This weekend I started work on my first full blown game for the iPhone. I’m not ready to share the details of what the game will be specifically as I’m sure these will change dramatically over the coming weeks. All I’m sure on is it will be a platform game built with Corona SDK.
To get me started I’ve been downloading a bunch of games from the app store, jotting down some of the areas contributing to their addictiveness and success.
Short levels
I do most of my game playing in short burst. This may be during a short train journey into town, or a few minutes while my dinners cooking in the oven. Games like Cut the Rope and Run Roo Run have this nailed. From start to finish a level will take a maximum of about 10 seconds. On easier levels, where they can be completed first time, you get to quickly learn the basics of the game or a new feature before moving on to the tricker challenges. These harder levels may take a few minutes to complete but since the levels are so short, in that time you’ve had upwards of 10 attempts at it. You haven’t invested to much time at each attempt so you’re not going to give up completely, and you can always try again later. No checkpoints or the need to save half way through.
Level chapters
A common practise of successful iPhone games is the huge number of levels they offer. A game like Cut the Rope is hitting 200+ levels. Levels are divided up into chapters, introducing a new feature to the game. The first few levels in each chapter will be a breeze, being primarily to give you some practise with what’s new. Most likely, the new weapon or object will be all there is to interact with. As the level set progresses, levels will become more elaborate and challenging as the new object in combined with more and more objects introduced in previous chapters.
It may also be that you may need to use the new feature in an unorthodox way. The best example I can give you is the puffin in Angry Birds. This bird acts like boomerang when launched, allowing you to attack pigs from the right of the screen when the loop back. By nature if you are provided this bird in a levels arsenal, that’s how you expect to use it. However, it may be the case that to complete the level you must throw it directly at the target like any other bird.
Gold, Silver, Bronze
Adding a completion award to each level is a great way to increase a games lifespan. Getting to the end and unlock the next level no longer means done and dusted. Can you do it in less time? What about collecting all the coins or unleashing the most amount of damage. It’s a simple addition that gives the game life for the superfans.
This doesn’t end at each levels completeness. Something as simple as adding achievements can improve the lifespan of a game. Badges like “1000 birds thrownâ€, “500 Apples Sliced†add additional goals to aim for.
GameCentre/OpenFient Tie-In
Connecting highscore and achievements unlocked tables to a network of friends can add an indirect multiplayer element to the game. This can assist with the tell a friend marketing, as players encourage their friends to download and comete.
Frequent Updates
When Cut the Rope was launched it only a had a few levels. Each update adds a new chapter with a new feature, expanding the lifespan of the game just a little longer. Now a year later, it’s still hanging about near the top of the table with roughly 200 levels. Apple are also treating updates as new releases to encourage developers to keep improving their apps. This gets you back into the new releases list in the app store, allowing you another place to be discovered.
Multiple themes
Angry Birds and Siege Hero are two games in my collection I’ve spent an age playing. Each has a large number of levels. One technique to keep the game fresh from chapter to chapter is to change up the graphics based on a theme e.g. viking times or pirates. Angry Birds could have 20+ different birds by now, but the game would likely suffer from feature overload and you would struggle to remember what each birds does. Giving the objects a slightly different look maybe enough to increase the game lifespan.
The 5 year old test
Simplicity is key. If a five year old can’t pick up the game and play through the first few levels, it’s probably too complex. I remember reading a blog post recently by one game developer who armed his young children with iPhones and watched them play the game to gain an understanding how easy it is to master. Platform games like Mario or Sonic tend to be a lot more elaborate and complex than most so there’s my big challenge.
Encourage Ratings
Ratings are incredibly important, especially for paid games. If I’m going to spend some cash, I want it to be worth while so I’ll look for apps with some stars. If nobody’s rating your app, your limited to who will buy it. A lot of games frequently pop up a Rate My App dialog which links to the app rating page directly.
In app purchases
In app purchases are becoming very popular with developers as a way to make money from their games. Some games require you to collect points or tokens to unlock new weapons or upgrades which you may need to get the most out of the game. Many FarmVille style games are guilty of making it almost impossible to get all available upgrades without splashing some real coin. This pisses me off to no end so lets avoid this approach.
I’ve heard this being referred to as the drug dealer model, an evolution of freemium. You’re given the game for free but require a to relinquish a little cash once you’re hooked. Looking at the Top Grossing chart on the AppStore this model works quite successfully. The #1 spot is currently occupied by DragonVale, being free to download while offering a bunch of in app purchases ranging from 69p for a ‘pile of cash’ to £17.49 for a ‘Box of Gems’
Another common usage is to offer a skip level token. If you love a game enough and hit a level you just can’t complete, what’s an extra 69p to skip it and progress to the next level. I’m on the fence whether to offer this or simply stick with a skip level button. We’ll see when the time comes. However, I’ll draw the line of making this an almost necessary purchase like crack-dealer games.
Lite version
Many of the top paid games have lite versions. This being a free to download version with maybe only one or two chapters and maybe some ads. This allows a gamer to try before they buy. This seems to be a great driver for the paid version and drum up interest in the app. Maybe they want to play more or maybe just get rid of the annoying ads.
Anymore for anymore
I’m sure there’s a lot more I didn’t cover like polish and marketing. Hopefully I’ll revisit this as the game develops and I learn in the process.
Love it or hate it? Have some game suggestions the meet or fails these practises or have I just missed one completely? Fire it in the comments below.
