Taking a game from console or PC to mobile is tricky. The controls are far more limited and the screen can easily get cluttered and unreadable. The hardware can’t handle as much physics, especially when that game is a premium title. But the developers at Psyonix did a fantastic job when recreating their Rocket League game into the mobile sensation, Rocket League SideSwipe.

This wasn’t just a copy-and-paste job. Psyonix made some serious changes to the gameplay, design, and mechanics. All for the better. Aside from the obvious theme of rocket-fueled cars, this feels like an entirely different game. In this article, we analyze what exactly those changes are, and what you can learn from them.

Three rules when taking your game from PC to mobile

When making mobile games, you should aim to hit three principles: make them short, satisfying, and simple. When we compared the differences between the two games, we found every change the developers made contributed to one of those rules.

1. Make your game simpler and consider the screen size

There are some key differences and limitations between PC, console, and mobile. But user interface aside, playing on a smaller device is a heck of a lot different to when you have a large screen and controls.

That might mean removing or limiting certain features to make your game work for your mobile version. Or completely rethinking the gameplay itself.

Here’s what you can do.

Understand what limitations you’re working with

You have less CPU power, less space, and less time from your players on mobile. So you need to understand what limitations you have and adjust your game to cater for them.

Psyonix decided to make the game 2D, instead of 3D, for example. Not only did this make it simpler for the player, but this also avoids the massive amount of physics calculations that a 3D game would have. Fewer dimensions, fewer calculations for the device, faster game.

The developers also limited how many players can have in a match. While you can have up to eight players on console or PC, you can only have up to a maximum of six on mobile. This not only makes it quicker to find matches but makes the games less overwhelming and busy.

Build your game to work on a smaller screen

Mobile phones are getting larger, but you’re still comparatively working with a much smaller screen. For example, if the map for Rocket League SideSwipe was any bigger, the player would need to zoom out. Players would struggle to see their own car, with their thumbs blocking most of the action.

2. Keep the session lengths short and snappy

Players don’t have much time when playing on mobile. They could be anywhere. On a bus on their way to work, in a queue at the bank, or even in the bathroom. You don’t always have their full attention for long. So you need to keep your game short and snappy.

Cut out features that don’t add to the mobile experience

On mobile, clutter will cause your players to drop out. Psyonix got around this by cutting out instant replays on their mobile version. This kept the matches shorter and punchier. Because the maps are smaller, it’s also quicker and easier to score a goal. Having instant replays every 20 seconds would just constantly interrupt the match.

Rocket League SideSwipe also removed the chat function and instead replaced this system with stickers. It’s easier and quicker to communicate with your teammates (or mock your enemies).

Test to find the perfect session length

In the original Rocket League, the matches were five minutes long. But in Sideswipe, they’re only a minute and a half on average. This keeps players engaged and decreases any potential dropouts. When we looked at the data from Benchmarks+ (part of our new pro tier), we found that the typical session length for casual games is about 4 – 5 minutes. So for a game like Sideswipe, this is around 2 – 3 matches per session.

This can vary from game to game. So make sure to test what session length works best for your players by watching your retention and drop rate.

3. Make your players feel epic

Your players will naturally spend less time in casual mobile games, so you want to make sure they have a great experience when they do. That way, they’ll keep coming back.

Replace inactive players with bots

Drop rate on mobile is much higher, as players could leave for any reason – lost signal, got a phone call, or reached their bus stop. If your game is online, consider adding bots to replace inactive players, so as not to interrupt the game for everyone else. This is what Psyonix did, and it works fantastically.

Cater for all types of players

With mobile, you’ll find yourself with a lot more casual players. Having an offline option, difficulty levels, or a top-tier matchmaker to pit them against players in their own skill range can make sure your game stays fun for everyone.

To cater for more ambitious players, introduce leagues, training arenas, and competitions. Just remember not to overcomplicate any of these – you’ll need to strike a balance between customization and options, and simplicity.

Make the game rewarding wherever you can

When playing on a console for a couple of hours, overexaggerated sounds, graphics and notifications can get annoying. But this is crucial for shorter sessions on mobile. You need constant feedback and rewards to keep your players satisfied.

Psyonix did this in their mobile version. In SideSwipe, the graphics are a lot more exaggerated when you hit the ball and score. There’s a lot more excitement and colors. Whereas in the console game, it’s less so.

Use data to perfect your monetization models

There are plenty of monetization models you can adopt for your mobile version, and there’s no ‘one size fits all’ strategy when it comes to your mobile game. It’ll take a lot of testing and tweaking to strike the right balance of fun for your players, and a healthy ROI.

Rocket League SideSwipe is a completely free-to-play game, where players earn items, skins and cosmetics through levelling up. Nothing more. The mobile version helps Psyonix reach new players for their console version, where they make money through their Rocket Pass subscription, in-game purchases, physical merchandise, sponsorships, and DLC.

In a 2022 interview on GamesIndustry.biz, Psyonix co-studio head Phil Piliero, said:

We’ve seen significant growth in territories outside our core playerbase, especially in international markets where mobile is the primary platform for gaming. This has allowed us to reach new audiences in addition to our console and PC players, and gives these players their first experience within the Rocket League franchise.

What Psyonix did may not be the best route for your own title. You’ll need data to find out what’s best for your games. And a lot of it. Our free tool can help you answer all of your major analytics questions. And if you’re looking for something more advanced, then our DataSuite products can help you out. Get started today, or speak with our team on how we can help you.

Since it’s release in May 2023, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has trounced the charts. It’s got a 95/100 on Metacritic, and social media is awash with praise. It’s not a surprise. Zelda games have always been among the upper echelons – classics synonymous with gaming. But Tears of the Kingdom is a rarity in the series. It’s a direct sequel with largely similar mechanics to its predecessor.

So it’s worth taking the time to look at exactly what we can learn from Tears of the Kingdom and how its design philosophy helps the game appeal to every type of gamer out there.

Sequels don’t need to change the formula

On the surface, Tears of the Kingdom is a very similar game to Breath of the Wild. It’s the same map. It uses the same shrine and temple format. The weapons still break as you use them. Even the artwork and user interface are pretty much identical.

Despite its similarities, Tears of the Kingdom feels like a different game. It’s got all the same ingredients, but it’s more than an expansion. It’s as though they’ve created a new sub-genre. We wouldn’t be surprised if Zelda-like becomes a term everyone knows shortly.

But with every similarity, Nintendo has improved and expanded on Breath of the Wild. They’ve cleverly expanded the map. They’ve tweaked the art. They’ve made the puzzles more satisfying in the shrines and temples. And they’ve changed the core mechanics to change the experience completely.

Keeping the user interface and general style the same is a wise move. God of War: Ragnarok completely changed its user interface from the previous game. This makes the experience jarring for the player, especially if the changes aren’t necessarily in the right direction. Tears of the Kingdom does change the user interface in minor, subtler ways—improvements, not an overhaul.

It shows what a good sequel should do: evolve without changing what made the original great.

Stay true to your design philosophy

Exploring and curiosity are the keys to Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild. With Breath of the Wild, they found a fantastic way to encourage players along a set path without taking away their agency. This flows through to Tears of the Kingdom. Stables, towers, shrines, and key locations still entice the player towards them, but they’ve found fresh ways to expand on these.

But Tears of the Kingdom adds another tenet: creative exploration. Nintendo realized that one of the most satisfying elements of Breath of the Wild was choosing your own path, particularly in puzzles.

Back then, the shrines and the divine beasts had rigid solutions. Most players likely solved these in the same way. But occasionally, people would find novel ways to work around the system. Players loved thinking about a problem laterally and solving it in a way Nintendo never intended.

Nintendo changed the puzzle philosophy

Developers can typically choose between one of two philosophies when designing a game:

• Creative at heart. Create a sandbox and let players do whatever they like. Minecraft is the perfect example of this. It gives players a bunch of tools and total freedom to use them. People then play around with those tools. This isn’t very suitable for puzzles.
• Logical at heart. Games focusing on logic always have a unique solution to a problem. Return of the Obra Dinn, Bastion, Portal. In all these games, you’re presented with a problem and must try to solve it the way the designers intended. True, Portal left in a few ‘alternative’ solutions, but this was only because they were cool, harder than the actual solution, and only a few players would ever do it.

Puzzle design typically thrives on logical, unique solutions. That’s where the satisfaction lies. It’s in the “ah-ha” moment. You can’t have an “ah-ha” if there’s no logical conclusion. And you can only find a logical conclusion if that’s the only path you could possibly take.

Or can you? Tears of the Kingdom shows us that there’s another way. There’s a way to blend creativity and logic.

Unique solutions limit creativity

When you have a unique solution to a problem – a single path the player must take – you naturally restrict creativity. In most cases, that’s what you want. You don’t want players trying to clip through the walls or carry an object from three levels ago to ruin your painstakingly crafted puzzle. Portal, for example, forces you to destroy cubes before you continue to the next chamber.

Tears of the Kingdom clearly didn’t want to go down that route. They wanted creativity to be integral to their game. They must have noticed that players actually enjoy “breaking the rules.” So they let them. They allow you to carry puzzle-breaking equipment into shrines (usually) and use them to overcome the challenges. And as a matter of fact, they encourage it.

They still have an “intended” path, but it’s… optional. In one shrine, you’re meant to whack a boulder across the room to hit a pad. However, players can actually just lob a weapon at the pad and it’ll still register.

This proves that they want players to try and circumvent their puzzles. They’re encouraging it. They could’ve easily made the sensor only register when the boulder hit it. But they made it like a pressure plate. They did that deliberately. They had to code it specifically to allow for creative solutions. Even though it feels like you’ve cheated the puzzle, you’ve actually done exactly what they wanted: you thought creatively. Instead of “ah-ha” you get “oh-ha!” A satisfying sense of surprise. You feel clever, but in a different way.

Creative solutions make even basic puzzles interesting

A surprising side effect of so much creativity is that it makes even mundane problems much more interesting. In Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, there are plenty of puzzles to overcome in the open world, but it soon becomes repetitive. There just isn’t enough variety.

In Tears of the Kingdom, you regularly need to scale a mountain or get up to a high ledge. It’s the most basic of ‘puzzles’ you can imagine. But the difference is that players have dozens of options to do it. You can ride the winds from a bonfire, bounce on a spring, attach a missile to your shield, build a catapult, or even reverse time on a hunk of fallen debris and cling on for dear life as it rises up into the sky.

In Jedi Survivor, there’s probably a button you need to press to use an elevator.

Creative solutions are more realistic

This all ties into the themes of Tears of the Kingdom. Firstly, it’s a game about exploration. And in real life, there’s never a single right answer. If you were to genuinely come across a bobby-trapped temple, you’d certainly try everything you could to sidestep the strange puzzles they’d made. By breaking the common belief that a puzzle can only have a single solution, Nintendo makes the puzzles so much more satisfying for an explorer. You feel like you outsmarted your opponent.

And encouraging people to think differently seems to be a core theme of Tears of the Kingdom. They’re saying: You need all your wits and experience if you’re going to win the battle. It’s not about how strong you are. It’s how you use your resources.

You can change philosophy between areas

Nintendo doesn’t just allow for pure creativity, though. Not all the time. They’ve cleverly split up the world into different areas. In the open world, players have complete freedom. You can build contraptions to beat a boss or get to a shrine. See a camp you want to clear? It’s totally up to you how you do it. Bomb it, charge in with ice weapons, or parachute in raining arrows down on their heads.

Inside shrines, they have a slightly different philosophy. There’s an intended path, but you can usually find a way to solve the problem your own way. Temples, meanwhile, are the most restricted. While it seems you have complete freedom – you have all your abilities – you usually need to use the new mechanic you just picked up. They’re actually much more logically designed. This makes Tears of the Kingdom appeal across the spectrum, from pure creativity to pure logic.

