Have you ever heard about the Touhou project? it's a series of games made by a single Japanese person who did all the programming,composing and drawing. It's a very popular series,especially in japan.
Now Touhou games are a casual bullet hell games. I noticed that when i play them they feel very fun and addicting,they have a story,a big cast of characters,general bullet hell gameplay and they also have a big fan base.

Now i am trying to figure what makes a casual game into a popular game. is it the story? i played a flash game that had a story,and while it was fun it didn't feel addicting and probably will never get fans.
Is it the characters? Touhou got a variety of anime characters,and people like anime.
What about gameplay and difficulty? Touhou doesn't introduce an original gameplay,but it is known to be a seriously hard game. the hardness in touhou makes it fun,but i've seen hard games that just make you want to quit.

I am working on my own casual game. it's 3D and has a pretty fun(in my opinion) and original gameplay,story and characters,and I want as many people to play my game as possible,and for that i need to figure how to make my game addicting like touhou.

So then,what is your opinion? what makes a casual game addicting?

If you can describe at a 3rd grade reading level and under a sentence in length. being a 3rd grade reading level isn't an insult it's just that describing the game "defend your castle" does not require very much.

Another requirement of being easy on the eyes.

Casual games differ than any other type of game in the sense that all of the mechanics that are in the whole game are available to you in 10 minutes or less.

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Original post by lithos If you can describe at a 3rd grade reading level and under a sentence in length. being a 3rd grade reading level isn't an insult it's just that describing the game "defend your castle" does not require very much. Another requirement of being easy on the eyes. Casual games differ than any other type of game in the sense that all of the mechanics that are in the whole game are available to you in 10 minutes or less.

I feel i can't agree with you. who cares if the description of the game is complex or not,it doesn't affect your game and won't be something that will make your game fun or not.
And easy on the eyes? have a picture of the over popular Touhou :

i doubt you can say this is easy on the eyes.

also have to disagree about getting the mechanic in 10 minutes or less. if the game is hard enough and fun enough,you can do so that getting a specific mechanic will take time,which will make the player play more in order to get that mechanic(like a special attack). Again if we look at Touhou(sorry, i just don't have an example of another popular casual game series) you have an option called "Extra stage" which is unlocked after you complete the game without using any continues on normal more or harder(which is very hard). In the extra stage you get to fight the true last boss of the game.

I think you're confused. Touhou isn't a casual game. Most Flash games fall in the casual gaming category because they can be picked up and played. Bullet hell games are a niche game. Their target audience is only hardcore shmup players or Japanophiles maybe.

World of Goo for instance is a casual game. Most anyone can pick up and play it without much thought.

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Original post by Sirisian I think you're confused. Touhou isn't a casual game. Most Flash games fall in the casual gaming category because they can be picked up and played. Bullet hell games are a niche game. Their target audience is only hardcore shmup players or Japanophiles maybe.

Indeed. Bullet hell is one of the most hardcore genres in gaming. It's about as far from casual as you can get. Otaku like bullet hell games and they like pretty 2D girls. Touhou brought the bullet hell and the girls, the otaku turned it into porn, dot dot dot, profit.

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World of Goo for instance is a casual game. Most anyone can pick up and play it without much thought.

Well, sort of. You can pick it up without thought briefly but I think most casual players abandon it fairly quickly because it becomes very demanding. Better examples would be: Bejeweled, Peggle, Canabalt, Robot Unicorn Attack.

Games in the Touhou Project series are definetly not casual games. And its not the games themselves that popularized the Touhou Project...Its all the characters, storylines, books, manga, toys, CDs, costume contests, etc. that sprung up around the games. Many self professed Touhou fans have never even played the games.

I think its more of a retro game than casual,

Retro games and casual games overlap in that they usually focus on simple graphics and game play mechanics. Although older casual game were mostly arcade style it seems like after getting a taste of gaming many casual gamers want more of a adventure style with a running narrative much like snes era games, because of this difficulty is often the only difference now.

am... i guess i was wrong when i said casual. the definition i meant was probably indie. a game developed with no real budget.

Yes,touhou is probably popular because of everything around it,but it did all begin with the touhou games,which are fun and addicting. i am not sure if my question now is what makes indie games fun enough to make players play it again and again,or what makes indie games popular enough to get fans around them?

The casual game has to be played by the varsity quarterback or the lead cheerleader.

double post