As we’ve mentioned before, the hyper-casual market is being forced to change. With more competition, higher CPIs and tightening margins, developers need to increase their retention if they’re going to continue making money, now more than ever. And to do that, they must layer more mechanics and elements into their games.

We’ve explored how and why developers can – and should – shift from hyper-casual to hybrid-casual. But if you’re still struggling to see how that might be possible, let’s look at a few games that have used meta mechanics to make their game more engaging. Here are six games that have a short, simple and satisfying core loop, but have layered in meta features to increase their retention. Let’s dive in.

1. Archero: How to add progression systems well

Developed by Habby, released 24th March 2019.

This was one of the first hybrid-casual games. The gameplay is essentially a roguelike – you play as an archer, making your way through levels. Each level has monsters to kill and traps to avoid. But the only mechanic is that you either move to dodge attacks or stay still to automatically fire your bow.

Players can upgrade their character permanently to make future runs easier in Archero.

Pretty simple. But Archero adds multiple layers on top of this core gameplay. First, you can level up during a run – firing more arrows or adding elemental attacks. Second, you earn valuable currency every time you kill an enemy. You can spend this currency between runs to give your character passive abilities, unlock other characters and upgrade your equipment. All of which make your next run easier, making it easier to progress through the levels. And, ultimately, make the whole experience more fun and addictive.

This combination of simple core gameplay, with simple meta progression, makes Archero a classic template for a successful hybrid-casual game.

2. Match Masters: Adding simple mechanics is all you need

Developed by Candivore, released 8th June 2017.

A classic mechanic you’re probably all too familiar with – match three gems to earn points. In Match Masters, however, you’re pitting yourself against other players in a sort of duel. Still, it’s a simple core mechanic. One that players are very familiar with.

Filling a page in the sticker album unlocks abilities that players can use in Match Masters.

But Match Masters goes one step further with collectibles. As you progress, you can unlock special abilities in the form of cards – things like wiping out random gems or an entire row. You unlock these cards as you play or by trading for stickers to fill up various albums.

While the meta mechanics are simple, it elevates Match Masters into a very replayable and satisfying experience, without too much extra effort from the developer.

3. Gold and Goblins: Taking a simple feature and running with it

Developed by AppQuantum, released 16th Sepetmber 2020. 

Merge mechanics work best when there’s a secondary motivation – other than just merging for the sake of merging. Take Gold and Goblins. Your goblins need to mine their way through the level, and upgrading them makes them better miners.

Devilishly simple. But this allows Gold and Goblins to add a few simple base-building mechanics into the game. Do you upgrade your goblins or your automatic mine? One passively gets you money, leading to more goblins. The other gets you through the level quicker. As a final layer, Gold and Goblins also introduces passive abilities in the form of unlockable cards. Unlock and level up the cards and you improve your mines and goblins.

Unlockable cards in Gold and Goblins give players an aim and sense of progression.

This is a useful example of how you don’t need a huge number of meta features to turn a simple mechanic into a true hybrid-casual game. Simple additions can go far.

4. Empires and Puzzles: How meta features can improve your core loop

Developed by Zynga, released 1st March 2017. 

This is another match three game, but a single-player version. It also adds an element of tactics. Players must decide which ‘gems’ – shields in this case – they’re going to match. Matching three of a colour releases an attack on the enemy in the same row. You can’t just match anything on the board, as your attack could simply miss. On top of that, each colour corresponds to a different hero you control – adding a rock-paper-scissors element to the game.

But Empires and Puzzles isn’t just about matching three of the same thing. As the name suggests, it’s about city building, too. Using two basic resources – food and iron – you need to upgrade your base to train new soldiers, combine them to level up your favourite characters, and make use of their abilities.

There are plenty of other items in Empires and Puzzles to collect and upgrade your armies.

This base building is a classic way to transform a hyper-casual mechanic into a fully fledged hybrid-casual game. It’s a simple way to build in progression. Definitely worth checking out.

5. Word Nut: How even a single meta feature can work

Developed by Super Nutty Games, released 9th June 2018.

You don’t always need to completely overhaul your hyper-casual game and add in a dozen features to push it into hybrid-casual territory. Word Nut cleverly only adds a few extra features, but which do just enough to add a huge amount of depth to the experience. The core game gives you a few letters, and you need to swipe to spell out all the possible words those letters can create. Simple enough.

But as you progress, you unlock coins which you can use to get hints. You also unlock cards representing pets. Equipping a pet gives you a passive ability, like reducing the cost of a hint. While these are very minor additions to an already addictive concept, it means that the game starts to appeal to more types of players – the achiever or completionist, for example.

Collecting pets  unlocks passive abilities to help you in Word Nut.

Word Nut also appeals to the competitive player, simply by adding a leaderboard. It’s a great example of how to build on a solid core idea and improve it to appeal to different kinds of gamers.

6. Fish Eater.io: How to combine two hyper-casual mechanics together

Developed by Mobibrain Technology, released 28th December 2021. 

Similar in concept to games like hole.io – in Fish Eater.io you’re a fish and you eat your aquatic rivals to evolve and get bigger. The core gameplay is simply moving around until you find a prey you can chomp away at and grow bigger.

But outside the core game, Fish Eater.io has added a merge mechanic into the main menu. Buying and merging fish builds up your character, and means that you start a match in a superior state. You can also unlock talents for passive abilities.

Certain talents in Fish Eater.io will make you stronger for your next game.

This is a clever way to combine two hyper-casual mechanics together to create something bigger than either could be individually.

It’s all about watching the numbers rise

Whatever you’re creating, it’s important to make sure your core mechanic is short, simple and satisfying. But after a while, players will grow bored of seeing the same thing.

So give the player a reason to keep going. Getting them to push for the next tier of building or unlocking another character can be enough to hook the player and give them a reason to continue. That’s all you need to increase your retention.

Do you want to keep track of your key metrics? Then remember to use GameAnalytics. It only takes a few minutes to set up and will help you learn more about your games and players.

Cracking the hyper-casual market is more challenging than ever. Why? Quite simply, there’s too much competition. This simultaneously drives up the cost of getting new players and makes it easier for players to churn. And that’s particularly problematic because – with higher acquisition costs – studios need higher retention rates if they’re going to make a profit.

But a new genre has emerged: Hybrid-casual. Studios have realised that if they’re going to keep retention high, they need to layer in more features and aspects of meta-game. The tact is to keep the core gameplay short, simple and satisfying, but add meta-features that encourage players to keep coming back. Features like progression systems and collectibles that add more depth to the core game. (You can read more about why the shift is happening in our other post on the topic.)

In this article, we’ll look at how to make that shift. What features can you layer into your titles? How exactly do you turn a simple hyper-casual game into a hybrid-casual hit?

1. Build an economy, not just a currency

You probably already have a simple currency system in your game: coins, gems, or shards of mana. But they’re likely quite small-scale and only have one or two uses each. The trick to a good currency system is about establishing an economy. How does the player earn this resource? How does it get used up? What value does it bring the player?

Building a solid system is difficult. Game Maker’s Toolkit describes five basic traits all video game economies need (watch the full video on YouTube):

1. The Tap. A way to create a resource. Adjust this to affect the pace of your game.
2. The Inventory. A place to show the player how much of a resource they have. This can have a cap to limit the maximum number, forcing the player to spend it. Or giving another incentive – buying something to increase the cap.
3. The Converter. Change the resource into a different resource. Experience into levels. Coins into potions. Raw materials into weapons. It’s best to have fewer resources, which the player has to decide how to use, rather than lots of resources with few uses.
4. The Drain. An action that deletes a resource. Spending ammo to fire your gun, for example.
5. The Trader. Buys and sells but has its own desires. (Think of it as an advanced converter.)

Image source: Art of War

This is vitally important when turning a hyper-casual game into a hybrid-casual one. All the other features we’ll chat about here rely on a good resource system.

For example, perhaps you have an endless runner game. Between levels, you decide to add a simple city-building element, where players make a farm. Each run, they could choose between earning wood, stone and iron. These three resources would be enough to force the player to make interesting decisions about what to spend their resources on. Too many resources and you’d overcomplicate the game.

2. Give players a progression system

One simple way to enhance your hyper-casual game is to add role-playing mechanics. Class systems, level-up systems, and stats that improve their character. However you decide to add this progression system, the key is to make sure the progression directly affects the core gameplay.

There are five traits to a good progression system:

1. Character stats. Strength, dexterity and intelligence are the most common. But they can be anything. These are the core variables that everything else ties into.
2. Level experience. As your player progresses, they earn experience. The best level systems allow players to choose which stats they increase when they level up.
3. Passive skills. Passive skills are abilities that increase a specific stat or give some other benefit. They can range from passive healing to increasing the amount of a resource you gain a minute.
4. Equipment. Items or skins that you can find or craft that increase a character stat. Often, there’s a limit to how many of a specific item a player can equip. So they need to make a choice. (Giving them ‘slots’ to fill is a good way to represent this limit.)
5. Classes. Depending on the class the player picks directly affects which stats increase when they level, which items they can equip or what passive skills they earn.
6. Quests. Specific challenges where the rewards are tied into the rest of the progression system. One good technique is to offer daily or weekly rewards for completing a set of quests, perhaps giving specific resources.

How might these stats affect the gameplay, though? You can either directly affect the core loop or affect a meta feature. For example, increasing your strength might directly increase your health. Imagine Helix Jump, a game where you dodge platforms as your ball falls down the map. Increasing a ‘sturdy’ stat might allow you to hit a platform without ending the game.

A progression system doesn’t need to be complex. A few stats can take a simple loop and add the extra layer to keep players returning.

3. Give players something to collect

Collectibles entice and appeal to the completionist gamers. They can also be a way to keep gameplay fresh by hiding certain collectibles behind specific criteria – challenging players to approach the game differently.

There are five collectible types that are worth considering:

1. Cosmetics. These don’t change the gameplay but solely play on the cool factor. Hats, skins, armour colours – all of these can encourage players to spend their resources and stay in your game.
2. Characters. Create a portfolio of different personalities, even if they don’t affect the gameplay too much. This can work particularly well if you’re using classes, as each character can link to a different class.
3. Achievements. These specific challenges might reward players with a badge for bragging rights or even an in-game passive ability.
4. Lore. Don’t underestimate the power of story. Unlocking short stories about your characters, snippets of information about your world, or even background information can be immensely satisfying. Many people will continue playing just to read all the lore possible.
5. Tradeables. Specific rare items that players can trade with one another. These can include cards, weapons or even characters.

The difference between a resource and a collectible is that a collectible is the end goal. It usually can’t be converted – unless it’s tradable with another player. The idea is that the player spends their resources to get their collectibles.

Image source: Archero

The key is to make sure there’s somewhere in your game where the player can see a list of all the collectibles. They need to know what there is to collect – or at least how many of a specific collectible is available. For example, they might be able to unlock ten different pieces of lore. But there needs to be somewhere in-game that tells them they’ve got 2/10 pieces. If you don’t tell them, you lose the benefit of having the incentive in the first place.