Use creativity to appeal to all player types

You’ve likely heard of Bartle’s four player types: achievers, explorers, killers, and socialisers. Using creativity as a core tenet, Tears of the Kingdom hits all four:

Creativity helps Achievers get 100%. There’s plenty to achieve in Tears of the Kingdom. So these players are easily satisfied. But allowing for creativity means that they can solve these puzzles however they want. By giving them more options, they make it easier to get that satisfaction if they ever get stuck.

Creativity helps Explorers travel. Despite using the same map, there are still plenty of secrets to uncover. And, with the new build mechanics, it’s easier and more fun than ever to explore the world.

Creativity gives Killers replay value. The sheer number of ways that you can defeat your enemy and create cool weapons gives Killers plenty of reasons to try out different combinations and battle every enemy they meet. That creativity keeps the combat feeling fresh.

Creativity gives Socialisers something to share. You’d think that, without multiplayer, Tears of the Kingdom would struggle to keep the Socialisers on board. But because of the creative building mechanics, Socialisers can build outrageous structures or solve puzzles in unique ways and then share the results with the rest of the world. Even just talking with your friend about how they approached a shrine can tickle that itch.

With more creative freedom, influencers have more room to create creative content. So even the passive gamers, who prefer to watch streams and other play, are engaging with the game. Most of which get the same level of enjoyment from watching as you would from playing. The number of viral videos on social media is outstanding. The sheer amount of surprises and creative choices a player can make means that there’s an endless stream of content that players can create. Content that keeps the game front of mind and draws in even more players.

Designing your game around creativity doesn’t just appeal to all kinds of player, but can help indirectly fuel your marketing. Linear games just don’t have that “share factor.”

You don’t need branching storylines to be “open”

The lesson here is that if you’re building an open-world game, you don’t need to create a thousand different dialogue trees with different outcomes. It can be about the journey they take through the story. Rather than trying to program a thousand NPCs to allow for every single approach the player might take, you can simply just let them approach the challenge itself in whatever way they want. Those creative choices are what makes a game feel open. That’s how you give players freedom.

It takes a lot of testing to perfect

Nintendo needed to do a lot of testing and tracking to see how players explored the world. Back when they first designed Breath of the Wild, they tracked where players were going and how they were interacting with the map. This led them to realise that they needed to change their design to ‘encourage’ players towards a point, rather than simply pointing them there. These were insights they could only get by looking at the data.

So if you want to gather that kind of data yourself, you should try out our free analytics tool.

“Hello? Is this thing working? Can anyone read me?”

It’s with these three simple sentences that the original Lifeline begins. And the player has to make their very first choice. How do they respond? Already, your path can diverge (though it’ll quickly circle back). After learning that Taylor has landed in a rocky desert, the player can recommend investigating a crash site or heading for a white peak.

It’s here that Lifeline’s true mechanic begins. As Taylor walks to their destination, the player will have to wait in real-time – sometimes hours – before Taylor sends their next message.

And that’s the key to the Lifeline series. Players don’t just respond and pick a path; they wait in real-time and can reply through their phone or smart-watches notification menu – as though responding to a real person.

How a text-based adventure fits on mobile

As a premium game, with over half a million downloads on Google Play alone, a 4.6-star rating, and seven sequels – 3 Minute Games has clearly done well for themselves. In fact, the series was so beloved that the original developers bought back the rights to the IP and started releasing sequels due to the sheer amount of fan demand.

But 3 Minute Games didn’t start as a separate studio. It was originally part of Big Fish Games – an experimental arm to test new waters and explore new spaces. Lifeline wasn’t the only game they came up with – but it was the one that stuck.

We spoke with Mars Jokela – Lifeline’s game designer – and Dave Justus – the writer behind the scenes – to ask them what advice they had for other developers and what it was about Lifeline that worked.

Focus on a concept

“Notifications were the key,” Mars told us. “Apple had just announced that there would be an interactive lock screen on the iPhone – you could reply right from the lock screen. That was the genesis of the idea.”

The idea actually sat around for a while until Apple announced the Apple Watch.

“That lit a fire under the concept,” Mars added. “It was obvious that this wearable device was going to be perfect. So we thought – let’s keep the scope small and focus on this one specific idea. We actually put out six or seven different games – super simple and small concepts. Hyper-casual, before hyper-casual was even a thing.”

They were essentially creating prototypes, like Poll Party, where you’d get prompted to answer a quick poll. But all of them shared the same initial concept: Use the notification menu somehow.

“That was the philosophy at the time: How do we address this concept we’re trying to make?” Mars said. “Most were simple ideas but ended up needing too much backend work. We put out about seven games in that first period, all based on the game idea. That’s why it’s so important to express that singular concept.”

In fact, Mars explained that you don’t need to be completely original. You just need that one nugget that’s unique to your game. Branching storylines like Lifeline have been a cornerstone of gaming since the ZX Spectrum – but the notifications and real-time schedule transformed it into a unique game.

Execution does matter

The key to making sure that your game or prototype is going to be successful is polish. You don’t need to add hundreds of meta-features straight off the bat – if you’ve got the core gameplay loop sorted. Those extra mechanics can come later.

“Even if it’s a small game, make it feel good and honest to your concept,” Mars said. “Don’t ship out games with half-finished content or mechanics. They can be small and focused, as long as you fully express your idea. With Lifeline, we had just enough at the start – you can make binary choices, and you’re stranded on the moon. That was enough to work with.”

Once Dave – the writer – joined the team, that concept evolved and changed dramatically as he wrote the story. But the core concept remained.

Figure out your guard rails

Constraints can actually lead to more creativity. The actual story behind Lifeline was heavily influenced by the limitations the mechanics imposed.

“We didn’t want the character to be gendered, we wanted it to be three days of real-time, I could only give players two choices, and we could only communicate through dialogue”, Dave explained. “So I was looking for places to add delays. An hour of walking. Eight hours of sleep. Even if it was ten minutes heading down a corridor.”

These creative constraints are what make Lifeline feel so real and compelling.

“Writing these games is very different to writing a comic script because it’s all dialogue,” Dave said. “Even if it’s expositional, like ‘I’m looking at this crater or spaceship’ – all of that needs to be words coming out of a character’s mouth. That can be tricky to make sound realistic.”

It’s not just narrative constraints that can help a developer create a realistic game. There are technical constraints, too.

“I’ve worked a lot developing for new platforms, with different interaction models,” Mars said. “Developing for a watch means you have to think differently about the game design. You have to think about how people are going to have to raise their arm to fiddle with the controls. What’s natural?”

Think of dialogue vines, not trees

Branching paths in the narrative are a huge part of a story-driven game. But they can be a nightmare to write.

“If you let it branch out too much, you’ll never capture the story,” Dave said. “It’s about taking little deviations from the main line and then weaving them back together. It’s actually easy to keep branching, but if you do that, you’ll end up with 64 passages with no endings.”

Instead, Dave suggests finding ways to get to the key story moments you want to tell. You don’t want to tell stories that are going to be hidden away on some tangential path that nobody will ever see.

“It’s more like a vine, than a tree,” Dave said. “Don’t hide your best scenes.”

Make sure choices matter

Writing your dialogue like a vine – rather than a tree – might sound like individual choices aren’t important. But that shouldn’t be the case.

“What makes a game a game is player agency,” Mars explained. “It’s a delicate balance. The player needs to feel like the choices they’re making matter. Even if that choice is that Taylor dies early. It’s fine to cut a path off and end it.”

Another technique is to bring back an element later in the story. The branch might come back together – run along the main vine for a significant time – but having that item or talking to that character might push the player down a completely different path later down the story.

Listen to feedback

As a story-based game, Lifeline doesn’t need to track how people progress through levels. But they do need to keep their finger on the pulse.

“We look at player sentiment a lot, read reviews and stay active in the community,” Mars explained. “What matters most is engaging the players – the strength of the writing.”

“The amount of love and devotion has blown us away,” Dave added. “We never thought this level of fan love was possible – we even get fan art and cosplay.”

Me and @Ghost_Logic went as the weirdly cool space and magic nerds at #dragoncon this year! @lifelinegame pic.twitter.com/QIYSp0NLqf

— Holly (@PekaSairroc) September 7, 2017

One key challenge from the community came when the team experimented with a free to play model.

“Lifeline’s player base didn’t love it, so the Lifeline Universe app never left beta,” Mars explained.

One reason for this was that micro-transactions break the immersion. Players need to suspend their disbelief if they’re going to relate to your characters and story. So interrupting them with ads or micro-transactions doesn’t work.

“The second your friend wants to charge you to tell you a slightly better joke, that’s when you stop talking to them,” Dave said.

For story games, it seems the best model is a one-off payment or subscription.

“We recently released Lifeline+ on Apple Arcade,” Mars said. “And it’s been great seeing a resurgence in activity. That subscription model, getting regular stories without interrupting the gameplay, that’s perfect for us.”

Keep up to date with the latest news

We definitely recommend keeping an eye on this space. Mars hinted that they’ve got a new project in the works, but that they’re not quite ready to talk about it. It should be coming out this year, so make sure you follow them on Twitter to get any updates there. And if you enjoyed hearing from 3 Minute Games and learning their advice, make sure you subscribe to our newsletter to stay in the loop.

In August, Zynga announced they’re releasing their first Web3 venture – Sugartown. While they’ve been keeping schtum about the details, Sugartown looks to be a platform – a collection of games all tied together using NFTs.

It’s an interesting concept that could open the way to a new monetization model in gaming, if it’s successful. Rather than in-app purchases or advertising, the game would rely on players buying, trading (and potentially earning) assets. So let’s dive into what we know about Sugartown and what it means.

Web3 games are games based on the blockchain

Typically, a Web3 game is one where you can buy or earn virtual assets. For example, in Axie Infinity you buy, trade, battle and breed Axies. In Gods Unchained, you own the virtual cards and can trade and sell them just like physical ones.

It’s essentially about ownership. In a Web3 game, the player owns a virtual asset. For Sugartown, this will be based on the Ethereum cryptocurrency – meaning the value of those Oras will rise and fall with Ethereum.

We won’t get into the pros and cons of NFTs and cryptocurrency here. What’s important is that – in concept – they allow players to actually own something. And in Sugartown’s case, that’s an Ora.

Sugartown isn’t a single game

It’s perhaps best to think of Sugartown as a franchise – a universe, like Warhammer or Star Wars – but underpinned with NFTs. Players will buy an ‘Ora’ – a deity-like character within the universe – and this will give the player access to the games within Sugartown.

We imagine Oras will be like Pokemon. You buy (or earn) the Ora, presumably trade them, and play the games associated with them. Though, exactly how it’ll work we’re yet to see.

Regardless, Sugartown is a platform, not a single game. But Matt Wolf, vice president of Web3 at Zynga, spoke with Shotgun on X Spaces recently. During the conversation, Matt explained that the exact lineup of games will be driven by the community.

“The games themselves are simple, but they’re difficult to master,” Matt said. “We have a direct relationship with that community and they have voices that will be heard.”

So it seems that the first iteration of games will likely fall into the casual category – short, simple and satisfying mobile games. But they’re open to seeing what the community wants in terms of genre and complexity.

Sugartown will start small

You’re unlikely to hear big news about Sugartown for a long time. Matt describes their rollout as “crawl, walk, run.” For now, they’re focusing on their core Discord community – their hardcore fans.

This includes how those first Oras will be distributed. The first batch will largely be reserved for those first players, essentially treating them as investors in the idea. How much? Zynga has yet to say. But you can keep up to date with the minting process by following their X page or joining their Discord.

Sugartown is rich in lore

The universe itself is actually a continuation of one of Zynga’s most successful franchises ever: Farmville. A few of the animals from that game struck out, found a new home in Sugartown, and caused a rift to open. This rift has let the Oras into the world.

