Designing games for a new wave of digital gaming platforms that are changing the face of the videogame industry
The games industry has been changing dramatically in the last few years from an industry that typically caters for a more ‘hardcore’ playing contingent to a more ‘casual gamer’ type user. This is largely due to popular contemporary technology gadets such as Facebook, iPhone and Android offering games that can be played anywhere, anytime, that are more affordable, more sociable and more customizable than games that have come before.
The advent of this new type of gaming has created new considerations for game developers and this thesis represents my opportunity to design a demo for a game that could be released on these new platforms which offers something unique from what is currently available on the market.
Below are listed, in bullet point format, some of the best reasons (although some of their are based on personal viewpoint) to develop for the Facebook, iPhone and Android platforms.
Currently the graphics on games for iPhone, Android, Facebook and the internet feature very simplistic graphics which are quite derivative of one another. There is potential in the market to deliver games whose aesthetic offers something different to what is currently available.
Although console games (i.e.Wii, Playstation, Xbox) are very popular, in recent years the Facebook, Android and iPhone game markets have become just as popular with millions of users. The game scene on these platforms is still in it’s infancy and this makes it an exciting market for a developer to be part of.
Publishing a game on Facebook, iPhone or Android requires no publisher to bring the game to market. This means the game developer is free to create any game he/she wishes to.
There is minimal commission to be paid on sales income of your games to Facebook, Apple or Android when compared with Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft platforms.
Getting a license to develop games for these platforms is relatively cheap, ranging from no cost to $100 (for an iPhone License).
The market of iPhone, Android and Facebook consists of nearly 600 million users . The gender balance is roughly 50-50 and the age group tends to be between 18-25 for Facebook users and 35 for iPhone users. Because the demographic is so wide there is a possibility to create many different types of games and find a market for them. The huge user base and fact these platforms are continuing to grow suggests that they will be a viable medium for developing games a long time to come.
Fewer controls are available to a player playing a Facebook, iPhone or Android game compared with Nintendo, PlayStation and Microsoft consoles. This means the developer has an interesting challenge in creating games with clear physical boundaries (i.e. few buttons).
The advent of these new platforms (Facebook,iPhone and Android) has also allowed small development companies (with staff anywhere between 1-10) to create games, where as traditionally games (on consoles) require very large teams with upwards of a hundred staff. The reason a fewer amount of people work on developing a Facebook, iPhone or Android game has a lot to do with the fact that the games have far less content than a traditonal console game. Some of these games have no more than 2-3 hours of game play and this is reflected in their pricing (most iPhone, Android or Facebook games cost between $1 to $5).
Another plus point, from a developers point of view, is that there is no game quality testing by iPhone, Android or Facebook, this means a developer can release any game irrespective of it’s quality (a console game released on Nintendo Wii would have to be assessed by Nintendo before being permitted for release on it’s console) .
A brief history of my motivation, and reasons for doing
this particular project
The motivation for creating my own games has been ongoing for the last two years as I seek to create games for a market place that offers the user a new experience in some shape of form. In that time I have learnt many technologies and tools (e.g.Unity Engine, Flash, Photoshop, Sketchup, 3DS Max, Z Brush, Art Rage, Illustrator to name a few) in preparation for a time when I might be able to develop games and release them. My Master’s thesis has given me the perfect opportunity to set my ambition in motion. Specifically in the last 2 years I have;
learnt how to make a website so that I could one day develop a website to host my games
researched the trends of platforms to make a decision which platform I should develop games for
documented the technical capabilities of the main programs I would use to produce my game(s) so that I know roughly what is, and what isn’t possible.
produced a series of 'work pipeline’ documents detailing how to create different styles step by step so that I can work professionally and efficiently using different programs
The first game I began conceptualising (in 2007) was called ‘Storybook Island’. Initially my first thoughts with regard to Storybook Island were graphics, game play and story. As I started to move further into the process of designing the game I considered the platform it should be hosted on and my initial thought was Nintendo systems because the game was brightly coloured, magical and quite abstract. Unfortunately I soon realised that to develop for a Nintendo Wii or Nintendo DS would be too much work for one person. This forced me to consider other platforms and that is when I started to observe the rise of Facebook, iPhone and Android as viable platforms and consider the many advantages they have over developing for consoles (e.g. cost, time, team size, consumer expectations). Since that time I have watched closely the life of the iPhone, Android and Facebook platforms with the intention that one day I would design games for them. This Master’s project represents my first foray onto the platforms as director of my own game game concept.