4. Let players customize or decorate

Once you’ve established your resources, progression system or collectibles, it’s time to consider what you can add to allow your players to customize their experience.

1. Their avatar. The player’s avatar is whatever character they use to represent themselves. Sometimes, you can let them customize their face – different hairstyles or noses. But if they’re a bouncy ball, maybe it’s different colours or patterns.
2. Their home. Let them build and customize the layout of a room or house. Maybe even add city-building elements, where they can place down specific buildings with passive abilities. (You could go even further by having different building styles, like orc, dwarf or human.)
3. Their user experience. The interface, music and level backgrounds are all ripe areas for customization. You could allow them to change between a gothic interface or a steampunk one. Maybe they can choose between playing in a forest or a volcano. And if your game involves audio, perhaps custom soundtracks or even different announcers.

You’ll notice that a lot of this customization can tie into your collectibles and progression system. But it’s best to give your players a few options to start. Throw them a few freebies, then let them unlock the rest as they play.

5. Add a narrative

When done well, a narrative alone can be enough. It’s arguably the single most influential feature that can keep players coming back. A strong narrative to your gameplay grabs your player and hooks them, keeping them invested in the story and wanting more and more.

A narrative doesn’t need to be overly complicated. It can work as long as it gives a reason for why the player is performing the core loop. According to Christopher Booker, there are seven basic plots, from overcoming the monster to voyage and return. Regardless of the overall plot of your narrative, there are two key features that your game will need:

1. Character. All good characters have one thing in common: a core motivation. Even a bouncy ball can have personality if you’re clear about what drives them forward. Maybe Bouncy is an experiment, now exploring the world looking for others like himself?
2. Conflict. It isn’t a story without conflict. There are typically four types of conflict: against a villain, against a monster, against nature and against yourself. Is Lady Balloon struggling with how she can’t find anyone like herself? Or perhaps her villain is Monsieur Gravity, who constantly pulls Lady Balloon away from her goal.
3. Change. What changes as you progress through the game? Is the player gathering more and more friends for Bouncy? Are they chipping away at Monsieur Gravity’s power so that Lady Balloon can finally escape?
4. Conclusion. You don’t necessarily need an ending, but you need a final satisfying point where the player feels as though they’ve achieved something. Even if the game has a reason to continue after that point, think about your conclusion.

In gaming, we also need to consider how we tell this story. Do you tell it through little bits of dialogue during the levels? Do you have snippets of lore that the player can unlock? Perhaps you have mini cutscenes at the end of a level?

But remember, you don’t need to tell your story. It just needs to be there. Subtle hints in your level design can often be more impactful than a page of text. Maybe you have a merge mechanic, combining different kinds of dogs. If your story is about a crazy scientist, perhaps your levels look like a laboratory. But if you’re a dog breeder, filling requests, maybe it looks like a storefront – progressively getting more and more fancy as you get further into the game, until you’re running a glamorous parlour.

6. Give players a way to play with friends

Competition drives engagement. Social features can turn a simple hyper-casual loop that people play on the train into a relentless competition between friends, constantly trying to one-up each other. Even simple social features can elevate a game. There are five typical social features you should consider adding to your game.

1. Chat. While you need to be careful to regulate what your players say, allowing public chat between your players can help you start creating a community.
2. Friend lists. Not only does letting players add their friends help keep them in-game, but it can also encourage them to invite their friends to the game in the first place.
3. Guilds. Let your players form clans and guilds. If these guilds are tied into a separate progression system or daily quests, this can add another layer of encouragement.
4. Leaderboards. Rank your players against one another and challenge them to climb the leaderboard.
5. Tournaments. Challenging players to compete in a specific tournament against one another is another way to keep a community alive. Consider also letting other players bet in-game resources on the results of these tournaments, so it’s not just between your best players.

You don’t need to do all these to make your game feel more alive. But the more you add, the more a community is likely to form. And quite often, if you’ve built these tools once, you can reuse the systems in each of your games. Maybe even allowing some cross-over between your titles.

Keep track of your retention

The trend is definitely moving from hyper-casual to hybrid-casual. But adding just a few of these features can quickly transform your game into one that will grab and keep your players’ attention.

Whichever new features you add to your game, you’ll want to make sure that you’re keeping an eye on your retention, day by day. So check out our core tool to track all of your key metrics.

Hybrid-casual is a fairly new concept to enter the gaming world. You may have heard the whispers around the industry and a few hybrid-casual games already entering the app stores. But it’s starting to make its mark in the market. Players are starting to spend more time in games (with time spent in apps up 80% from 2019 to 2021). And in response, Developers and studios alike are turning their attention to this new type of game development and reaping the benefits (if done correctly).

So what exactly is hybrid-casual? How does this differ from hyper-casual? And what do you need to do to get started?

That’s what we aim to cover. Let’s dig in.

So, what are hybrid-casual games?

It’s when you mix together the simple core gameplay of hyper-casual, with the features and monetization models of mid-core. The hyper-casual market is oversaturated and extremely competitive. So the idea originally came about from developers and publishers experimenting with more features and mechanics in a bid to engage their players and increase retention.

To put it simply, hybrid-casual breaks down into three parts:

• Keeping a simple core mechanic: So still sticking to the short, simple, and satisfying rule of hyper-casual titles. You’ll have one core mechanic for your game, which is still intuitive and easy to learn.
• Layering in mid-core game features: So adding in progression events, leaderboards, collectibles, and more, to add more depth to your game.
• Adding in-app purchases: Offering IAPs, or even subscription options, alongside your ad strategy.

Why the shift from hyper-casual?

For years, we’ve been reading that hyper-casual is the king of the mobile gaming industry. That this genre is one of the fastest-growing genres out there. This is true, but it’s starting to hit its peak.

So why the shift? Before we explain that, here’s some background on the state of hyper-casual gaming.

Hyper-casual has little to no other features

Hyper-casual games all focus on one core mechanic. They’re stripped back of any other features and just focus on simple and intuitive gameplay. It takes seconds for the player to get the gist of these types of games, and usually are as straightforward as swiping or pressing a button.

Image source: Aquapark by Voodoo 

But they tend to suffer from low engagement and retention

Hyper-casual games are addictive but repetitive. It’s due to simple core gameplay, and lack of any additional features or motivations. Players will ultimately lose interest over time, as they don’t have a reason to come back.

Another culprit of this is due to the oversaturation of the market. This genre is the entry point for mobile game developers. They’re simple and quick to make. You have a lot of people now teaching themselves to code and build games, starting with hyper-casual. And you see more studios turning to hyper-casual because there are more accessible deals from publishers.

So there’s an ocean of these types of games out there. In turn, affecting CPI rates, retention, playtime, and LTV (lifetime value).

The ad monetization model alone isn’t working

Hyper-casual relies on ads. Interstitial and rewarded are popular types here. And it works. Players want a fun, free-to-play game that will fill up their time. And, up until now, it’s been a successful model. But with the growing competitive market, it’s not cutting it anymore.

And this affects the amount you can make from these games

To truly be successful when making hyper-casual games, you need low CPI, and high D0 through to D14 retention. Because hyper-casual games rely on ads, if your players don’t stick around and play enough of your game, your ARPU (average revenue per user) will suffer. And worse case, you make a loss.

Hybrid-casual helps increase retention and engagement

If you want to increase your retention, you need to give a reason for your players to come back. The best way to do this is by offering progression and different meta layers and features. So that they can have a sense of achievement from your game and a new motivation to play.

Image source: Bowmasters by Playgendary Limited

It gives breathing room for your CPI

Once you have IAPs in your games, your can afford to have a slightly higher CPI. It gives you the opportunity and time to increase your retention and session length, depending on the type of hybrid game.

How to develop a hybrid-casual game

It’s not as simple as just slapping on a couple of extra features. And although this genre is new and still evolving, there are a few steps you can take to get this right.

Step 1: Work on your game design

What we’ve been chatting about in this blog. Pair together the simple, fun mechanics from a hyper-casual title with the features and progression from mid-core. But don’t just shove in random features. It’s about building a nice engaging game with progressions that you can slowly introduce players to.

Step 2: Experiment with your creatives

Optimize your ads to not only engage hyper-casual players, but also new player types. You may need to experiment with showing those new features to see what works best for your ad creatives. And what people will react to best. You’ll need to go through plenty of rounds of testing, but you’re opening your game up to a world of new players.

Step 3: Nail your production process

Although this may be longer now, you can still transfer a lot of these skills and practices over from hyper-casual (so optimizing creatives, ideation stage, prototyping, etc). It’s worth noting, that you can expect your development cycle for these types of games to be slightly longer (so, say, for an experienced studio, four to six weeks, rather than the typical one to two weeks development time). But keep that hyper-casual testing mentality. There’s value in rapid testing.

Step 4: Perfect your monetization model

The big thing we’re gonna talk about here is balance. Going hybrid-casual means layering in IAPs. But there needs to be a level of commitment before someone will part with their cash. You’ll need medium to long-term goals to get your players invested.

Players are unlikely to dip into the pockets right away. And they will do it for nothing. Here’s what we know players are willing to spend on:

• Equipping new cosmetics: Skins for characters or weapons. People love customizing their looks and expressing their identities.
• Sending a gift: This implies you have a social element to your game, which is something you could easily do.
• Getting a competitive edge: Whether they want a second chance at a level, or a much-needed boost to beat a boss.
• Unlocking new content: This could be new equipment, characters, maps, or even bonus levels.
• Skipping timers: If there’s a locked level or item tied to a time element, some players may want to wait and unlock then and there.

The earlier you consider your monetization strategy in the game design stage then the easier it’ll be. It’ll be baked into the gameplay, the progression, and upgrades. You can’t just take a hyper-casual game and layer in IAPs. It’s not built for that.

Step 5: Assemble your team

There’s not a one-size-fits-all here. It depends on what type of hybrid-casual game you want to make. But you’ll likely need some more resources and help. A good 3D artist a great place to start, as you’ll want to polish off the artwork and style. Hyper-casual games look the way they are for a reason. It’s to do with CPI. The more polished a game looks, the higher CPI it may have. Which doesn’t work for hyper-casual, but is okay for hybrid.

You can also consider tools and platforms which offer these types of features out of the box. Companies like LookLocker or PlayFab, for example, have premade game systems to save developers time here.

Take a note out of Archero’s book

Archero is easily considered to be the first true hybrid-casual game. The controls are simple and intuitive. All the player needs to do is move around and shoot (both done in one fluid action). And the core loop is straightforward. You fight, get rewards, and then improve your character and equipment.

But what Habby has done is layered in features to add depth to the game. Players can get access to collectibles, new abilities, and upgrades to their weapons. These all scream roleplaying game. And that would be the case, yet these features have also been stripped back and simplified, to appeal to the casual gamer.

