Mobile games are widely known as the app category of astonishing financial successes that no other app niche or category can match. But successes alone don’t guarantee that every other mobile game will be financially successful. The truth is far from it. Only a handful of top-notch game developers have the largest share of the game revenue pie, while most others make enough to survive or struggle to make enough traction.
So, successful game app development is not easy. You must follow the footsteps of successful game apps and, simultaneously, invent your unique way of engaging players with gameplay. This is why we are here to explain how you can build a successful mobile game step-by-step. Let’s start.
Choose a mobile OS platform.
You first need to choose the operating system (OS) platform for where you are going to unleash the game app. Is it going to be an iOS game or an Android game app? You can reach out to a wider device ecosystem audience with an Android game, so you need a better development budget.
But you only get access to a limited market by launching the game for one OS platform. For reaching out to the bigger game-playing audience, it is always better to go for cross-platform development.
Select the game engine
Using appropriate game engines, tools, and technologies is a key factor in developing a quality game. Let’s have a quick overview of the popular game engines that are used by leading game apps.
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Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine is widely known for its great graphics capabilities and true-to-life picture quality. You can just create a basic project in minutes, and then the sky’s the limit for incorporating capabilities, features, and game environment elements.
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Unity
Unity is the second most popular mobile game engine that comes with a large number of cross-platform development tools along with an inbuilt editor. This Engine is equally used for high-quality 2D and lucid 3D games.
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Construct 2
Construct two is often regarded as the best choice for the ease of building mobile game apps. This game engine can help you drag-and-drop game UI elements besides shaping the principal game logic.
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GameMaker
GameMaker is a well-equipped 2D game development engine that several popular indie game titles have used. When you want a simple and beginner-level game engine while not compromising on the gameplay quality, this is the game engine of your choice.
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Cocos 2D-x
Cocos is a free, open-source game-building tool that offers meticulous and guided development. Offering a large global community, this Engine is also popular for platform-specific graphic design.
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Corona SDK
Corona is another free and open-source game development tool that allows beginners as well as seasoned experts to develop different types of games with the least effort. It is equipped with a large library full of UI elements and a repository of advanced plugins.
Create a Game MVP
This development approach allows you to shape an app with incremental value additions called Minimum Viable Product (MVP). This is popular because it requires less investment and complexity-handling initially, but with the feedback of the app users, it can fix issues and make value additions through subsequent updates. You can also create an MVP version of your game app.
It is important to decide the game levels at the beginning of the project and design for each level with a balance of gaming challenges and gaming fun. Here the game logic will play a crucial role. It will be followed by the design of game characters for each level.
Creating the game graphics
The next step will be creating the mobile game app’s graphic assets, including all game character design, visual background, and style design. This is where an expert and experienced graphic mobile game designer can play an important role. Some key tools used widely for the graphic design of game apps include
Photoshop, 3Ds Max, Maya, or several others.
Creating the Gameplay Experience
Now you have all the key elements that make a game app in your hands. This is when you need to focus on fine-tuning the gameplay experience. A good recipe is not just about putting a lot of expensive cooking ingredients into the cooking bowl; it is more about cooking skills. The same goes for game development.
Some of the useful tips for shaping a great gaming experience are explained here below.
- Game graphics should be frictionless and intuitively engaging.
- Create easy-to-use game controls and stay away from complicated gameplay actions.
- Make sure you create an engaging game storyline.
- Do everything on the QA testing front to ensure a seamless gaming experience.
Wrapping Up
As you build your ambitious game project, you must consider it a business opportunity that can easily turn into a creative dollar machine. Many game apps in recent years became overnight and overwhelming success just because they shaped a game idea to perfection and continued to improve it based upon the player’s experience. Do you want to make such a success story? Then the above steps and tips might be useful for you.
Last but not least, a mobile game app will lose its charm even after a resounding success. Except for a handful of groundbreaking games, most just hit the top chart, only to be forgotten within a year. So, instead of making sky-high ambition, it is always appropriate to create small success stories that motivate you to bring something new every once in a while. That’s how successful game development companies figure out their releases over time.
