Game Refinery

FEBRUARY 8, 2024

Following the high-level trend of hybridization across mobile , more and more casual games have started introducing competitive elements into their live event strategies. With that in mind, are mobile game studios missing out on an important opportunity here to boost engagement?

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Big Games

AUGUST 19, 2021

In general, non-gamers do not have a good opinion about playing mobile games. And discussing the benefits of playing mobile games is a bit of a controversial topic. Though people might find it outrageous to get to know the benefits of playing mobile games, there are authorized and genuine studies and research on this topic.

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Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile Games 52

Logic Simplified

AUGUST 1, 2023

We will cover everything from crafting intuitive and engaging game mechanics to creating immersive storylines and themes to prioritizing user interface and experience. Game Mechanics Video game mechanics are the foundation of any game and dictate how players interact with the game world.

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Game Design Game Designer UX Mechanics 91

iXie gaming

APRIL 3, 2023

Mobile gaming has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry, with millions of users spending time playing games on their smartphones and tablets. As the mobile gaming market continues to expand, mobile game developers must find ways to make their games stand out in a crowded marketplace. So, let’s dive in!

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Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 17, 2023

State of the Mobile Games Market The Western mobile games market , which we broadly analyze by removing the Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese and Korean markets from the numbers, saw overall installs climb by 14% to 47.5B Noticeably, Tencent’s PUBG Mobile and Garena’s Free Fire were both down 37%.

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Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile Sandbox 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 29, 2024

Events with different mechanics sometimes complement each other, but at other times they divert players' attention, resulting in reduced activity and monetization. We had a case with an event based on merge mechanics. They just liked the mechanics and continued playing until the event had ended. Try different combos, too.

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Mechanics Content Puzzle Games 98

Deconstructor of Fun

OCTOBER 28, 2024

But Shooters on PC/Console are like Match games on Mobile -- one of the biggest genres, with players always hungry for another game… right? New Entrants are Struggling to Break-In While elder games have been fighting over a stagnant TAM of players, new entrants have struggled to gain traction into the market.

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Deconstructor of Fun

JULY 20, 2020

Riot’s Team Fight Tactics (TFT) was launched quickly to catch the emerging auto-chess genre that was gaining popularity as a mod on Twitch. Till date Team Fight Tactics has reached bit over 11M installs. A brand that is known to avoid excessive monetization mechanics steering always away from pay-to-win systems.

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Game Refinery

OCTOBER 11, 2022

Similar to the mechanics of Genshin Impact, the player explores the vast open-world by climbing on the walls, swimming in the rivers, gliding in the skies, wiping out enemies, and solving different kinds of puzzles. As a typical MMORPG feature, players can also challenge others for an open-world fight.

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Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 31, 2021

Post-COVID investment flows in Social and mobile gaming emerged as one of the best performing sectors during coronavirus, and the ensuing influx of investment will likely impact companies large and small. Finally, please take the numbers presented with a giant grain of salt. Among the most notable transactions was Playtika’s recent $14.6

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Mobile Mobile Games Feature 52

Deconstructor of Fun

MARCH 27, 2019

Both of the authors are true fans of Command & Conquer franchise and both of the authors understand all to well how hard it is to ship a hit mobile game. No matter how you look at it, Command and Conquer Rivals is a good mobile game and the team behind it should be proud of the game they shipped.

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PreMortem.Games

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

I left gamedev entirely for five years, because I was burned out from working on yet another F2P mobile casino game or whatever soulless product would feed my family.” I do sometimes have ‘flashes’ -or dreams- of cool ideas like a gameplay mechanic, other times a whole story or environment. Prepare to learn and give yourself time.

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Mircosoft Game Dev

JANUARY 28, 2025

The twin-stick shooter requires you to keep track of and fight the ever-closing game windows while evading enemies. Backpack Battles Backpack Battles decided to make inventory management the main game mechanic. Turn-based mechanics and an RPG flavor round off the experience. You can find the takeover recordings on our YouTube.

