mobile game design trends from east and west mgf - simon newstead
TRANSCRIPT
10 Mobile Game Design Trends from East & West
Simon NewsteadCEO, Frenzoo
About● CEO & Game Designer ● Studio of 25 people in HK and USA● 3D Lifestyle games for women● 20M+ downloads mostly in USA
1/ Touch-first interfaces● More swipe and gestures in core mechanics● Anticipate more games with flick & fling
eg- Dawn of Titans
2/ RPG mechanics in all genres● Party, leveling, evolve, fuse etc● Increased sense of ownership & investment● Expect more customization and meta games
eg- Marvel Contest of Champions
eg- Criminal Case collect & customize
3/ Evolved mechanics ● Continued iteration on proven formulas
eg DomiNations vs Clash
eg Candy Crush Soda Saga new match 3 gameplay modes
4/ Gacha keeps growing
with more sophistication...
How this mechanic works:- gem gacha ->3+ characters- All characters can be sold for a rings (rings can only be gained from selling 3 star
+ characters or 3 star + weapons)- Special characters (super useful) can only gained using the ring currency through
another gacha
5/ Auto-play modes
AI mode that plays on your behalf...
● New play behaviour emerging● Prediction - ios8 notifications, background play
● Brands are waking up to games as a media
6/ IP use increasing
7/ Better Word of Mouth
eg- Summoners War
Additional ways to invite friends- SMS- Email- Line- Facebook … So on
Rewards other than currencies as a strong incentive, rewards you just for the invitation sent
More social channels, meaningful incentives
8/ Deeper Cross Promo
3D Simulation GameMovie Game“Let’s take a break from shooting - I
know a hot resort!”
Make the most of UA spend and userbase
9/ Production quality rising… Driven by great hardware improvements eg- A8X SOC
but RAM?!To 512MB or not to 512MB, that is the question...
Side note - art still needs to fit the audience
Zynga Wizard of Oz Slots
Zynga Poker
10/ Added depth to social ● More ways to communicate, plan, help,
manage roles, compete, share rewards etc
● Social also being added to other genres outside of battle/rpgs
● Great foundation for a strong elder game
Bonus Trend ● Game dev tools are rapidly improving● Easier to gather data and iterate faster
Final notes● Lots more exciting things happening
○ Hardcore gets viable (FPS, MOBA, ARPG)○ Emergence of story games○ Events as core mechanics○ etc...
● It’s a great time for mobile games!