaming experience more enjoyable for the entire community. And even if at first you weren’t even thinking of making money from it, you might be in for a pleasant surprise, as you gradually start turning your passion into a profession. That’s pretty much how it went down in Onno’s case. So yeah, he has no plans to quit his day job, as he really loves it. But he can definitely see a future where he spends less and less time on it, and more and more time on his app.

The future’s looking mighty bright, and there is no doubt we’ll be hearing more about R6 Analyst and Onno himself.