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Engineering Engine Mechanics Co-op 40

PreMortem.Games

JULY 17, 2023

The fact that you can tell who you’re up against because of how they fight, not how they look or what their name is. There is a much stronger presence in the mobile games segment, but more and more developers are also dabbling in PC games, which is great to see.” It was this idea that pushed everything else.

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Console First person PC Mesh 104

The Bottom Feeder

MARCH 5, 2024

The enormous mobile side of the business has been churning out massive piles of product (and 80 ripoffs of every game that gets any traction) for years. There is just too much entertainment out there fighting for too little free time. Watching the struggles of Unity is a good way to watch this whole mechanic play out.)

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iXie gaming

OCTOBER 10, 2023

Subscription Models: While subscription models have been around for a while and have paved the road for success for juggernauts like World of Warcraft, the model is more widely adopted today in the mobile platform. That said, the system still thrives in certain genres like fighting games and free-to-play RPGs.

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Deconstructor of Fun

MARCH 4, 2019

This one is written by Om Tandon (Director of User Experience, DIGIT Game Studios) and Abhimanyu Kumar (Mobile Games Consultant). Almost all Social Casino titles have fought for market share by staying safe and delivering authentic casino experiences on mobile. To make sure you don’t miss on all of the ?content

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UX Mechanics Build Point and Click 52

Deconstructor of Fun

OCTOBER 10, 2021

Written by Ethan Levy , who is always looking for worthy, free-to-play mobile games for the N3TWORK Platform. If you’re interested in growing your business on mobile and beyond, look no further. I spend most of my waking hours thinking about game mechanics and how they will make players feel. This post is sponsored by Xsolla.

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Asset Games Fighting Mobile 52

iXie gaming

NOVEMBER 25, 2022

Casual Mobile Art. Game art studios have been around for decades, but the industry has recently seen an explosion of casual mobile games. And with the internet being so widely accessible in the 21st century, this makes casual mobile art as a service a valuable tool for game developers. What do Game Art Studios do?

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Art Game Developer Game Development Studios 52

Deconstructor of Fun

FEBRUARY 12, 2024

Guest post by Kenneth Landen , Director of Product at Hit Factor Executive Summary In the ever-evolving landscape of mobile gaming, Supercell's Brawl Stars has undergone a remarkable resurgence, transforming challenges into triumphs. That’s because these new tiered purchase options include an old fan favorite, luck mechanics!

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Mechanics Content Feature Mobile 59

Deconstructor of Fun

FEBRUARY 3, 2020

Coin Master truly innovated on a core Casino mechanic by making random chance just one block in the core loop, not the only block. Expect more acquisitions, new game releases and revenue diversification efforts (also outside mobile games) from Playtika, as it prepares to bulk up before an imminent 2020 IPO. This is China based Funtrio.

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Mobile Mobile Feature UX 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JUNE 3, 2019

There was also this no-name developer Supercell that launched their first mobile games just few miles away back in 2012. Mechanics like auto-win and auto-battle clearly indicate the need for players to shorten their session and “be done” with the matching component of E&P. An unprecedented success from a no-name developer.

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Puzzle Feature Build Balance 52

Deconstructor of Fun

APRIL 2, 2022

Mobile games market predictions in 2022 Michail Katkoff, Savage Game Studios, and Deconstructor of Fun. Mobile gaming megatrends Eric Seufert, Mobile Dev Memo. Mobile ad spending worldwide is going up and shifting faster than ever from traditional channels like TV, OOO into digital.

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Mobile Mobile Balance Mobile Gaming 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 17, 2020

Here are the three things you need to know about ironSource: #1: They’re developing the most robust, data-driven growth engine for mobile games. #2: In fact, Arcade games alone make up for ~45% of 2019’s total download volume across all mobile gaming genres. This analysis is also brought to you by ironSource.

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Mechanics Platformer Studios Data 52

Deconstructor of Fun

APRIL 8, 2020

Considering the overly competitive mobile user acquisition market, increasing LTV over time is vital not only to succeed but to survive. Getting into an auto-battler like Riot’s Team Fight Tactics is very difficult. You can innovate by introducing a new take on the genre, which is yet to emerge on mobile.

