The hyper-casual genre has taken over mobile stores. Someone believes that he will die soon, but this is definitely not destined to come true in the near future. Only from October 2018 to March 2019 hyper-casual games downloaded more than times.
What makes the genre so successful and can you borrow anything from it? Under the cut is a translation of an analysis of the game design features that make the genre addictive and popular.
Hyper what?
Hyper-casual is a simple game with addictive gameplay and minimalistic art, which is usually played only with the help of βtapβ on the screen. They have simple and clear goals - to score more points, clear levels, and so on. Think of it as a game-jam project, but with better production quality and meta.
If you (like me) follow the weekly updates to the App Store, then you know that hyper-casual games are taking over the store. Due to minimalism and simplicity, developers can spend several months, if not weeks, on development. It's part of the strategy that makes hyper-casual games successful. Major hyper-casual game publishers (Ketchapp, Voodoo, Appsolute Games) release at least one game a week. And people love them β hyper-casual games were downloaded over 100 million times in 2018.
Let me play this thing already!
For the sake of simplicity, I will use some of the popular games as examples as I explore different areas of the genre.
Let's start with the opening.
Being bored, I scrolled through the Instagram feed and discovered Ball Blast β a short 30-second video with the main features made me download the game. The video showed how easy it is to play and win. I started almost instantly - the small size of the game is very important for casual hypermarket games.
An example of a promotional video from social networks
Now about how most users discover these games. Hyper-casual games rely heavily on User Acquisition campaigns on social media. If someone is browsing social networks, then he is most likely just bored. The user is looking for ways to entertain himself, and this is where these hyper-casual games act as a "knight in shining armor."
The idea is to quickly explain to a potential player that the game is fun and can be started instantly. There is also a high probability that they are sitting from a smartphone, and no one likes to download gigabytes (even through good Wi-Fi). Hence the need for a small file size.
Okay, the player has loaded the game and is ready to start. Now what? This brings us to the next topic, onboarding.
It takes about 7 seconds for the player to decide how fun the game is and whether to leave it. Such a short time frame means that there is no need for a long tutorial and a multi-screen UI.
Ball Blast follows these rules. As soon as you launch the game, you will be presented with a screen that says swipe to shoot - and these are the only tutorials you will see. You touch the screen, the gun starts to shoot.
You start shooting and realize that the cannon can be moved horizontally. As your brain gets used to the "shoot and move" mechanics, several numbered balls will appear on the screen. You blow them up, they give coins, and large balls break into smaller ones. Simple, right?
The same applies to Ketchapp's Stack game, which loads instantly on the game screen with just a tap. You will immediately see how the square moves, and that when you click it falls on the stack of squares below, and any protruding part is cut off. Due to the simple mechanics, tutorials are not needed - the player learns from failures and improves his results. The gameplay is easy to master - just look at it.
Sign in and out
You know how easy and fast it can be to start playing a hyper-casual game. You take out your smartphone, unlock it, click on the game icon, and in a couple of seconds you are already playing.
It's what the brain wants when it's bored to death. I play a session, fail a couple of times, set a record and collect rewards. This is a short feedback loop. Successful or unsuccessful actions are reported instantly. Combined with upgrades (which we'll talk about later), you'll have a positive feedback loop that's fun and short at the same time.
Short feedback loop - player improves skills if he loses
If you've made a game with catchy gameplay and players love it, know that this is probably the only thing they're worried about. Ball Blast lets me in the game as soon as I launch the game because it understands my needs - instant pleasure. No UI transitions, cutscenes, and texts. Even if I log into the game after a week, I know how to interact with it thanks to the simplest mechanics. Logging in and out of a gaming session is another important aspect that helps you succeed. On breaks, I play hyper-casual games - they do not require much time and deep immersion.
Give me all the power
Core gameplay is what keeps the player. It is simple, addictive and a desire to return to the game. What's fun about shooting multiple balls in Ball Blast? When I first saw the ad, I thought, βOkay, this is fun, but will it be fun in a couple of days?β. Answer: "Yes, it will, and it's still fun." We come to another key point - upgrades.
In Ball Blast, from the destroyed balls you get gems and coins - a kind of "software". The former are needed to buy cosmetics and do not greatly affect the gameplay, while the latter are used to upgrade the gun. There are four types of upgrades:
- Fire Speed: Increases fire speed.
- Fire Power: Increases damage.
- Coins Drop: Increases the value and number of coins that drop.
- Offline Earnings: Increases the amount of coins earned in the background.
They all work in synergy to increase your power in the game. For example, the Coins Drop upgrade allows you to collect more coins in a single session, which makes it easier to level up your gun - upgrading weapons is what makes you feel powerful. This is what makes feedback special - the player feels strong after every game session. And since the player always wants more, he plays more often, farms coins and buys upgrades.
