Category
Strategies
6 min read
#Mechanics & Features
Using Hybrid Genres to Broaden Your Mobile Gameâs Audience
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published by Kalle Heikkinen, Chief Game Analyst â China. With over 400 games analyzed under his belt, Kalle has a solid understanding of what works and what doesnât 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 youâre interested in researching over 200 in-game features, their popularity, and implementations or checking out feature deconstructions of hundreds of games, you might...
9 min read
#Game Design
Five Mistakes to Avoid When Making A F2P Game
Back at PGC Helsinki 2019 in October, we had the pleasure of seeing quite a few interesting talks. But among all the sessions we attended, there was one that particularly stood out – where Priyank Badkul from Huuuge Games shared the five key mistakes mobile game developers should avoid after deciding to pursue their F2P game idea. Priyank is a Product Owner of Coffee Break Games at Huuuge Games – a division that focuses on Classic Games such as Chess, Checkers, Dominoes and many more. He has been making games for the last 14 years. He produced the first official Formula One mobile game and Bingo Bash â the all-time highest-grossing bingo game. If you werenât there in Helsinki for the conference, hereâs Priyank to bring you up to speed: Iâve worked on some very successful mobile games. But Iâve...
4 min read
#Data & Analytics
Most Featured Mobile Games Across the Globe in 2019
3,100 apps appeared on the main page of the App Store in 2019. And 1,465 of them (which is almost 50%) were gaming apps. To help mobile game developers get a better understanding of which gaming apps Appleâs editors gave preference to in 2019, the team at AppFollow has put together an analysis – with the help of their App Store Featured Tool. Let’s get to it. We have analyzed all 1,465 gaming apps which appeared on the App Store main page across the globe between January and December 2019. We have gone over the main App Store tabs, including: App of the Day, Game of the Day, Stories, and Collections. Stats at a glance: 47% of all apps featured in the Todayâs tab are games. Gamesâ share in the Todayâs Collections is 39%, and 48% in Stories. Action, Adventure,...
11 min read
#Marketing & Publishing
Launching Mobile Games in China (Tips from JoyPac)
China is already the biggest mobile game market in the world. Over the past few years this market has undergone astonishing growth yet, even so, the sheer potential of this market remains untapped by the majority of Western games developers. With this being said, more studios and publishers need to update their strategy to take this market into account and avoid overlooking a potential goldmine. Be aware, however, that publishing in China comes with a range of challenges unique to the market. To make things easier, many developers and publishers opt to work with local partners (like JoyPac), to help overcome certain pitfalls and gain access to this powerful economy effectively. In the past, working with Chinese-based companies has been a bit of a headache. There are many reasons for this, including cultural and language barriers, as well the more...
10 min read
#Marketing & Publishing
How to Position Your Game to Influencers (Part Two)
In the first part of our guide, we shared a few key tips game developers can use when reaching out to influencers. So, if youâre working on your pitch, or still figuring out which one is best for you, then we recommend you to head to part 1 before reading this one. For part two of our series, weâre going to give you the lowdown on how to build a (manageable) timeline for your influencer marketing campaigns, no matter what your companyâs size or budget is. And just like any other strategy or timeline, this isnât a âone size fits allâ plan. Rather, you can use this as a simple framework to follow when building your own strategy. This is what we will cover: How to estimate how much time youâll need Pre-campaign planning Production/creative process If youâre beta-testing Post...
0 min read
#Game Design
Making a Hit Idle Game â Eight Lessons from Kolibri Games
In October, we held our second Making Hit Casual Games event, focusing on idle games (aka âclickerâ games). We wanted to know what made Kolibri Gamesâ Idle Miner Tycoon so successful. So we invited Kolibriâs Director of Business Development, Nate Barker, to tell our audience what lessons they learned from making their debut hit â and how they put them to use in developing their next big game, Idle Factory Tycoon. If you couldnât be there in person, hereâs Nate to fill you in on all the idle games wisdom you missed: So what is an idle game? There are lots of different ways to answer this question. But hereâs our answer: An idle game is a spreadsheet with an interface. Itâs not a very fun-sounding description, but itâs accurate. The mathematics behind idle games are mostly similar. You start...
