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Building Mobile Games — A Developer’s Trail of Thought

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Players look out for games that are free, fun, engaging and a great way to kill time. Little are they aware of the developers’ thoughts that seep into the making of a game. I’d like to share a few of my experiences of building a game with a few tips that helped us cope at different milestones of game creation.

Maintain focus

What appeals to developers needn’t necessarily be appealing to players. While building a game, developers nosedive into developing features, core loops, art and the like and in the process get tangled in the technical web. To create a great concept that would connect with a player, developers must first put themselves into the shoes of the player.

The first and most important step is NOT TO LOSE FOCUS. Pitch the idea to a close friend and build an initial prototype if you can. Watch your friends expression. If you catch that positive change in expression on his face when you are pitching the idea or giving a demo of the prototype, you know that you are on the right track.

Research games of similar genre

Researching games of similar genre on any platform guides your thoughts into some semblance of order. It not only gives you an indication of how the art and concept will blend together but also helps in identifying the taste of the core audience you are building your game for.

Attempt to Visualize

Development iterations to improve playability and user experience are inevitable. As development progresses, visualizing how the game will eventually shape up with the changes made will help bring in a lot of clarity to the entire team building the game.

Build Fun pain points

An oxymoron of sorts, defining fun points for players is a big pain point for developers. Fun pain points are the most critical elements that require a lot of thought, time, patience and energy of a developer. Getting it right means you’ve nailed your game and have made it not only engaging for the player but also a potentially monetizing one.

Create a Stress Buster not a Stress Builder

Most often, casual gamers look out to play a fun game mainly to relieve stress. If you are trying to reach out to a niche audience, creating an intense game should work. However, if you are looking to reach a wider audience, make it casual and entertaining and incrementally challenging.

Weave in Competition

Competition drives players to outdo the others and to perform better. From a developer’s point of view, it increases engagement time within the game. Simple elements of competition like a leaderboard, 3-Star Rating system and Ranking positions are great to begin with.

Gifts and Rewards

Everyone loves to be showered with gifts. Running Daily or Weekly contests and rewarding prizes to winners are self motivators. Periodic big prizes for the winners through merchandise items, tickets and virtual gifts drives engagement and retention.

Build a good backend infrastructure.

It’s always preferable to build a backend system to activate or deactivate in-game elements, seasonal themes, offers and sales and also balance levels on the fly rather than forcing your players to update the game. This is not only a seamless approach but also an effective one that your players would be appreciative of.

Listen to your players

Players after all are the real evaluators of your game. Their feedback is candid and genuine based on their experience of the game. They could be appreciative and in the process evangelize your game or disapproving and criticize it and in the process help you improve.

Retain your Super Fan

Super Fans are your game loyalists — they are the social face of your game, who would go beyond their limits to promote the game on your behalf and expand the game community. They give you detailed feedback while requesting for new features, respond to other player queries on social forums even before you do and might also be willing to spend boat loads of money in your game.

Along with putting a great game out, it is crucial for developers to ensure that their game super fans are taken good care of.

Think Game Promotion

Discoverability of the product is important to get your game in the hands of so many players. Choose promotion channels that work best for you — be it getting reviewers to write about your game, using your network of games to cross promote it or even going through paid advertisement channels. Whatever is the case, figure out if there is a way to measure the effectiveness of each of the channels. You might not get a great return on investment early on but in the long run things could pan out differently.

Raise the quality bar

Never sit around thinking your game is compete and there’s nothing much to do. If you’ve set out to create a great game and not just another game, there’s always scope for improvement. It could be things as simple as improving the game font or even the load times. Whatever be the case, go for it — your players will really be appreciative of it.