The world has evolved, and PC games and consoles do not hold the dominance they once did in the gaming market. Gaming has come a long way since we only had consoles to play Mario or Contra, remember those days? But nowadays, gaming has become more like a chore in people’s lives, and nearly everybody is exposed to it.
However, not everybody has the privilege to experience AAA games. Tight schedules and heavy investments in gaming consoles barre people from indulging in AAA games as they do not run on any other device. With this story in account, what could bring an evolution in the industry? Something simple that can be played by anyone and requires zero investment. The best thing that meets this criterion is hyper casual games.
The hyper casual games clearly dominate the gaming market because features of a hyper-casual game include a simple gameplay style, freemium models, and addictive gameplay loops. Developing a hyper casual game is not rocket science, and requires significantly low resources and time compared to developing a AAA game. However, the low development cost compensates for high-quality ideas and strategic planning of the game.
If you are someone who is planning to develop a hyper casual game, this blog can be of use, as it discusses the key elements of hyper casual games.
Hyper Casual games are too easy to play. They are easy to learn as well, it is the whole point of the game. To develop a game that becomes a sensation, you must make it simple so that every age group or people with different intellectual capacities can enjoy the game on the same level. But you must remember that the game should not become boring while you focus on making it simple.
Hyper casual games and complexity do not go hand in hand. Swipe and one-tap controls for games are the basic functionalities. With low complexity, players can cut time on tutorials and practice sessions, and start playing the game without any prior gaming experience.
The gaming sessions of hyper casual games are extremely low and can be as low as 2 minutes. Therefore, you can have a quick session of these games in less than 2 minutes and have a sense of gratification. Moreover, it doesn’t matter whether you have a 2-minute break at work or if your next bus stop is 5 minutes away, you can engage in hyper casual games any time of the day. Hence, creating viral mobile games will require fast-paced gameplay that supports quick play.
Hyper casual games are the best replacement for idle moments. If you are having trouble killing time, hyper casual games can come to the rescue, these games are great time killers. So you must design your game in a way that smoothly fills the mundane moments of people’s lives, like standing in a queue, waiting for the metro, or even in between meeting breaks. Your game must not require prolonged time consumption and should have short and sweet levels for players to get it done within a short time.
One of the most important factors you must keep in mind is user-friendliness. If you want to tap into the successful business of hyper casual games, having a user interface that is liked by all age groups can be a bonus. The game must navigate the users clearly, and the players should feel comfortable while interacting with the game.
Initially, we talked about simplicity, how the game should be simple in terms of gameplay, extending the same point – the game should also have a minimalist design. You can only have a simple game with a minimalist design, with complex designs come more distractions, and the lightweight factor of the game gets compromised.
Hyper casual games thrive because of their single-action mechanic. You must design a game that only has basic mechanics like taps and swipes on the screen through which objectives are taken care of.
A gradual increase in difficulty can give your players a dopamine rush, and they’ll get addicted to the game as they reach a certain threshold. The Procedural Level Generation algorithm can help you in creating addictive gameplay. Also, you can work on your reward systems in the game so that your audience keeps coming back to the game.
You have to design a minimalist game that does not mean that you have to compromise with aesthetics. The visually appealing factor should remain intact with your game, and it can be achieved by using bright colors seamless animation, and a balance between minimalistic and aesthetic.
The hyper casual game you develop should have cross-platform compatibility so that players can access it anywhere on any device. Creating a lightweight game can also contribute to the accessibility of the game, as it can run on older models. Lightweight games can also ensure easy downloading on devices with less storage space.
Stressing more on simplicity, one-touch controls affirm it in a hyper casual game. The ability to control the game using one finger or a gesture makes it one-touch control gameplay, which helps the players to spend more time on the game tirelessly.
Graphics must be relevant to the game. They should not be too much so that they overwhelm the player, nor too little so that the aesthetics are compromised. The graphics should be subtle and the transitions smooth to make the game satisfying for the eyes.
With knowing the key elements of hyper casual game, you must get an idea of the journey from publishing to moenitization of hyper casual games.
The elements mentioned above comprise a good hyper casual game. These elements are common in all the hyper casual games that have shaken the market and rank at the top of the list. Players tend to revert to these games often and get addicted to them after playing for some time. However, if the game lacks the above features, the retention rate of users may get very low.
In order to make your game dominant in the market, you must come up with an idea that is out of the box. Furthermore, you need a well-experienced game development company to execute your idea into a full-fledged game as per your expectations. BR Softech can help you curate the game that stands out in the crowd with our 12+ years of experience. We strive for customer-centricity and develop games that help our clients scale their business.
Games having simple mechanics, one-touch controls and engaging graphics make them addictive and engaging. If a player does not struggle in clearing initial levels, and the difficulty increases at a slow pace, the game becomes addictive.
Minimalistic visual design is important for mobile games as too much of graphics overwhelm players and the simplicity factor of hyper casual games gets compromised, eventually resulting in the low success of the game.
A gameplay loop is a process in the game that has to have a repeated procedure, for example, you try something, you fail, and then you try again, this process is called a gameplay loop. You can make a gameplay loop engaging by adding visually pleasing objects in the game, and by making good use of procedural level generation.
Best strategies for onboarding new players include investing in a marketing budget, understanding metrics, and looking for demographics where the game holds the most potential to get success.
You can embed ads in your game to monetize it without losing your players. These ads can include interstitial, banner, and interactive ads. These ads insignificantly affect the gaming experience and can generate a good source of revenue.
