Mobile Game Development

Top grossing mobile games

The Gaming Spotlight 2022 report from Data.ai and IDC revealed that mobile games make up 61 % of the global gaming market, which reached $222 billion by late 2022. From this, consumer spending on mobile games generated $135 billion in revenue.

To date, a total of 41 great titles have generated over $1 billion in revenue. However, not every game dev can create a masterpiece. It takes much more than copying some AAA title to achieve success in the gaming industry. Before turning an idea into a startup, it is vital to study major competitors in your target genre. To start, have a look at the top 10 billion-dollar revenue games:

Mobile game development stages

Do you want to know how to get started developing mobile games and what steps are required? The process boils down to 7 stages:

1. Studying the market and coming up with a concept.
2. Choosing a category for the future game.
3. Working out the gameplay.
4. Choosing an OS.
5. Creating a stunning design.
6. Devising a monetisation plan.
7. Developing or ordering a mobile game.

The concept stage

Your concept is the cornerstone of your future success. Remember that seasoned game devs have already brought thousands of concepts to life. This means that you need to either enter the market with a groundbreaking new idea or redesign an existing concept in a new way. In any case, it is important to target a wider audience and keep them in mind as you develop your game.

Before you start creating a mobile game, decide what it will look like and who your target player is. Will it be an arcade, a simulator, an action-adventure, a strategy game, or an RPG? Think of the age group of your target audience. Are you focusing on young people or middle-aged gamers? Answer these questions, then move on.

Choosing a category

While genres are countless, for developers there are 3 fundamental types of games:

1. Hyper-casual games don’t have a storyline and are played in short sessions. The simplicity and intuitive controls are engaging for a wide range of players.
2. Mid-core games are more about strategic thinking. They usually involve user ranking, which attracts competitive players. Examples: Apex Legends Mobile, Clash of Clans, Dislyte.
3. Hardcore games are characterised by their depth and complexity. They are powerful time busters for players who enjoy all-out gaming. Examples: Civilization VI, Honor of Kings, PUBG mobile.

On the Apple App Store and Google Play, many of the most popular titles are mid-core or hardcore. The bestsellers tend to be mid-core. However, the most popular free games are generally hyper-casual.

Engagement in gameplay

As a general rule, a user will be engaged in a game if it is easy-to-play and has increasing difficulty. Intuitiveness and addictiveness are two key factors that will help retain players.

Players will lose interest if a game drags on for too long. To maintain interest, offer short levels with plenty of unlockable content, various bonuses, and secret items.

Choosing an OS

When developing a mobile game, you need to pick a target operating system; in other words, a platform. Developers tend to focus on Android before iOS since it anchors 71 % of the market. Cross-platform development is a promising approach, but keep in mind that a hybrid product always entails a larger expense.

The deciding factor here is what your target market is. You are far better off concentrating your resources on the OS that paying gamers will use. If extra expenditures aren’t a big deal for you, set out to conquer both systems simultaneously.

Creating a stunning design

Creating a design for a mobile game is far trickier than for an app. The devil is in the details, so perfection can only be achieved by painstakingly fine-tuning hundreds of small variables.

But, in the end, the effort will be worth it — a seamless design is sure to be remembered by sophisticated gamers. It could even be the thing that makes you stand out from the crowd.

Devising a monetisation plan

Only 3.1 % of the 3.5 million apps on Google Play are paid. This percentage is so tiny because nowadays, the ‘freemium’ model dominates the market. In this monetisation model, a user can download the app for free but has to pay to access certain features.

However, there are alternative means of monetisation besides freemium:

• In-game advertising. Most games are monetised through advertising. But a drawback here is that it does more to discourage players than it does to benefit developers. Many hyper-casual games get low ratings and complaints because of annoying ads. As a result, gamers think the only objective game dev studios have is making money on advertising.
• Rewards for watching ads. This is a more appealing and socially acceptable format where users are rewarded for watching short promotional videos (e.g. with virtual currency).
• Monthly subscription. It may become a more mainstream way to monetise a game. Here’s how it works. The user purchases a subscription with a bank card linked to their store account. After this, a small amount will be debited every month. It’s more convenient for players: they don’t have to watch ads and they only need to make small monthly payments to enjoy all the available bonuses.
• In-game purchases. Most grossing games utilise this monetisation model. It helps developers move away from advertising and allows players to use virtual currency for various purposes.

Developing or ordering a mobile game

The last step is developing a game directly in-house or outsourcing to a mobile game development company. You will need a team of experienced and skilful programmers who will transform your idea into a profitable business. Creating cool gaming projects requires a professional approach.

Polygant has been developing mobile games and apps for 10 years. We are ready to embark on a project of any complexity and bring all your ideas, plots, and characters to life. Contact us on Telegram to discuss your future masterpiece.

Mobile game engines

In the gaming industry, developers employ a plethora of integrated development environments (IDEs), game engines, toolkits, programs, and frameworks. Amongst them are the following 4 widespread tools:

1. Unity.
2. Unreal Engine.
3. AppGameKit.
4. MonoGame.

Unity

Unity is a cross-platform game engine that was released by Unity Technologies in 2005. Supporting 25 platforms, it is widely used in the gaming industry. It has a proprietary IDE and a modular component system. Developers working with this engine use C# to write scripts in the Unity editor, as well as KALI plugins.

