

Android developers, stop making casual games - fearless
http://blog.mixrank.com/android-developers-stop-making-casual-games/

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lucb1e
As far as I know "casual games" are games that are very easy and very
rewarding, thus great for pretty much everyone that just wants to pass some
time (a huge audience obviously). This article somehow manages to use "casual
games" as separate category besides, say, "Cards & Casino". What's the
difference? Almost all games I've tried from the Play Store are casual games,
even all racing and almost all arcade games, and I gave up on mobile gaming
because of that.

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braco_alva
I think they're just referring to the subcategory in the Play Store, but yeah,
almost any mobile game could be labeled as Casual.

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jjsz
Well, almost: Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy IV, Chaos Rings, Chaos Rings
II, Chaos Rings Ω, Ingress, Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice
Cities wouldn't be 'casual'.

Then there's also: SMS, N, SG, SD, NES, SNES, N64, GB, GBA, DS, PSX, GC, Wii
and PSV emulators that contain 'non casual' games.

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yareally
Many of those games lose a great deal of interactivity and control when ported
to a touch only interface though. Turn based games like Final Fantasy fair
well though on touch interface, but real time games like GTA not as much. I
wouldn't call games like GTA III casual on mobile, but I don't think they
quite appeal to the exact same audience they did on consoles or PC.

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kevincrane
GTA III and Vice City are actually surprisingly good on mobile. I bought GTA
III on a whim when I got my Nexus 7 last year with the Play store credit that
came with it, and I actually loved it. It took me probably 20 minutes to get a
feel for the controls and ended up playing the game all the way through after
a while (halfway through Vice City now). Rockstar really nailed the controls
for the touch interface, at least on a tablet.

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feifan
It's not really about being in the charts, or even downloads, unless
developers can make money from them. Unfortunately, there is more piracy on
Android; ads can only bring in so much and break the experience of a game.
Also, given the wide range in device performance, specs, and software, you
really have to wonder if it's worth the time and money investment.

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dsugarman
If this wasn't about mobile you would have almost definitely included more
categories, which is the immediate problem with mobile.

the current game atmosphere really makes me sick. I don't know what it is
about a casual game on a freemium model that is built to annoy you into
reaching into your wallet that is so appealing to everyone.

You used to (and still do off mobile) buy a game in full and enjoy its
lifetime value. I think mobile could be a great spot for more managerial type
games, I used to love being the GM in many games

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lnanek2
Yeah, but they are so much easier/cheaper to write and produce. 2D is par for
the course for casual. Action and adventure much less so.

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sli
Since when? Action/adventure hasn't left the 2D realm at all.