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Data Build Mobile Mobile 59

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 14, 2020

Puzzle genre is the second largest, after strategy games, on mobile in terms of in-app purchases. King lost third of downloads but woke up towards the end of the year to fight back for downloads. Mario World was a fresh take but just like most of the publisher’s games on mobile, it sadly tanked.

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Puzzle Games Tile Mobile 52

Deconstructor of Fun

SEPTEMBER 19, 2022

The usage of spells, tactics, and magic items : Mechanics reminiscent of classic puzzle game boosters, but with more limited uses. Puzzle RPGs where the real meat is on the RPG and hero collection mechanics. After a successful Boss fight, the player was shipped off to the next island. Why did these changes not work?

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Deconstructor of Fun

APRIL 25, 2022

The card-battling RPG genre was one of the first in mobile games that enjoyed success at scale and popularity around the world. By embracing and encouraging gamers’ motivation to collect and to cultivate, the card battling genre has become a proven formula for mobile companies and studios to maximize their revenue.

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Baking Simulation Build Animation 52

Deconstructor of Fun

MAY 4, 2020

Most mobile gaming companies bet on incremental innovation as their gateway to success. Instead, we think that Clans would have declined even without Clash Royale (albeit at a slower rate) due to the “law of gravity” that all mobile games face after launch and, therefore, that Clash Royale was net positive. Cover image: Talouselämä. #1

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Keith Burgun

JULY 29, 2022

It’s the fault of developers for not exploring new kinds of stories, new kinds of worlds, new kinds of mechanics and so on. Even a handful of new mechanics or other properties are often enough to help create that question in people’s minds: “what else might be possible in this game?”

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Deconstructor of Fun

DECEMBER 11, 2019

But with an increasing number of hypercasual games fighting for the same audience with often very similar visuals, gameplay goals and marketing tactics, IPMs are bound to suffer and therefore indicating market saturation. Source: Mobile Gaming Industry Analysis for H1 2019. According to Tenjin, CPIs are trending upwards since Q1 2019.

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Deconstructor of Fun

SEPTEMBER 30, 2019

gatcha mechanic, piggy bank, etc.). It’s important to move away from the mindset that subscriptions are just an auto-renewal mechanism for discounted IAP. In mobile games’ subscriptions design, some offer a booster or bonus points, to reinforce the action of ‘play.’ The easy answer is wrong. Early access to content.

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Game Analytics

DECEMBER 28, 2022

Think of this as a hyper-casual Beyblade game with a merge mechanic mixed in the middle. What we liked about Spinner Merge is how they came about the idea of bringing in the merge mechanic. Cart Crash is an incredibly satisfying game that relies much more on timing than any other mechanic. Spinner Merge by Sunday.GG.

Mobile Gaming 98

Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile Games 98

Deconstructor of Fun

DECEMBER 12, 2021

On the other hand, Axie Infinity mashes familiar turn-based gameplay with a Hearthstone-like card battler mechanic. All of this is rooted in the fact that having a card battler mechanic live in the core gameplay greatly increases the player skill ceiling , especially when playing against other players.

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Mechanics Games Balance Game Designer 52

The Liquid Fire

DECEMBER 29, 2023

Overview My very first blog project involved creating mechanics for a Tactics RPG. Board Data Let’s begin by creating a ScriptableObject that can live as a project asset and hold all the information we will need to represent a board for our combatants to fight upon.

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Tile Point and Click Asset Scripting 52

Game Refinery

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

Niantic’s AR-based mobile game took the world by storm and broke numerous world records , including the most revenue grossed by a mobile game in its first month ($206.5m). Our 2023 Midcore Gaming Apps report includes information on the latest trends and revenue-boosting opportunities across midcore mobile games.

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Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile Mechanics 202

Deconstructor of Fun

NOVEMBER 25, 2019

AAA game franchises are in the middle of a renaissance on mobile. Several of the industry’s top IPs have received high-fidelity ports that have been successful in bringing core franchise players to the mobile format. It was only a matter of time before Call of Duty would find its feet on mobile. So is COD Mobile dead?

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