7 min read
#Game Design
Bam, Splat, Kapow: How to use Sound Effects to bring your Mobile Game to Life
It goes without saying that to make your mobile game successful youâve got to have great visuals. They donât necessarily need to be super sophisticated or complicated â but theyâve got to look good. So once youâve sorted out your gorgeous gameplay, you might be tempted to sit back and relax. But thereâs something else you shouldnât forget â the sound. Weâve already talked about the importance of getting music right (and how to use it as a core mechanic). So in this post, we turn our attention to sound effects, and how simply adding these can make a real difference to gameplay. Are sound effects really that important? Yes. Sound effects are crucial for adding atmosphere and building emotion. If your player is walking through a scary, damp cave, for example, some dripping water sounds or distant footsteps can...
6 min read
#Game Design
Making Hit Idle Games Event â Homa Games, Kolibri & GameAnalytics
Itâs been a couple of months since our first event back in June, but the Arcade R(E)volution is back, and this time we focused on the idle genre. Accompanied by publishing giants, Homa Games, and Idle experts, Kolibri, we presented an evening full of insights, stats, stories, advice, and lessons. All on how to create hit idle games. If you made it that evening, brilliant! Thanks so much for coming. And if you sadly missed it, no worries. We recorded the entire evening, saved the decks, and put together some key takeaways. So you can get the low-down on whatâs happening in the idle world, all of which you can find below. But before you dig in, we just wanted to share some information with you about the Arcade R(E)volution, and when you can expect to find the next one…...
22 min read
#Game Deconstructions
What we learned: Idle Miner Tycoon and Idle Factory Tycoon – Kolibri
Having created one of the most popular idle games on the market, Idle Miner Tycoon, Kolibri shared with us their latest game, and how they built on what they learned from their first title to create their next big hit, Idle Factory Tycoon. And if you fancy watching the other talks from our event, you can check them out here: The Latest Trends for Idle Games – GameAnalytics The Story of Idle World – Homa Games Hyper-Casual vs Idle: The Latest Trends in Mobile Games
18 min read
#Game Deconstructions
The Story of Idle World – Homa Games
Idle publishing experts, Homa Games, agreed to shine a light on one of their biggest hit games, Idle World (reaching over 4 million downloads worldwide), as well as what it takes for an Idle game to get published in todayâs market. Psst… If you’re craving some more insights about idle games, check out Homa’s latest article: Arcade Idle: 5 Tips for Testing Creatives, their games spotlight on Tiny Cars, as well as their takeaways from their Arcade Idle Game Jam. And if you fancy watching the other talks from our event, you can check them out here: What we learned: Idle Miner Tycoon and Idle Factory Tycoon – Kolibri The Latest Trends for Idle Games – GameAnalytics Hyper-Casual vs Idle: The Latest Trends in Mobile Games
7 min read
#Game Deconstructions
Mario Kart Tour – What It Can Learn From QQ Speed And PopKart Mobile
Editorâs 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 doesnât in the mobile game market. You could argue that Casual Racing has not been one of the sexiest spaces to follow on mobile in the West, particularly grossing-wise. Engines are revving up though, thanks to Mario Kart Tour drifting into the market last month. While making bets on MKâs success, itâs good to remember that adaptations of the genre have been able to find success in other markets. Casual Racingâs current market share in the US. The section on the left shows the subgenreâs market share in the overall market, while on the right you can see different gamesâ market share inside Casual Racing. Already in...
7 min read
#Game Deconstructions
Key Lessons From Developing Roller Splat – Voodoo & Neon Play
In this post, weâre looking at Roller Splat from Neon Play, and why it works so well (now achieving over 49 million downloads worldwide). Before we do that, we first want to say a big congratulations to the whole Neon Play team. Theyâve published a few games with us at Voodoo now and weâre so proud of them â they do a fantastic job. We think Roller Splat is really interesting. Thatâs because it reflects the kind of studio Neon Play is and its mindset, which is why weâve decided to focus on it today. The secret to Neon Playâs success Obviously the market for games like Roller Splat is a difficult one. Itâs very hard to produce a single prototype, churn it out and have it succeed. But Neon Play succeed because they keep prototyping until it works. If...
8 min read
#Mechanics & Features
Using Music As A Core Mechanic: Insights from Amanotes
Just like gaming, music in itself is its own career and specialty. And unless youâve studied both gaming and music in your life, then combining the two together can be seen as a massive challenge. So for this post, weâve spoken to music gaming industry specialists, Amanotes, about the key steps and top tips developers should know when making their own music games. (This will be the first of a series – watch this space for our next blog on music in gaming). If you want to skip to a specific section, feel free to do so here: Why use music as a core mechanic? Different ways you can use music as a core mechanic Things to keep in mind when making your game Useful resources Now that introductions are out the way, weâll let Amanotes take the mic. Why...