If you want to create a mobile game, it is important to adhere to some principles. These are the basic principles that follow the modern game development outsourcing company.
Try to apply the principle “Easy to learn, hard to master”
This is a classic game-design tip: learning how to play should be very easy, but achieving perfection is very difficult, almost impossible. That’s what makes the game exciting. “This principle is especially important for mobile free-to-play projects, because the developer has not more than 10 minutes to catch the player. Most users will delete the game after the first incomprehensible situation and will never run the application again. The person must immediately understand how to play and what the purpose is. The authorship of this principle is attributed to Nolan Bushnell, the founder of the Atari company. In the original he sounded as follows: “All the best games are easy to learn and difficult to master. They should reward the first quarter and the hundredth. Nolan Bushnell said this in 1971 in the context of Atari slot machines.
The prototype of the famous Atari game – Pong – was tennis. It is based on simple physical principles: the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection and similar. It allowed to transfer the real experience in the computer game, so it was simply understood by a novice player in 1971. But with the acceleration of the ball in the transition to a higher level, it became more and more difficult (hard to master) and forced to play again and again.
The idea is that it is enough just to collect everything you need to get a new game subject or level. Using StarCraft as an example, it is easy to send all your troops and destroy the base. But as the story progresses, the player should have new features, objects and units. All this, plus the interaction with real players, will lead to the fact that the game can be played in a huge number of options. The player will return to it many times. This principle is not a guarantee of success. But almost any solution that will force a person to return to the game justifies itself.
Make the gameplay simple and convenient
Think about the features of the platform under which the game is written, and the situations in which people will play it. The gaming session is likely to be only 10-15 minutes. It is a big plus, if a player can distract from the game painlessly. Step-by-step gameplay mechanics will help in this. The phone is usually held vertically in one hand, which means that you will have only one player’s thumb at your disposal. Build the gameplay on simple piles and tapes – this principle is used in most casual hits. Such projects are made in one or two weeks, which does not prevent them from taking the first positions in the top.
Do not invent the bike
Often young companies start to write their own engines – which is extremely interesting, inventing new architectures and scripting languages for unit control – which is even more fascinating, inventing new game genres is hardcore. You don’t have to hurry with it, you have to thoroughly understand the existing technologies.
Learn how to promote the games
Pickups in app stores, advertising or sundered radio – what will work for your project? You need to understand what you are doing in terms of marketing and for what purpose.
Remember that an error is information
Your game will fight for the attention of players with developments from Electronic Arts, Gameloft or Rovio. It is very difficult. But it should be taken only as a challenge. And any error – as a valuable experience. First of all you should find a good mobile game development agency that will help you implement the idea.