Foresight of potential problems
The scope of the game that is created will be heavily influenced by the fact that no more than two, and possibly just one person will be working on the demo of this game. Typical roles within the production of a typical game would be a Producer, Animator, Director, Programmer, 3D or 2D artist, Game Designer and Audio artist. Through my education and work experience I can safely say that I have done elements of animation (I have a bachelors degree in it), game design (I worked at a company designing documents for how games and applications should work) and 3D and 2D artwork (which I have done both through education and professional work) so I expect to work particularly well in these areas. I have, however, no explicit experience of producing (time keeping and overall management of the planning of the project), programming (making the game functional) or audio designing for games. Below are my main concerns for the project and possible solutions to them:
To include audio an Audio artist can be outsourced (depending on cost and quality) or sound and effects can be collected by myself and implemented in the demo
Programming is an essential aspect of making the game intractable. I have experience programming websites and a base understanding of game programming. If the game mechanics are simple enough it is possible I can program them myself otherwise I will either recruit a programmer (I know a few) to assist or I will simply make the demo a visual one as opposed to interact able one.
Understanding the technical restraints of the platforms. Although I have experience creating games on these platforms there will undoubtedly be unforeseen technical problems that will arise. Through networking of friends with experience in the field and a number of resources and tutorials, from books and the internet, I hope to overcome and technical issues that arise.
Trying to bring higher quality products to a market awash
with unoriginal and unexceptional games
My problem statement is this:
“To deliver a work pipeline enabling me to bring to my demo a graphical style offering Facebook, iPhone and Android users a different, but high standard, quality of graphics than is currently possible”
The advent of games on iPhone, Android and Facebook has seen a new wave of very cheap games (ranging from $1 to $5) meaning that generally production costs are lower than those associated with console games. Unfortunately because of the relatively low production costs and also the popularity of creating cartoonish or simplified graphics for users of these platforms a large majority of developers are creating games which are much the same.
Undoubtedly this has created a lot of commercial success for the main Facebook, iPhone and Android developers but there is a concern that the users will become bored and apathetic towards the games on these platforms unless there are some new games offering new visual experience and stimulation. The games by the likes of Zynga, Playfish, Mind Candy, et al (some of the main Facebook, iPhone, Android developers) visually (as well as game play) are very much the equivalent of a McDonald’s meal; quite basic, produced quite cheaply (relative to console games), designed to appeal to a wide audience and lacking real character. Although many people will point to the fact that these game are currently very popular there is always the possibility that users will be come oversaturated with the same product that they start to yearn for something new. The situation, as a metaphor, can be described as person (the user) who likes chocolate cake (the product, representing the simplistic visual games on the platforms at the moment) a lot. Initially that person is happy to eat lots and lots of chocolate cakes but eventually that person will eventually have a yearning for something else, a savoury food item for example or a drink. In this metaphor the savoury item or drink represents what the market needs now or in the near future - an alternative, something different and stimulating after over saturation of one thing.
Although the visual styling of the games can change it is potentially harder to change to game play mechanics. Most of the games have a game play mechanic which is designed to make users make a series of micro-transactions and this how the games become financial viable. In my game I will also implement in my game design document how I will use the game play mechanics to encourage micro-transaction payments by the user. Typically this is done by offering the user new items (such as levels, characters and accessories) to expand or improve the game in some way.
The games on the previous page are some of the most popular games on Facebook and iPhone. As you may have noticed from the images there is a common theme - primary colours, simplistic styling, huge manga style heads and large eyes (for cuteness presumably). The games have proven hugely successful, but for how long will audiences keep buying visual content which is so alike?
Assessing why the market has become over saturated with similar products
There appears to be too many games on iPhone, Facebook and Android with not only the same visual style but also the same game content. In this chapter I consider why the first waves of games (the platforms are only between 2-6 years old) are so alike and why there
isn’t more choice to the consumer.