“Oras are games, because they’re the lives lost of all the lives we’ve lost when we played,” explains Tommy Ngo, head of product at Zynga, in that same X Spaces interview. “So what you’ll experience in Sugartown was most likely constructed by Oras.”

This ‘rift’ opens up options for Zynga to partner with other franchises and link together their worlds.

“The rift allows us to move through the space-time continuum,” Matt explained. “As we head into future chapters, the rift can allow projects to meet. It might even be able to move through projects we don’t know yet.”

What does this mean for gaming?

In the last few years, we’ve seen a lot of Web3 games come out. Sky Mavis released Axie Infinity, Nplus Entertainment has League Of Kingdoms, Bright Star Studios made Ember Sword. The idea of owning your digital assets is clearly quite important. In fact, Web3 gaming accounts for almost half of all blockchain activity.

But it’s not exactly become mainstream yet. There are actually only around 2 million Web3 players out there, according to Zipdo. That’s a tiny percentage of the 3 billion mobile gamers across the world.

One reason is that players are cautious to get into NFTs and cryptocurrency. But it’s also just plain difficult to understand and get set up. Quite simply, it feels like a hassle. Wallets, currencies, minting, changing valuations. It sounds complicated. But that doesn’t mean it can’t work. Many developers are realising that it’s just not a selling point to the casual gamer. It’s just another feature. Selling a game based on the fact it uses a technology is like trying to sell it based on its collision dedication – nobody really cares how it works.

Sugartown could help Web3 step into the mainstream spotlight, though. Zynga is a massive player in the industry and their approach to Sugartown – evolving the game to suit what the players actually want – will make it much easier for the average player to get involved.

It could even change the typical monetization models we’ve come to expect. As players learn that they can – for example – sell their purchases or use them across titles, they’ll become less willing to make in-app purchases that don’t give them that same freedom.

Make sure you understand your players

If you’re interested in getting into developing a Web3 game, you’re going to need to make sure you do the same. Listen to your players and make sure you understand their behaviour. The best way to do that? With data. Check out our tool to keep track of how your players are engaging with your game.

In tennis, a golden set is where you win a set without losing a single point. And that’s exactly what Wildlife Studios managed to do with Tennis Clash. It was the most downloaded mobile games in 78 countries when it launched. It’s got an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 on the app stores. And it’s had over 50 million downloads on Google Play alone.

So let’s look at exactly what we can learn from Tennis Clash.

Make your game simple to play, difficult to master

We all know the rules of tennis. Tennis Clash manages to translate those rules into straightforward controls. Swipe to hit the ball, tap to move. The further you swipe, the harder you hit. And which direction you swipe in decides which direction you hit the ball. All very simple.

Just like real tennis, it becomes about tactics and split-second decisions. Where is your opponent? How hard should you hit this one? Where should you reposition yourself? Getting it right – hitting the ball just where you planned – that’s why it’s satisfying.

But how about short? In real-life tennis, you typically have games, sets and matches. Four points win a game. Six games win a set. Two sets win the match. (Usually.) That’s too long for a mobile game, so Tennis Clash simplifies the scoring system. First to hit seven points wins the match.

Tennis Clash is a great reminder to developers everywhere that you don’t need to overcomplicate your core loop. Two simple controls and a simple points system are all you need. Instead, encourage your players to master those simple controls by either getting them to compete against each other or against harder and harder bots.

Give your players a reason to revisit old content

There are two main ways that Tennis Clash encourages players to progress. The first is an RPG-like system. Players can get better gear – like rackets, string and shoes – which directly affect their character’s abilities. The better your character’s stats, the more likely they’ll succeed in doing what you wanted to do. You can upgrade your gear by spending coins. Pretty simple.

The second way is through their tours. In other games, these would be your worlds or your levels. Interestingly, unlike most games – players must bet coins on each match. The more matches you win, the harder the tours you can enter. And the more coins you have to bet upfront.

Because you can spend these coins on upgrading your gear, this creates a great dilemma for their players. Can you actually afford to upgrade your gear now? What if you lose your next match? Will you be left penniless, needing to start from tour one once again?

This means that there’s a practical reason to revisit older tours. Either you’ve spent all your coins or you don’t fancy taking the risk. For other games, this can be a very useful system to have players revisit older maps and levels – adding more replayability to your game.

Use ads to mitigate losses and amplify wins

Because players must bet coins to enter a match, they’ve also created themselves an opportunity to show rewarded ads in a very natural way. If a player loses a match, they can watch an ad to recoup their lost coins. But if they win a match, they can watch an ad to double their winnings.

This makes it far more likely that players will actually want to watch these ads. There are tangible benefits, and it doesn’t feel like the ads are being forced on them.

Consider how else Tennis Clash could have added ads. They could’ve had it so that there was an ad after every match and that players earnt coins after each win. The outcome would’ve been exactly the same. But by framing it as a bet – and only allowing players to get a rewarded ad a certain number of times a day – they reframe the context. Players are actually relieved to see an ad, rather than getting frustrated.

If you’re finding that players are getting frustrated by your ads, it’s worth asking yourself whether you can reframe the context. Can you use them to mitigate losses and amplify wins?

Partner regularly to keep your game current

Tennis Clash has regularly been in gaming news for its partnerships ever since it launched. They’ve teamed up with the Fédération Française de Tennis, the US Open, World TeamTennis, The Laver cup, WTA and ATP, and the Billie Jean King Cup.

These partnerships were simple tournaments, with the winners often getting in-game rewards and kudos on Wildlife Studio’s website. And they solidified Tennis Clash as the official tennis game. This was particularly important during the pandemic when tennis matches were being cancelled because it allowed fans to still participate in the event.

It wasn’t just tennis organizations that they’ve partnered up with. They even worked with Gucci to bring style and outfits into the game. A sponsorship that helped the Gucci brand stay current while giving Tennis Clash more content to keep their players entertained.

Regularly partnering has helped to keep Tennis Clash in the spotlight. And it’s a lesson that mobile developers all over should remember. The best way to keep your players around is to keep giving them something new. But that something new doesn’t need to be too complicated. A simple tournament, sponsored by a brand they love and respect, can hit that sweet spot.

Play to your demographics

Wildlife Studio regularly updates Tennis Clash with seasonal content. Valentine’s Day, Christmas, April Fool’s Day, Mother’s Day, Lunar New Year. Most of these are – like their partnerships – open tournaments that players must buy tickets to enter. Another useful revenue stream.

But they also make sure to think about their players. Two notable events were their Tax Day event and their Celebrate Diversity event. Clearly, Wildlife Studio had spotted that their demographic was young, entrepreneurial and liberal. And that inspired them to create these events.

Of course, this is only speculation. But a Tax Day event is an extremely specific event to host. One that they must have been sure would be successful. Otherwise, why would they have spent the time creating it?

It’s a lesson all developers should learn. What other interests do you players have? How old are they? What level of education do they have? For example, if you discover that most of your players enjoy reading, perhaps you host a World Book Day event. Are you getting a lot of Scottish players? Maybe you celebrate Robert Burns’ birthday.

The more you can tailor your events and updates to your specific audience, the more they’ll feel a cultural connection with your game.

Use analytics to discover what makes your players tick

Information is power. The more you know, the more you can improve and iterate on your game. So if you’d learn about what works and what doesn’t, try out our free analytics tool.

According to Statista, the VR and AR markets are steadily growing. In the next five years, almost a third of people will have a headset of some description, and there’ll be about 2.5 billion players. The average revenue per user? Likely around $14. Far higher than the $0.13 that hyper-casual games get.

But making a VR game? Well, the process isn’t all that different. It’s a lucrative opportunity for developers. So we asked Ed Lago, executive producer at Cloudhead Games, for his advice on entering the market.

Who are Cloudhead Games?

Though they were founded back in 2013, their founder – Denny Unger – has been in the VR industry since the 90s. A self-proclaimed “VR garage hacker”, he made friends with Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus, and managed to get his hands on some prototype hardware. Since then, Cloudhead Games has created multi-award-winning titles like Pistol Whip and The Gallery series. And collaborated with industry giants like Meta, Sony, HTC and Valve.

With that in mind, what’s been the secret to their success?

Ask if your game makes sense for VR

While there are some similarities between VR and mobile games – they should be easy to learn and have straightforward mechanics – a VR game is really all about fantasy fulfilment. The player should feel like they have become someone else in another world.

“As someone who made the jump from mobile games to VR, it’s all about understanding the technology and the best use cases for it,” Ed explained. “Not all types of games work properly in this medium because of the different types of hardware. Mobile developers will typically have an easier time making games for hardware like the Quest 2, because they’re used to making games on less powerful tech. Going from mobile, to mobile VR, to PC is easier than the other way around. Devs who have only worked with PC VR and consoles will often struggle making games run properly Quest 2 hardware.”

This is particularly true when it comes to how the player actually controls their character and interacts with the world.

“In mobile games, you need to focus on the key strengths, which include using the touch screen, swiping, tapping,” Ed added. “In VR, you need to take into consideration the comfort level of the user, the physicality of your experience, the amount of load cognition, and the immersion factor when the user puts on the headset.”

So developers need to think about how their mechanics can translate across to VR. What do they need to do to get the same result? Take an endless-runner style of game. On-screen, it’s simple enough to swipe left and right to make the turns.

But how will that work in VR? Does the user physically move? That might mean the levels need fewer turns, so the player doesn’t feel sick. Or do they swing their hands? If so, does that really feel immersive?

Learn from your mistakes

Whenever you enter a new market, you’ll have teething problems. You’ll be too ambitious or create a mechanic that’s just a little too complicated for VR. That’s fine. It’s a new space; everyone is still figuring out the best practices.

“With The Gallery series, we really wanted the player to have agency and feel like they were the hero in a movie,” Ed said. “In retrospect, these games were too advanced for VR at the time. The onus was on us to not only teach the player how to play the game, but how to use VR.”

By 2019, though, Cloudhead Games applied that lesson to Pistol Whip, their latest title. The core philosophy is the same – help the player fulfil a movie hero fantasy – but the gameplay itself is much more refined.

“How could we make something that was fun, super easy to just pick up and play, but hard to master?” Ed said. “These questions resulted in us developing Pistol Whip so the controller scheme is dead easy and uses one button or motion to do multiple things. We wanted a game with low cognitive load – the opposite of what came out of The Gallery series.”

Get to know the hardware

The main limitation and challenge of all VR games is the hardware itself. In fact, there are three types of hardware you should be aware of:

• Standalone headsets. These have a mobile chipset and can be worn anywhere in the house.
• Console headsets. These are powered through a specific console.
• PC headsets. These plug directly into someone’s computer.

It’s not simply that you need slightly different versions of your game to run on each of these, but the hardware itself can vary significantly.

“Making a product for all these types of hardware – which are so different from each other, with their own set of controllers and exclusive features – and making the game look and feel good is a big technical challenge,” Ed said. “This is especially true because the users of each one of these platforms are concerned about their platform being the best for the version of the game they’re playing.”

Know the process is the same, but harder

Once you’ve decided how to tackle the hardware and design challenges, the process itself isn’t all that different from what you’re likely already familiar with.

“Everything is pretty similar,” Ed said. “We always go through the cycle of ideation, prototyping, pitching, market research, funding, getting the greenlight, pre-production, production, etc…”

But throughout that process, you need to bear in mind that the players themselves are a different beast to mobile gaming. Mobile gaming is quite familiar to almost everyone. VR? Not so much.

“Your product can literally be someone’s first-ever VR game. And it could be their last if they have a bad experience with it,” Ed explained. “We still need to convince a lot of people that VR is legitimate and that you actually can have a good time playing it. So if there’s a bad experience, there’s a big chance this person won’t believe in the medium anymore.”