Benefits of developing mobile games on Unity:

• Fast prototyping and testing, allowing for shorter development time
• Easy debugging with a play mode in which variables are displayed as they would appear in the gameplay
• Audio and visual effects that can be adapted to any device
• Built-in analytical tools that provide information to improve gaming experience.

Unreal Engine

Unreal Engine is an engine that was released by Epic Games in 1996. Originally, it was designed for the creation of first-person shooters, with Unreal (1998) being a pioneering example. Later versions were used for a variety of genres and platforms. To simplify porting, it utilises a modular system of dependent components. Developers working with this engine use C++ and the Blueprints system for visual scripts.

Benefits of developing mobile games on Unreal Engine:

• High performance due to the fact that little computing power is used
• Open-source software making for easy development
• Facilitating a fast iteration process that is helpful in the creation of a new project
• Supporting various rendering, audio playback, voice-over, and speech recognition systems.

AppGameKit

This is a mobile game development toolkit that has been developed by The Game Creator since 2014. It comprises 3 versions:

1. Classic — a standard IDE released in 2014. It uses the AppGameKit Script language and C++ libraries.
2. Studio — an advanced IDE released in 2019. It uses the AppGameKit Script language, block design, and a drag & drop method.
3. Mobile — a free mobile IDE. It also uses the AppGameKit Script language. Then you can run the project directly on a smartphone or tablet with a quick compiler.

Benefits of AppGameKit:

• 3 IDEs for developers of different levels
• Intuitive scripting language
• Cross-platform availability of IDEs and game projects
• Built-in monetisation tools.

MonoGame

This is a free, open-source framework that was released by the nonprofit organisation MonoGame Team in 2009. It’s used to create mobile games in C#. MonoGame finished the API XNA 4.0, which Microsoft had abandoned previously.

Benefits of MonoGame:

• Flexibility and powerful customisation that help make games truly unique
• Open-source code for even more flexibility
• Simplified cross-platform development
• Fast iterations to facilitate prototyping and project launching.

What mistakes to avoid in development

Progress has given the gaming industry many new technologies, such as augmented and virtual reality. New horizons are constantly unfolding for developers. Today, almost everyone is pursuing the idea of creating a mobile game full of trendy features. However, many of them will fall into one of these common pitfalls:

• Overload of functions. Don’t stuff your early release with the entire range of functions. You are better off splitting the release process into several stages. Introducing a couple of new functions with every new version will help you learn more about user behaviour and pinpoint what areas to improve.
• Poor monetisation strategy. Devote enough time to build a monetisation plan beforehand, so it corresponds to your goals (e.g. earliest profit) and market demand.
• Loss of interest. In order to retain your players you have to apply constant effort. Before attempting to attract new players, find out why existing ones are leaving. Possible reasons may include annoying bugs, lack of gamification mechanics, or an unfriendly interface. Gamers get bored when nothing changes, so regularly introduce new levels, characters, and UI elements. Study the feedback to get hints on what shortcomings to improve upon and what ideas to implement.
• Weak promotion. Even a flawlessly designed project will fail if not properly advertised. It’s imperative to invest in marketing to get your game rolling. With a comprehensive budget, you will be able to order reviews on popular blogs and publish ads on social media and game review websites.
• Inadequate developer team. If you can’t program yourself, decide who will take care of the technical part of the project. Do you need a full-time team? How many employees do you need? Will you hire remote freelancers or delegate the project to a company that will develop a turnkey mobile game? When you need a reliable approach, quality shouldn’t be neglected and the work shouldn’t be stretched for months. Then it is better to contact professionals.

Polygant is the team that you need. We are ready to work on your project from scratch, starting with the terms of reference, or take up your semi-finished game.

Where to order a mobile game

Polygant programmers are skilled and experienced in developing products for a wide range of operating systems. We start each project by meticulously studying the project requisites and specs. Then into an agile cycle, striving to ensure the mobile game’s timely release. We can handle any components and game types including:

• Developing a game core
• Modifying a gaming engine
• Creating game assets
• Introducing cutting-edge gaming functions
• Porting to various platforms
• Gamified learning apps
• Social media games.

How much mobile game development costs

Creating a game is the lengthiest and most labour-intensive process. At this stage in the project, it’s not enough to hire a couple of budget freelancers such as a game designer and a full-stack developer alone. You need a fully equipped team of professionals including:

• A game designer
• A game writer
• A level and map designer
• An animator
• A back-end developer
• A front-end developer
• An audio engineer
• QA and testers.

Mobile game development stages always include the following:

1. Writing a design document (concept) — 20+ hours.
2. Designing the game (gameplay, mechanics) — 35+ hours.
3. Writing a script, conversations, UI text — 20+ hours.
4. Designing maps and levels — 30+ hours.
5. Drawing arts, sprites, textures, decorations — 25+ hours.
6. Creating models, animations, cinematics, special effects — 25+ hours.
7. Back-end development — 55+ hours.
8. Front-end development — 40+ hours.
9. Recording sound effects and backgrounds, mixing sound — 20+ hours.
10. Testing — approximately 30 hours (depending on the number of OSs).

Based on these figures, the cost of developing a mobile game starts at $100,000. This is the cost of an MVP. Further expenses will depend on the complication factor. Please note that developers have to support your game after the release: fix possible bugs, improve the existing features and introduce new ones, and create new content (levels, characters, items). This additional service is charged separately.

By employing unconventional thinking and creativity, Polygant creates exciting games. We use this approach at all stages to enhance our primary skill — developing mobile games. Request a consultation and we will start working on your project as soon as possible!