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Mobile Game Development: Tools, Trends, & Best Practices

The mobile gaming industry has transformed rapidly. From the time when the mobile games comes with basic graphic to the powerful, high-quality visual effects, player communication, amazing storylines and complex game mechanics.

The evolution is caused because of the constant improvement in the gaming industry and the advancement of technologies integrate in the mobile game development. Additionally, there are thousands of mobile games available across the world. And the numbers are increasing every day. Thus, it makes the mobile game industry quite competitive where developing an advanced level mobile game has become a difficult task for developers and designers.

Key Elements to Keep in Mind While Developing a Mobile Game App

Well the structure to understand the success of a mobile game varies from one game to another. However, there are some standard major elements that assure the success of a mobile gaming app to some extent.

  • User Acquisition: The mobile games are should be designed in such a way that the game can grab the attention of the target users.
  • User Engagement: The app should be engaging so that gamers spend their time on a game for a long period of time.
  • User Retention: The app should have features and functionalities which retain the user’s device for a lone time.

Any mobile game app development company can include these features in their game by following the below mention five basic elements which define the success of mobile games.

Simplicity

It is one of the prominent reasons that confirms the success of mobile app that you are going to build. If the gamers find the user interface simpler, short and with an appealing design. It will be easier for audience to understand and play the game at the beginning. Later on, they can add complex task with difficult obstacles to make the game more interesting. So it is significant for companies to make beginning steps easy to make it understandable.

Design

The first thing that users deal with while playing game is its design. So it must be appealing with amazing UI and UX. Companies shouldn’t hold themselves from spending a good amount to make innovative user interface. From the story of game to the design of character should be different from the games that are available in the market across the world. With the emergence of advance technologies, one can easily design simple yet attractive user interface or a comic theme design of the game application.

Continuity

Continuity is one of the key aspect of a mobile game in term of making the game successful. The regular updates of the game can keep the continuity for a longer time. While the storyline of a game can also help companies to engage the users to a game. Because these are the only features that keep the users stick to the game for longer duration. Moreover, if you want to keep the users stick to the game, then you need to keep making some changes in the game like addition of new features, content, character.

Urgency

If your mobile app game have features that offer a sense of urgency in users, there are chances that the game is going to be hit in the market. You can offer that sense of urgency by providing amazing challenges and rewards on a daily basis. Since reward points keep the users engage and make the users comeback to the game and they don’t feel uninterested while playing game.

Performance

To make any mobile app game successful, the game should be lag-free and the performance should be top-notch. This is only possible if the mobile game will be fast, scalable, consume less RAM on the user’s device and can open the app quickly. So there are a few points that need to be in company’s mind while developing fast performance mobile game.

If company wants to build remarkable game, then don’t think twice before taking risk. One of the best approach to make advanced mobile gaming app is to integrate advance trends and technologies so that game achieve success in the industry.

Some Game Development Trends

Let’s take a look at the on-going trend of the mobile gaming app development industry in the recent years.

Increased Use of AR and VR Technology

Games like Pokémon Go showcase the use of AR/VR in the mobile game industry. And in the upcoming years, we are going to witness the use of VR and MR more commonly in the mainstream games. However, most of games are in development process which using AR/VR technology.

Beginning of Wearable Gaming

As the transit of time, wearable devices are getting used in gaming industry. There are numerous chances we can witness the emergence of AR and VR technologies from mobile programmers. So that gamers get remarkable gaming experience. However, the demand of smartphones is increased because of large screen gaming experience. But experts ensure that the wearable will going to achieve success in the upcoming years.

Increased Demand for Cloud-based Games

The biggest advantage of cloud-based mobile game is that users can play it without downloading it or installing it in their device. The cloud based platform features are attracting the users and the game developing companies as it is a fresh concept in the market. Mobile game services like PlayKey, GeForce, and LiquidSky are taking the cloud games to a new height.

Cross-Platform Gaming

The cross-platform mobile applications let users access the application from different platform and devices. The requirement for cross-platform game apps is increasing on a daily basis. Because, it allow users to play the game from different devices such as laptop, smartphones and tablets. Thus, it increases the demand of cross-platform game application in the upcoming years and will enhance the career of mobile programmers.

Mobile Game for All Age Groups

There was this time when games are designed only for kids and youngster. Nowadays, gaming companies are more focused on building lag-free which all age group people can play. Recently, we have witnessed that the launch of games which are basically designed for all age groups. Experts are saying that numbers of such game is going to increase in the upcoming years.

Personalization and Customization

The two major factors that play a vital role in making the game interactive and engaging: personalization and customization. There is a difference between both these features. The customization offers control of the application to the users while the personalization keep the whole control in the applications. Well, this isn’t something new but it’s expected to grow in the coming years.

