Resources > All

Insights and tips about the games industry

Subscribe for gaming insights, industry reports and product updates delivered straight to your inbox.

13 min read
#Game Deconstructions

Part 3 of Advanced UX Prototyping: Next Gen. Prototyping For Games & Apps

Editorā€™s Note:Ā this post was originally published by Om Tandon,Ā Director of User Experience at Digit. With overĀ 14 years experience, Om specializes in UX design, UI design and User Interaction, has previously worked at Gameloft and June Software,Ā andĀ is also a guest writer at Deconstructor of Fun.Ā  No code. No game engine. No scripting. Next Generation Game UX Prototypes and prototyping skills are here! If you have been reading or following this article series since last year, you are in for a treat! (Previous articles in this series can be foundĀ hereĀ andĀ here.) To recap: Necessity indeed is the mother of invention, and methodology behind this series was born with: LACKĀ of dev. capacity & time for UX prototyping. TheĀ NEED & DESIREĀ for pushing the boundaries of existing UX tools. Prototypes are the bedrock of usability testing way early in pre-production to gather valuable make-or-break user feedback....
6 min read
#Data & Analytics

Overview Of The Current Mobile RPG Market

Editorā€™s Note: this post was originally published by Erno Kiiski, Chief Game Analyst 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 mobile game market. A couple of months agoĀ GameRefinery took a look at the Match3 marketĀ and what kind of games are driving revenues there. In this blog post, they shift their focus to mobile RPG games and examine how various RPG archetypes are faring on the market at the moment. Before we dive further into the data, itā€™s good to understand how GameRefinery view the mobile game market in terms of genres and game types. In order to classify games in a meaningful way, they take into consideration gamesā€™ feature-set, theme and defining mechanics, resulting in a three-layered taxonomy where every game is assigned...
8 min read
#Data & Analytics

5 Key Lessons To Boost Retention And Increase Engagement

One of the best ways to find out how your title is performing is by taking a long hard look at the retention and engagement of your game. Not only are these great ways for you to measure the playability of your title, but these metrics give developers an early sense of if their game is going to succeed or not. Hugo Peyron, Publishing Expert at Voodoo, even commented on the importance of retention – especially when the they take on new games: ā€œWe look for the highest numbers possible. If a game has low retention, we will kill it.ā€ With this thought in the back of our heads, the biggest question developers tend to find themselves asking is: ā€œHow can I boost my retention and increase the engagement of my game?ā€ And by looking at key stats from our...
11 min read
#Marketing & Publishing

3 Creative Ways To Build Your Community Before Launching Your Game

Building a community for your game can be tricky, especially when youā€™re still working away on the core features of your project. And one of the biggest questions developers ask themselves is ā€˜how can I get people talking about my game before Iā€™ve even launched it?ā€™. Thereā€™s no straight answer to this question, but there is a ton of useful advice out there. To help get your creative juices flowing, we’ve found 3 unique stories where developers went the extra mile to build their community, and what their thought process was when doing so. Youā€™ll want to make sure to primarily use these case studies as inspiration for your own development. Who knows, there may be even better creative routes hiding away in the back of your mind that are more specific to your game. What can I learn at...
2018 top games
9 min read
#Game Deconstructions

8 Awesome Games Released in 2018

This past year has been excellent for the mobile games industry. In all directions, the sector seems to be expanding, catering to over 2 billion users worldwide and generating well over $100 billion this year alone. But what makes a mobile game particularly great? And what trends can we see from the best games published this year? In no particular order, we take a look at what we think are the best games of 2018 that any developer can take inspiration from. 1. Altoā€™s Odyssey Developer: Snowman (dubbed Team Alto) Launch date: 21st February 2018 iOS, 25th July 2018 Android Price:Ā $0.99 Available on: iOS, Android Awards won: Apple Design Award for Outstanding Design and Innovation Altoā€™s Odyssey is the follow-up title to the critically acclaimed Altoā€™s Adventure, an endless runner snowboard game developed by Snowman. If youā€™re not familiar with...
1 min read
#Marketing & Publishing

Publisher Market Share 2018 Infographic

Editorā€™s Note:Ā this post was originally published byĀ Mikael Orpana, Marketing Manager at GameRefinery. With years of Marketing experience under his belt, as well as over two decades of playing games, Mikael has a strong understanding of what the best marketing strategies are within the gaming industry. GameRefinery recently took a look at theĀ mobile gameĀ market share, and now as 2018 comes to a close itā€™s a good time to take a look at how the mobile gaming industry has developed over the past year and shifted publisher market share in the US. The publisher landscape looks much like it did a year ago, but several publishers rose to make a distinct impression. Who made a splash and who couldnā€™t quite maintain last yearā€™s momentum? Check it out in their infographic below: You can learn more about the GameRefinery platform here. Fancy some...
9 min read
#Game Deconstructions

Building My First Game – Terry Karavoulias’s Story

Editors Note – this post was originally published by Terry Karavoulias. Working as a director in web, Terry has little to no experience in designing or programming video games, but does have a heck of a lot of YouTube tutorials, and a ton of motivation. Last year during my Christmas break, I had an itch to start a new side project. I wasnā€™t sure what I wanted to work on, but I knew that it wasnā€™t going to be another website. I manage a web development team by trade, so I needed something different and challenging. While enjoying the time off, I was playing with my Nintendo Switch and downloadedĀ Blossom Tales. If youā€™re not familiar with the game, itā€™s an indie title that can best be described asĀ Zelda: A Link to the Past, but with slightly less charm.Ā Blossom TalesĀ reminded me...
4 min read
#Data & Analytics

What Kinds Of Western Games Have Taken Off In Japan?