Reach out to the community

While making a VR game is harder, it’s still worth the effort. The opportunities in VR are endless, and the market is much less saturated than the mobile industry. It’s much easier to get spotted. But how do you get the word out and market your game?

We spoke with Cloudhead Games’ marketing team, Alex Blahout (digital and social media marketing) and Lindsay Sherman (marketing manager), to get their advice on the next step. Their first piece of advice? Get involved with the community. There are a lot of specific VR communities you can become a part of and learn from.

“Our players’ feedback has been invaluable and helped build the foundation of our success,” Alex pointed out. There were three main areas that they focused on:

• Discord. This is where the Pistol Whip community mainly resides.
• Social media and Reddit. Here they can have fun conversations with players.
• Store platforms and forums. This is where they talk about news, support and suggestions.

Once you’ve engaged with your community, it’s time to build hype around your game.

“To understand a game like Pistol Whip, you need to see it in motion,” Alex explained. “Teaser videos and trailers have typically been the marketing priority. As we continue into 2023, we plan on making more video content than ever, so our players can really get a sense of how much playing Pistol Whip is like being dropped into an action movie.”

In those videos, the key is to develop a narrative around what it’s like to experience the game. It’s not all about the mechanics.

“Building an advertisement for any title requires telling a story,” Alex added. “Your marketing strategy requires language and visuals that clearly communicate the value: getting fit, feeling like a movie hero, enjoying the action-rhythm, etc…”

Track data inside and outside your game

Your in-game analytics will help you spot where to improve your design, just like with a mobile game. But with VR, you need to track data from more sources.

“To gauge player satisfaction and the kind of experience they want to be immersed in, we use things like store reviews and comments,” Alex said. “For example, between May and September of last year, the engagement rate for our social posts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter doubled. That shows we have a healthy relationship with our growing community.”

What you track is subjective. But there are some useful metrics that everyone should keep an eye on. And consider data from VR stores, social media platforms alike.

“We look at our Active User data (DAU, WAU, MAU) to see how many people keep coming back to Pistol Whip, as well as to see what time periods had the most in-game engagement,” Lindsay said. “We also track data within store platforms for general performance, demographics, User Acquisition, and Marketing Attribution.”

But know that the results might not always be what you expected.

“The key difference for VR versus any other platform is, primarily, the high adoption barrier to owning a headset, combined with the (relative) newness of VR,” Alex added. “This leads to fewer opportunities to gather important data and find relevant benchmarks.”

Keep improving your design

Those metrics can help you iterate and evolve your game. For Cloudhead Games, they were able to keep track of how players were responding to their updates and new content. Back in June 2022, they released Contracts – new ways of playing Scenes (levels) and adding in new challenges every day, week and month.

“We analyze certain in-game analytics to track progress,” Lindsay said. “How many players are participating? What are they engaging in? Which Contracts are they completing? Are they going through the more vigorous monthly Contract?”

With that information, Cloudhead Games can figure out which of these challenges are successful and where they can improve them to be more fun, comfortable and challenging.

Start your journey

If you need help with keeping track of the data in your games, our free tool has SDKs that work across all the major VR platforms. So plug in and get to developing your first prototype. Get started.

If you’ve been keeping up with the news, you’ve likely seen a surge of articles about new wearable technology. Similar to Google Glass, these devices let people project a virtual world over the top of the real world.

As more and more of these devices hit the market, VR developers are seeing an opportunity to branch out and create mixed-reality experiences. So we spoke with the co-founder and president of Resolution Games, Paul Brady, to ask him his thoughts on the VR and AR world.

Resolution Games was one of the first gaming studios to enter the VR market. And recently, they started focusing almost a fifth of their efforts into mixed reality games. This year, Paul says that’s rising to almost half. But why? What’s so exciting about mixed reality? Let’s see what he had to say.

What’s the difference between VR and AR?

Virtual reality games are where the player is completely immersed in the experience. They replace the real world with a virtual one, and the headsets typically block out your view of the outside world.

On the other hand, augmented reality is where the player can see the real world – but there are virtual elements overlaid on top of it.

“In VR, you have the whole environment to consider,” Paul explained. “You get to control the whole experience – the environment and gameplay. While in AR – mixed reality – you don’t have that control. You have more restrictions. But what’s amazing is that you can relate and integrate with the environment.”

This allows players to interact with an environment they’re familiar with in completely new ways. You could hammer a hole through a wall and open a portal to a different dimension.

Resolution Games recently showed the portal wall concept in mixed reality at the Game Developer Conference (GDC) when they shared for the first time a room-scale prototype of Spatial Ops. (The open beta of Spatial Ops that requires a larger player space is currently available on SideQuest.)

Or it could be something simpler. For example, Demeo is Resolution Games’ answer to the tabletop role-playing scene, and the studio has recently integrated a mixed reality mode. You have your pieces, fully animated, on your actual dining table. If you’ve ever played a board game, often a lot is left to the imagination. But mixed reality brings that to life.

“With mixed reality, you can stay engaged with the environment. You get the best of both worlds,” Paul said. “Whereas with VR, you’re getting fully immersed. Which you choose really depends on the experience you want to create.”

What makes a good VR or AR game?

While there’s a fundamental difference between VR and AR, there are also quite a few similarities. For one, the game design principles behind them. The key, Paul explained, is making sure that they’re accessible.

“When we first started making VR games, lots of developers were making jump scares and shooters,” Paul said. “We believed there could be experiences that relaxed people, rather than scared them.”

This is why they released Bait! as one of their first titles. A simple fishing game that’s still one of the most popular VR games to date. Largely because it’s so simple to dive in. It doesn’t need to be all about hardcore action, they learnt.

Use board gaming as a starting point

“A good area of inspiration is with traditional board games,” Paul explained. “These can easily be reimagined for VR and AR as the design principles have a lot of similarities.”

Game design in the board gaming world is different from traditional gaming. They shouldn’t last too long – a few hours at most – and they don’t need to necessarily have direct conflict between the players. This makes them quite fertile ground for developers to find inspiration.

“The average playtime for Demeo is around three hours,” Paul said. “That’s actually longer than the battery life of some headsets. People will actually plug in and recharge halfway through a session.”

People tend to only want to wear a headset for a short period of time. It can often get uncomfortable after a few hours. So getting people to plug in the charger and want to stay in the world just a little longer is quite an accomplishment. But it highlights the need to have very clear limits on a session length – much like in board gaming. A couple of hours is great. But all-day sessions, like a PC or console game, aren’t likely to work.

Get into the action quickly

Another key to successful VR and AR games is making sure your player gets the content as quickly as possible.

“One of the requirements of all our games is that you need to be able to get into the game within minutes,” Paul said. “There’s a lot of preambles – checking the space, putting on the headset, launching the game – and we know there’s a clock ticking. How long are people really willing to wait before they start having fun?”

Make it social

When immersed in a different world, people naturally want to share that experience with someone else. VR has now got to the point where there are enough players to justify creating multiplayer titles, even if it’s only a handful of players at once.

“We feel like when people are in these virtual environments, they want to hang out with other people in these spaces,” Paul said. “That’s why most of our games are social multiplayer.”

Don’t feel like you need to move around a lot

A common misconception is that the player should be moving around all the time. But that’s just not true. People are happy to stay in a single space, as long as the mechanics themselves are fun.

“In most of our games, you’re just sitting or standing,” Paul said. “We don’t have a lot of locomotion. A large part of that is because we’re trying to avoid giving people motion sickness. And this has led to a lot of positive feedback from our players.”

What are the challenges of AR?

While there are more and more headsets that allow for augmented reality gameplay, there are still quite a few challenges to overcome. The processing power of the devices isn’t quite enough to cope with modern graphics, they’re expensive to buy, and there isn’t a huge audience just yet.

“There are problems to solve and standards to set,” Paul said. “But that’s what makes it so exciting. It’s untapped ground.”

One example is that you’ve got to be hyper aware of the player’s physical living space. They might only have a small space. If you assume they’re going to have a large room, you could create an environment that’s too big and clips through their real-world walls. This completely kills the immersion.

Problems like these will inevitably be solved. There’s plenty of new ground to break for those excited by the prospect of carving their name into gaming history.

Mixed reality is the new frontier

Developers have the opportunity to break into a completely new gaming segment if they start early. We can see the potential on the horizon. It’s only a matter of time before it arrives.

“AR potentially has a much bigger gaming market than VR,” Paul said. “The headsets coming out will need enough productivity apps – navigation and task management – to see widespread appeal. But it’ll get to the point where you won’t need your phone anymore, you’ll just have the glasses instead.”

At that point, AR games will likely explode in popularity. We’re not quite at the mass adoption stage right now, Paul admits. But developers can start to experiment with mixed reality now. For example, Quest 2 VR headset has the Pass Through feature. This is a perfect way to prototype and get ready for the surge of mixed-reality devices.

By experimenting using the Pass Through feature, developers can get to grips with the design principles and port those experiences over to true mixed reality headsets later down the line.

Either way, AR and VR are more accessible than ever, particularly with tools like Unity and Unreal that make building games for multiple platforms much easier. Paul’s recommendation? There’s never been a better time to get started.

Editors note: This article was written by Om Tandon, industry specialist, game consultant and UX Director. You can read his original version here.

What does the stellar mass market success of games like Marvel Snap, Marvel Contest of Champions and CoD Mobile share in common? No, it’s not just that they are all popular IP/Franchises. (IP driven games fail very often too, it took 3 versions to get CoD right on mobile). While it’s true there is no one factor or a “Reductionist” winning formula like gameplay, IP or UA. There is however a common pattern or framework that emerges, when you look closer at the success of developers who chose to adapt traditionally hard core PC/Console genres successfully on mobile…Is there really such a framework? and if it exists can it be repeated?…read on to find out!

Marvel Snap is getting 10X more downloads and 10X more revenue compared to CCG’s like Hearthstone and Magic the Gathering, as per Apps Radar on mobile.

This latest CCG sensation from the developer “Second Dinner” has taken the world by storm since late 2022, amassing millions of downloads, becoming game of the year and recently touched 30 million dollars in worldwide revenue as per games.biz.

This game has truly taken CCG or Card Collectible Genre games to the masses. CCG being a traditional genre (Magic the Gathering, Hearthstone) has always had a big fan following on PC, but it has been somewhat niche in appeal on mobile, as these games involve deep strategy, elaborate deck building, mental gymnastics and calculated moves, requiring massive time sinks, memorising of minions, spells, hero powers which pushes this genres appeal to a more mid core to hard core player rather then a casual player.

Marvel Snap from ex Hearthstone (Blizzard) team, does what many successful mobile adaptation of traditional mid core/hard core games genres have historically done – EASING and ERASING the cognitive loads for mass market appeal.

Load Reduction: The Framework

I have written extensively about the concept of “Easing and Erasing” of cognitive loads for players on mobile in my previous article series on “Marvel Contest of Champions” and in a 2 part series on FPS games on mobile. (CoD mobile’s success lines up with this thesis)

Just like a juggler simultaneously managing multiple weights in the air, which calls for intense concentration, dexterity and a high degree of skill. A game imposing multiple cognitive loads on a “Casual” player can frustrate them by placing immense friction in their path.

Many traditional PC/Console game genres especially mid core/ hard core games, make players simultaneously juggle multiple loads that force the player to learn, think, memorise, and keep track of multiple aspects of the game, like manage resources, multi touch inputs, strategic planning, constant peer pressure, stats. min/maxing, buffs/de-buffs soliciting, as a result all of these loads make the; learning, playability, skill and mastery curve steeper for an “Casual” player, making the game appear hard to play, now combine this with the amount of real estate you have on mobile devices, all these loads ramp up friction and act as a high barrier to entry for casual players on mobile.