Historically speaking it is common when a new medium is created that many designers follow the first successful solution. Below are case examples of the problem when there is a successful product and how it affects the market place and stifles creativity:
When Space Invaders was created in 1978 and gained mass commercial success many other games plagerised it hoping to feed of the original games success.
When the first Mario platformer games were released and achieved great success there were a series of copycat games by other companies (as well as by the orignal developer themselves Nintendo) that followed.
Currently the case with most Facebook, iPhone and Androids games - too many games copying the same formula of a particular popular game (such as Farmville) and repackaging and reselling it over and over.
The game GTA 3 was released to great commercial success a few years ago and suddenly a whole host of similar genre, content and visual games were released like True Crime, Driver 3 and The Getaway.
This is also applicable outside the realm of videogames. Consider the success of the BMW X5 car and the pursuing onslaught of similarly styled vehicles by Audi and Porsche (The Cayenne) to name a few
It is important to be aware, however, that eventually consumers become bored of buying the same product again and again. A real case example is Nintendo in the mid 90‘s when the company was the most successful games company in the world and they lost that position to Sony’s Playstation. This occurred for a number reasons but the most pertinent was the fact that Nintendo kept recycling games with childish aesthetics, strong moral ethics and plat former style game play and the audience became disinterested in their products and opted for the games of Sony Playstation which were visually more realistic and more grown up in content and genre (shooting games and horror games for example). This example supports the idiom “variety is the spice of life”. In the context of videogames this tells us audiences demand to see new ideas all the time otherwise they become bored and will look for something else.
Another reason so many games on Facebook, iPhone and Android are so unoriginal looking are due to social factors. The majority of people who play games via these plat former are not 'hardcore gamers’ but 'casual gamers’. The reason for this is that neither Facebook nor iPhones or Androids are platforms which are exclusively for videogames. The game component on these platforms is actually annexed to a much bigger component. Facebook, for example, is first and foremost a social networking facility and Apples and Google’s mobile devices are primarily mobile telephones. Because of this fact the audiences is seemingly less concerned with cutting edge graphics than an owner of a PlayStation 3 would be for example. However, with an audience of 600 million users and a broad demographic of people it is safe to say there should be more games on the market catering for users who don’t want very primitive and simplistic cartoon graphics.
Considering some of the elements that have made Facebook,
iPhone and Android games popular
When designing a product it may be useful to assess the general demographic of the people likely to buy your design. In the case of Facebook, iPhone and Android the demographic is pretty much 50-50 split mix of male and female (except Android where it reads male 75% to female 25%) with an age group from 18-35 . This, of course, is quite a broad demographic and might assist in making design decisions for a game.
Below I have outlined the main points that I believe have made playing games on Facebook, iPhone and Android so popular so that they may be taken into account when designing a game:
Games which have cute characters (big eyes, furry animals, etc) are very much in vogue on Facebook, iPhone and Android platform.
Facebook games have become ways of filling gaps in mundane work days. Statistics shows a large majority of people are playing Facebook games at work instead of working. Employees can spend a few minutes here and there playing games on Facebook without it being as obvious as playing on a hand held device like a Gameboy.
More girls play iPhone and Facebook (not Android) games proportionately than console games. The markets of iPhone and Facebook users are made up of 50-50 male and female. The reason this is important is that statistically it has been shown that girls spend twice as much on games via the internet than men. Put simply, girl gamers are significantly helping the Facebook and iPhone platforms financially.
Most Facebook games are heavily customizable and allow the user to buy new items to change the characteristics of their virtual world or character. Because the payments are so small, usually around $1, it has become a type of ritual for some users to constantly purchase new items for their games.
Many of the games encourage interaction with other users, creating a social aspect to the games. This social interaction not only offers new game experiences to the user but also has the subtle, but smart, way of enticing new users to the same game.
Facebook games are very slow paced so they are act as more sedate experience than the traditional arcade, action orientated game play associated with consoles and handheld game devices (Nintendo DS, Gameboy, PSP). The games are more simulation than action-orientated.
Many of the game companies designing games for these platforms do a lot of viral marketing to promote their games.
