The mobile phone – a piece of technology so incredible that if you were to explain it to anyone who didn’t know what a mobile phone was – they might consider it closer to SciFi than reality.
Billions of people now have this tiny but extremely powerful piece of technology in their bags, pockets, or, most often, their hands.
A smartphone allows you to check emails, make calls, play games, read books and even watch movies.
You might assume that hanging out on social media comes in as the top most used apps by mobile users – but you’d be wrong!
Mobile users just can’t get enough of mobile games. Gaming apps account for a considerable percentage of downloads, and mobile gaming revenue is enormous too.
Some fun facts about how popular (and lucrative) the mobile gaming market are:
- According to Udonis, casual games account for 58.86% of mobile gamers. Here are some of the more popular types: arcade games, online slots, and puzzles.
- Mopub shows women spend more in-game cash than men; 4.5% of women are likely to buy in-app content compared with 3.3% of men.
- According to Hubspot, there are 2.2 billion mobile gamers globally, and over 50% of them play ten or more times a week.
But what is it that makes mobile games so much fun to play? And, how do they come to life?
How are mobile games developed?
Luckily we now have thousands of games that game developers can look at for inspiration. So the initial ideas stage can be built on replication and improvement. Slots are an example of a single formula that can be manipulated to have thousands of different themes – with the same mechanics.
There are around thirteen steps in the process – which makes it sound so much more straightforward than in reality.
- Ideation for mobile games
- Create the storyline
- Game concept creation
- Decide on the right mobile platform
- Select mobile game engine based on the platform requirements
- Create a game structure
- Wireframing
- Develop the mobile game
- Rigorous testing and bug fixing
- Pricing strategy (in-app purchase, upfront cost, FTP)
- Launch
- Regular support, maintenance, and fresh content
Each game will have a variation of some of these steps, and it changes how the planning and development will take place.
How long does mobile game development take?
It might be surprising to hear that some of the best apps, which also happen to be the most simple on average, take less than a year to bring to life.
It does depend on how complex the project is and the number of people working on the project. Using some of the stages above as an example, here are some of the timelines:
- Ideation and project brief creation: up to two weeks
- Development and prototypes: up to 12 weeks
- Launch (deployment): up to 2 weeks
There will also be a long research stage to ensure that the market is understood, potential, and the game will be well received.
- What are mobile gaming concepts?
- The concept for the mobile game will cover several points:
- The mechanics of the game
Using slots again for this example, the mechanics are simple and give the player a clear idea of the game’s goal (and how to win). No matter the game, the player needs to be clear on what action they have to take.
Settings
There are two things covered with the settings, and that is how the game looks and the environment the story takes place in.
Technology
The technology of the mobile game covers the devices it will be accessible on. Will it be iOS only? Or will the game be available across multiple operating systems?
Interaction
There are a few areas that interaction covers. They are firstly looking at how the play can control the character or the game. Secondly, how the user, character, and game interact and finally (in this example) how the game will use the screen space.
Why are the most simple mobile games the most popular?
Part of what makes mobile gaming so enjoyable is that it is pick-up-put-down. They are perfect for gamers who don’t want to commit hours to play – unlike when you settle down to play a console or at the PC.
Simple games, like Angry Birds, Tetris, puzzle games, bingo, and slots don’t require a big-time commitment.
This convenience makes simple games reign supreme; these aren’t just classed as casual games – they are designed for the hyper-casual gamer. A hyper-casual game has features like: free-to-play, minimalist user interface, easy-to-play with minimal mechanics.
Further, the short play times encourage players to return often and play short sessions. To increase the speed of play, you may often notice an option to pay for ad-free or pay to unlock extra features.
What is the future of mobile gaming?
The mobile gaming player base is already huge, and it is set to grow. Mobile game developers have access to the most cutting-edge development environments and smartphones getting smarter – the possibilities are endless.
Increasing the volume of vanity items, upgrades, collectibles, and surprises is likely something we will see more of. Mobile players are typically more challenging to encourage a move from their free-to-play models to paid subscriptions, and monetization is a bottleneck in many cases.
Live events for players playing via their mobile or the ability to take part in mass virtual rooms are a possibility when factoring the casino industry’s current steps in live casinos and dealers.
In the coming years, some of the predictions of mobile gaming growth are more AAA gaming experiences, hyper-casual games remaining the market leaders, and live-watching integration.
Mobile game developers are at the forefront of one of the most exciting gaming landscapes, and the future looks exciting.