The question that begs an answer is, if you are a mobile game developer seeking mass market appeal for a traditional PC/Console genre, how do you revise these loads for casual players, while still keeping the genre’s essence intact?

Load Management is the key…

From repeat successes I have seen and analysed over the years, many developers that made the successful mobile adaptation of mid/hard core genres for mass market appeal have either altogether removed certain loads (Load Erasing) or reduced the load’s magnitude ie: difficulty of those loads (Load Easing) by trading off and diluting game mechanics.

Let’s look at some case studies, here are two traditionally hardcore PC/console genres games that became breakout hits on Mobile that I have analysed in the past:

Marvel Contest of Champions

1) Brawler Genre: Top grossing hit Marvel Contest of Champions applied the load management framework to make high dexterity and multi input dependent “Brawler Genre” accessible for casual mobile players

Marvel Contest of Champions

Classic brawler games from arcade machines to pc, console, hand held devices have always been about the thrill & skill of mastering varying combos and moves with swift reaction time.

Street Fighter

Traditional street brawlers like “Street Fighter” have an assortment of moves mapped to the controller as seen below. Just like FPS, this genre also traditionally demands high motor and sensory coordination as the fights are in real time with an enemy who can execute ‘N’ number of combos and special attacks, countering them requires adapting your hero’s fighting controls on the fly.

How controls map to “Classic Brawler” games on Console & PC

We can see above, how in classical brawlers not only player has to track opponents movement but also combines them with well timed combos for punching and kicking.

Legacy arcade “Brawler” genre controls found their way into Pc/Console adaptations.

Origin of course lies in the old arcade machines, which were designed to fully engage and immerse players within the game session, without affordance for distractions. Tactile controls were designed to use and engage multiple fingers at a given time. needing players complete immersion and involvement.

In contrast to the classical definition of brawlers, Marvel contest deviates quite a bit by “Simplifying the diverse combat system” which some may consider the beating heart of this genre.

Marvel Contest: Control Scheme

Marvel Contest, in contrast, dilutes this volley of inputs to just few taps and swipes which is sensible for mobile devices as affordance for distractions is high and supporting muti-touch input of different fingers together is cumbersome if not impossible.

Marvel Contest achieved this by load management via Erasing of loads, where in, the heavy cognitive loads involved in traditional pc and console games are removed altogether, to achieve better balance and match the skills of casual mobile audiences.

Marvel Contest, mainly ERASES the loads of “Classic Brawler” genre by simlifying and automating controls and battle moves to “4 simple” inputs from the player, erasing 8 different kind of combos and inputs altogather!

(Read the full article, I published in 2016)

CoD Mobile

2) FPS Genre: From a pure User Experience & loads perspective, FPS games have traditionally required a high level of mastery and precision too. An FPS player juggles multiple cognitive loads of varying magnitudes at the same time while coordinating motor & sensory skills, overcoming the friction of controls in order to achieve their goal. This cognitive load is much greater in magnitude and complexity compared to other hardcore genres found on mobile (RTS, RPG, MOBA, TPS, etc.)

Mapping out FPS genre specefic Heurestic loads

Using our juggler analogy we can see in a pure traditional FPS their are at least 6 loads a player has to juggle!

Given the small real estate (screen size) of mobile devices, this problem is even further compounded by Fitt’s law:

Fitt’s Law: The smaller the target and the farther a player needs to move, the harder it is for them to successfully complete the action, especially with time pressure.

Fast movement and dexterity are the hallmarks of FPS games. Players are constantly moving around the 3D world attempting to identify targets and then move their cursor quickly to shoot their opponents. Moving this to mobile only makes things harder. This is one of the fundamental reasons why shooters on mobile have been hard to crack — too much cognitive load, and too frustrating to track targets.

So how does COD Mobile attempt to fix this? The game recognises and embraces two distinct player types: casual and core. They keep the funnel wide by having a primary mode which keeps the cognitive loads low, and they also have modes where pro players can have all the control they want.

ERASING: Reduced number of cognitive loads

COD Mobile very effectively erases a number of cognitive loads (mentioned above) a FPS player has to manage by enabling features like auto-firing, aim-assist and CoD’s best-in-class ease of movement, which automates these actions. This emphasis on ease is reflected in the 2 default control options that COD Mobile offers:

These default simplified control schemes give casual players an easier learning curve, along with greatly reduced cognitive load in line with what they are accustomed to on mobile.

Thus simple mode actually “Erases many Loads” for players in line with our load management framework.

EASING: Controls for Advanced Players

While default control schemes work well for casual players, the “Advanced Controls” offer a wide variety of customisation options (in line with PC & console game settings) for hardcore players who are very particular about their preferences and like to heavily experiment & customise UI inputs to their own play styles.

If players want, they can adjust the sensitivity and turn “On” and “Off” up to 25+ parameters from the “Basic” and “Sensitivity” control menus covering everything from auto firing and auto sprinting to the gyroscope and movement sensitivity.

On top of that, advanced controls give the ability to individually scale, move and configure each button/UI item on the HUD, allowing players the ability to literally build and personalize their own user interface. This is an example of “Easing Loads” via giving players ability to adjust the magnitude or difficulty of traditional FPS loads

In short:

CoD Mobile tailors to the preferences of both casual and hardcore players in control schemes via reducing the impact of traditional FPS cognitive loads, while offering a high degree of customization and make the game more accessible, enjoyable and playable on mobile, lowering the high barrier to entry normally found in the FPS genre.

Now that we have seen this Framework of Easing/Erasing loads repeat itself with two traditionally core PC/Console genres.It’s time to see how Marvel Snap does the same!

(Read the full article here)

Marvel Snap

Before we look at CCG loads, let’s talk about the IP, Marvel universe is the most sought after and recognisable cinematic brand worldwide and has a huge fan following across demographics, appealing to a broad age group from (Gen Alpha under, 12 year olds to Baby Boomers, 55 year +) , in fact it beats iconic franchises like Star Wars by a mile.

UA Edge: The IP not only adds more flair and familiarity to the genre, it also aids in competing with big franchises like Hearthstone and Magic by driving organic downloads helping a small studio effectively use it as a UA tactic.

Choice of the IP is smart, as it brings familiarity and curiosity amongst a more casual audience who might never have heard or played fantasy CCG games like “Hearthstone” and “Magic the Gathering” in the past

That said, as we know IP is a big factor in organic growth but IP alone is not enough for making a game successful, retention, ease of play and stickiness of core loop are the more important ingredients, that’s where Marvel Snap shines by successfully using Easing/Erasing of user loads.

3) CCG Game Loads:

Traditional CCG games like Hearthstone feature complex game rules and mechanics. In these kind of games, hundreds of unique cards with different special effects make the game fun to play yet difficult to master for players.

In a nutshell Hearthstone is a 2-player turn-based zero-sum strategy game with imperfect information, and complex states such as non-determinism, and partial observability. Chance events are everywhere such as summoning a random minion, or casting a random spell to random targets.

Loads a player needs to manage in a CCG game like Hearthstone

Given this wide variety of actions, management of cards, decks, memorising large no. of moves and strategising alongside resource management is something we know, easily overwhelms a causal player.

Using the Easing/Erasing load management framework we saw earlier in the article, here is how Marvel Snap leverages it.

Easing Deck building Load: Instead of elaborate card selection and deck building which games like Hearthstone require (Hundreds of cards, with players building up to 27 custom decks, each deck having 30 cards)..which you can imagine requires time and labour along with good understanding of what each card does. MS simply has 2 decks to start with for the player with each deck comprising of only 12 cards.

Deck building is pretty automated from start. Players do not have to actively think about which cards should go in which deck right off the bat. This removes the need for a steep learning curve and does not overwhelms a casual player

Erasing Card Archetypes: Marvel Snap cards are primarily Marvel Universe “Heroes” from popular crowd pleasers like, “Ironman”, “The Hulk” and “The Punisher” to lesser known heroes like “Quick Silver” and “Misty Knight”.

Archetypes like Weapons, Minions and Spells cards found commonly in other CCG’s are totally missing, which removes the load of remembering, understanding and synergising these varied archetypes, simplifying the gameplay.

Easing Memory Load: This is a by-product of simplification of “Easing” elaborate deck building and “Erasing” card archetypes, as players don’t have to memorise any opening plays, specific counter-plays and counter moves, removing the need for strategising before getting in to a game.

Erasing Attack on Opponent Cards: The load of attacking the life of individual cards played by your opponent has been completely removed. By having a location based winning approach, players just need to focus on amassing more and more points on each location, removing the need to target and attack individual cards played by the opponent.

This Easing and Erasing results in Byte sized snacking and satisfying core loop sessions – which fits just under 3-4 minutes…perfect for a casual mobile player!

Conclusion:

1. While there might be no exact reductive formula or recipe that goes into making of a mass appeal hit game, there definitely are quantifiable patterns and frameworks which can be leveraged to scale the gameplay for mass F2P audience.
2. The Load reduction framework which utilises “Easing & Erasing” of loads is based on attitudinal/behavioural traits, heuristic framework & preferences of casual to mid core F2P audience, which developers and designers have been (consciously or subconsciously) using to simplify complex game mechanics for mobile
3. CoD Mobile, Marvel Contest, Marvel Snap bring highly addictive (but complex) traditionally popular PC/Console genres like FPS, Brawler and CCG to mobile. As we analysed above, without load reduction which aids gameplay adaptation, these games could have easily overwhelmed casual mobile players, even if they had a huge IP backing them up.

With proven pedigree, traditionally popular but relatively complex PC/Console game genres will always be a source of inspiration for mobile F2P games. By using Load reduction framework consciously, developers and designers now have another powerful tool in their arsenal to get the experience right for mobile and achieve mass market appeal!

If you liked this article, please feel free to check out my other game deconstructs at https://www.uxreviewer.com/ or get in touch for consulting queries. Feel free to connect with me for future articles.

It’s been a busy year. Mergers and acquisitions left, right, and centre. New ownership of Twitter. More progress with NFTs and Web3. Even tighter regulations with the app stores. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

But one thing that hasn’t changed is new hit games entering the market. And boy, we’ve been spoiled for choice over the last 12 months. So to end the year on a high, we rounded up our top 22 games to hit the charts this year.

So grab your phone and get comfy. Here are the top games we loved playing this year. If you want some inspiration for games to binge over the holiday period, look no further.

22. Spinner Merge by Sunday.GG

Think of this as a hyper-casual Beyblade game with a merge mechanic mixed in the middle.

What we liked about Spinner Merge is how they came about the idea of bringing in the merge mechanic. Sunday.GG relied on data to figure out what they wanted this game to be. They had the spinner idea in mind. But after researching the market, they found that merge games were steadily growing and were a solid choice to go down. All they needed was to add a unique spin to their game.

Ideas can come from anywhere. But a good place to start is watching the ranks and spotting trends.

21. Cart Crash by TastyPill

Who doesn’t love a good rollercoaster? TastyPill launched this game in April this year and has hit a tasty million downloads on the Google Play store alone.

Cart Crash is an incredibly satisfying game that relies much more on timing than any other mechanic. You control how fast the rollercoaster goes to collect carts and when to stop to avoid obstacles cutting off parts of the ride. The more carts you have, the higher your score at the end.

Why is it so satisfying? You’re constantly rewarded throughout the game. Getting a small smiley face for every person you collect. That, plus the bonuses and rewards at the end of each level, just makes you want to come back for more.

Sprinkling rewards throughout the gameplay, rather than at the end of each level, can make your game all the more fun to play.

20. Net Fishing! by Voodoo

Cast your net to collect as many fish as you can. That’s the core concept from Voodoo. And despite Net Fishing! being a simple and easy game to play, there’s much more to this game under the surface.

