
Elements of Successful iPhone Games - dunkjmcd
http://diaryofanappdeveloper.tumblr.com/post/15891843100/week-1-research-elements-of-successful-iphone-games
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Xlythe
The most addicting games I've played are the ones that deviate from the
segmented, level-based gameplay seen in Angry Birds and Cut the Rope. You're
competing in a saturated market against companies much larger than you. If
you're determined to try your luck, then focus on style. Make it extremely
dark and depressing or conversely witty with faux seriousness. Do something to
stand out and carve out your niche. Polish your game. And most importantly,
don't insult your users by making the game only completable with in-app
purchases. To them, it's like lying. Find a way to make them want to spend
money instead of feeling like they're being forced to.

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brador
The list is missing a marketing budget. The single greatest factor (in my
opinion) of what makes a game succesful in the app store.

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Macsenour
Could you be a bit more specific. Where would you send those marketing
dollars? Ads where? Recently Flurry came out with data, I'll find the link if
I need too, that suggests that discovery is not the issue in the App Store.

If that is the case, how would marketing help sales?

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Macsenour
To me this Economics 101. If your IAP removes ads, and people like the game,
they'll spend the 99 cents for that purchase. If they feel they are being
hampered because they have not bought an item and therefore can't compete in a
game, they'll avoid the purchase.

Give people what they WANT and they'll buy it. Force people to buy something
and they'll find a cheaper route, as in playing a different game.

I agree with the frequent updates. The goal is simple:

1) Avoid the spike. Game sales the weekend after release is big, and then
dies.

2) Keep the game on the phone. With 1500 new game submissions A DAY, you need
to keep the attention of the player. You do that by giving them short term
goals and keep'm coming.

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fennecfoxen
Ah, "freemium". I've seen several games out there with the dual-currency
model: normal money for day-to-day operations and "special money" for neat
things / making things happen faster, a currency that you mostly get by
chance.

So you hook the user with variable-reward conditioning and then encourage him
to become impatient enough to pay you $$$... No; I'm not really cool with
that. Worst gameplay mechanic ever.

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SquareWheel
I refuse to purchase applications with in-app purchases for this reason, it's
not a business model I want to support. Recently dumped "Words with Friends"
because Zynga bought them and made it about as scammy as possible. Now happy
with Wordfeud.

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tomjen3
Would you have a problem with a game where you can pay to make the ads go
away, or to get more levels?

Because it seems to me that those are two very good uses of in-app purchases.

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SquareWheel
Nope, I consider that fine. In fact I think paying to make ads go away is a
fantastic business model. It doesn't matter if it's a separate app or in-app
purchases in my mind.

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dunkjmcd
I'm leaning towards lite and full whack app. I find freemium games far more
frustrating than fun. I want to build a game I would play myself.

Re: comments on Marketing. It's not something I know much about at this stage.
I have read though that game is only half the battle for a successful release.
My research was really only based on what I could find directly from the
games.

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redthrowaway
This list just solidifies in my mind why I don't like mobile games. As someone
who enjoys pc and console games, mobile games always feel dirty to me. They
feel like they've been designed to be addictive, not fun. I'll happily spend
$60 on Skyrim, but spending $0.99 on a game that feels like it's been
engineered to get me to spend it feels like I'm rewarding malicious behavior
on the part of the developer.

I get that mobile game devs need to make money, and I support that goal. I
just wish I had an answer that didn't involve what feels like unethical
behavior.

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extension
I've played hundreds of mobile games and the vast majority don't hold my
interest for more than a few minutes. Even the truly great ones only last a
week or so. If they're trying to be addictive, they are failing miserably. The
model seems to be more like "pay a dollar to satisfy your curiosity about
something sort of neat looking".

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dpcan
These are surely the feature sets of many successful games, but they didn't
all start with hundreds of achievements, hundreds of levels, and so on.

The most successful games started with an original idea. People like the game,
so they keep adding and improving.

The real secret to success is keeping your player coming back for more, giving
them more opportunities to talk with their friends about it, tweet it, or get
seen playing it in a social or populated location.

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ricardobeat
Not all successful games share these traits. Paying to skip a level is
sketchy. What if you make a level impossible to beat? How would you expect a
player to tell?

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dunkjmcd
Deliberately impossible to beat?

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ricardobeat
If your levels are not deliberately planned, one would say you're doing it
wrong, usually :)

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pacomerh
My best elements of a successful game are quality and attention to detail.

