DEVELOPMENT OF STARTUPS IN THE SPHERE OF MOBILE GAMES

The number of people playing mobile games is growing every year and, accordingly, the amount they spend on their hobbies is increasing. At the end of 2020, smartphone owners spent over $ 111 billion on apps and in-app purchases, which is 30% more than in the previous year.

Despite the fact that the market is oversaturated with games for all tastes, gamers are invariably interested in new projects, which makes the industry attractive for launching startups.

Making a game isn’t all about design and programming. Let’s consider the main stages that each startup goes through.

Study

When preparing to create a game, first of all, you need to conduct market research and target audience. This will allow you to form a successful marketing strategy based on real facts. In addition, at this stage, the likely risks that the business may face are identified and ways to deal with them are worked out.

Idea development

Formulate a clear idea – what kind of game it will be, who will play it, how and when. It is important that it is fresh and offers gamers something new: game mechanics, story, etc. This will draw more attention to the project. When choosing a game genre, you need to focus not only on your own preferences, but also on trends. In 2021, the following are in great demand:

• Puzzles. For the most part, these are casual projects with straightforward graphics and simple mechanics, designed for long-term use. They are suitable for people of different ages and countries. Examples of such games: CandyCrush Saga, Empires & Puzzles, etc.
• Strategy games. They boil down to the collection of resources and the development of characters, cities and armies to participate in battles with other players or NPS. Such games do not require the player to be online frequently, which makes them highly popular among players of different ages. The advantage of strategies is that they “drag in” the user, and the longer a person plays, the less likely he will decide to delete an account.

• MOBA. These are multiplayer games in which players team up for session-based team fights. Examples of popular projects in this genre: Mobile Legends and League of Legends: Wild Rift.
• Shooters. A genre in which the bulk of the gameplay is given to shootouts. Popular Call of Duty® projects: Mobile, Standoff 2, Critical Ops: Multiplayer FPS.
• MMORPG. Multiplayer role-playing games, a distinctive feature of which is the interaction of a huge number of players in one virtual world. The gamer chooses a character for himself, develops him, and uses all his capabilities to achieve certain results. Examples of games: Evil Lands, Eternium, AnimA.

When choosing a genre, it is also worth considering the project budget. For example, developing a casual puzzle will be much cheaper than a multiplayer one shooter with real-time battles.

Choice of monetization

According to statistics, shareware games became the most profitable in 2021. They are distributed free of charge and earn money from displaying ads and selling in-game content.

The advantage of such games is that the player does not need to pay for a project with which he is not yet familiar, which allows him to attract a larger audience with lower advertising budgets.

Selection of the development team

An experienced and well-coordinated development team is the key to the success of a future project, therefore, the choice of contractors must be approached responsibly. AVADA-MEDIA has all the necessary knowledge and will help bring a project of any scale to the market.

Platform selection

Decide on which operating system the game will run – IOS or Android. For maximum audience reach, it is recommended to create cross-platform applications.

Communication with the audience

When the concept of the project is approved, you need to inform the target audience about it. For this, the official website of the game and pages on social networks are being created, which will “warm up” users’ interest in the project.

The landing page of a mobile game should include:

• Trailer.
• Planned release date.
• Screenshots.
• Description of gameplay and history.
• News and updates.
• Call to action.
• Links to social networks.

Soft launch

Soft launch, or “soft launch” – is a test drive of a mobile game in real conditions even before its launch on the market. It provides an opportunity to get early feedback from players, and demonstrates the viability of the project in the early stages.

Positive user comments will serve as social proof that the product will be successful, while negative ones will indicate bugs that need to be improved. At the same time, the startup receives a base of users who are already familiar with the game, and will most likely install it after the official release.

For a soft launch, it is not necessary to develop a full version of the game, 25% will be enough. The main thing is that the project is well optimized from the technical side, and users can experience a positive experience from interacting with it – without crashes, freezes, etc.

After a successful Soft launch, the project is returned for revision.

Release and Updates

The release is not the last stage in the work on a gaming startup. After the official launch, work begins on the constant study of the user experience of gamers and, based on the data received, updates are released: with balance edits, expanding game capabilities, mechanics, etc. This is an ongoing work that will keep users interested.

AVADA MEDIA has been developing games, mobile applications, websites and other innovative solutions for over 10 years.

We have all the necessary knowledge to launch a startup from scratch to full implementation.