An end card template is a layout decision more than a look. It sets where the eye lands first and how long it takes to find the CTA. A team that treats a template as a tested structure gets different results from one that treats it as a loose starting point for the designer. The four patterns below hold up across game genres and networks.
Template 1: Value Prop Center Stack
Layout: full-bleed background image (game screenshot or key art), game name or hook headline centered in the upper third, app icon or star rating below the headline, CTA button in the lower third. This is the highest-volume end card pattern because it communicates three things in one glance: what the game looks like (background), what it's called (headline), and what to do (CTA button).
Common mistake: using a background image with too much detail that competes with the headline for attention. Add a semi-transparent dark overlay on top of the background (use the Overlay object type in Playable Ads Maker: it's a full-screen color+alpha layer) and your text stays readable regardless of background complexity.
Template 2: Mechanic Preview Split Screen
Layout: top half shows a screenshot or animation of the core game mechanic; bottom half has headline, one-line description, and CTA. Works especially well for puzzle, strategy, and word games where the mechanic is the selling point. Users who recognize the mechanic type self-select: those who like this genre tap through; those who don't scroll past. That self-selection reduces low-quality installs.
Template 3: Countdown or Timer Urgency
Layout: similar to center stack, but with a visual urgency element (a countdown timer, progress bar, or 'Limited Offer' badge). The timer doesn't need to be real-time (it's a creative element, not a live offer); it functions as a pattern interrupt that makes the user pause and read before scrolling. Use Kinetic Text entrance animations on the headline and a Particle FX burst on timer expiry to increase the visual intensity.
Template 4: Break-Into-CTA (Video + End Card)
This isn't a static end card: it's a video playable with an interactive moment before the CTA. Using the Video editor's Break System: the video plays for 5–10 seconds, a Break event pauses it and presents an interaction (tap the target, hold the button, trace the path), then the video resumes for 2–3 seconds and the end card appears. The interaction does the qualifying: viewers who complete the break have mostly decided by the time they see the CTA.
Configure the Break System by dropping a Break object into the video timeline, choosing a trigger type, and styling the interaction prompt. Add a Particle FX burst on interaction completion, confetti or sparkle, to signal success. The end card scene after the break should be simpler than a standalone end card: the interaction already did the conversion work, so you just need a clear CTA.
Choosing a Pattern for Your Game
The four patterns are not interchangeable; each fits a different situation. A quick way to choose:
- Strong key art and a recognisable name: start with the value prop center stack. It lets the art do the work.
- The mechanic is the reason to install (a puzzle, a word game, a merge game): the mechanic preview split screen, so the viewer sees what they would actually be doing.
- A launch, an event or a limited reward to announce: the urgency pattern, kept honest. A timer that implies an offer the store page does not have is a misleading-ad problem, not a design choice. See countdown timer ads.
- Good gameplay footage and a moment worth interrupting: the break-into-CTA pattern in the Video editor.
If you cannot decide, start with the center stack. It is the simplest to read, the quickest to produce, and a good control against which to test the others.
Making a Template Work in Both Orientations
A layout that reads well on a tall phone can fall apart on a landscape tablet. The headline that fitted on one line wraps to three, the CTA ends up beside the art instead of below it, and the background crops the character's face. Before shipping a template, check it in both orientations:
- Rearrange rather than shrink. In landscape, a stack usually works better split left and right (art on one side, headline and CTA on the other) than squeezed into the middle.
- Keep the CTA well inside the edges in both, clear of anywhere a device or the network might draw its own controls.
- Check the background crop. A full-bleed image is cropped differently in each orientation, so place the subject where both crops keep it.
- Set text size per orientation and re-read every line; a font size that fits one does not automatically fit the other.
See portrait and landscape playable ads for the full treatment.
Built-In Templates in Playable Ads Maker
End screen templates: all 40 on every plan. They use the patterns above with sensible defaults for layout, font size, button style and colour that work across network placements. Start from a template, swap the background image and headline, set your store URLs, and export. One export gives you a ready-to-upload file for every network you pick — 1 per export on Free, up to all 12 on Agency — with no developer post-processing.
Template iteration strategy
Pin a template that produces a positive install rate. Then change one element per test cycle: headline copy in week 1, CTA label in week 2, background art in week 3. This keeps your variable controlled so you know which change drove the result.
Customising a Template Without Breaking It
When a template stops working, it is usually because the customisation broke the structure, not because the structure was wrong. A safe order of work:
- Swap the background first and keep the overlay. A new image with a different brightness may need the overlay darker or lighter to keep the headline readable.
- Replace the headline with copy of a similar length. A headline twice as long as the one the template was built for will wrap and push the CTA down.
- Change the CTA label, then check that it still fits on one line inside the button. See CTA button design and copy.
- Apply brand colours to accents, not to everything. The CTA should remain the highest-contrast element on the card.
- If you use a brand font, check it has every character your copy and translations need. See custom fonts in playable ads.
- Preview in both orientations, then export and test the CTA on a real device.
Common End Card Template Mistakes
- Two buttons of equal weight. If the card has a secondary action, make it visibly secondary; the eye should land on one CTA.
- Text over the busiest part of the image. Move the text or the subject, or strengthen the overlay.
- A CTA that arrives too late. If the button animates in last, keep that entrance short so a viewer who is ready to tap is not kept waiting.
- Translations that overflow. Languages that run longer than English break tight layouts; check every language you ship. See localising playable ads.
- Stale templates. A card that has run for weeks is worth refreshing even if it is still working; see creative fatigue.
Browse the template library to see each pattern built out, and the guide to making playable end cards for the end-to-end workflow.
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