It doesn’t feel like just another hyper-casual game. Each level, you have set goals and targets that you need to complete. And the gameplay actually requires some patience and skill. Which only adds to the player’s sense of achievement. Even the design for each level is different. So it never truly feels all that repetitive, which is crucial for casual and hyper-casual titles.

Going the extra mile with your game and adding in just a few more features or touches does make a difference. And your players will notice.

19. Army Commander by Lion Studios

Casual strategy games have definitely made their mark in 2022. Mixing in the relaxing and simple mechanics of a casual game with the touches of strategy and real-time decision-making makes for a rewarding and satisfying experience.

You’d think that army games and a relaxing experience wouldn’t mix. But Army Commander by Lion Studios seemed to nail this on the head. We enjoyed levelling up our base, taking on enemy teams, and running around collecting coins.

If you’re going for an action theme, it doesn’t always have to be over-the-top guns galore. You can still make it a fun, engaging and relaxing experience.

18. Vikingard by Netease

There’s a lot to love about Vikingard. The core gameplay follows a ‘build and battle mechanic’. But Netease has layered a lot into this title.

Aside from the core gameplay, players have plenty to explore – from farming and growing the land, levelling up heroes, raising pets, making alliances with other clans, to even following a romantic storyline and going on a date. Perhaps the Viking theme is in fashion (thanks to a certain God of War game hitting the stores), but it’s made our list and definitely a game to get lost in.

That doesn’t mean you should add features for the sake of it. Think about what adds to your experience, and work from there.

17. Gun Action – Shoot n Run by Ketchapp

Parkour. Monsters. And explosions. Ketchapp clearly had a fun time making this game. And we had a blast playing it.

It’s a casual action game. The gameplay is super simple, you just tap the targets you want to hit. So there’s the casual element. But to make it a bit more fun, time slows when you shoot a monster, making each kill all the more epic.

The design for each level is very similar, but it doesn’t ever feel repetitive. They even have artwork on the walls from famous films and games (we spotted Mars Attack and what we think was Left for Dead). And they keep the game fresh by introducing new weapons as you progress through the game. The only bad thing about Gun Action – Shoot n Run is that we reckon it deserves more downloads than what we’ve seen on the app stores.

16. Supermarket Village—Farm Town by Codigames

When we realised Codigames was behind this title, we weren’t surprised why it was a hit. Masters of simulation, this studio is renowned for making popular sim games for mobile.

We especially love what they’ve done with Supermarket Village. In the game, you run your own farm, create your own products, and sell to the local community through your own small business. And we don’t see this often enough in games. It’s awesome to see some good messaging baked into its core gameplay. So it was a no-brainer why this title made our roundup.

It doesn’t just have to be about the gameplay and mechanics. If it works with your idea, then you can bring across important messages in your titles, which only adds to the experience.

15. Runner Coaster by Dual Cat

Yep, another rollercoaster game. But we thought this one was worthy of our list, too. Simple mechanics, as with any hyper-casual. All you need to do is swipe left and right to collect money and people, and dodge spikes and danger (we’re glad this part is left out of real rollercoasters).

What we liked about Runner Coaster was that it wasn’t just about reacting or mindlessly swiping left and right. At different points throughout the game, the path splits into two. If you choose the wrong path? Well, that could affect how many people you collect, which affects your overall score.

Dual Cat made this game hard enough to be a challenge, but easy enough to be fun and rewarding. They did a good job spacing the ads out, so it never felt too disruptive for the player.

14. Aquarium Land – Fishbowl World by Homa Games

A perfect example of show, don’t tell.

The onboarding process in Fishbowl World is spot on. Aside from a little text explaining what you’re doing, you learn everything by exploring the game. It’s intuitive and rewarding, without babying the players.

We don’t see this often enough in casual simulation games, but there is a lovely open-world feel to this game. Once you know the controls and objectives, you’re left to your own devices. And there’s plenty to do and manage once you’re all set.

Of course, there are ads (although not too many). But Homa Games did a stellar job with their rewarded ads, too. If you want to ride the jet ski placed on the beach, well, you’ll need to watch an ad. It’s not forced on the player and never disrupts them. They find it by exploring the map. A fair exchange for any player, but not needed to progress in the game.

It’s clear that a lot of thought and care has gone into this game, with the player’s experience at its core.

13. Football Life! by Ruby Games

Live your life as a football star. Football Life! hit the stores in April this year and, so far, has reached over 500 thousand downloads on the Google Play Store.

We’ve seen a few more simulation titles hit the charts this year. And although this game belongs to the simulation genre, we definitely felt more hyper-casual vibes than we originally expected.

Not that this was a bad thing. Ruby Games has done an excellent job of keeping the gameplay fresh and interesting. Each level is a different experience, from chatting with your manager, training for a game, or even picking the number of your shirt. But they keep the gameplay simple, satisfying, and short. It feels like a bunch of hyper-casuals games merged into one, with an interesting theme and story layered in.

12. Hit & Run: Solo Levelling by Supercent Games

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Hit & Run is a typical runner game, where you avoid dangers and collect, well, in this case, people. But for this game, they layered in choice – fight enemies to make your character stronger, and avoid ones that are too tough.

We reckon this has the grounds to be a great game (not to say it hasn’t been successful – it’s hit over a whopping 5 million downloads alone on Google Play Store). We love the concept. And we reckon if Supercent threw in a couple of extra features and maybe a catchy tune, it would just take this title that extra mile.

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Just adding a unique theme or idea can make your title stand out from the ocean of games out there.

11. Torchlight Infinite by XD Entertainment

Definitely for the more experienced gamer. Torchlight Inifinite is an ARPG (action roleplaying game), and the fourth title in the series made by XD Entertainment. But not only is it the first to make it to mobile, it’s also the first one to be free to play.

A lot of players were afraid that, considering this one was F2P, the developers would make it pay to win (or there would be a decrease in story or quality). That hasn’t been the case. Although there are plenty of microtransactions in the game, these are more for cosmetic or novelty items, rather than the core gameplay.

We’ve seen a lot of F2P games take this approach. And Torchlight Infinite is just another example that it can work. If done well.

10. Summoners War: Chronicles by Com2uS

Summoners War: Chronicles is yet another MMORPG to make it to mobile. It’s an incredibly fun game. And the graphics are beautiful, but very demanding. At the lowest settings, it looks a bit like a PS2 game. But that’s to be expected until the tech has another leap.

It’s an extra special treat for any hardcore fans of Summoners War. It’s nice to see those 3D characters and monsters come to life. What we have heard from the community is this game is very similar to other MMORPG’s on the market, so new players may not be that impressed. But considering that Com2uS only released this title over a month ago, we think it’s got a lot of potential, and should make its mark in the industry soon.

9. Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds by Netmarble

Beautiful artwork. Incredible story. And breathtaking environments. Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds is another free-to-play MMORPG to hit mobile this year, and is the first to do so in the Ni no Kuni series.

We couldn’t wait to jump in on this game. And we weren’t disappointed. Aside from some not-so-great controls (players have said that this game just plays itself, and we can see why), we still think this is a noble attempt to bring such a large and demanding game to mobile.

We’ll likely see Netmarble release some large fixes and changes in no time, which will hopefully make this title an easy 9.5 out of 10 in no time.

8. Dicey Dungeons by Terry Cavanagh

It’s tricky taking any game from PC and Console to mobile. There’s so much to take into consideration – from adapting to a smaller screen, adjusting mechanics and creating simpler controls, down to CPU power and graphics.

But despite all of that, Terry Cavanagh nailed the transition. Originally launched back in 2019, Dicey Dungeons was an immediate hit indie game. High-quality music and unique and beautiful design, all smashed together with fun gameplay. And earlier this year, he finally released his mobile adaption – hitting a nice 4.6 star review on the Google Play Store.

If you’re looking to switch your game from console to mobile, then Dicey Dungeons is a prime example of doing this right.

7. Rovio Classics: AB by Rovio

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Except for the original version of Angry Birds, they did, in fact, have to fix it. They actually had to rebuild this game from the ground up. It’s because the original version was created on Unity’s old engine. Apart from a little polishing, they kept everything the same. And building it on Unity’s new engine means they will be able to continue releasing updates and fixing bugs – something they were blocked from doing for a while.

What we especially love is Rovio decided to make this an affordable premium game, rather than F2P. So ads won’t ever spoil what is arguably a perfect mobile game.

6. Idle Siege: War Simulator by Gameloft

Plan your attack. Ready your defences. And deploy your troops.

We had quite a bit of fun with Idle Siege. It combines strategy with smaller tasks, features and rewards to keep you engaged. That, slapped on with some vibrant colours, cute art style, and upbeat music, made playing this game a treat.

What also stood out for us is Gameloft’s community management. Mobile games that rely on ads tend to get a bad rap (understandably so). But the crew at Gameloft have done a stellar job listening to their community and keeping them engaged and in the know.

5. Dislyte by FARLIGHT and Lilith Games

Mythological creatures in a cyberpunk futuristic setting (yep, you heard that right). This was definitely one game that easily caught our eye this year, and for good reason.

In true Lilith Games fashion, we found the usual systems that this developer usually works with. Their daily tasks, arenas and dungeons. There are a lot of familiar and welcome features to dig into.

But what was refreshing were the new systems Lilith Games layered in. One mini-game that stood out to us was their new “DJ contest”, which brought across mechanics from more rhythmic games.

It’s easy to get lost in this title – from the story, PVP battles, events, social aspects, mini-games, and even collecting the most powerful gear. We’re excited about where Dislyte heads.

4. Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales by Next Games

Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales wasn’t initially created for the Netflix Platform. It actually came out a year prior as a F2P title by Next Games. After the streaming giant absorbed Next Games, they added this title to their new gaming library over a year later.

So, technically Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales wasn’t released in 2022. But what we will say is Netflix didn’t just shift it over. They removed all of the F2P monetization, polished some of the features, and released a new batch of content for season 4.

When studios get acquired, it’s easy to see their games have drastic changes. And in this case, we’ve only seen good things.

3. Dracula City Master: Idle Army by Tilting Point

Dracula City Master is an Idle Tower Defense game, where you play as the bad guys. Your goal? Conquer the world with your vampire army. But in all honesty, we quickly fell in love with this game. It has a charming mixture of fun gameplay, cool mechanics, an adorable art style and a catchy soundtrack.

Gameplay aside, the whole look and experience just feels well-rounded and polished. And they’ve clearly had fun with the spooky theme. (You get a body count of how many humans you slayed after each level.)

Tilting Point released this back in October, and we’re surprised it hasn’t been more popular. It’s still early days, and we reckon this one will have its time in the sun (or moonlight, rather).

2. Mini Basketball by Miniclip

Miniclip took everything that made their football mobile game brilliant and slapped it on a Basketball themed game. This title has reached an impressive five million downloads in the last eight months, and rightfully so.

One of the biggest things that stood out to us is its onboarding. Each mechanic and button was introduced over time, and there was plenty of room to practice and learn. And despite the game sometimes feeling a bit challenging, it was never overwhelming. Which is a difficult balance to strike.

All in all, Mini Basketball is a well-rounded, polished and fun game. As to be expected from Miniclip. Definitely worth a play over the holiday season.

1. Apex Legends Mobile by EA

As technology improves (especially with hardware, server management, ping, etc), we’re starting to see more and more AAA fast-paced titles hit the smaller screens.

Apex Legends Mobile launched on the app stores earlier this year. And after a shaky launch on Nintendo Switch, Apex coming to mobile was actually a welcome surprise. It’s obviously simplified (they only released 10 legends on mobile, compared to the 20+ on console and PC). But the experience still feels good, when compared to that of a PC or PS4.