Archero monetizes with in-app purchases, subscriptions, and rewarded ads. And it works, because players are motivated by the gameplay. These types of monetization models simply wouldn’t work with a purely hyper-casual game, because the player has no incentive to do so.

A data warehouse can help perfect hybrid-casual games

We mentioned it above. But one of the most important elements behind hybrid-casual is striking that balance of showing ads, encouraging subscriptions, or pushing IAPs.

Data warehouses can make it easy and faster to make important decisions. It can help you decide which items to push, and which ones to scrap. Which players you should show more IAPs to, and which ones you should show more ads to. And much more.

We actually offer data warehouse of our own, which we’ve coined the name Player Warehouse (creative, we know). You can learn more about that here.

Coming up with a hit

In the first few months, the two-person team showed super promising skills and a strong mindset. With some hot prototypes in the mix, they were contacted by our Publishing team to join our coaching programme. During one of their sessions with Théophile Tabary, one of their Publishing Managers, the team got to discussing mechanics that naturally bring more depth to a game. Theo pointed them towards shapeshifting, a successful mechanic because of its levels of interactivity for the user. Even with no obstacles, each person can play the game differently and build up skills over time. Players will also focus on the mechanic itself rather than the level design, which takes pressure off creating enough diversity in levels, especially at the beginning of the prototype phase. A combination of this brainstorming session and inspiration from a recent shapeshifting hit, Couples Yoga, led to the birth of Flex Run 3D.

Game mechanics

Flex Run 3D is an inverted runner – rather than the character moving through the level to reach the level end, the obstacles move towards you, which naturally increases the speed and intensity of each level. Players swerve obstacles by adapting the character’s position during a home yoga workout. The game uses a shapeshifting mechanic, swerve control, and the highly relatable theme of yoga at home.

Prototyping and metrics

With a well-designed mechanic and control, as well as naturally deep gameplay, the first version of Flex Run 3D hit high potential metrics: a 39c CPI, 30% D1, and 6-minute average playtime. For the second iteration, the teams added light contextualisation to make it easier for the player to understand what they had to do exactly and why. Adding a story always helps give context to the game and drive down the CPI, and here they opted for the complimentary ‘home yoga’ theme, adding home decor and obstacles. This helped the CPI drop to 29c.

All in all, the teams did very few iterations before launching, focusing mainly on reducing the CPI to help the game scale as effectively as possible.

The game went to soft launch with a 29c CPI, 42% D1, and 9-minute average playtime.

Post-launch firepower to boost retention

Once launched, the Voodoo Game OPS team got to work optimising the game. They helped with game art, level design, and adding features that had the highest impact on the game’s metrics. For example, they added a new feature in which users could unlock new yoga poses, which would then unlock new obstacles, which helped bring diversity to the game so that both retention and playtime increased. They also worked with the studio to make the level ending more understandable for the player, so they have to match their form with the shapes in the glass. All this whilst keeping in regular communication with the studio and working together to level up the game.

Thanks to this extra firepower, Flex Run 3D’s D1 retention grew a whopping 13% after launch, from 42% to 55%.

Secrets to success

So how did Blue Monkey transform from a brand new studio with no knowledge or experience in hyper-casual to launching a hit game in just nine months? During their talk at the Voodoo Live event in Paris, they nailed it down to three key secrets to success.

1. A keen learning addiction

Harvey: “We had no experience in game development before starting out in hyper-casual last year, so we just wanted to learn absolutely everything there was to know. We wanted to absorb as much information as we could about the industry and how to make successful games. We developed an interest in everything hyper-casual; articles, live streams, guides and manuals, feedback from Theo, our Publishing Manager… we absorbed everything”.

2. An indestructible determination

Mathis: “From the very beginning, we had one clear, very huge goal: to launch our first game. We were so determined to reach that goal, which translated into a lot of hard work, a lot of focus, and a lot of willpower during our marathon sprint. This also helped with our mindset and motivation; hyper-casual can be a challenging industry in terms of failure, but whatever results we had with our prototypes, we knew we’d get that launch one day”.

3. A strong focus on ideation

Harvey: “We knew that ideation was the most important part of the process, so we set a time to ideate every day to make it a regular process. But we also ideate all the time outside of that designated time. If we’re going out to do mundane tasks such as shopping, for example, we’re always trying to think of game ideas. This has become super important because it trains your creativity, so whatever you see, you create a sort of filter in your mind that tries to find an idea out of whatever you are looking at”.

Theo added: “If there’s one thing that we can learn from their story, it’s how much your mindset is key to making it big in hyper-casual. With their focus on ideation and sheer determination, Harvey and Mathis are a perfect illustration of the mindset you need to succeed. Even without years of experience and key learning, the right approach when it comes to ideation and prototyping can help you launch your first hit game in less than a year. On top of this, two months after the full launch of their first hit, they’re already thinking about what’s next; they want to go further and make something bigger. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next”.

In early 2021 some clever bods* at a university wrote a research paper about how individual game mechanics affect player attrition (i.e. how many players your game loses over time). It was called ‘Serious Snacking: A Survival Analysis of how Snacking Mechanics Affect Attrition in a Mobile Serious Game’. While that title might make it sound a bit daunting, the paper has some really useful tips on ways to successfully keep people coming back to a game over a long period of time (called ‘snacking’). And luckily, we’ve done the reading so you don’t have to.

Why is snacking good?

Some games are designed for long single-play sessions (called ‘feasting’). But for most casual and hypercasual games played on mobile devices, short daily interactions with people coming back regularly are going to be most profitable for developers. So the more snacking you can encourage, the better it’s going to be for your bottom line.

Snack time

In a previous work the researchers had come up with a framework of five game mechanics which encourage people to ‘snack’ on games – i.e. play regularly in short bursts. They were:

1. rewards: immediate bonuses for completing certain actions
2. novelty: giving players new game elements
3. completion: letting them finish tasks, quests or goals
4. blocking: stopping them playing for a certain amount of time
5. waiting: hindering players’ progress or stopping them from accessing certain resources.

Just knowing what encouraged people to snack wasn’t enough for our researchers though – they wanted to find out which one of these was the best at successfully engaging people for a long period of time.

Time for a test

The researchers built a game called Infinitus Algebraica (AKA Infinitu8 Algebra1ca) which let players solve equations by choosing tiles from a grid. They generated 350 levels which got more difficult as players progressed, then monitored which of the mechanics encouraged the most snacking. They then released six versions of Infinitus Algebraica on iOS and Android, and observed how participants played over three weeks, in uncontrolled conditions. There was a base game, then alternative versions each featuring one of the five mechanics.

1. Base game: no power-ups or inventory system. Visual skins, background music, and all levels were unlocked from the start.
2. Rewards: this added a scoring mechanic with power-ups.
3. Novelty: an RPG-like levelling-up system with 40 ranks. When players hit certain levels, they got skins, music, and power-ups.
4. Completion: there were 48 missions. Players got power-ups, skins, and music for completing these.
5. Blocking: the researchers restricted play time to ten minutes every eight hours.
6. Waiting: every eight hours the game selected and spawned power-ups. The rest of the time it displayed a countdown to the next one.

Our researchers then analyzed the player behaviors that each one of these encouraged.

What were the results?

With novelty, waiting, and rewards, participants tended to play lots in the first few days but then drop off quickly. Blocking and completion got the strongest sustained engagement. Of these, completion was the overall winner when it came to persuading people to play over a longer time – 20 to 25 days, compared to ten days for the other mechanics. The analysis also showed that these results couldn’t be explained by motivation or differences in performance, so it had to come down to the different game mechanics.

Hold on a second…

Before you go rushing off to redesign your game so it’s full of completion, you need to know that this study didn’t have a huge amount of participants – 149 players downloaded the game, and 99 of those played it at least once. The researchers only measured their responses for a fairly short amount of time as well.

This doesn’t mean the research isn’t valid though. It just means that you’ll need to do your own investigations to decide if completion is the best mechanic to get people regularly coming back to your game. Don’t worry, we’re not asking you to write your own research paper (although do feel free to do that as well if you have the time). But some A/B testing of players’ reactions to the different mechanics could really help you boost those all-important numbers. Have a look at our A/B testing tool to find out how to do this.

*The clever bods’ names are Dmitry Alexandrovsky, Maximilian Achim Friehs, Jendrik Grittner, Susanne Putze, Max V Birk, Rainer Malaka and Regan L Mandryk.

If you enjoyed this article, make sure to check out these:

• 6 Tips for Running a Game Jam: a Guide from AudioMob
• Why Painted Door Tests are a Secret Weapon in Game Development
• How to Find Player LTV Blind Spots and Earn More From Your Game

It’s easy to think of collectibles as frivolous add-ons to mobile games, and games in general. But when you get them right, collectibles can make your game more enjoyable, more sustainable, and more lucrative. Here’s a rundown of the key things to consider when you integrate collectibles into your game.

What do we mean by collectibles?

There are many different ways you can use the term. But let’s go with this as a general definition:

Any bits of content that aren’t essential to progression through your game.

That’s pretty broad. But it needs to be. Collectibles can include any of these things (and many more):

• Cosmetic items, like skins
• Heroes and characters
• Upgrades and power-ups
• Resources
• Achievements
• Informative items that expand your game’s lore
• Playful items that bring an amusing surprise

In this blog, we’ve covered a few reasons why you should use collectibles, and also what mistakes you should avoid. If you’re already convinced, feel free to skip ahead to the tips.

Why use collectibles?

You don’t need to have collectibles in your game for it to be successful. A minimalist approach to content can even be a strength. Monument Valley is a good example of this – a linear, single-player game with an innovative core gameplay loop, a strong visual style, and a little bit of story. That’s it. It’s simple and it works.

But if collectibles are a good fit for your game, they can boost almost any metric you can measure: in-app purchases, average session length, retention – the list goes on.

Give your game a hugely increased lifespan

Games like Monument Valley have finite gameplay. You work through the levels, reach the end and that’s it. You can replay it, but it’ll be exactly the same the second time around. With collectibles, you don’t need to change the core gameplay to add more content. So it’s quick and easy to keep players coming back for more.

Embrace people’s innate love of collecting things

People collect everything from comics and memorabilia to stones and snail shells. Something about human psychology just makes us enjoy collecting things. And it’s especially enjoyable when there’s a sense of challenge and reward to it.

Reward players for engaging more with your game

Think about Doom 2, all the way back in 1994: you get plonked into the first level, you go forward and start killing demons. But if you’re curious enough to first turn around and see what’s behind you, you discover a small hallway that leads you to a chainsaw. This is a classic example of rewarding a player for exploring and engaging with every inch of the content.

