What is a casual game
Ok, here is my problem, we are currently developping an online game and it seems to me like our designers have some preconceptions of what is a casual game. I know they can relate to plenty of casual games to look uppon on the internet and at some point we thrusted their judgement to make some calls on the design (they are designer after all). Even though there are games that would follow the "casual term" i cannot have a document from them explaining in detail our client target. The fact is during development there where a lot of decisions that were taken that were more aligned with the hardcore gamer style (WOW, Eve online and such) and i would like to have some bullets in my gun to keep them in the original spirit of the idea. Is there any resources that points to what is a casual game that i could use to argue with them when we do QA on their ideas ? I search Gamasutra and Gamedev and did not find any obvious research material or any article that has a certain authority on the subject. Thanks for your help.
A casual game is a game that requires little commitment to play.
To give an example, to play a game like Street Fighter IV, you only need to bash some buttons and can already win on Easiest.
Playing harder difficulties will require you to study, learn and perfect certain special moves. This is a commitment in time and resources on the side of the player and therefor does not target the casual gamer anymore.
But overall I think it's a pretty loose term, I presume many will disagree with my description. This is also the reason I think you won't find any solid resources. For any you find with your preferred description, there are probably several with another.
To give an example, to play a game like Street Fighter IV, you only need to bash some buttons and can already win on Easiest.
Playing harder difficulties will require you to study, learn and perfect certain special moves. This is a commitment in time and resources on the side of the player and therefor does not target the casual gamer anymore.
But overall I think it's a pretty loose term, I presume many will disagree with my description. This is also the reason I think you won't find any solid resources. For any you find with your preferred description, there are probably several with another.
Well, this seems to be as good a place to start as any. There are some articles and reports listed at the bottom, too.
I'm in favor of the "can your mom play it" test, but it certainly is a game that does not take up much time or commitment, IMHO.
Quote:
Original post by GerardL
But overall I think it's a pretty loose term, I presume many will disagree with my description.
I'm in favor of the "can your mom play it" test, but it certainly is a game that does not take up much time or commitment, IMHO.
To me a casual game should be one that players don't have to commit to for long periods of time. Players should be able to pick it up and play for only 5 or 10 minutes if they want, and have their progress saved. So if your game requires users to play for half an hour or an hour before reaching the next "save" point, I wouldn't consider it a casual game.
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At the bottom of the wikipedia article there was an IGDA article wich i did not found with google originally when searchning the IDGA site. It points to this wiki which seems a good authoritative starting point.
http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Whitepaper
http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Whitepaper
To me, a "casual game" is a game which is simple to learn and play, and which is easy to play well and succeed. Casual games lack competitive potential.
Casual gamers play casual games for their entertainment and appeal, and they continue playing because of addiction.
Successful causal games have addictive game play, engaging art, music and sound effects.
However, I understand that the term "casual game" is rather broad, and I don't claim that my understanding of it is a universal, or "the correct", one.
Casual gamers play casual games for their entertainment and appeal, and they continue playing because of addiction.
Successful causal games have addictive game play, engaging art, music and sound effects.
However, I understand that the term "casual game" is rather broad, and I don't claim that my understanding of it is a universal, or "the correct", one.
Yeah I'm not sure there is an actual way to define "casual game" it's more of a loose term to describe certain games.
Usually those games are simple to play, don't require a lot of time to learn, can be picked up and played quickly and for even just a few minutes at a time, have a wide appeal and doesn't really target one specific minority of people.
For example... Tetris can be considered a casual game because it requires literally no time at all to learn. You can some the game up with left and right arrow keys and a single button to rotate the blocks. So very simplistic control scheme. It's also a game where you can casually pick it up and play it for 10 minutes just to kill some time.
Same thing goes for bejeweled and all of the match-3 clones. If you want to sort of get more of an idea... just go to any casual gaming site and play some games.
In my opinion if you are having a hard time defining whether your game is a casual game or not, then it's more than likely that your game is not a casual game.
It's pretty clear cut what is casual and what is not casual.
Usually those games are simple to play, don't require a lot of time to learn, can be picked up and played quickly and for even just a few minutes at a time, have a wide appeal and doesn't really target one specific minority of people.
For example... Tetris can be considered a casual game because it requires literally no time at all to learn. You can some the game up with left and right arrow keys and a single button to rotate the blocks. So very simplistic control scheme. It's also a game where you can casually pick it up and play it for 10 minutes just to kill some time.
Same thing goes for bejeweled and all of the match-3 clones. If you want to sort of get more of an idea... just go to any casual gaming site and play some games.