It can be difficult trying something new. Especially when there’s no guarantee that it’ll be better. So what we love about this launch is that they didn’t just adapt it to mobile, but they gave it some extra value, too. They released a new mobile-only hero, Fade, and specifically designed this character for handheld devices. Making it much more exciting for players when making the switch. They’ve even confirmed that this character won’t be making its way over to the consoles. A brave, but perhaps smart move from EA.

Think we missed any?

That’s our roundup from 2022. It’s been a brilliant year for games, and we can’t wait to see what the next 12 months will bring. If you think we’ve missed out any of the epic games that were launched this year, then let us know.

And if you fancy some more reading, make sure to check out these articles:

• 14 low-budget, highly successful story games
• Happy Volcano: why a growing studio picked Player Warehouse
• Trihex Studios: delighting 40M players with analytics
• How To Conduct User Research In The Prototype Stage For Your Game

One of the reasons why hyper-casual games are so popular is due to how quick and easy they are to make. Simple controls, artwork, and game design make it easy for any developer to pick up. But hyper-casual isn’t the only way to go. There are other ways to build a game on a budget.

One way is narrative. We’ve talked a lot about how to add new layers to your games by simply layering in a story. And we discussed how you need three Cs: character, conflict and change for your narrative. This time, we’ll look at the top games that use storytelling as a core mechanic and show you that you don’t need sparkling design and intense gameplay to create a hit. You just need an extra C: Choice. Because choice is how you can differentiate a book from a game.

Let’s dig in.

1. Reigns by Nerial

• Published in 2016
• Available on mobile, console and PC

Games of Thrones meets Tindr. That’s how the crew at Nerial described Reigns while pitching it to Devolver Digital. Players must make quick-fire decisions on each card and either swipe left or right to say yes or no. Although it relies on some artwork, the style is simple, and the core gameplay is the story and choices a player makes.

It’s a game filled with characters, change, and a lot of conflict. A perfect example for your research pile.

Keep the text meaningful and impactful

Because the game is so fast-paced, the text and narrative have to be in short, snippy sentences. But most importantly, the text is impactful.

When adding a story to your game, make sure the reader can understand it immediately. Is this a safe choice? What’s the risk like? Is my character in danger? It’s important to give players an idea of the outcome of their choice before they make it. Reigns does a good job balancing this information while leaving enough mystery for unexpected twists.

Here’s our rating:

• Character: 6/10
• Conflict: 10/10
• Change: 10/10
• Choice: 9/10

2. Lifeline by Three Minute Games

• Published in 2015
• Available on mobile devices, Apple watch and PC

Lifeline is a text-based survival game and a brilliant example of a story-driven experience. You’re talking to Taylor, who is stranded on an unknown planet and helping guide them to safety while offering moral support.

Three Minute Games also included a time mechanic to make it feel even more realistic. Once you give Taylor an instruction, they won’t respond for a couple of hours. It’s all in real-time.

You don’t need many choices to make a story engaging

Lifeline has fewer paths than other titles on this list, but it makes up for it with a gripping story and a well-developed character. It also relies more on creating a sense of urgency and imminent disaster, with plenty of conflict and tough decisions for the player.

Here’s our rating:

• Character: 8/10
• Conflict: 8/10
• Change: 7/10
• Choice: 6/10

3. Bitlife by Candywriter

• Published in 2018
• Available on mobile devices only

BitLife has developed quite a bit over the last couple of years. It’s a life simulator game where you navigate through menus to manage your character. You walk them through their life, from babyhood to their final year – developing skills and making choices.

Stripped-back design can equal more creative freedom

Firstly, you don’t need to release everything already in place. When BitLife first came out, the choices were quite limited. But because the design is so simple, it’s been easy for Candywriter to layer in more elements. This has kept the game alive for years.

Secondly, you don’t need a lot of design. BitLife relies on the choices, text and actions rather than any graphics. It’s almost entirely descriptive, with little-to-no speech. And to keep it entertaining, there’s a random element. It also helps that the tone is quite quirky. In one instance, our cousin bit our knee and we took our daughter to a freestyle hip-hop battle. The developers intentionally made the game weird and wacky to keep players interested.

• Character: 6/10
• Conflict: 7/10
• Change: 7/10
• Choice: 9/10

4. Card Survival Tropical Thunder by WinterSpring Games

• Published in 2022
• Available on Steam

A recent entry, but boy, are we loving it. You’re stranded on a desert island and have a limited number of hours to juggle various needs, from thirst to your mental health. But everything is done with cards. On the surface, it’s straightforward – mix cards together, explore parts of the island and either escape or make a home for yourself. But this simplicity means the game can go much deeper and make every choice feel meaningful.

A simple game can lead to lots of complexity

Because it’s all based on cards, WinterSpring Games’ Card Survival can focus more on how elements interact and affect one another. There are simple starting points, such as a farmer looking after her grandfather – adding a new layer to the story.

• Character: 4/10
• Conflict: 10/10
• Change: 9/10
• Choice: 10/10

5. Horror in the darkness by Karmic Shift Studios

• Published in 2016
• Available on mobile

Horror in the Darkness is a text-based horror puzzle-esque game. This is definitely a game for any H.P. Lovecraft fans, as Karmic Shift Studios have admitted that it’s been heavily inspired by his works.

Telling a story can be enough

Horror in the Darkness is an incredibly simple game that focuses purely on the story. Players have even touted how good the narrative is. This is a prime example of how to create a simple yet engaging game with story at its core.

• Character: 5/10
• Conflict: 7/10
• Change: 7/10
• Choice: 8/10

6. Simulacra by Kaigan Games

• Published in 2018
• Available on mobile, console, PC and Switch

Simulacra is a horror mystery game set entirely on a mobile device. You find Anna’s device, and the entire game is set as though using a regular phone. You need to go through her images, files, texts and videos to figure out what happened to her.

Let the player piece together the story for themselves

In Simulacra, you’re piecing together what happened through snippets of text. And so it’s the characters that take the spotlight. You don’t just learn about Anna; you also learn about her friends and colleagues. And Kaigan Games did a great job building relatable and believable characters.

• Character: 8/10
• Conflict: 8/10
• Change: 6/10
• Choice: 6/10

7. A Dark Room by Amirali Rajan

• Published in 2013
• Available on mobile, Switch and PC

This game is as stripped back as they come. It’s entirely text-based (aside from a progress bar and a few buttons). Interestingly, the developers have also decided to strip back on the story. They leave a lot to the imagination and only show snippets of the backstory to keep you hooked.

Amirali Rajan’s A Dark Room proves that complex gameplay and a concoction of features aren’t always what you need to build a strong title. Making choices can be the sole mechanic, and you still have a game.

• Character: 8/10
• Conflict: 8/10
• Change: 6/10
• Choice: 6/10

8. AI Dungeon by Latitude

• Published in 2019
• Available on mobile and PC

AI Dungeon is an intriguing game. It’s wholly text-based; you can type in anything, and the story will continue. It’s a creative person’s dream. You can do, say and experience whatever you imagine. The crew at Latitude worked alongside artificial intelligence company, OpenAI, to create a truly unique adventure text-based game.

Consider partnering with other companies

True. Developing an AI is beyond most budget games – AI Dungeon manages to understand what the player is saying and builds on the story. But the thing to take away here is that every decision has a meaningful impact on the rest of the game. It’s a design principle to remember.

We recommend watching the interview with the developers to learn how they did it.

• Character: 8/10
• Conflict: 8/10
• Change: 10/10
• Choice: 10/10

9. A Normal Lost Phone by Accidental Queens

• Published in 2017
• Available on mobile, PC, and Switch

A Normal Lost Phone is a narrative-driven mystery game. Similar to Simulacra, this title starts with, as you can guess, you discovering a lost device. As you dig through, you learn more about the owner – his life, issues, friends and family.

What’s brilliant about this title is how much thought Accidental Queens have put into the story and characters. The characters are relatable and realistic, and you’ll find yourself feeling attached to the phone’s owner.

Design and text can work in parallel

Although the core gameplay is within the text, the design is simple but beautiful and unique. Which only adds to the experience. Choice is limited – this is much more of a mystery and puzzle-type game. And that’s fine. Adding narrative doesn’t mean creating hundreds of branching paths. It can mean choosing the right option to advance.

• Character: 9/10
• Conflict: 7/10
• Change: 7/10
• Choice: 7/10

10. The Dreamhold by Andrew Plotkin

• Published in 2004
• Available on mobile and PC

One of the earlier interactive fiction games to be released. The Dreamhold is easily AI Dungeons’ predecessor. It’s not as custom or advanced as the more recent game. But The Dreamhold still holds up on its own.

A simple UI and design can support a rich story that all types of gamers will enjoy. And, it’s free. Completely free. No IAPs. No ads. No subscriptions. All you’ll need to spend is your time and attention when researching this title.

• Character: 8/10
• Conflict: 8/10
• Change: 7/10
• Choice: 7/10

11. Google’s text adventure

• Published in 2018
• Available on… well, Google

Google’s very own Easter egg (well, at least one of them). Google’s text adventure was originally a hidden game in Google’s source code. Players would have to search for ‘text adventure’, look at the source code, and then head to the console and enter commands to play the game.

You can get the game on Chrome now as an add-on. It’s entirely text-based. And although one could argue that it’s not a serious title, we still recommend giving it a whirl to see how the devs made it.

12. Magium by Magium Games

• Published in 2018, we think…
• Available on PC and android

Another interactive fictional game. Magium is heavily influenced by DnD (Dungeons and Dragons), and it shows that the developer clearly loved this franchise. The writing is rich with story, and it’s easy for the player to get lost in the world that Magium has created.

Consider what features can add to the experience

The responses are limited and sometimes vague. But alongside the story, the developer has layered in a points system where players level up based on their actions (most likely inspired by DnD). Keeping them hooked and engaged in the game.

• Character: 8/10
• Conflict: 7/10
• Change: 7/10
• Choice: 6/10

13. Device 6 by Simogo

• Published in 2013
• Available on iPhone and iPad only

Simogo’s Device 6 is a surreal story-driven thriller but with a twist. The interface at first seems relatively straightforward. But you soon realize that the text is everything. The words change to reflect what’s happening in the game. It’s a pretty ingenious approach to a mystery game and only adds to the player’s confusion – reflecting how the character in-game is feeling.

Think outside the confines of the code

There are other ways to invoke emotions than just words. For example, Anna, the main character, turns a corner at one point. The text describing what’s happening also turns 90 degrees, forcing players to rotate their phones. This is a compelling story, but Device 6 has found a unique and exciting way to tell it. Definitely worth a play during your research period.

14. Unmemory by Patrones & Escondites

• Published in 2020
• Available on PC

Another text-adventure game with a mystery and detective theme. Patrones & Escondites described this game as “an escape gamebook about a girl gang with a broken mind”. Still arguably in its early stages, the story is filled with twists and turns, although some have argued that it is sometimes somewhat predictable.

The devil is in the details

What we love about this title are all the little moments – the details. The developer has gone the extra mile to layer in beautiful, clever puzzle elements that keep you wondering and coming back for more.

Think we’ve missed anything?

These are just a few of our favourite story-driven games. If you think there are any that deserve a spot on our list, let us know, and we’ll give them a try. And if you’re making your own story-driven game, set up your analytics as soon as possible. Data can tell you a story of its own.

If you happen to be one of the many developers we’ve mentioned above, we’d love to have a chat and learn more about your process. Get in touch with us.

Fancy some more reading? Make sure to check out these articles next:

• The top 22 mobile games of 2022
• How to Use Collectibles in Mobile Games to Keep Players Coming Back
• Deconstructing Meta Features In Social Casino Games (With Examples)

We learn by playing. When we enter the world, we’re full of curiosity, and play has always been at the centre of how we satisfy that curiosity. Sadly, it’s beaten out of us when we go to school, and taking tests suddenly becomes a chore. But it doesn’t have to be. It’s possible to learn while having fun. In fact, that’s exactly what some apps are doing. And it’s working.