Use new content to reinvigorate old content

The core gameplay that your players are familiar with doesn’t necessarily need to change – adding new content can bring the breath of fresh air that your game might need. When Pokémon Go releases new Pokémon, for example, it changes the metagame and creates fresh challenges. All the hundreds of Pokémon that already exist in the game can be buffed or nerfed by the new arrivals. The old content is the same, but it has a new lease of life.

Help players to express their individuality

All players want to be unique. Collectibles can give players the chance to cultivate their own looks, strategies, and personalities. Fall Guys was the hit game of summer 2020, and it embraced these things expertly. Skins and emotes don’t make the game any easier or harder. But they add an extra level of personalization that players will play longer for and make in-app purchases for.

Tweak difficulty without making fundamental changes

Different players find different aspects of gameplay easy and difficult. Balancing difficulty is really tricky, and requires a lot of testing and iterating. The beauty of power-up collectibles is that players can use them whenever they most need them. When players excel at one thing, you can reward them with something to help them when they struggle elsewhere.

Seven ways to avoid common mistakes

1. Keep your metagame diverse and balanced

The more powerful a character, power-up, or weapon is, the more people will want it. But that’s a short-term gain in exchange for a huge loss. When an item is so powerful it makes the game easy, the challenge is gone. And players lose interest.

Context is key, you can still make collectibles super-powerful if the moment is right. By restricting the usability of the collectible to certain enemies or times, you can avoid flooding your game with over-powerful items. Alternatively, you could make an item’s power relative to your player’s level.

2. Don’t de-value old collectibles

Players can work really hard to gain one specific collectible – so they’ll feel they’ve wasted their time if a new collectible comes out and makes their old one redundant or underpowered.

At the very least, a collectible should be valuable for a few months. If that’s genuinely not possible, you can give players rewards for discarding old collectibles. AFK Arena is a good example of this – when you retire a hero, you get awarded some points for unlocking more characters.

It’s also worth remembering that players will have favorite characters. So you want to always give them the option to upgrade them and invest in what they’ve earned.

3. Don’t make duplicates worthless

You’ll probably need duplicates for your game to survive. If you remove an item from the pool once a player already has it, they’ll be able to max out their collection far too quickly. But you don’t want duplicates to have no value at all, because players will find it frustrating and lose interest.

So make duplicate items useful. In AFK Arena, you can fuse cards together to make stronger ones. In Pokémon Go, catching a weaker duplicate of a Pokémon you already have at least gives you candies – so you can power up your stronger version.

4. Don’t make your random drops totally random

If a player’s percentage chance of getting a certain collectible is too low, they’ll get annoyed and become disengaged.

So put some ‘safety net’ rules in place. For example, every 50th drop a player could be guaranteed a legendary item. You can keep these rules invisible to the player, or you can use visible counters – so they know they’ll soon be getting something really good. This is a great way to drive up in-app purchases.

5. Create events for limited-time, super rare collectibles

Even if you’ve balanced your collectibles system just right, it can still get stale over time. And even the rarest items become less rare as players build out their collections.

So to make items even rarer, give them a specific time window. Games like Overwatch often tie themed collectibles to yearly times like Christmas and Halloween. You can also tie these collectible to time-limited challenges – like ‘get X number of victories within the next week’. These are all good ways to keep players coming back for more.

6. Explain the more complex mechanics

If you have a complex metagame, you’re asking players for a big-time investment to understand the mechanics and become skilled players. And the more confused and unskilled they feel, the less engaged they’ll be.

You can solve this problem by creating quick-reference guides where players can get answers to their most common questions. What are the characters’ strengths and weaknesses? What item combinations work best? What different strategies and character builds are possible?

Players will often build out forums and wikis when you have a big enough community. But if you’re bringing a new game to market, give players the information they need to understand why they might want certain collectibles.

7. And finally: Get the right tools to take away the guesswork

Getting the right balance for your collectibles takes time, testing, and iterating. You need to follow all your metrics closely and keep track of exactly what’s pushing them up or down.

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Subtitles might be one of the last things you think of. But they shouldn’t be – because they really do matter. Here are our thoughts on why, and some tips to help you get them right the first time.

Subtitles are a must in today’s mobile games. And not just for gamers with hearing impairments. They’re important for lots of other ‘life’ reasons – people use them if they’re playing a game on public transport, because they have crappy speakers, if they’re trying not to disturb flatmates/children/significant others, and so on. While the numbers for mobile games aren’t really available yet, it’s clear that people playing on consoles are using subtitles – when Ubisoft tracked subtitle use on Assassin’s Creed: Origins, they found that 60% of players play with these switched on. And this is for a game that most people will be playing on a TV with a decent sound system in their living room – so they’re less likely to be worried about disturbing others.

Getting them right

Okay, so we’re agreed that you should include subtitles in your mobile game. But they’re still just words on a screen, right? How hard can it be to get them wrong? Well, surprisingly easy, judging by the number of games which do just that.

The problem is that there are actually a lot of variables when it comes to subtitling, many of which you might not necessarily think of. And getting it wrong can ruin a player’s experience of your game (have a look at this Neogaf thread from 2015 for some angry gamers saying just that). Think of your subtitles like you would your controls – they need to be clear, unobtrusive and customizable.

So here are our top ten tips for getting these right first time. But before we get into that…

Subtitles vs captions

A note about terminology – we’ve used the term ‘subtitles’ throughout this article. Technically ‘subtitles’ only refers to onscreen dialogue i.e. stuff characters are saying, whereas ‘captions’ includes dialogue and important sound effects. Please assume that when I mention ‘subtitles’ whatever I’m saying applies to captions as well. You should always give players the option to choose between subtitles and captions.

Okay, back to the tips.

1. Size matters: You’ll probably want to use at least 46 pixels at 1080p for your subtitles. You might think this is quite big. But everyone (and their device) is different. So why not give them a choice of subtitle sizes?
2. Keep it clear: Pick a font that’s easy to read. Although a gothic-looking curly font might suit your atmospheric, vampire-based game, it’s not necessarily going to be easy to read. Remember that people are going to need to read your subtitles fairly quickly. So go for something that’s clear and doesn’t have any serifs.

Once you’ve got your font, use sentence case (like this) – not all caps. Capital letters are ALL THE SAME SIZE which makes them harder to read.

3. Think about colors: White is your best bet for the subtitles themselves, although you might want to use a different color to indicate that someone else is speaking. I recommend sticking to yellow, cyan or green if you do need to do this.

Having said that, using different colors means you do run the risk of alienating colorblind or dyslexic gamers. Other options include adding the name of the character or using a small portrait to show who’s speaking.

This is another area where you might want to look at giving people different options so they can choose the one that suits them. And think about how you’ll deal with a speaker being out of shot – adding an arrow to indicate this could be really helpful.

This is from Beholder. They’ve sacrificed clarity in their font style. Usually, you would want to pick a clearer font, but considering its size, and the black background, it still passes the subtitle test

4. Don’t forget the background: It’s pretty unlikely that your subtitles will be against a plain background, so they could get lost if there’s a lot going on. You can use a letterbox as a background to fix this. Even better, make the transparency adjustable so people can pick the one that suits them best.
5. Look at spacing: Make sure there’s enough space between your words. And think about the number of words in a single line, and where you put your line breaks. As a rule of thumb you should use a maximum of two lines per subtitle, and no more than 38 characters per line (even less, when you think about how big a mobile phone is. So keep that in mind).

If you’re subtitling a conversation, think about staggering the text to make that clear. So it could look something like this:

Robert: We’ve got to get out of here.

Anna: But how do we reach the exit?

Robert: Let’s look around for the key.

6. Make it easy to switch them on or off: If your player doesn’t have a hearing impairment, they might want to switch subtitles on or off, even in the middle of the game. This is especially important for a mobile game, as there is so little space for the screen already. So make sure they don’t have to go searching through loads of menus to do this. And don’t forget the opening cinematic, if you have one. You’d be surprised how many people do – sometimes you don’t even get the option to switch the subtitles on until it’s over.
7. Make sure they’re accurate: Check your subtitles match what your characters are saying. You should include every word, whenever possible, and also any important sound effects for captions. Just because someone can’t hear the dialogue doesn’t mean they shouldn’t get all of it.

Oh, and remember to get your subtitles proofread, especially if they’ve been translated. Typos or grammatical errors aren’t going to make you look good in any language.

This one is from Jenny LeClue. The size is perfect, the colors are just right. And they’ve added an image of who is talking for extra clarity. Our only recommendation for this one would be to avoid all-caps. 

Like this: 

Having said that…

8. Edit if you have to: People talk quickly. And although we said above that you should include each and every word of dialogue in the subtitles, sometimes that might mean there just isn’t time for the player to read them. As a guideline, you need 2 to 2.5 seconds for a full subtitle. That means if you’ve got a particularly action-packed sequence with lots of people speaking, you might need to think about doing some cutting. If you’ve got the cash a professional captioner will be able to do this for you easily. But if not, there are lots of guidelines out there which can help you decide what to keep and what should go.
9. Put them in the middle: Put your subtitles at the bottom of the screen, in the middle. It’s as simple as that. Anywhere else could make them harder to read (and therefore more annoying). But do remember where your players’ thumbs need to be to play the game. There’s no use in subtitles if they’re hand blocks them 50% of the time.
10. Give people choices: If you only take one thing from this post, it should be that one size doesn’t fit all. When it comes to subtitles, you need to give people options, like being able to adjust the size and color of the subtitle text, turn the background box on and off or change its transparency, turn speaker names on or off, and so on.

What next?

While the mobile games industry might be a bit behind when it comes to subtitles, they’ve been around on TV for a long time. So I recommend you check out the BBC’s subtitling guide for lots more great advice on what works, and what doesn’t. Netflix also have a few guides on their website, including these general guidelines.

The puzzle game genre is arguably one of the most popular genres on the market, and has been around since the first smartphone was created (remember Cut the Rope?). There are hundreds, if not thousands of puzzle-like games on the app stores, all of which offer their own unique take on the genre.

We’ve previously released articles on mistakes to avoid when you are creating a F2P game, but this time I want to focus my attention to puzzle. What makes a good puzzle? How can you make your game stand out? And most importantly, what mistakes should you avoid when working on yours? Here’s what I found…

1. Avoid breaking natural progression

Progression tactics are a great way to get your player up to speed without overwhelming them. (Afterall, you wouldn’t start a newbie on a grandmaster level of Soduku.) Usually, this means developers showing new mechanics, features, or ideas across a range of levels, rather than just one, so the player has a chance to figure it out and learn it.

But some games offer microtransaction in exchange for skipping a level. So yes, a frustrated player could pay a bit of $$$ and skip a level, making them less likely to rage quit. But by doing this, they haven’t actually learned how to solve that puzzle. This also removes the drive to progress in the game, as any challenging part can just be easily skipped if you’re willing to pay a little bit of money.

