Will Freeman

Adding multiplayer elements to your mobile game is a straight-up win-win situation. It creates a sense of community, brings a competitive edge, and gives your players a reason to come back. Taking all that on might feel intimidating. But today, building quality mobile multiplayer is easier than you might think. But how exactly do you make your mobile game multiplayer? What steps do you need to take? And what do you need to consider? We will cover in this two-part article that will help set you on the path to mobile multiplayer glory. This first part will look at the broad concepts and overarching considerations. And next time, we’ll dive into the tech and techniques for part two. Yes, your game is suitable for multiplayer We appreciate there are different types of games. But multiplayer isn’t purely about competition and...

We all play games for different reasons. Indeed, as individuals our motivations to play games shift continuously. Whether we’re playing to pursue the respite of escapism, or have some competitive urges to sate, we can all get different things from games at different times. That statement will likely feel rather obvious. ‘We play games for different reasons’ is a plainly straightforward assertion. But behind it lies considerable nuance; subtleties games makers can identify and harness to guide the design or their games in pursuit of both commercial and critical success. So what are the leading player motivations, and how can understanding them help your efforts in making and publishing your games? Let’s start by considering the eight most common player motivation, and how they connect with making a game that engages, retains and – hopefully – monetizes. 1. Competition With...

Making a game is one thing. An impressive, creative and wonderful thing. But a game really comes to life when it is released to players. Being played is a game’s reason to be – and the vital step in starting to generate revenues that let your studio grow, or allow you to begin work on your next title. As such, getting the release of a game right is about as important as it gets. And in today’s connected era where titles so commonly exist as live, maintained entities, releasing is now about a lot more than making it available for sale. With all that in mind, we’ve built up a checklist of all the things you need to consider before releasing your games. It’s a list that considers quality, performance, marketing, monetisation and more. Bear in mind that many of...

Games have a great deal to learn from the likes of architecture, town planning, and even the layout of theme parks. That’s especially true when it comes to level design. A 3D adventure game, for example, is a space designed to be moved through; just as is the case with a city centre or a Disney resort. Head to Walt Disney World in Florida, and Space Mountain stands out from its surroundings, visible from multiple vantage points. That’s entirely deliberate. Its vertical height contrasts sharply with its environment, drawing the visitor’s eye. And yet most of the park’s paths to Space Mountain are indirect, taking looping, curving routes. The idea is that visitors are never told where to go. Instead, Space Mountain’s constant presence gently pulls people towards it. Those winding paths, meanwhile, give a sense of exploration and discovery....

Editor’s Note: AudioMob, an advertising platform dedicated to non-interrupting audio ads, recently ran their first (of many) game jams. Here’s what they learned from the experience. As 2020 came to a close, we ran a game jam that encouraged highly creative development teams to explore integrating a new audio ad format into mobile games. The jam was an amazing experience for us, one in which we learned a lot. Hosting certainly took a significant investment of effort and time. But it was worth it, bringing us and something we’d recommend any game tech, service, or publishing company consider doing. With that in mind, we wanted to share what we learned, in case you were curious about what happens behind the scenes (or were thinking of running one yourself!). Running a game jam was hugely rewarding, of course. We got to...