Muse.On-The.Net

The mobile phone games industry has grown to become a viable business and yet most involved lament the lack of widespread usage amongst customers. Indeed, by some accounts, only 2.7% of US mobile phone owners have downloaded a game. Furthermore, a sense of stagnation has emerged, a feeling that the mobile games market may just be that small. As with so many one-time promising innovations, mobile phone games have lost the eye of the carriers, who look to mobile tv and other innovations as the new holy grail. What went wrong?

Developers have been critical of carriers, with their control of the game deck and focus on branded content. I have long expressed the notion that carriers are poorly equipt to make decisions about which games customers will purchase - it is simply outside their business expertise. Yet for all the difficulties faced and errors made, carriers intent is quite clear - to sell product. These days, it takes more than a brand to pitch a game to a carrier - it also has to be good. Carriers may have been slow to reach this conclusion, but have done so at last.

For too long developers have been busy building portfolios of games rather than lovingly crafting individual games. Carriers are partly to blame for this, as they demanded a regular stream of content and didn’t look too closely at it. It seemed enough to put up something in front of customers - a game is a game, right? Unfortunately, if a customer’s first experience with a game is a bad one, it is often their last experience, too. “The market will not grow and customers will not repeat-by if the basic quality of mobile games does not improve,” said Graeme Ferguson of Vodafone.

So what are the elements of success in mobile phone games? Whether the game is a simple puzzle game, a high energy racing game, or a multi-player strategy game, there are some general rules that apply.

• Self-evident gameplay. This doesn’t mean simple, but rather that, upon turning on a game I should understand what is expected of me. If I can’t figure out the purpose, objective, and basic strategy instantly, I have no context from which to learn the game, and no desire to play further.

• Intuitive controls. I should be able to fulfill basic game actions almost immediately without reading the rulebook or game instructions.

• Only use necessary technology. If 3D adds to your game, include it. If it doesn’t, don’t. Too often, technology is added because it is the next great thing and not because it adds real value. A good game is a work of art, and seamlessly entertains. It isn’t a showcase for whiz bang technology.

• Game pace. A quality game will reward early and regularly, but will increase the reward threshold over time, corresponding to the learning curve of the game player. An excellent game maps the difficulty threshold such that a player is continually challenged; never too easy or too hard.

• Success is in the details. The smallest glitches are immediately evident and similarly so are the smallest improvements. Selection of fonts, choice of words, extra details in sound effects - these things matter. I’ve often found the best games go the extra mile on the extras - the little things make a good game a favourite game.