Multipurpose Mobile Games

Currently, mobile games play a vital role in everyday life of us. This enhances the development of mobile games which cover all the categories including education, lifestyle, war battle and health and more. The main motive behind the development of such diverse games is to reach to the different target audience and to educate and learn things to the users. Already there are numerous games available which cover all these diverse field and the number is expected to increase in the upcoming years.

Multiplayer/Social Games

In the last couple of years, the development of multiplayer mobile game has been increased because of internet accessibility and the enhancement of social media users. However, there are some games that one can play without internet connection. Such games work offline or can be played by using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and other similar connectivity technology. This trend is going to adopt by masses as the social media users are increasing on a daily basis.

Location-based Mobile Games

Location based mobile games use technologies like GPS or phone’s location. These mobile phone games fetch the exact location of your device and customize the game according. This is one of the technologies that current mobile game development companies are using and we can expect the growth of technology trend.

Every day there are thousands of games launched each day. However, only few games are able to manage to get the attention of users for long duration. Now you must be wondering what makes these games stand out in the crowd in this cutthroat competitive world. There are a few methods that make these games successful.

Come Up With a Unique Game Dev Idea

If you want to build an attractive mobile app game, then the idea of game should be authentic, original. Mobile game app Development Company should do proper research and come up with genuine idea that can easily get the attention of users. If you are able in finding a unique idea, you are on your way to develop a successful mobile game. So try to find the original idea.

Create a Game Design Document

After finding a unique gaming idea, it is important for companies to make a game design document. The document should be descriptive and include every aspects of game design. Well, it is built and edited with the efforts of developers and designers. The GDD offers feedback which help companies in developing the top-notch game.

Create Amazing UI/UX

If you want users to stick to your game, then offers remarkable user experience and simple interface. Other than this. The game should be integrated with controls, tutorials which explain the control of game. Moreover, the design of the game should be lightweight as much as possible to offer lag-free experience to the users.

Prefer Cross-Platform Mobile Game Development

It is important for you to select the cross-platform mobile game app development platform so that your game can be available on major platforms like Android, iOS and Windows. It will save your time and team’s efforts and money. There are numerous mobile game app development tool available in the industry which helps developers in developing or deploying the game on different operating systems. You should use these tools for developing advanced level mobile game.

Include Social Media Features

Social media platform helps companies in fetching the users for their games. Companies are using social media platforms to gain attentions and for marketing. Companies shouldn’t be ignoring social media platform’s feature like login, in-game chatting or calls and status while mobile game development.

Best Mobile Game Development Tools

There are many mobile game app development tools available in the industry. But selecting the appropriate tool according to your project development will not only helps you in completing the development process but also simplify the whole development process for developers and designers. Let’s take a few tools which help in mobile game app development.

Unity

Unity Technologies developed Unity which is a cross-platform mobile game development engine. It allows developers to build 2D, 3D mobile games for Android, iOS operating systems. Using this top-notch tool, Unity game can write codes in multiple languages like Boo, C#, and UnityScript.

Lumberyard

Amazon built Lumberyard which is fully customizable cross-platform mobile game app development tools. It comes with several other features which allow developers to develop AAA quality games easily and quickly. Moreover, the programmers use AWS to build multiplayer game on cloud servers.

Corona SDK

Corona SDK is cross-platform game development platform developed by Corona Labs. This framework helps developers in building 2D games for all major operating systems. The tool is easy to learn and even beginner developers can build a game using this tool.

AppGameKit

AppGameKit is one of the most easy to use mobile game app development tools and it is consider as a newbie for developers. The framework let develop write code once for all platforms like Windows, Linus and Mac. Additionally, the code can be exported to android, iOS and windows device. Using this tool, developers can quickly build mobile game, no matter the developers is beginner or expert.

Unreal Engine 4

Unreal Engine 4 is the widely used mobile game app development engine in the market across the globe. In the year 2014, this development engine won the Guinness World Records title of most successful video game engine. The tool uses C++ programming languages included with some advance features and functionalities like VFX and Particle Systems. If you are planning to make a 3D game, Unreal Engine 4 is the most suitable choice.

Conclusion

In the last couple of years, the gaming industry has been reached a whole new level. Well, it is slightly difficult to build a game which stand out from crown and generate huge return on investment. But, it isn’t impossible, there are several factors that companies need to keep in their before start developing mobile game app. On the other hand, you can also hire a team of expert mobile app developers for your mobile game project. The tools, trends and practices that need to be followed. This article is a complete guide to build engaging and attractive mobile game app.

About The Author
Satyam Chaturvedi

Satyam Chaturvedi is a Digital Marketing Strategist at Arka Softwares, a mobile app development company. He understands startups, enterprises, and their needs well. Apart from that, he is an expert in lead generation and inbound marketing. He has also handled marketing and growing operations. He loves to help businesses in improving their online brand visibility and sales.

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