Bart Bonte games has a good solution to this. I’ll give you a hint…

You can get hints (not fully skipping the level or even finding the complete solutions) by watching an advert, or by paying a one-off fee to get unlimited hints (and remove ads). Using subtle hints can point players in the right direction, but most importantly it doesn’t break that natural progression that a player needs.

2. Avoid overusing the mechanics

Sometimes, developers will show off a variety of different mechanics to keep their puzzle games interesting and fresh. This is usually OK, but there’s a fine line of how many you can use, when you can use them, and when you should introduce them.

One thing I’ve noticed is developers introducing a bunch of mechanics early on in the game, and then not use them again for ages. By that point, I would have completely forgotten about it and would either google it, or just give up.

SNIKS is a great example of a puzzle game that is able to give the player a bunch of mechanics quickly, but then uses them in each level. This deepens the gameplay through level design, and just feels so much more organized.

A good rule to follow: if the player isn’t going to use that mechanic within the next 5 levels, don’t bother showing it to them. Save it for later.

3. Avoid getting familiar with your own puzzles

This issue is common across both puzzle games on PC and mobile alike. Often, developers get really good at their own puzzles. I mean, really, really good. They can quickly play through levels, which can sometimes blind them to how easy or difficult the level truly is – and this can be a big issue.

Often, even if levels are easy for the developer, they can be challenging for people who haven’t been playing and working on the game themselves. This can often result in the first puzzle being too challenging, which can cause players to leave the game.

The best way to combat this is to have playtesters – lots of different playtesters.

4. Avoid being too minimal

When it comes to puzzle games, you don’t need amazing aesthetics to make your game brilliant, especially if you are focused more on the puzzles. It helps, but ultimately it comes down to your game, not just how it looks. That being said, players will judge a game by its cover, so if you’re going to spend any money on design, make sure it’s on the app store icon! I’ve glanced over countless great games because the icon just didn’t stick out for me.

When it comes to an icon that has made me download a brilliant puzzle game that’s actually quite simple in looks, is Monorama. The icon for Monorama is a black and white board, put on an angle, with a small red square in the middle. This is striking and does use assets from the game, however, the game itself is a grid of black and white tiles with tiles themselves turning red when in play.

Minimalist icons can often be overlooked, so developers will need to find a different angle or create something striking that represents their game more so than being an image of the game. The simple twisting of the board to be more interesting, taking away the busy looking numbers and adding a small red square is more catching then a simple bit of the game.

5. Lastly, don’t limit your players to what they can do

There are a lot of ‘puzzle box’ games out there (simply having a 3D space with a bunch of different objects that you need to move around). And these are probably one of my favorite puzzle types.

But puzzle games can be complicated, and it’s easy for things to be overlooked. I recently played a game like this, and while I was playing, one of the items fell behind another. Which is fine, except I could no longer reach this item, and the game wouldn’t let me change the perspective to find it.

Simple solution? Let me change the perspective to reach the item I need. Simple.

My point for this section is don’t limit your players to what they can do. This may require a bunch of testing to find these problems, but let them use their creativity to figure out your puzzles. It may even make the game more interesting.

Fancy some more reading? Check out some other articles I’ve written:

• Designing battle passes in mobile games: the whats, whys, and hows
• Purple Jam Interview: Lessons from making an Audio-only Game
• Best Five F2P Games Launched in January

It seems like forever since the lockdown has been put in place. And with so many people stuck indoors missing their friends and families, it appears that they’ve turned to multiplayer games to connect with others.

If you follow this blog, then you know that I not only love playing mobile games, but also finding out what makes them brilliant. And considering what’s happening in the world right now, I thought it would be useful for developers to learn a thing or two from a couple of the best multiplayer games out there. Let’s begin.

1. Too Many Cooks

• Developer: Finifugu & Friends
• Launch date: April 2nd, 2020
• Price: Free, with in-app purchases
• Available on: iOS & Android

I have been following Too Many Cooks for a long time now. I absolutely love this genre, and in my opinion, there are nearly not enough multiplayer cooking games out there. 

It launched at the start of April (great timing), and it is a simple game where each player has their own board (or area) to complete with a limited number of spaces. These spaces can hold ingredients, tools, or orders. Like other cooking games, you need to complete the orders as quickly as possible and work with your teammates to get these done.

Add in clear UI elements

When it comes to playing Too Many Cooks, communication is key (especially as it’s online). Unlike other mobile games, multiplayer-cooking games have a pretty intense and fast-paced gameplay, which generally wouldn’t work on such a small screen. But the developers have done a pretty solid job adapting this.

Controls are simple (tapping and swiping, obviously). But they also added in some pretty useful UI elements. A small ‘!’ bubble pops up when you can select an item or ingredient that needs passing. It then is shown again on the chefs, and won’t go away until you’ve addressed it.

Tip one: Use visual cues as and when needed. Sounds simple, but visual cues like this go a long way in complicated games that rely on teamwork. They can help keep the gameplay moving along, without overwhelming your players. Don’t overuse this, though. If every single thing that happened had a big pop out, then they would all lose their impact. Think about what the player might miss and what’s most important to them.

Add in an offline mode

Often, in indie games, developers are unable to add AI to play against if no-one is online. In my opinion, having AI that works well (and actually feels like real players), is the difference between a player being able to actually play online or not. Too Many Cooks does this brilliantly. They assign AIs to the online mode when you’ve been waiting in a queue for too long. Which means you’re guaranteed a game. As you only need three players, you can invite some friends or find an online match and go.

I’ve enjoyed the AIs I’ve played with and barely noticed that they weren’t real players, as they do communicate just like other people would.

Tip two: If you’re considering adding in an online element to your game, then I would strongly recommend incorporating AI bots. This is a great way to overcome long queue times, and avoid your players dropping out.

Don’t make it Pay-to-Win

Finifugu & Friends have incorporated in-app purchases to customize your character and to get bonuses that work for a single run. These purchases aren’t needed to win (or even play better), as you can upgrade your tools using in-game currency and special tokens.

There are a lot of ways to win in-game currency (including rewarded ads), so it doesn’t feel like you can pay to get better at the game. With that said, there is a lot going on when it comes to menus, which is very difficult to follow at first. I spent quite some time trying to understand what was needed to upgrade each item and how to get it. For example, it was a nice surprise finding out that the faucets needed to upgrade my sink wasn’t sold within the premium shop and instead needed to be earned through the game, as I had assumed the game would become pay to win.

Tip three: If you’re going to add social elements to your game, do not make it pay-to-win. There’s been a lot of stuff in the news about it, and honestly, it really annoys players. Just don’t do it.

2. The Battle of Polytopia

• Developer: Midjiwan AB
• Launch date: May 24th, 2016
• Price: Free, with in-app purchases
• Available on: iOS & Android

The Battle of Polytopia is a hugely successful turn-based strategy game that has players picking a tribe, exploring land, upgrading their nation through a skill tree, and trying to gain the most points as possible in just 30 turns. Known for taking a notoriously time-consuming genre and creating a smaller, bite-sized version, there is a lot to love about The Battle of Polytopia. What’s more, it has a multiplayer mode that pits you against someone else in order to really challenge your skills.

Use push notifications

When you first go to connect to multiplayer, Midjiwan AB has two different requirements, one of which is push notifications to your mobile phone. You’re actually able to dip in and out of this strategy game, taking your turns and then allowing the other player as much time as they need to take their turn. As such, push notifications are actually required to play this game.

Sometimes, strategy games can actually take a lot of time, so having this push notification requirement makes a lot of sense. Much like Too Many cooks, The Battle of Polytopia does have AI if you can’t find anyone to play against, which does work quite quickly. But when playing against a real person who might need to check on dinner, these notifications are wonderful.

Tip four: Optimise your push notifications. But only if your game relies on it. Remember that push notifications are intrusive and can be annoying. So does your game really need it? If yes, then great, go ahead. If no, then maybe limit them to exclusive offers on an irregular basis.

Think about your core gameplay

As mentioned, when you play The Battle of Polytopia as a single player, you’re playing against AI. Playing in the multiplayer version of the game, there is virtually no noticeable change in how to play and the game feels exactly the same.

This may not apply to all of you (as you may be here to learn how to add social elements to an existing game), but this is an important tip. There’s a difference between making a multiplayer game and adding social elements to your game. Midjiwan made it so that their offline game and online game were exactly the same, which is incredibly essential for their title. And although this is recommended, this may not be the same for you.

Tip five: Think about why you’re making your game online, and what really makes sense to it. Midjiwan already decided from day one that this was going to be online, so there would have been months of planning. Only add online services if it makes sense for your game.

Add factions to build a community

When you play The Battle of Polytopia, you start with three factions (but you can purchase a bunch of new ones later). Each of these factions have different play strategies, most of which are better than the starters due to having more variety in their play style. These factions bring a community around each of the different play styles and can make players feel they belong with a specific group. Players end up recommending factions to other people to complement their playstyle, encouraging more people to play.

That said, in multiplayer for this game, you aren’t placed against people who have the same starting factions as you, which can feel a bit unfair at times (especially as you need to purchase most of the other factions). This does encourage in-app purchases, but it feels forced and like something you need to do. The game does feel quite pay-to-win in some cases during multiplayer.

Tip six: Guilds, factions, or clans are brilliant ways to bring your players together and build up your community. One of the best ways to increase your UA is actually word of mouth and recommendations. And during tough times like these, people are looking for new ways to stay close to their friends (or even make new ones).

3. Butter Royale

• Developer: Mighty Bear Games Pte. Ltd.
• Launch date: February 19th, 2020
• Price: Free, on Apple Arcade
• Available on: iOS

Butter Royale is a bright and colorful battle royale game full of puns, dances, and ketchup squirters. You’re able to hop into rounds at your current location and fight against the world.  Or you can join squads of people in online play, working against another team to stay alive. Like most battle royale games, you start each round with nothing, rushing forward to find a weapon before you start battling against others!

Family Friendly Shooter

One of my favorite things about Butter Royale is the fact that it’s a family-friendly shooter. All of the colorful graphics, the jokes, and the weapons are completely family appropriate, which means this is a game for all ages. Shooting popcorn and gumballs feel way less intense than shooting guns – and avoiding butter adds a silly twist to the game.

Players earn tickets that can be used to purchase prizes to change your looks and make your character more interesting. Everything looks fun and kid-friendly, which is great for large families looking to fill in the spare time on their hands.

Tip seven: Think about the current situation we’re in. A lot of people are at home at the moment with a lot of time to kill. Making your game online, but also family-friendly, might get you a nice bump in DAU. This, of course, really depends on the type of game you have.

Diversity in Characters

Mighty Bear Games spent a lot of time creating a diverse cast of characters in Butter Royale. From grandmas to aliens, there are so many different characters that you can unlock and play. Many of these characters are silly or funny, but there is enough variety in gender and ethnicity that everyone could find someone to relate too. There is even a father playing with his baby in a carrier on his chest. There is something super lovely and refreshing about this cast – which I have personally enjoyed scrolling through and seeing.

