There’s nothing worse for a gamer than plugging hours upon hours into your favourite competitive game like Valorant and seeing no tangible improvement. It’s easy to feel like you’ve hit the ceiling when it comes to multiplayer gaming, but through perseverance, belief, and maybe a little bit of outside help, you can find yourself climbing up the Valorant ranks once again.
Programmer Ben Mesnik noticed the need for better training resources when he began struggling to climb to the highest CS:GO ranks. Keen to improve his gaming experiences, Mesnik used his background in coding, beginning with an obsession with Minecraft mods, to begin developing an app that would help gamers like him reach their full potential. Thus, Tip Genius was born.
“I always loved playing videogames, so when it came time to brainstorm my next project, gaming was a primary focus. Building an AI coach for CS:GO immediately stood out,” he explains. “Popular CS:GO content was too far disconnected from the game and completely unorganised. There was a clear opportunity to integrate this educational content more efficiently into the gaming experience using live player data and AI.”
“Tip Genius brings all the best tips and tricks on the internet right to players, right when they need them,” he continues. “Relevant tips are shown between rounds on an in-game overlay so players can immediately try them out in the next round. This lets players improve faster and easier.”
Switching focus
The app’s first prototype provided players with detailed analytics about their in-game performance and then leveraged that data to suggest YouTube videos that could help them address the weaker areas of their skill sets. Unfortunately, Valve’s policy regarding third-party apps blocked Tip Genius from enjoying much success in its initial iteration.
“I originally built Tip Genius for CS:GO, but Valve blocked all third-party apps the week after I released it,” laments the developer. “It had received overwhelmingly positive reactions from the community and I had won a pitch competition with it so I was still confident in the idea.”
With full certainty in his concept, Mesnik quickly identified a new subject for the app – Riot Games’ powered-up shooter Valorant.
“I completely rebuilt Tip Genius for Valorant, but this time with official approval from the game developer and support from Overwolf,” says Mesnik. “Valorant is modelled after CS:GO, so given my background of grinding to the highest competitive ranks in that game, it was an easy transition to make.”
Levelling up
Developing an app is no quick and easy process, and Mesnik put the time in to make sure that Tip Genius was the absolute best product that it could be, working with a number of talented individuals who helped him perfect the app’s functionality and interface.
“Tip Genius has been in development for the past five years, including its CS:GO iteration,” he says. “We’ve worked with dozens of the best coaches in the game to create a massive database of 2,500+ tip videos and arrange them into a full coaching program. We’ve also worked with two external developers and two external designers.”
Tip Genius’ usefulness and ease of use has made it one of the most popular apps on the Overwolf platform, boasting over 100,000 downloads and lots of positive feedback from players. Mesnik has also taken the brand to YouTube and TikTok, posting tips and tricks from the app on a daily basis, which are currently seeing around five million views per month.
And the app’s creator assures us that there are plenty of updates and new features to come.
“We just released a major update that lets players ‘see inside the mind of the coach’ to gain insight into their strengths and weaknesses” he adds. “This comes in a dashboard that highlights trends for several key stats over a player’s last ten matches. More new features are in the works and will be released soon.”
If you want to start taking your Valorant game to the next level, find Tip Genius on Overwolf or head to tipgenius.gg to download it for free. You can also join the Tip Genius Discord to discuss the app and get all the latest updates directly from the developers.
