On the pages of Fierce Developer, Microsoft evangelist Jesse Freeman talked about what the game needs to succeed in the casual market.
1. Mass appeal
Many developers may think that their applications have a mass appeal, but if by the word “masses” they mean teenagers or students, they are grossly mistaken, writes Shane Schick from Freeman’s words.
“Casual games are not like traditional action games or fighting games,” Freeman says. – But they can include elements of both and combine them with something else. This allows them not to be niche and to involve the widest possible audience.”
App2Top: Including elements of hardcore projects in a casual game is a huge risk. Moreover, the integration of several familiar mechanics into a similar project at once can confuse the player. On the other hand, if we are talking about niche mobile projects, this is justified (the recent Injustice is an excellent proof of this).
2. Simplicity
Many mobile games have a lot of instructions, but a real casual game should do without Talmud. A user of any age should immediately understand how to play.
“I didn’t play until I was five. My son started playing them before he even spoke,” Freeman notes.
In other words, the mechanics in a casual game should be as simple as possible, requiring the user to swipe the screen at most (no numerous buttons and similar maneuvers).
3. Clear reward system
Many mobile games have different points, but it takes a lot of playing to earn them. According to Freeman, the rewards should be easier for the average player to get.
“Remember yourself in kindergarten, when you received a sticker for every good deed,” Freeman is nostalgic.
App2Top: easy rewards are the absence of a challenge, and there are no difficulties, there is no interest in the game. But even if there are no medals in the first minutes of the game, there will be no incentive for the user. A balance is needed here: there should be both easy to achieve and extremely difficult to achieve.
4. Replayability
This corresponds to the third point. What makes players come back to your game is the rewards, not the plot, which is in some complex mobile games.
“They (casual players) are not here to listen to stories,” Freeman stresses.
App2Top: it is impossible to reduce retention to awards. That is, yes, there is a certain truth in these words, but it is influenced by many more parameters.
5. Low entry threshold
“We all want to make complex realistic games, but no one needs such games,” Freeman concludes.
The game should be simple, understandable, to some extent, even obvious. Only in this case it will be able to attract, indeed, a mass audience.
App2Top: We remind you that it is more difficult to make money on casual mobile games than on midcore or hardcore. In order for them to start making a profit, you will need a player base of several million people, not several dozen.