Tip eight: Allow personalization and customization so that players can identify with their character. When people identify with the character they are playing as, it makes them more attached to your game. It’s also great for online play, as friends can recognize each other.

Online Mode is not sorted by rank

My biggest issue with Butter Royale is how online mode works when you join a team. Your teammates could be in any rank. This meant that when I was first starting out, I often was playing against much more challenging players who had a lot more experience than me.

So I’ll go straight into my last tip: add a capped rank. Or least try to balance as much as possible with your algorithm. I know that there are smurf accounts out there (skilled players who make new accounts to fight weaker opponents), and that’s just something incredibly difficult to overcome. But as a level 1 newbie, it’s vital to pair them off with someone similar in skill and rank. Otherwise, you’ll risk them rage-quitting.

And if you fancy some more reading, check out some other articles I’ve written:

• So you want to make an RPG game? Here’s what you should know
• Five Exciting Indie Games Released in November
• Top 5 Indie Games Released In August
• Top 5 Indie Games Released in July
• 5 Awesome Indie Games Released in September

As Voodoo has put it, the key to a successful hyper-casual game is making sure it’s short, simple and satisfying. When working towards this, there are a lot of different mechanics you can use and combine for your gameplay, so we thought we’d explore which ones do the best, and why.

These mechanics are the building blocks of game design. The more you know, and the more you experiment with them, the more engaging your games will become. Please, use this list as a base for inspiration, but don’t be afraid to combine multiple mechanics. We’ve seen that many fusion games with a fresh twist often perform best.

Do your research

Researching similar games can help you find what works and what doesn’t (as well as discovering your own niche). We’ve launched GameIntel, a new and improved mobile intelligence offering which can help fuel your product research at any stage of development. Check it out here and sign up for free to give it a go.

With that out of the way, let’s dig in.

Dive into a specific mechanic

1. Timing mechanics
2. Puzzle mechanics
3. Merging mechanics
4. Stacking mechanics
5. Swerving mechanics
6. Resizing mechanics
7. Turning mechanics
8. Pushing mechanics
9. Agility or dexterity mechanics
10. Direction mechanics
11. Rising and falling mechanics
12. Growing mechanics
13. Color-matching mechanics
14. Tidying mechanics

1. Timing Mechanics

Timing games all come down to tapping the screen at that perfect moment. They’re about precision. In some cases, like in Fun Race 3D by Good Job Games, you’ll need to time your jumps. In others, like a sports game, you’ll need to perfectly time when you hit the ball.

The main mechanic in these games is essentially a shrinking window of opportunity over time, like a repeating gauge. If you miss your chance, you’ll need to wait again for the perfect moment.

Find the sweet spot

The key to creating a good time mechanic is balance. While these games are simple to play, they’re not simple to create. Too difficult: people won’t be able to just pick up and play it. Too easy: people will get bored quickly. So you’ll need to create a prototype and iterate often before your final release to find that perfect balance.

How it stacks up

• Satisfying: 10/10
• Simplicity: 8/10
• Short: 10/10

2. Puzzle mechanics

There’s only one thing every puzzle mechanic has in common: you’re challenging someone to think logically. It could be moving boulders around a screen, adding together numbers or solving a murder mystery. These games might be different, but they often involve moving objects around the screen.

In hyper-casual puzzles, like Roller Splat! by Voodoo, the big key is that there isn’t a time limit. And they’re relatively straightforward puzzles, so it doesn’t actually take long to complete. Just because they’ve removed the time limit doesn’t make the level longer, though. Instead, it removes the stress and balances out the gameplay.

Get the most out of one mechanic

Typical puzzles tend to get harder over time, usually by adding more mechanics (think of Portal, for example). But in a hyper-casual game, your player needs to be able to solve it in a minute or less.

So you can’t keep adding new mechanics to make your puzzle more challenging. Instead, you’ll need to explore an individual mechanic in a variety of ways. This can be trickier to build and maintain, though. You’ll need to create a lot of content to keep your game engaging.

When designing these levels, make sure you have a gradual difficulty curve. In a hyper-casual game, each of these should be short and very subtly more challenging. For example, in Roller Splat! the first few levels are extremely simple. This way, players can learn the controls without the game needing to handhold them through a tutorial.

It’s a fine line between a hyper-casual puzzler and a more standard one. The more you focus on a simple idea, and the easier your difficulty curve, the more you’ll engage hyper-casual players.

How do they stack up?

• Satisfying: 8/10
• Simplicity: 7/10
• Short: 7/10

3. Merging mechanics

There are usually three mechanics in a merging game. The first is the actual merging: combine two low-tier objects to create a better one (like dogs in Merge Dogs by Zepni Ltd). The second is a method for getting the lowest-tier objects (quite often games will link this mechanic to an in-game economy). The third is the objective, such as racing the dogs you’ve created around a track.

But how do you make a good merging game?

Appeal to the achievers

Ask yourself: Why are people merging these objects? The main driver in a merging game is normally a sense of completion: players combine the objects to unlock upgrades.

For example, in Car Merger by Voodoo the player unlocks faster and faster cars. But it doesn’t need to be purely visual. Perhaps a player could merge guns, which makes their spaceship fire on the alien invasion faster? Going faster, improving weapons, becoming more powerful, getting the coolest dragon: all of these will appeal to that achiever mindset. Tap into that, and reward your players for their time, and you’ll keep them engaged.

How do they stack up?

• Satisfying: 10/10
• Simplicity: 7/10
• Short: 8/10

4. Stacking mechanics

There are usually a few mechanics going on in these games. First, objects must fall from the sky. Second, the player can rotate these objects. And third, they’ve got to stack. The obvious candidate is Tetris. But other developers have taken this further. Cat Stack by Full Fat is a good example. In that, they also add physics and challenge the player to reach a certain height, instead.

Think about how the players will stack

Whether the player controls when and where the blocks fall, or if that’s automatic, is up to you. As is how the blocks fall. Do the objects get affected by physics? Can the player rotate them?

A game where you can choose where the blocks fall from, but can’t control them once you’ve let go, is significantly different to one where you can blow feathers from the left or right but don’t control where they start. It’s a simple mechanic change, but one that’ll set your game apart.

How do they stack up?

• Satisfying: 10/10
• Simplicity: 9/10
• Short: 8/10

5. Swerving mechanics

These games always focus on moving from the left or right, and the primary mechanic is getting the player to swipe. Maybe you’re dodging objects or racing down a tube. The key is in the player’s precision; how far left or right they move. Take Aquapark by Voodoo. In that, skilled players can swerve off the track, and skip huge chunks of the race.

But it’s still hyper-casual, as it’s quite forgiving.

Make your game rewarding to all players

Swerving mechanics are among our top-ranked in this list. And that’s because they work well for hyper-casual games, while giving a huge amount of satisfaction to those who stick with the game and master it. The main concept might be simple, but it can also pose a challenge.

They’re also suitable for games without a hard ending. For example, you could make a game where you’re hurtling through space, avoiding asteroids, but never have an end goal. Instead, you can just make it about surviving the longest. A simple leaderboard, along with the swerving mechanics, and you’ve got a game that appeals to hyper-casual gamers and those with a more competitive streak.

How do they stack up?

• Satisfying: 10/10
• Simplicity: 10/10
• Short: 9/10

6. Resizing mechanics

Hyper-casual games lend themselves well to resizing objects. It’s a simple mechanic, which you can easily adapt to any theme. These games focus on taking the player’s avatar and allowing them to shrink or grow it, usually to fit through specific gaps. They’re similar in style to swerving games, but there’s a lot more potential to branch out and create something unique.

Jelly Shift by SayGames is a good example of this. Players can resize a block to fit through gaps, but failing it doesn’t break the flow of the core gameplay.

Think about what you’re challenging

As with all hyper-casual games, it’s important to remember what the core challenge is. In resizing games, you’re challenging spacial awareness, rather than reflexes. But most resizing games tend to use similar mechanics to swerving games, and often end up challenging people’s precision on the screen.

But when the player can resize an object, you can experiment much more. What if you take away the movement, and let the player rotate the object instead? This would make it less about precision and reflexes, and more about that spacial awareness. (You could keep in the movement, too. But it’s likely to be too complicated for a hyper-casual game.)

Doing that, you might end up with a game where players are essentially solving a puzzle, resizing and rotating objects to fit through holes.

How do they stack up?

• Satisfying: 10/10
• Simplicity: 9/10
• Short: 9/10

7. Turning mechanics

In turning games you control a character and control when to move left or right. As they’re usually 3D, the turning is normally a fixed amount. They make great driving games, turning a car from left to right along a windy track, like in Skiddy Car by Kwalee.

The key difference between turning and swerving is that in turning games are about one harsh swipe from left to right, while in a swerving game your thumb doesn’t leave the screen, and you control how far left and right you move. It’s a very subtle difference between the mechanics. But an important one. The 3D effect of a turning game makes it more difficult to judge when to turn. Simplifying the controls here is vital to keep it a true hyper-casual title.

Give your player notice

In a swerving game, you might have obstacles heading toward your player, and they need to dodge it in time. There’s usually little notice that these are going to appear. But in a turning game, it’s the level itself that you’re trying to navigate. And under very rigid constraints. So you want your player to be able to predict what’s coming up next.

This is why you’ll often see that the camera is zoomed out, and giving people a broader view of what’s coming up. Maybe even the next two or three turns. So it’s worth considering where you place your camera. The closer in you are, the more frantic your game will feel.

How do they stack up?

• Satisfying: 9/10
• Simplicity: 8/10
• Short: 8/10

8. Pushing mechanics

These games are all about a character pushing other objects or players. Often, you’re pushing objects off the map, so that you can continue or be the last one standing. (Push em all by Voodoo is a perfect example of this.)

The main mechanics are usually being able to move your character freely and some sort of physics. But the way a player pushes another object can differ: either an ability, or by literally ramming into them like a sumo wrestler.

Focus on the satisfaction first; simplicity will follow

Games like Push em all really lock into what makes the game feel satisfying. It’s pleasing to bump something off a map, like a cat knocking a glass off a table. So if it’s fun to knock one thing off, how does it feel to knock two things? A dozen things?

By increasing the number of objects the player needs to push off, Voodoo made the game much more satisfying, without needing to add any more mechanics to the game. (Which keeps it simple.)

That isn’t to say that more is always better. In a stacking game, it might be that feeling that you’d only just managed it. Well, maybe you can deliberately code in a wobble, even when the tower won’t fall, just to give the player that sense of achievement.

How do they stack up?

• Satisfying: 10/10
• Simplicity: 10/10
• Short: 8/10

9. Agility or dexterity mechanics

These games shouldn’t be confused with timing games. While timing games are about tapping the screen at the right time, agility mechanics are about repeating a motion. Fast. For example, the player could be alternating from swiping left to swiping right in rapid succession. On screen, this could be chopping down a tree while avoiding branches or bouncing along pads, like in Tiles Hop: EDM Rush! by Amanotes.

