Successful mobile games start with a great idea, but it’s up to developers to bring that idea to life and in a way that players enjoy. It’s not always easy to get it right, which is why so many mobile games never make it.
If you want your mobile game to succeed, make sure that you’re not making these five mistakes.
1. Ignoring Your Target Audience
One of the biggest mistakes mobile game developers make is ignoring their target audience. Many developers just assume that they know what gamers want and how they’ll play. But it’s crucial to understand and get to know your audience when developing a mobile game.
If you don’t know what will appeal to your target audience, you’ll have a hard time creating a game that users will want to download.
Here are a few questions to answer when building a game for your target audience:
- What are their main interests?
- What activities do they enjoy?
- Can they afford your game?
- Which operating system do they prefer?
Once you have answers to these questions, you can make sure that you are developing a game that your audience will love and will want to download.
2. Not Defining a USP for the Game
Every product, even mobile games, needs to have a unique selling point, or USP. People need a reason to download your game over other games.
If you have a completely unique idea and gameplay style, then that may be your USP. But most mobile games just provide a different take or theme on existing games.
When defining your USP, ask the following questions:
- What makes this game unique?
- How is this game different from other games?
- Why would people want to download this game?
If you can’t find good answers to these questions, you may want to sit down and rethink your game and incorporate elements that make it unique.
People want something new. They need a reason to give your game a try or hand over their hard-earned money to play your game. Your USP will be the reason your game succeeds.
3. Not Testing or Bug Fixing Enough
A poor-performing game with bugs and errors will only frustrate players and make you look unprofessional. Testing is just as important as the game development itself, and if you’re not testing enough to work out all of the kinks, you’re going to get complaints and poor ratings on your game.
It’s worth investing in thorough mobile apps testing to make sure that your game runs as you intend under a wide range of circumstances. Professional testing services will ensure that the app functions without issue under real-life circumstances.
4. Not Understanding How People Play Mobile Games
Along with not understanding your audience, another common mistake that developers make is not considering how people play mobile games.
Most people play mobile games when they’re on the go. They can’t concentrate on the game in the same way they would concentrate on a PC or console game. Most people play mobile games to pass the time, and typically, not for long periods of time. It’s important to keep that in mind.
To make your players happy, make sure that you’re incorporating features that support their playstyle, like:
- Being able to pause the game whenever they want
- Save user data, progress and status automatically and regularly
- Being able to play offline.
It’s great to be able to play with other players online, but consider adding features that allow the game to be played offline when no network is available. Otherwise, your app will be useless in these situations and may even frustrate players.
Understanding how people play mobile games will really help you develop a game that matches your users’ lifestyle and playstyle.
5. Making the Game Too Complicated
Remember, most mobile gamers are casual players. They play when they’re on the go, and they don’t normally play for long periods of time.
If you develop an overly complicated game, players aren’t going to stick around. The key is to make the game fun, rewarding and easy to play. Players are limited to using their phone for controls, which means that you want to keep your controls as simple as possible.
Game development is both an art and a science, and it takes time to develop a truly successful game. If you can avoid these five mistakes, you’ll greatly increase your chances of success.
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