Development of games of different genres
The most important part of game development starts with choosing a genre. Genre affects the development cost, the final gameplay, the game’s target audience, and the monetization system. Also, genre sets gamers certain expectations of your game and influences its popularity.
We will talk about popular game genres: how genre influences the target audience, how to customize monetization for genre and what you need to develop games of different genres.
How gamers choose to play a game
First of all, players are interested in the game’s setting: the game world, possible game mechanics and story. Examples:
- events take place in a fantasy world – players expect elves, magic and dragons;
- events take place in the future – spaceships, high technology, aliens;
- events take place in a specific historical era – historical figures, real historical conflicts, and technology;
- alternate history – strange technology, fresh visual style, allusions to the real world.
A ready-made setting helps the developer choose the genre and mechanics that will reveal the story and keep the player interested. For example, New World Computing came up with the Might and Magic setting in 1986. In this setting the developers made several role-playing games of the same name, turn-based strategy game Heroes of Might and Magic, first-person adventure game Dark Messiah of Might and Magic and card game Duel of Champions.
How game genre affects target audience and monetization
Like the setting, the genre raises certain expectations for gamers about gameplay. Game genres can be categorized by what qualities the game requires from the gamer:
- reaction – how quickly and accurately the player will react to what is happening on the screen;
- Thinking – how correctly the player uses the game mechanics;
- Patience – how much time a player will spend in the game to win.
Most developers try to keep a balance of requirements to fit the average player and gather the maximum audience. Some developers intentionally inflate the requirements for one of the player’s personal qualities. This is how developers narrow the reach of the game, but still build a loyal group of players. Examples:
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – to enjoy the game you need to have excellent reaction and aiming skills;
- Europa Universalis and other strategies from Paradox Interactive – you need to think a lot to lead your country to victory;
- EVE Online – players need to spend months gathering resources to build a good ship or improve their character.
The easiest games to monetize are those that require the player to be patient. If a player likes the gameplay, but doesn’t want to spend a few days collecting resources or pumping up a character, he will prefer to buy some bonus or watch an advertisement. This monetization system only requires a properly set up game balance.
The second most difficult monetization model is games with high reaction requirements. You can’t add Pay to Win elements to such games, otherwise the game may lose a significant portion of its audience. The best monetization model is selling cosmetics: costumes for characters, customization of sounds, animations and weapon models.
The hardest thing to monetize is games with thoughtful gameplay like strategy. In these games, players are primarily interested in challenging game play and the opportunity to try out new game situations. Players will be willing to pay for add-ons: new game factions, quests, or mechanics.
Genres of games with an emphasis on patience
This includes games that people can play for years. The depth of the game mechanics doesn’t matter much. A player achieves victory or visible progress by playing for months without a break or spending real money on the game.
Developing a mobile strategy
Mobile strategy is one of the most lucrative genres on cell phones. The player builds a city and hires an army. At first everything goes quickly, but the higher the level of the player – the longer he has to wait for the construction of new buildings and in-game tasks.
Mobile strategy games have very simple mechanics and economics, but you have to make in-game purchases or watch ads to beat other players. Therefore, the average mobile strategy with good advertising brings in anywhere from a few million dollars per year of existence.
Most mobile strategies don’t offer anything new in terms of mechanics, so the success of the game depends on the setting and visual style.
Mobile MMORPG development
MMORPGs involve the gradual development of a hero or group of heroes. The player gains experience for battles, buys or wins new more powerful equipment and competes with other players. To fully pump up one character you need to play for weeks. Therefore, it’s easy to introduce time savers into such games in the form of gear sets, experience gain acceleration, or resource boxes for pumping.
MMORPGs can be classic games with real-time gameplay, such as Diablo Immortal or Lineage M. The development of such a game requires large investments in 3D graphics and open world.
Right now, turn-based RPG battlers are the most popular. The player recruits a team of heroes and fights enemies in turn-based mode. This type of gameplay does not require a fast internet connection and instant reactions, so it suits most players.
For a game like this, a beautiful setting is important so that players enjoy looking at the routine gameplay.
Developing a clicker game
Clicker is one of the most addictive genres. Its essence is that the player presses a button and gets a coin. He can buy boosts that will automatically mine coins or increase profits with a single click.