Although there are many good reasons to develop games for Facebook, iPhone and Android, such as large user base, easy to get to market, etc (the first chapter discusses in more depth the main reasons to develop for these platforms) there are also some dangers associated with releasing games on these platforms. One of the main concerns is the huge array of competition and the fear that any game released on these platforms will be lost amongst a sea of other games. For this reason the game must stand out from the crowd and the easiest way to do that is visually or by doing a lot of advertising. Most advertising is very dear, though, (although some companies use Facebook viral marketing and Youtube as ways of advertising products cheaply) and the most practical or obvious solution is to create a product that stands out visually from the crowd.
The graphics should not only be different from what’s in the market, they should also be high quality in the sense that they add to the content and idea of the game they represent. There are many good examples of games that have been successful through use of new visual style that complemented the game content. Below is the case example of Metal Gear Solid.
Metal Gear Solid released for the PlayStation 1 was a game that achieved great critical and commercial success on release. The game content was original and good but importantly, so were the graphics for the advertising, game and cover art, The style which was very graphical and filmic was very different to what the competition of games were creating at the time. This helped give the game it’s own place in the market and established the franchise and the company at the cutting-edge of great visual design.
The key elements to incorporate into the development of a new Facebook, iPhone and Android game
This paper has discussed some of the main hazards and considerations a small company developer should take into account when designing for these platforms. Below are some of the main considerations to make and why:
A game design which incorporates micro-transactions in the game mechanics to allow the game to become financially viable in spite of it’s original low price point
Game, advertising and cover graphics that help the product stand out from the crowd
Gameplay that is played with the minimum amount of buttons, to allow the game to be accessible to large user base
Methods designed to assist the development of the demo, website and game document to a satisfactory conclusons
A ‘visual assessment’ paper will be created so that the quality of the visuals for different visual styles for the demo can be compared. Although the visual assessment paper is not finalised it will contain criteria such as ‘quality standard in relation to contemporary Facebook, iPhone and Android games’, ‘originality in relation to contemporary Facebook, iPhone and Android games’, ‘time efficiency ’ to help determine which visuals styles are best suited to be incorporated into the final demo.
A time schedule has been drafted to assist with the deadlines of certain elements of the project. The time schedule can be viewed in more detail at (www.dreamindustry.blogspot.com/) .
End of September- all visual styles considered and evaluated via the visual assessment paper. From this point the visual style is determined and will be developed further for the demo game
By End of October - The game mechanics have been determined not just for the demo but for the whole game. Simultaneously with this the final graphic style must be refined, tested and considered in terms of technical feasibility (i.e. how well it will work on the platforms based on their technical specifications). The gameplay and graphics must both have attached work pipelines to be used and followed during the production of the demo in November and December
By End of November - The demo, consisting either of a small segment of interactable game or non-intractable movie will be worked on through the guidance of a the pipeline’s designed in October.
By End of December - the demo will be finished and a small games company website will be created to host the game, advertise it and give information about the company and the demo on it.
The content that will be delivered for evaluation
The final submission will have:
A website, The website will act as a platform from which to play or view the demo. The website must inform the user briefly about the demo.
A Blog. The blog will document many of the concepts and ideas I have had for the project.
A playable level from the game or a non-interactable film of the game in action
A printed booklet and a pdf documenting the games mechanics and graphics pipeline
Two blogs which document ideas in relation to the areas covered in my project.
The blog’s are online diary showing some of the successful and unsuccessful ideas.
Research and reference material from games, internet sites and books to assist with the production of the project
Listed below are some form of information that will assist with the development of the project:
1) Zynga games. Zynga games are the prominent Facebook and iPhone developers and developed the game Farmville with over 200 million users. By studying their games, particularly Farmville, it will be possible to understand the game mechanics of making a successful Facebook, iPhone and Android game
2) Hans Bacher’s book ‘Dream World’s’ and his Blog ‘one1more2time3.wordpress.com/’.
Hans Bacher is a production designer for animation and also a teacher. His work will help guide some of the visual problems you will encounter in designing images or simply offer inspiration.
3) ‘The Essential Guide to Videogames’ is a book documenting the history of modern videogames, with reviews and synopsis’ of nearly all the games released in the last 15 years. It is an invaluable reference point to study games in general
4)’High Score’ is also a book with broad look at the successes and some of the failures of games and games companies. It will assist in many ways, particularly to assess what the major game industry movements, patterns and trends have been in the last 50 years of games.
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