In my opinion if you are having a hard time defining whether your game is a casual game or not, then it's more than likely that your game is not a casual game.
It's pretty clear cut what is casual and what is not casual.
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Quote:
Original post by GerardL
A casual game is a game that requires little commitment to play.
To give an example, to play a game like Street Fighter IV, you only need to bash some buttons and can already win on Easiest.
Playing harder difficulties will require you to study, learn and perfect certain special moves. This is a commitment in time and resources on the side of the player and therefor does not target the casual gamer anymore.
But overall I think it's a pretty loose term, I presume many will disagree with my description. This is also the reason I think you won't find any solid resources. For any you find with your preferred description, there are probably several with another.
QFT! I think you nailed it.
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I think that in terms of design, a casual game is a game that satisfies one axiom:
The implications of this axiom is board, including:
When the game is suddenly terminated, the game cannot owe the player a reward. This means that the game cannot feature a long story where the player has been playing in order to know the ending of a story. A game that asks the player to invest for a reward in the future is not a casual game because it is terminated, the game would owe the player a reward.
Similarly, a game cannot have a long learning period unless the learning period is fun in and off itself. If the player needs to invest time to learn to play the game before getting the reward, and the game is terminated while the player is still learning, then the game also owes the player.
A casual game is a game that the player would not mind re-playing, because the enjoyment exits only during game playing.
A casual game is not one where the player might be punihsed for playing. For instance, you could say that vandalizing a property is immediately stimulating and rewarding, but its "reward" does not end the moment the vandaling stops, because you can still get caught and get a negative reward. So the game still owes you a "reward" the moment you stop playing.
Randomly punching your neighbor is a casual game if the effect is only immediately, as in your action does not make your neighbor commit to give you future "rewards". If you punches him and he punches back immediately, and it ends there, that is fine.
The definition is equivalent to the only that uses the term "committment". It can be summarized like this (more worded from the perspective of design instead of from the perspective of the player):
Casual game is a game with immediate stimulus and reward.
Quote:
The stimulus or reward of playing the game is immediate
The implications of this axiom is board, including:
When the game is suddenly terminated, the game cannot owe the player a reward. This means that the game cannot feature a long story where the player has been playing in order to know the ending of a story. A game that asks the player to invest for a reward in the future is not a casual game because it is terminated, the game would owe the player a reward.
Similarly, a game cannot have a long learning period unless the learning period is fun in and off itself. If the player needs to invest time to learn to play the game before getting the reward, and the game is terminated while the player is still learning, then the game also owes the player.
A casual game is a game that the player would not mind re-playing, because the enjoyment exits only during game playing.
A casual game is not one where the player might be punihsed for playing. For instance, you could say that vandalizing a property is immediately stimulating and rewarding, but its "reward" does not end the moment the vandaling stops, because you can still get caught and get a negative reward. So the game still owes you a "reward" the moment you stop playing.
Randomly punching your neighbor is a casual game if the effect is only immediately, as in your action does not make your neighbor commit to give you future "rewards". If you punches him and he punches back immediately, and it ends there, that is fine.
The definition is equivalent to the only that uses the term "committment". It can be summarized like this (more worded from the perspective of design instead of from the perspective of the player):
Casual game is a game with immediate stimulus and reward.
You're just having a semantic argument. "Casual games" and "Casual Gamers" are 2 very different thing. Classically, casual games are flash web games, things like bejeweled for cell phones. Casual gamers, however are people who play less than some magical number of hours of games per week: around less than 5 or something.
WoW is considered by all the biz people and designers I work with to be the ultimate game for catering to casual gamers. Tons of people subscribe for just a couple hours a week. IIRC the average player has yet to get a single toon to max level. That's the heart of the gaming market which all the business folks get all hot & bothered trying to seduce.
So the problem is that when they say casual, you think "casual game" but they're thinking "casual gamer"
Learn not to get caught up in semantics. People spout bullshit all the time as a rationalization for leaning towards one design decision or another.
-me
Quote:
Original post by roychr
were more aligned with the hardcore gamer style (WOW, Eve online and such)
WoW is considered by all the biz people and designers I work with to be the ultimate game for catering to casual gamers. Tons of people subscribe for just a couple hours a week. IIRC the average player has yet to get a single toon to max level. That's the heart of the gaming market which all the business folks get all hot & bothered trying to seduce.
So the problem is that when they say casual, you think "casual game" but they're thinking "casual gamer"
Learn not to get caught up in semantics. People spout bullshit all the time as a rationalization for leaning towards one design decision or another.
-me
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