That’s a fairly obvious statement. Lavish visuals and meticulous game design are nothing without the likes of quality code and robust AI. But there’s another layer that sits behind everything else that’s equally important – particularly in the era of games as live entities. Simply put, you absolutely need a quality backend for any connected game to thrive. That’s true whether you have online multiplayer to consider, a connected user community to serve, or the likes of seasonal events and updates to consider. Equally, an intuitive backend can both accelerate and optimize your game development workflows, making the likes of achievements and social integration, leaderboard implementation, or in-game currency creation a trivial task. If any of those factors are part of your game, a backend is arguably as important as your chosen engine. Can I make my own backend? It...

Editor’s note: This article was originally written by Sara De Vries, Content Creator at Coda Games. You can find the original here.  In hyper-casual gaming, coming up with the next hit game idea can be one of the most challenging parts of game development. Choosing the right game idea is crucial to avoid losing time and money spent building an unsuccessful game. So what exactly is the best method for game ideation in hyper-casual and how can you start implementing it today? Luckily, we sat down with our gaming experts here at Coda to understand the best methods developers can utilize in the initial ideation phase to help increase their chances of success in publishing. 1. Monitor Trends One misconception when it comes to game ideation in hyper-casual is that your game idea needs to be entirely brand new. This...

As developers, accessibility is often one of the last things we think about – that’s if we think about it at all. Which is a shame, because we could be alienating a huge group of players. The good news is that making a mobile game more accessible really isn’t difficult. Hang on – what’s accessibility? Before we get into the details, let’s talk about what accessibility actually means for developers. It’s about designing apps that all people can easily use, regardless of whether or not they have a disability. So that’s things like including subtitles for the deaf or hard of hearing, or adding options for people who are visually or cognitively impaired (among other things). Simple, right? And when you look at it like this, it’s a bit of a no-brainer. Why wouldn’t you want the widest range of people...

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by Kinsey Dardanus, publishing expert at TapNation. You can find their version here. Bubble Sort is a worldwide leading puzzle-game, on both Android and iOS, totaling more than 15 million players across the world. We originally launched this game on December 19th 2019, and since then we’ve been at the top for a whole month. But what’s the secret sauce behind this game’s success? The short answer: deep player behavior analysis, and lots of level difficulty improvements. But there’s much more to it than just that. At TapNation, our data scientists and engineers have developed tools and algorithms to monitor, analyze and test our gameplay and difficulty curves in order to improve our KPIs. And in this blog, we’ll give you a sneak peek behind the curtain, and share some of the techniques...

You might be familiar with the concept of split testing. Also known as A/B testing, split testing compares different versions of your assets to see how each performs with your players. At the conclusion of your test, you adopt the variant that showed the best response. Split testing is a critical part of the game development process. It’s pretty much baked into any user acquisition campaign, with ad creatives and app store assets quick and easy to A/B test. But a traditional split test’s quantitative data can only tell you so much. And this kind of testing is only possible once the game is up and running. That’s why feedback testing is so important. It provides qualitative data to show you the why behind what is and isn’t working. What is feedback testing? Feedback testing is essentially surveying players to...

Editors note: This article was originally crafted by Sarah D. Vries, Content Creator at Coda Game. You can find the original piece here.  The hyper-casual gaming industry is constantly evolving, requiring developers to be on top of trends and the latest gaming practices to remain competitive. Like honing any craft, it’s a constant work in progress and many studios often end up making common mistakes that can easily be avoided. Thankfully at Coda, we’ve had extensive experience working with developers and studios of all sizes. From our experience, we’ve compiled a list of the top five common mistakes that hyper-casual developers make and how best to avoid them when creating your next game. 1. Getting the difficulty of levels wrong Hyper-casual games are known for their simple nature and the ability for gamers of any level to play. One common...

Idle games don’t involve much in the way of thinking from the player. And they don’t have an end goal – you just continue to play them, earning more in-game currency and upgrading as you go. They’re usually free to play, relying on in-app purchases and currency passes to make money. But how can you make sure that your players want to keep coming back? In this blog we’re going to tell you how to do just that, and also share some stats on engagement metrics. Why idle games appeal to both players and developers On paper, idle games sound a bit ridiculous. Why would anyone want to play a game that involves hardly any, well, playing? The numbers say different though – idle games have really high retention rates, and users keep coming back, even when they’ve been playing...

Editors note: Originally published on February 2, 2021, by Om Tandon. You can find the original article here. There is a new Match 3 on the block and it’s taking on casual games genre with both guns blazing! You (the reader) shouldn’t act surprised, though. The previous 3 articles in this series have been consistently forecasting that any new chart busting contender in Match 3 space was highly likely to be led by fashion & make up metas which was built on what we identified as the four “Must have” key design pillars of modern day meta Match 3 games. Magic Tavern/AppLovin’s latest fashion meta based “Project Makeover” does exactly that and even more! It goes beyond the framework of Classic and Meta Match 3 subdivided by being the first in its class of Meta Heavy Match 3 aka a MHM3 Game. But more...

Editor’s note: This article was written by Sarah D. Vries, Content Creator at Coda Games. You can find the original piece here.  When it comes to developing a hit hyper-casual game, your chances for success are not entirely based on luck. Any successful hyper-casual developer can tell you that it’s a lot of hard work, trial, and error and identifying best practices that help optimize and streamline their development process. At Coda, we’ve had the pleasure of working closely with many talented developers, even having had the chance to interview those that have created hit games. From observation and conversations, we’ve come to realize that many often share the same habits and best practices that help them to increase their chances of success. Keep reading as we identify four key habits successful hyper-casual developers share and how you can employ...

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by Théophile Tabary, Publishing Manager at Voodoo. You can read the original here.  As Publishing Managers at Voodoo, we often receive questions on current and future trends in hyper-casual. Trends can be difficult to navigate for studios and developers; sometimes you want to be following trends, and sometimes you want to be creating new ones. We’re here to give you some guidance on how to approach trends when creating hyper-casual games, and how to stay ahead of the game in 2021. What are trends in the hyper-casual market? The first thing to remember is that there are several different types of trends in hyper-casual. Each type contributes to the market in a slightly different way, and it is helpful to define which category your ideas or prototype fit into in the ideation and...

I spoke with Jeff Zirlin, Growth Lead at Sky Mavis (the developers behind Axie Infinity), to learn how they became the leaders in Blockchain, and their predictions for this new sub-genre of gaming. 1. Hey Jeff, thanks for chatting with us today. So tell me a little bit about Axie Infinity and your game Sure, would love to. Axie Infinity is a virtual world full of fierce, adorable pets called Axies. These pets can be battled, collected, and even used to earn cryptocurrencies with real value. On the surface, Axie might seem similar to Pokemon, Tamagotchi, or even animal crossing. And you’re not wrong to think that. But the big difference is that the markets for in-game resources are open and controlled by players. We reckon games with real, player-owned economies will become our digital homes; places where a new...

The other day, I had to venture into the tangled mess of my cable bag. No matter how organized I think I’m being – neatly wrapping cords around their plugs and keeping everything separate – whenever I leave the bag alone for five minutes, it all turns into a Gordian knot by the time I return. It’s infuriating. I really should get a nice box, and make it easy to find what I need. It struck me how similar that feeling is to juggling data from a bunch of different games. Lots of tools and data, all in a mess. But thankfully, you can get a data warehouse to fix the problem. Data warehouses make it much easier to search through and find what you need, reveal insights, and help you combine all those different sources. They’re an essential part...