Such games are addictive with simple gameplay and visible progression. But their economy is set up in such a way that player profits grow much slower than in-game store prices. The gamer has to buy reinforcements if they want to unlock new reinforcements.
Genres of reaction-oriented games
This includes games where winning depends on the player’s reaction speed and experience. Often such a game consists of one simple mechanic.
Hypercasual game development
Hypercasual games are the most blurred game genre. The main feature of the genre: the player learns how to play in 30 seconds, and then tries to beat his record or unlock new game features.
For the hyper casual genre, the setting doesn’t matter much, what matters is striking design and visual evidence of progress. For example, in the mobile game Stack, you have to build a tower out of slabs. When a player installs a new slab the game background changes color slightly – this is how the player sees his progress.
To develop a successful hyper casual game, you need to come up with unique and simple game mechanics. Ideally, a game like this can be played with one finger, two fingers at most. Examples:
- Doodle Jump – jump with the drawn creature, try not to hit the enemies;
- Join Clash – you have to lead a crowd of little men through obstacles and capture the enemy castle;
- Beat Stomper – bounce off moving platforms to gain points.
Development of a racing game
Racing games require the player to react quickly to the actions of opponents. Arcade races, side view races, and kart races have caught on the most on cell phones.
Side view racing is a development of an idea from the old Gravity Defied game. The player needs to drive a difficult track and not crash his vehicle. In the process, the player improves his transportation and buys new cars and motorcycles. Examples of such games are Hill Climb Racing, Trials Xtreme
Kart racing is a new sub-genre of racing simulators. All karts have the same characteristics, and there are boosters and weapons scattered around the map. The genre is still fresh, with only Mario Kart Tour among the big competitors.
Fighting game development
In fighting games, players fight against each other, and victory depends only on the player’s skills. Developing a fighting game on a mobile platform is complicated by the fact that the controls need to be adapted to the touch screen. That’s why smartphones don’t have fighting games with four buttons for strikes and complex combos like Tekken and Street Fighter.
A good option for a fighting game is the Smash Bros. analog. or Brawlhalla. Characters only have one or two strikes, and you have to throw the enemy out of the arena to win.
Genres of games in which you have to think
This is the most difficult category for game development. Developers need to come up with a whole set of mechanics that work on the rock-paper-scissors-paper principle. This includes full-fledged turn-based strategy, board and card games, puzzle and story games.
Single-player strategy games
In these games, the player needs to make good decisions and do a lot of planning. On the touch screen it is hard to realize a convenient control of the army, so the developers use indirect control. In indirect control, the player directs his subordinates and they decide how to execute the order. Examples of such games are:
- Rebel Inc. – the player tries to stabilize regions overrun by rebels. To win, you need to surround the rebels and budget wisely;
- Art of War: Legions – players place armies on the battlefield, and their armies fight independently;
- Game Dev. Tycoon – The player manages a company that develops games.
Development of logic games
These are puzzle games in which the player solves small problems. For example, games of the genre 3-in-a-row, Sokoban, Tetris, Connecting Pipes or Solitaire. For such games it is important to develop several dozens or even hundreds of levels of varying complexity. Logic games are easy to monetize – just insert ads after each attempt to pass a level or sell bonuses that will help you pass difficult levels.
Development of quests with the search for items
Quests require the player to be attentive and to be able to draw the right conclusions. Quests can be categorized into three types:
- classic quests – the player controls the character with the cursor, the character has a whole set of actions: look, touch, apply an item from the inventory. These are often remakes of old quests like Kyrandia or Curse of the Monkey Island;
- quests with the search for items – on the screen scattered a large number of brightly colored objects, and the player must find the necessary items in a short time;
- New wave quests – the player controls the character and performs contextual actions. There are often options to choose from, and the quest itself is done in 2D graphics or an overhead view.
Quests can be monetized with hints. Hints highlight the player the items they need or simply tell them where they need to go. But it’s more profitable to sell quests for a small cost or break them up with paid episodes.
Game development of any genre in Kreonit studio
We have experience in developing games of any genre: from simple clickers to complex economic strategies. Experienced game designers, artists and programmers work on the games. We have marketers and monetization specialists to promote and capitalize.
If you want to order game development, but can’t decide on the genre write to us. We’ll tell you which game your mechanics and setting will fit into, and make the game turnkey