Games are the most popular genre on the app store. They’re masters in the art of keeping users engaged and happy. So how can we learn from them?

What is gamification?

You’ve probably heard the term ‘gamification’ before. But if you haven’t, it’s the act of taking gaming elements and mechanics and applying them to your non-gaming app. Often to ramp up retention and engagement.

And it works. If we look at the stats, gamified learning is expected to be valued at $25.7B by 2025. And 90% of employees claim that they’re more productive when gamification is involved. It’s a trick plenty of brands and developers have adopted to make their apps stand out from the rest.

How does gamification help?

It makes whatever you’re trying to do, well, fun. Gamification can appeal to a few different motivations – our curiosity, our competitive side, and our sense of achievement. Take that away, and you’d be removing potentially any flavor from your gourmet dish, and serving up a cold soup.

By ‘gamifying’ your app, you’re giving your audience a reason to stay. You can use it to entice and motivate your users, which can increase your engagement, retention, session length, organic installs and brand loyalty.

So what techniques can you use for your own apps?

Add progression bars and levels

Great for fitness, health, and education apps.

Progression bars, levels and charts are brilliant for any app with ongoing goals. This is arguably the best way to keep people motivated and helps reward them for their progress. If you’re making a weight-loss app, waiting until they’ve lost 30lbs before you reward them makes it seem like an impossible task.

Any fitness or health apps are perfect here. Take FitXR as an example. While it’s predominantly a VR app, the developers have also created a mobile app version, so users can track their progress and plan their workouts.

But you could also expand this into other areas. Charts and graphs go hand in hand with financial apps, like Mint or Monefy. Especially ones which let the user set goals and spending limits.

Chuck in streaks

A must for any education or fitness apps.

How do you keep users coming back on a weekly, if not daily, basis? Streaks. Reward your users for building good habits and returning to your app daily. And if you add a feature which lets you compare streaks with their friends, they’ll have all the more motivation to come back.

Strava’s Streak feature lets users set challenges and goals while joining in on community set ones. This feature works so well because users can set weekly challenges and be rewarded for staying engaged and consistent with their training. Rather than on just a set number of steps or miles.

Duolingo is another great example here. And they’ve also layered in a premium feature – the ‘Streak Freeze’. It costs the player 200 gems, which they can earn either by playing and saving up over time, or by spending real-world cash.

Set up leaderboards and rankings

Great for fitness apps, but also educational ones.

Leaderboards and rankings appeal to our competitive nature. The act of seeing your own name lined up against those of your friends can be motivation enough to come back and spend more time in your app.

The obvious examples here are fitness apps. FitBit users can see how they line up against their friends and contacts. And this feature was so popular, that FitBit even released a separate app. They coined it ‘Leaderboard for FitBit’, where people can join global competitions, get access to more advanced features, and even taunt or cheer on their friends.

Create goals and objectives

Perfect for habit-forming, financial, educational and fitness apps.

We’ve all done it: set an unrealistic goal, only to get immediately deflated when you don’t achieve it, and you end up throwing that idea straight into the bin. But small goals and objectives can help users get a sense of achievement and keep them motivated to carry on.

Habitica is now boasting over 4 million people in its app. Users can set their own goals and tasks, and get rewarded once they complete them. The difference is those players use the gold and coins they earn to battle monsters and play games with their friends.

Mix in quizzes and puzzles

Perfect for any type of educational app.

We all love a good quiz. Testing our knowledge is not only a great way to solidify what we’ve learned, but again appeals to that competitive desire we all have (whether that be against someone else or our past selves).

Look at Codecademy. This interactive learning portal encourages engagement, and constantly quizzes users on their knowledge. And at no point does it feel mundane or forced (unlike some of the pop quizzes we’ve all had at school).

A good rule here is to keep them short and snippy. Unless this feature is baked into your core and players expect it, no one wants to sit around for half an hour doing an intensive quiz. Your users will get demotivated and bored.

Set a currency and give extra lives

For every lesson your complete, every quiz you nail, and every streak you keep up, you earn in-app currency (gems and lingots). You can use these on all kinds of things – lives, items, streak freezes and more.

Not only does this keep your user interested, but you can also use this as a great way to monetize your app and encourage spending. As long as you have something worthy to offer. If not, we’d recommend maybe making money in other ways.

How to gamify your app

Hopefully you’ve seen enough examples to get your creative juices flowing. But before you start planning away, here are some of our top tips when adding gaming elements to your apps.

• Define your goal: Think about what your objective is here – what is it that you’re trying to achieve? Figure out which features help reach that goal and focus on them first.
• Keep it simple: You don’t want to add too many ingredients to the mix. Otherwise, you’ll have an overcomplicated app which confuses your users. Do you really need an in-app currency? No? Then cut it out.
• Make it social: A core element of gamification is that competitive edge. Letting your audience be able to pit themselves against their friends is a great incentive to keep them in your app. And you won’t be the only one encouraging them to keep playing.
• Test what works: Try not to add new features in willy-nilly. Do some market research and test if a new feature or mechanic will work with your audience. It’s a safe way to release something new without frustrating your current users.
• Most importantly, keep it fun: That’s what we’re trying to do here. Take something boring and turn it into a game.

Track your app’s performance

We’ve created our platform to be the best analytics tool for games, with dashboards designed to track specific metrics for core gameplay. But it also works for gamified apps, too. You can track a whole range of different events to see whether people are completing your quiz or quitting your app – which can help you learn if you have any bugs lurking around, or if your features need a bit of work.

So if you haven’t done so already, sign up for free to get started today.

Roblox has been blowing up over the last couple of years. Having initially launched back in 2006, the social gaming platform now boasts over 30 million games (what they call experiences), 52 million daily active users, and over 12 million creators worldwide.

Recently, we’re starting to see more and more hit games launching on the Roblox stores – with one particular publisher shining bright in the ocean of Roblox devs: GameFam. Despite only founding the company in 2019, they’ve worked with a range of Roblox developers and helped publish over 30 successful titles on Roblox.

So what’s their secret? How do they help these developers stand out? We’ve reviewed three of GameFam’s top published games: Twilight Daycare by Night Studio, All Star Tower Defense by Top Down Games, and Car Dealership Tycoon by Foxzie. Each one of these boasts over one billion visits and one million favorites.

Here’s what we found.

1. Offer rewards in exchange for likes

The more likes an experience has, the more likely Roblox will feature it on its Top Rated filter. For all three games, they make sure to offer rewards to their players if they like and share. Messages like:

• “Leave a like. Next reward at 1 million votes”
• “Community Reward – MYSTERY CHEST UNLOCKS @ 510,000 LIKES!”
• “Like the Game for More Codes!”

This tactic works in two ways. The obvious reason is that by incentivizing likes, you’re getting your players to do the work for you. But it also means that players will get their mates to like your experience to get their reward faster.

2. Feature updates in the title

With so little room to grab attention and inform their players about new content, all three games make sure they feature updates and new content in their title and description. That way, players immediately know there are new goodies ready for them to dig into.

This is particularly important for Roblox. Players come back to their game library every day, but they don’t have a news feed of updates like you might on other platforms (unless they’re following you on Discord or Twitter). With the update in the title, they know the important changes at a glance.

3. Make YouTube a priority

There are thousands of Roblox gameplay videos on YouTube and other social platforms, with new ones rolling out each day. And each experience, we’ve seen top YouTubers playing the game and sharing their codes.

YouTube is especially important for Roblox. In a video by Knowledge by Marcus, they explained that there’s not enough content for the number of people searching for Roblox on YouTube. This is where players go to find codes, new experiences and updates. It’s easy to get spotted on YouTube.

So there’s a huge opportunity here to partner up with an influencer who’ll create regular videos about your game. It can be the difference between thousands of players or millions.

4. Offer free private servers

Roblox’s audience is young. Very young. And considering it’s a massively multiplayer and social game, it’s understandable why some parents may be hesitant to let their kids play (especially in an experience like Twilight Daycare). Private servers solve that issue. And we’ve noticed that each experience offers this for free.

While it’s possible to charge for private servers, this is a mistake. This creates a barrier for some players and you risk turning players away. With so many experiences available to them, they’re more likely to just head to another game.

5. Release monthly codes

GameFam has made sure that each game offers monthly codes for free stuff (gems, items, coins – you name it). Not only does this keep your players coming back, but it’s also an introduction to in-app transactions.

Again, a lot of the playerbase is young, so they don’t have their own money to spend. Having regular codes lets them get more coins, but also shows them the store and how to get more money. So when their birthday comes up, they know what to ask for.

Roblox developers don’t just make revenue from in-app purchases. Roblox also calculates payout based on how much time a premium subscriber spends in your experience. The longer they’re in your game, the more revenue you make. So sharing free stuff brings in a profit.

5. Show native ads inside your experience

Unlike with mobile games, none of these ads disrupt the gameplay. But instead, we’re seeing ads on billboards and signs in the games – like real ones you would see in the street.

This gives the developers not only a new way to find players, but also another revenue stream to make a profit from. Without annoying anyone.

It’s best to think of Roblox as a world that you’re populating. Brand deals are a key way that developers can monetize their game.

6. Partner up with brands

Speaking of brand partnerships, you can take it a step further, Although we haven’t seen this with every game published by GameFam, we thought it was worth a mention. Partnering up with a brand can give your game a much-needed boost, as well as bring in new players.

Twilight Daycare is the prime example here. They teamed up with L.O.L Suprise!, a children’s toy manufacturer. Players could interact with characters and dolls from L.O.L. Surprise, as well as win costumes, enter competitions and find new locations in the game. Not only that, but Twilight Daycare has its own TV series currently in production.

7. Lock some content for spenders only

Sure, in theory, you could play each experience without having to spend a penny. But to encourage users to part with their (well, their parents’) hard-earned cash, some items and collectables are locked away, only available to spenders. But GameFam has limited this. Most items and features are available to those who just want to grind.

In Twilight Daycare, we can see that the Manager role is locked to players with a game pass (something you need to pay for). This role unlocks new actions and even new areas on the map.

8. Keep the gameplay forgiving and rewarding

Similar to hyper-casual games, the gameplay is extremely forgiving and always rewarding. There’s hardly ever a bad experience. Take Car Dealership Tycoon for example. You make money just by driving your car around. So even if you lose in a race, you still make thousands of in-game currency just by going on a stroll (as well as a cut from the race).

To give you an idea of how rewarded the gameplay is, watch this video. The specific example we’re talking about is at around 4:20.

GameFam makes sure it’s always a positive experience. And considering the age of the audience, this is incredibly important.

9. Offer daily challenges and rewards

We see this a lot in mobile games. But this is also a key feature for Roblox. Every day (sometimes every hour), games share challenges and rewards, encouraging the players to come back and claim their prizes.

It’s another way to get players (especially those premium players) back in your experience.

10. Talk to them in their own language

We don’t mean toddler talk. When comparing the three different experiences, each one uses very clear and easy-to-read language. But more importantly, they ram their content with emojis.

This is because Roblox is a younger generation’s platform. And GameFam understands this. Emojis and casual and direct language are key to grabbing their attention and fitting in.

Analytics can push your experience even further

Data can tell you a story about your game that you never knew. Sure you can learn lots about your experience through forums and discord servers, but they’ll only tell you about a small percentage of your players. You could be missing some critical bugs, errors and insights without the right setup.

Roblox now has analytics in its platform. While it’s helpful, it can only tell you so much. Our analytics platform is free and can help you dive deeper into your insights. So if you’re ready to learn more about your own titles, download our Roblox SDK today.

And if you fancy reading up on some more Roblox tips and tricks, then have a read through our interview with Trihex Studios, the creators of hit experience Redcliff City, to learn their secrets.