Balance speed and ease

It’s easy for games like these to become irritating and hard because the difficulty ramps up too much. Too many curveballs or complex motions, and the player can become overwhelmed. The best games speed up slowly, letting players get used to the pace. This can either be level by level, or over the course of a single run.

Just remember, in a hyper-casual game you’re not trying to beat your player. You’re trying to give them a small, but possible, challenge.

How do they stack up?

• Satisfying: 9/10
• Simplicity: 8/10
• Short: 9/10

10. Direction mechanics

In these games, the player is creating or removing obstacles to some sort of flow. The point is to use the physics in the game to coax a tide of objects, whether they are balls or liquids, to a destination. For example, in Sand Balls by SayGames the player simply wipes away sand to give a route for the balls to the bottom of the level.

Give your player control over different elements

Traditionally, we’re used to controlling our character directly. But in games that use direction mechanics, we’re actually controlling the walls. The level itself. This shift in perspective is why these games have so much versatility. (And why we’re seeing a lot of these games coming out recently, from Happy Glass by Lion Studios to more complicated titles like Where’s My Water? by Disney.)

You can do the same with other elements of your game. In a platform game, what if you could only control the monsters? What if you had to move them out of the way of a character jumping between the platforms, so that the hero could continue to their castle?

Hyper-casual games are great for these kinds of experiments. You can try them out, see if they’re fun, and then explore the concepts in a different project.

How do they stack up?

• Satisfying: 8/10
• Simplicity: 10/10
• Short: 9/10

11. Rising and falling mechanics

The primary mechanic in these games is that an object is either rising or falling through a series of obstacles. Usually this is a ball, like in Helix Jump by Voodoo, which you’re trying to get through the correct path.

In these games, you either choose to allow the player to move the level itself, perhaps by rotating a column, or by moving yourself. Fluffy Fall by What(games) (and published by JoyPac) does this well, by subtly increasing the speed as the player continues through the level, it gives the sense that you’re closing in on terminal velocity.

The mechanics in falling games often overlap with swerving games, but the key difference is that sense of gravity.

Give people a chance to recover

In hyper-casual games, you don’t want to punish your player too harshly if they fail. If the ball hits an obstacle, it’s better to let it bounce and give the player time to recover, than to get them to start from scratch. This is especially true in games that need fast reflexes, where it’s likely the player will make a mistake.

Giving that leeway also means you can add harder levels, which reward higher-skilled players, without scaring away those who would get frustrated.

How do they stack up?

• Satisfying: 10/10
• Simplicity: 10/10
• Short: 10/10

12. Growing mechanics

The objective of growing games is to become the largest object, whether that’s a crowd, a black hole or sticky ball. Players usually move around their character as an attempt to find another object and bump into it. This is then ‘absorbed’ into the character.

Slither.io by Lowtech Studios is perhaps the simplest of these, where you’re just a circle trying to bump into other circles. In fact, it’s so simple, it’s almost the perfect game. There are only two mechanics. Moving around and getting bigger. The art style is as simple as could be: colored blobs. And each round only takes a minute or so to complete.

Because it hits that sweet spot that hyper-casual games are looking for, it proves that these mechanics are perhaps the best out there.

Give your player feedback

Satisfaction comes from the feedback you give players. Whether that’s the phone vibrating, sound effects or growing in size because you’ve absorbed enough enemies. Your mechanics can be the simplest ever, but if you’ve got great feedback, your game will also be extremely satisfying.

How do they stack up?

• Satisfying: 10/10
• Simplicity: 10/10
• Short: 10/10

13. Color-matching mechanics

These games are about the player’s ability to distinguish between objects. The core difference in color-matching games is that the only way to spot the difference is the color itself. It could be guiding snakes to food or getting three colored gems to line up.

Keep your design minimalist

In a hyper-casual game, players need to be able to know the difference between two objects immediately. Colour is a quick cue to tell players which objects are related, without needing to design lots of different objects.

This is perhaps why color-matching games are on the rise. They’re useful to test out a new idea, without needing a massive budget for the art department. But do be careful, there are downsides. You’ll need to swot up on color theory if you’re going to work on this type of game. Some players might be colorblind and could find your game impossible.

How do they stack up?

• Satisfying: 8/10
• Simplicity: 9/10
• Short: 9/10

14. Tidying mechanics

These games are all about scratching that itch we get when something is off-kilter. It could be peeling a fruit, cleaning a window or painting a wall. But the idea is to fill in or take away all of a selected area.

Appeal to the completionist

These games work well as the mechanic is basically just coloring in between the lines. (And in hyper-casual versions, you’re not penalized for going too far.) We humans naturally want to finish something we’ve started, so these games feel quite therapeutic (and satisfying). And we’ve all had that feeling when the kitchen is spotless, and you can finally relax. The trick is to make sure that the tidying is easy, as you don’t want to stress out your player. Give them leeway. Make it easy to tidy up their game, even if their actual bedroom is a mess.

This theory is something you can use in a variety of games, not just hyper-casual. If you’re looking to keep players engaged, give them that sense of ‘tidying up’.

How do they stack up?

• Satisfying: 10/10
• Simplicity: 9/10
• Short: 9/10

Experiment with your mechanics, but keep it simple

Hyper-casual games usually only have one or two mechanics. And broadly, when you’re designing one of these games, you’re focusing more on how to manipulate those mechanics for different gameplay experiences than on creating anything from scratch.

So keep your games short, simple, and satisfying. But experiment with the mechanics that are already out there and themes, if you want to stand out. And if you’d like more inspiration, or just want to stay in the loop, subscribe to our newsletter below.

Check out our coverage of the hit game Fall Guys and everything to learn about it.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published by Kalle Heikkinen, Chief Game Analyst – China. With over 400 games analyzed under his belt, Kalle has a solid understanding of what works and what doesn’t in the mobile game market.

Is blending multiple genres into a single package a success formula or a recipe for disaster? Are there ways to cater to a bigger audience across the casual-mid-core spectrum? GameRefinery has been following the market for so-called hybrid games closely, such as titles that are mixing elements from multiple different game genres to create a hybrid genre like Idle RPG.

All data and examples in this post are gathered from the GameRefinery service, check it out here. If you’re interested in researching over 200 in-game features, their popularity, and implementations or checking out feature deconstructions of hundreds of games, you might want to pay a visit! There are definitely upsides to going hybrid:

1. Mixing elements from different genres can make your game interesting for new player demographics and player persona types. What this means is that if you’re trying to widen your player base, it surely helps if your game appeals to soccer moms and Diablo fans alike. For example, different kinds of RPG elements such as a compelling storyline or a deep character development meta can attract players that otherwise might ignore your game.
2.  The competitive landscape MIGHT be more lenient, at least in relative terms. For instance, it looks like the Idle RPG-market is only now starting to really heat up in the US. In a best-case scenario, you might even have a first-mover advantage in a market space that didn’t exist before. We are, e.g., very much looking forward to the announced Stranger Things-themed location-based + puzzle-RPG hybrid and its effect on the market.

…And some pitfalls to consider as well:

1. It goes without saying that maintaining a balance in terms of art style, game difficulty, etc. can be difficult when you don’t have a rigid target audience for your game.
2. IP fit. As always, it remains important to consider how well your IP (if you’re using one) resonates with the widened target audience.

In this blog post, we zoom into two hybrid genres in particular: idler RPGs and puzzle RPGs. They serve as excellent examples of how “RPG” (which is more of a “meta genre”) elements combine well with a variety of core-loops. This is not to say that PRPGs and IRPGs are the only ways to go, but at the moment, they are some of the most interesting genre-combos that have found success in multiple markets.

Puzzle RPGs: Matching Swords and Blocks

In terms of revenue market share, match3 and TBRPG are some of the top subgenres in the West.

As we all know, Match3 is huge in the West. And As we also know, Turn-Based RPG is one of the top subgenres in the region. Hence, a marriage of these two subgenres makes perfect sense.

Puzzle RPGs have a strong track-record also in Japan, where e.g., Puzzles & Dragons is one of the market’s all-time top dogs. The intriguing notion here is that even though China is considered the number one RPG market in the world, Puzzle RPGs don’t exactly bask in top-grossing success. Which one are we looking at: a market opportunity or a blue ocean mirage?

Idler-RPGs and Puzzle RPGs are some of the most interesting genre-combos that have been able to find success in multiple markets.

Here are some examples of features that show the differences between Puzzle RPGs and old-school match3s when it comes to feature utilization.

Puzzle RPGs’ more versatile meta-layer makes it easier to establish a deeper game economy with more sinks and more feature options to re-engage players when compared to many traditional match3s.

Sometimes the tradeoff you might want to make when introducing RPG elements is to make sure that areas such as art style or IP resonate with the more casual audience. This is something where e.g., Best Fiends excels.

Best Fiends’ cartoon art style balances out nicely some of its more “mid-corish” game mechanics.

Idler RPGs: Wait & Fight

Idler games might just have the best appointment triggers in the entire F2P landscape. Their action-waiting loops make these games extremely sticky and facilitate perfect session lengths for gating your content that doesn’t feel too artificial.

Combining this powerful loop with RPG elements gives you even more possibilities to re-engage and monetize effectively. The RPG meta opens doors for adding PvP-modes and guild mechanics to your game, allowing you to expand retention triggers to competitive and social commitment triggers.

Putting on our market comparison lenses, we can see that the idler RPG space is somewhat different from puzzle RPG; there all top-grossing games are from Chinese publishers, such as Droidhang and Lilith, even in markets outside their home turf. It remains to be seen when we’ll witness a successful Western Idler RPG making an entrance!

SGR=Sustained Grossing Ranking

Combining idler loop with RPG elements gives you even more possibilities to re-engage and monetize effectively.

Ulala: Idle Adventure

Ulala: Idle Adventure is a textbook example of an idler RPG. The core-loop uses a familiar idler pattern, and the meta-side is beefed up with RPG elements.

Conclusions

Puzzle- and Idler-RPGs are naturally only a few examples of genre mashups. For example, in China, we have witnessed games with casual core gameplays such as shoot em’ ups (Contra: the Return) and platformers (Ninja Must Die 3) introducing RPG elements and layers successfully. There is even a top 50 grossing Idler RPG (Archangel Sword H5) that has added a match3 mode to its gameplay palette.

Moreover, we have also noticed an upward trend among 4x strategy games, adding RPG layers, such as Brutal Age and Lords Mobile. And of course, we shouldn’t forget the so-called “harem-games” (Be the King, Game of Sultans) that mix together RPG-elements with resource management.