The levels are well balanced to maintain this cycle: there are those where you can fully demonstrate your strength, and there are others where the current power is no longer enough and you have to pump.
Another game that is made on the same principle is Mr. Gun by Ketchapp. You destroy opponents, get coins, and use them to buy new, more powerful weapons. You will quickly be given a premium pistol - this is how the game will explain about upgrades in the form of new weapons and their benefits.
I'll take this opportunity to compare this type of hyper-casual games with dungeon crawlers. If you've played Diablo or any other dungeon you'll understand. You have the first equipment and weak enemies of the first level, which die from a few hits. As you progress, the loot becomes steeper, and the enemies die already from one blow - you feel the power. But then you get to a new location and get acquainted with second-level opponents. You immediately realize that your powerful equipment is not so powerful. If you want to dominate again, the cycle repeats.
Ball Blast works in the same way, only weapons are pumped instead of new equipment. And the balance and pace of the levels constantly support the need for improvements.
What if there are no improvements?
Upgrades are cool, but what about games that don't have them? That's a good question.
You know about games where you have to set records among friends - these games rely on a special kind of upgrades. Let's take Stack as the example discussed above. The player has nothing to upgrade, but the more he plays, the better he gets - he improves his skills. This motivates me to keep playing. And if you make him compete with friends, then everything will become more personal and competitive - another reason to return to the game.
These implicit upgrades make the player feel smart or strong and give a sense of progress. The same applies to hyper-casual puzzles, where the player feels smart as they solve more and more puzzles that get harder as time goes on.
There are plenty of hyper-casual games out there these days that rely on single levels rather than endless gameplay. Each level has something unique with new challenges for the player that generates curiosity and desire to continue. This is also a great way to convey progression.
Secret ingredient
So far, we have talked about how hyper-casual games attract players through social media ads, retain them, attract them with simple but addictive mechanics. This is all? No.
The magical element, invisible to the naked eye, is Gratification.
To better understand the term in terms of game design, it can be defined as a form of visual/audio/emotional feedback that the player receives after performing any action in the game. And this connection makes actions joyful and meaningful.
Here are a few examples:
Notice how responsive the Super Meat Boy character moves? When the jump button is pressed, the character smoothly arcs into an arc, taking into account inertia (if any), and is accompanied by a perfectly synchronized animation. When you make this perfect jump over an obstacle or a cliff, you feel satisfied. Since the game requires fast and precise movements from the player, the entire game system has been designed to please the user.
Housemarque's Nex Machina - When a bullet hits an enemy, you get confirmation of a successful hit through a thin white flash above the enemy, who dies with a large cube explosion and accompanied by appropriate sound effects. Killing one enemy already gives a sense of satisfaction and euphoria, now imagine destroying the boss. Various weapons, enemies and levels delight the player at every moment of the game.
Remember Ball Blast? The movement of the cannon that follows your finger, the feedback of balls firing and disintegrating, temporary bonus effects and upgrades all work together to provide satisfying feedback throughout the game.
Another great example is Stack Fall (by Voodoo). You control a bouncing ball: it falls and breaks blocks in its path when you touch and hold your finger on the screen. Paint splatter, haptic feedback, block breaking are some of the elements that are fun and enhance the experience.
Regardless of the actions, the player must feel satisfied. Imagine a platform game where the character doesn't have a landing animation after jumping to convey state changes or dust effects on the ground - that would be weird and boring. And it's not just limited to game actions, you can delight the user through the UI using contextual effects and animations. One example is Homescapes. After completing the level, a whole lot of them appear to emphasize the victory. It's even more satisfying when the level is hard and you finally get through it.
An addictive game loop combined with fun-enhancing elements make up most of the factors needed to create a fun hyper-casual game.
Conclusion
There was a time when I didn't approve of hyper-casual games, for my own reasons: non-existent art, poor originality, aggressive use of ads, and so on. He believed that innovative games every week in the App Store were hidden behind a huge stream of hyper-casual games. I'm the kind of guy who thinks games are an art form, a new experience made with polish and care. Maybe that's why it takes me years to finish my games.
We, as game designers, pride ourselves on developing complex and deep games, but we often neglect the simplest ones. Through hyper-casual games, I paid attention to small details and opened up new perspectives in game development. To summarize the key aspects of the genre:
- A mechanic that doesn't need a tutorial.
- The player's pleasure derived from their actions.
- Short feedback loops.
- Ease of entry and exit.
- Feeling of power/intelligence in the form of a progression.
- A simple meta to support the core gameplay.
Who knows what the future holds for us. I don't know if hyper-casual games will remain, but there are already a few things that can be taken from them that will be useful in the development of games in other genres.
Source: habr.com