Editorā€™s Note:Ā this post was originally published byĀ Kalle Heikkinen, Chief Game Analyst at GameRefinery. With almost 400 game analysed under his belt, Kalle has a solid understanding of what works and what doesn’t in the mobile game market. A few weeks back, GameRefiney took a look atĀ which Western games have been able to make a splash in China. This time around, they set their gaze on the land of the rising sun, an extremely attractive market with one of the highest average revenue per player-stats in the world. Gaining traction in this highly competitive market is difficult, however, as local brands and publishers have a strong following among the Japanese. Nonetheless, despite these challenges, a good number of Western games have been able to hold decent top grossing positions in Japan. The question is: what are these games and what genres...
mobile ui design 10
10 min read
#Guides

Mobile vs Desktop UI: Key Differences In Design

Mobile gaming continues to outpace both PC and console segments in the global games market, and now represents over half (51 per cent) of the total market share, according to Newzoo. And in todayā€™s market, developers are no longer making a game for just one device. Mobile games in particular can now be been seen on desktop, Nintendo Switch, and other top consoles. So when keeping all of these unique devices in mind, how can you make sure your gameā€™s UI works across them all? Psst! This post is slightly longer than usual, so you can jump to something in particular, if you want: Keeping it simple – difference in space and layout Choose your controls well – buttons vs. HUDs When to turn up the graphics – quality control UI checklist: testing your interface Top takeaways: everything summed up...
23 min read
#Marketing & Publishing

Boyfriend Dungeon: The Secrets Of Their Email Marketing Strategy

Editorā€™s Note:Ā this post was originally published by Chris Zukowski, Creative Director at Return to Adventure Mountain, who also developers games that are bizarre twists on classic genres. You’ll recognise his work in titles such as Return of the Zombie King and Wizard Golf RPG.Ā  Boyfriend Dungeon is an indie game being developed by Kitfox Games about dating luxuriously beautiful weapons and then using them to fight monsters. It was originally announced back in October 2017. On August 15th of 2018, the Kitfox team launched a Kickstarter for the game. The Kickstarter took the internet by storm and went totally viral on social media. The Boyfriend fever even reached as far as general interest magazines like Gentleman’s Quarterly. The game was funded within hours and when the Kickstarter ended 30 days later it earned 4x its initial goal. The team executed...
12 min read
#Game Deconstructions

Taking The Plunge Into Game Dev – Beasts Of Burden Interview

Located within the Copenhagen branch of GameAnalytics is our GameHub, where anyone can come and use the space in order to develop and grow their games. One such group are the developers of Beasts of Burden, who have just started their kickstarter campaign… Thanks for chatting with me today. Can you shed a light on what Beasts of Burden is? Gladly. So, in short, Beasts of Burden – bob – is a game-driven approach to establishing better habits, overcoming stress, and improving feelings of well-being. Weā€™ve based this game on 30 years of research into stress management, and it provides bite-sized and fun activities proven to build a resilient mindset. All of which is delivered by powerful A.I. within one central app. Hereā€™s a nifty video we put together to build a better picture of what itā€™s about: And how...
4 min read
#GameAnalytics Updates

GameAnalytics Product Update – What’s New In Our Platform

Earlier this year, we ended our open beta and officially released a major upgrade to GameAnalytics. To keep you in the loop with whatā€™s new, weā€™ve outlined the improvements and features that have been released since we went live, and what you can expect to see on the horizon. Whatā€™s changed with the upgrade? The first thing youā€™ll notice is that we have introduced new functionality like multidimensional filtering, the ability to split your data by specific dimensions or events, and changing gameplay parameters within your live games. Weā€™ve also refreshed our existing features. Check out these blog posts to learn more: GameAnalytics Beta Update Overview New & Improved Multidimensional filtering About Druid – GameAnalytics New Backend Technology Improvements since we went live Since we went live in September, we have been listening closely to your thoughts and feedback. The...
8 min read
#Game Deconstructions

Key Lessons From Studio Q – BitMango Interview

After the launch of one of their biggest games, I spoke with Sung-Ku Kim, Director of Studio Q at BitMango, to understand more about the history of the company, and key lessons the studio learned on their path to success.Ā  Before we dig into the details, are you able to give us some background into how BitMango started? BitMango has had an interesting journey actually. We originally started out as a subsidiary of a company called Datawave, which was mainly focused on keyword search ads. The CEO of Datawave, Kisup Lee, was inspired by the gaming industry, and so looked to invest in it. And thatā€™s where BitMango came in. To enter such a competitive market, we really had to maximize our data analysis capabilities and use key metrics to monitor the performance of our games Ā – which was our...