Finally, here are some things you might want to keep in mind if you decide to go hybrid:

• Different markets have different tastes, so make sure that you have a thorough understanding of your hybrid concept’s target market potential.
• Puzzle RPGs are doing very well already in the West, will idler-RPGs be able to get a similar foothold here?
• Obviously, if you’re deep in casual space, you don’t need to go all-in and transform your game into a fully-fledged RPG. One option is to experiment with specific features popular among mid-core games.

Interested in doing market research of your own? You can sign up for the free layer of GameRefinery’s service here.

Editor’s Note: this post was originally published by Erno Kiiski, Chief Game Analyst – US at GameRefinery. In his job, he’s played and analyzed hundreds of titles on a feature level, giving him a strong sense of the current western mobile game market. So, without further ado, we’ll let him take the lead. 

The AR/Location-based game market was pretty much born with the release of Pokémon GO back in the summer of 2016. Some games had made use of the technology before, but everything jumped to a whole new level when everyone across the world was chasing Pokémons. It was a phenomenon with visibility unmatched by any other mobile game thus far. Now GameRefinery has a follow up from Niantic in the form of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. But how does it fit in with Niantics own Pokémon GO and the rest of the competition?

The AR/Location-based game market is still a relatively small genre in the bigger picture of mobile gaming. For example, using GameRefinery’s Market Share tool, we can see that it only has around a 2.6% share of IAP revenues in the US iOS market.

Market share of top 10 subgenres in US iOS

How about inside the subgenre? How is revenue in AR/Location-based games divided between different games? Ever since Pokémon GO’s launch we’ve seen multiple games that have tried to get a piece of its huge pie. But in terms of revenues, it remains the undisputed king of the genre.

Market share of AR/Location-based games in top 500 grossing US iOS

Pokémon GO alone generates a whopping 93% of the subgenre’s IAP revenues on iOS in the US. Games like Jurassic World Alive from Ludia or The Walking Dead: Our World from Next Games have been able to get a small share of the market but are still nowhere near Pokémon GO.

But now we have a new entrant into the space, as Niantic finally released their follow-up title to Pokémon GO backed by another super popular IP: Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. In this blog post, GameRefinery takes a quick peek into the game: how the gameplay loop works, what are the monetization sinks, and how it compares on a feature level to other titles in the genre.

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite has been out for a couple of weeks, debuting at the top of the download ranks and around top 60 grossing in US iOS, jumping to the top 20 grossing by the following day. However, since then it’s experienced a slow decline in ranks. The game’s still in the early phases of its lifecycle, but the start definitely hasn’t been a similar mega success as Pokémon GO was for Niantic.

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite grossing and download ranks graph US iOS

The Core Loop

The premise in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is that a mysterious event called “The Calamity” has unleashed chaos, scattering magic items across the world and risking their discovery by muggles (non-magical people). Players step into the shoes of a witch or wizard and join the ranks of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force. Their mission is to find and retrieve magic items, called “foundables,” from the world to ensure that the magic world remains a secret.

The simplified core loop of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite

As mentioned before, the main goal for players is to find foundables. Players have a Registry of foundable items they have recovered and those they still need to find.

Foundables have different categories, for example, Dark Arts or Magizoology items. Each category has its own Registry Rank, which players then level up by collecting foundables from that specific category. When reaching a new rank, players receive a “Treasure Trunk,” which include rewards like Profession Scrolls and Runestones. Profession scrolls are a currency that is used to level up your character’s skills, and Runestones are consumable items that are used in Fortress battles to receive specific types of foundables. (More on Professions/Fortresses later)

Players can also find duplicates of foundables they’ve already collected. When recovering duplicates, it gives players a much smaller experience increase to that category’s Registry Rank progress.

Foundable Registry

There are multiple ways in the game to find foundables:

1) Exploring the real world and finding them on the map

The primary source of finding foundables is the basic task of exploring the world around you, which is the core of all the location-based games. Players walk around and then foundable icons pop up on the map. Each foundable category has its own icon, and players never know which of the category’s items it is before tapping it and going into the core action layer. This system introduces some frustrating gameplay elements because often items are duplicates of something you already have.

As a player, you don’t necessarily want to waste spell energy on catching something you already have because duplicates only give a minor amount of progress to your Registry Rank. For example, in Pokémon GO you always see which Pokémon pops up on the map, and then you can already decide if you’ll try to catch it or not. No tapping the icon required and easy to ignore if it’s not something you’re interested in.

The core layer of Wizards Unite

The Core action layer of the game is very simple. Players trace a spell on their screen, and the result of the spell is dictated by how accurate and how quick they were. Each spell cast spends spell energy (equivalent to Pokémon GO’s Poké Balls) which you can replenish from Inns (comparable to Poké Stops) found around the real-world map.

2) Find Portkeys (lootboxes) in the world open them by walking the required distance

Another way for players to find foundables is to open Portkeys. You can discover these chests across the map, and they come in three different sizes. The size dictates how long players need to walk to open them. One Portkey can always be “accumulating walking distance” for free, but you can start “accumulating distance” for multiple Portkeys simultaneously by using Silver Keys. They work in a really similar way to Incubators in Pokémon GO, but in Wizards Unite one key is used to open one box. Whereas in Pokémon GO, your one incubator is able to open three eggs in total before “it breaks down.”

Portkeys are the gacha mechanic of Wizards Unite

After traveling the required distance, players can open the chest and summon a portal using AR. The implementation of this AR feature is something pretty unique compared to other location-based/AR games. Players summon the portal in AR, and then they need to walk through to teleport to another location. Within that location, players use their phone to find small “stars” in a neat little hidden objective minigame. After completing this task, players receive foundables, XP, and other items as rewards.

Opening of a Portkey

3) Fight against enemies in co-op with other players in Fortresses

The third source for finding foundables is Fortresses found in specific places on the real-world map. These castles contain dungeons that have multiple challenges each more difficult than the last. Players need to defeat multiple enemies in a “gauntlet-type” dungeon to earn the rewards (check the video below for gameplay of a Fortress battle).

Different Runestones can also be used (earned from leveling up different Registry sets) to boost the rewards of a specific foundable type. You can, for example, use level 3 Hogwarts School Runestone to make sure you’ll get more foundables from that particular category. Some of the foundables are tied to Fortresses, so you can’t find them anywhere else which gives players an extra incentive to complete them.

What makes Fortresses special is that they can be played synchronously together with your friends. Grouping up with other players becomes vital for success especially when completing harder difficulties. This adds a tactical layer to the game because, given the different skill sets of each profession, players need to think about which professions each of them should choose (more on Professions in the next chapter).

Fortresses challenge players to harder and harder battles

Co-operative Fortress battle

Professions in Wizards Unite

How to get stronger and defeat even tougher Fortress enemies then? Professions are Wizards Unite’s main upgrade/development layer. Players can choose from three different Professions: Auror, Magizoologist and Professor. Each class comes with its own skill tree with different passive boosts + active skills (used in battles). Some Professions are more offensive with more attack spells and some perform a support role with healing spells etc. Each class is also more effective against certain enemy types while taking more damage from some types.

Scrolls and different Spell Books can help you level up professions. At first, skills require Scrolls, but as you progress further in the skill tree, Spell Books are needed as well. As mentioned earlier you can earn Scrolls by, for example, completing Registry sets and completing daily missions. You can also earn basic Spell Books by completing challenges in Fortresses, and earn restricted Spell Books from special limited-time events.

Professions dictate your wizard’s skillset

Monetization

We’ve gone through the main mechanics of the game and how the gameplay loop works in Wizards Unite. But how about monetization, what money sinks are there for players to spend on?

Monetization in Wizards Unite is fairly simple. Gold works as a premium currency in the game. You can use it to buy:

• More spell energy for casting spells in combat
• Potions to boost you in combat
• Dark Detectors (players can activate these in Inns to summon more foundables to the vicinity of the Inn. Comparable to Pokémon GO’s Lure)
• Silver Keys to open more Portkeys at the same time
• Waiting time skips for brewing potions (potions can be brewed with ingredients found from the world)
• Increase inventory capacity for potions/ingredients

Premium currency sinks in Wizards Unite

If we compare these premium currency sinks to early Pokémon GO, we can see Niantic is pulling a lot of the same strings.

Wizards Unite vs. Pokémon Go

In what feature areas is Wizards Unite lacking compared to the competition?

By using GameRefinery’s “Compare games” tool, we can compare games on a feature level. When comparing Harry Potter: Wizards Unite to Pokémon GO and Jurassic World Alive, we can see where the differences currently lie.

The most fundamental difference between Wizards Unite and these two games is the meta layer. Whereas in Pokémon GO and Jurassic World Alive the meta layer is about collecting characters and developing your team of Pokémons and dinosaurs, in Wizards Unite you collect items and fill your foundable item Registry. At least for me, this is the most significant setback of the game psychologically. Hunting and collecting Pokémons and dinosaurs feels much more exciting and compelling compared to filling a book with items. As a location-based game, I don’t feel as motivated to go walking around trying to find inanimate objects like a magic clock compared to Charizard.

Wizards Unite is also much more story-heavy compared to its competitors. Bits and pieces of the story are occasionally dropped in, and most of them are even voice-acted. It tries to incentivize players to complete Foundable sets and get further in the game by giving more information about the Calamity and the backstory of characters as the player progresses.

Another big difference comes from the social elements of the game. Wizards Unite still lacks a lot in the social interaction department at launch. Currently, the only social feature is pretty much the possibility to play co-operatively in Fortresses. Both Pokémon GO and Jurassic World Alive have guild mechanics, different kinds of PvP modes, donating items/characters to other players, and so on.

Wizards Unite does have Houses in the game which act as a sort of a team/faction, but they have yet to be utilized in any way. What House you belong to doesn’t alter gameplay in any sense. It remains to be seen if Niantic will start to use them, for example, in a similar manner to Teams in Pokémon GO with gyms and so on.

Differences in social elements between Pokémon GO, Jurassic World Alive and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite

GameRefinery is currently featuring these games for free. Sign in and check out all the feature differences and different feature implementation examples from the games here.

Conclusion

It’s still early to make bigger judgments about Wizards Unite, but the overall feeling of the game is that it tries to replicate many of the tricks that Pokémon GO did successfully: the same genre, many similar monetization elements, both have a major IP to build on, and so forth. But even with the Harry Potter IP, it doesn’t have as strong of a game type (location-based game) + IP match as Pokémon had with hundreds of collectible Pokémons. Wizards Unite struggles with making its Foundable collecting meta as compelling and motivating. As in the end, the actual “gotta catch em’ all” part is not as captivating in Wizards Unite, and badly needs more features to flesh out the experience. Therefore, I feel it doesn’t have the same potential/staying power that Pokémon GO has had (at least in its current state).

It will be interesting to see where Niantic takes the game and what kind of features they’ll introduce during their live ops. I expect we’ll find out soon enough, and will be following it closely at GameRefinery.

Fancy some more reading? Check out some of GameRefinery’s other articles:

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• Appointment Mechanics – How to Keep Your Players in Game
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