December 09, 2020 · 4 min read

More Hyper-Casual Sub-Genres Have Landed to Benchmarks+

The exciting additions to our Benchmarks+ platform this month come in the form of 7 new hyper-casual mechanic based sub-genres.

Chay Hunter

EVP, Marketing at GameAnalytics

#Tool & Product

December 09, 2020 · 4 min read

Product update: Benchmarks+ is now a part of GameIntel (25th May 2021)

We’ve launched GameIntel, a new and improved mobile intelligence offering which from today will be the new home for Benchmarks+. There’s a ton of new features, functions, and capabilities you can dig into here. You can find all of the details about it here. And if you missed it, we now have trending games in our tool.

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Update from 9th Dec 2020:

Clear the runway, as we’ve just rolled out an exciting new bundle of sub-genres to Benchmarks+. In our last update, we added new filtering options and more shooter genres. But for this one, the hyper-casual (HC) genre takes the stage with seven new mechanic-focused options now available. Read on to find out just what they are.

Hyper-casual games are simple and often rely on just one or two gameplay mechanics. Which is why we’ve added “mechanic focused” sub-genres to the HC genre class. You can now explore the HC category with more accuracy, looking at titles with fundamental gameplay aspects.

What’s new in version 2.41

A new ‘HC – Mechanic’ genre grouping, with seven sub-options available:

1. HC – Tapping/Timing

This mechanic is all about precision, and timing it just right. Popular games that do this well include Fun Race 3D by Good Job Games. The primary action involved in these types of games is waiting and tapping.

HC tapping/timing

2. HC – Swerving/Steering

Swipe to the left. Swipe to the right. This mechanic is all about either avoiding an object or defeating their opponent. Aquapark by Voodoo is a good example here. You’ll notice an element of timing involved, but it’s much more reliant on the players’ reflexes and reacting to opponents or obstacles.

3. HC – Rising/Falling

Gravity tends to play a big part for this mechanic. As the name suggests, this is all about either falling or rising through the game. Helix Jump by Voodoo or Fluffy Fall by JoyPac are good examples. Essentially, you need to move the ball out of the path of obstacles as you move down. The mechanic mainly relies on holding down the screen and directing an object through the level.

4. HC – Aiming/Pushing

Accuracy is important for these types of games, and it could sometimes be argued that there are a couple more controls to take into consideration here. Take Push em by Voodoo. There’s the control of actually pushing the other players off the edge, but also the moving element.

5. HC – Growing/Resizing

This is a fairly simple mechanic of resizing an object, which could be applied to any type of game and theme. Usually being the players’ avatar, the user is encouraged to either grow or shrink the object to suite the gameplay around them.

6. HC – Stacking/Tidying

The gameplay here can sometimes be a tad more complicated than the usual hyper-casual game. It usually goes like this: Objects fall. The player rotates these objects. And then they stack. So gameplay balance is super important in these games to avoid over-complicating and annoying that player.

7. HC – Matching/Merging

Combine. Clear. And meet the objective. These are usually the three core elements of these types of games. Take Merge Dogs as an example. Players are encouraged to match three items, clear out the lowest tiered objects, and complete the objective.

About sub-genres

With Benchmarks+, you can choose which sub-genres or combinations of them you’d like to analyze. The more you know, and the more you experiment with them, the easier it will be for you to optimize your game, find your next big hit, or identify the right gaming investment.

See the overview of all sub-genres now available in your Benchmarks+ account:

Please note, free users can only see aggregated genre groupings, not individual sub-genres. Go premium to get the latest data and to explore benchmarks KPIs by a specific sub-genre.