I think LockePick nailed it when he said you were really trying to ask two different questions:

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Original post by LockePick 1) How do you market things? 2) How do you make things fun?

1) How do you market things?
This is a pretty broad question, and is something that all would-be indie developers should look into. It's also something you'll very quickly learn more about once you've actually released one or more games. Like LockePick, I would suggest looking for some good books on the topic, and if you're able to do so perhaps some short courses.

One book worth looking into is the Indie Game Development Survival Guide, which covers low budget development, working with teams or hired help, and has some information about online marketting. Also check out the article Shareware Amateurs vs. Shareware Professionals, which is getting somewhat dated but is absolutely still relevant.

Other than that general (i.e. non-game-specific) marketting books or resources should be able to help you out.

2) How do you make things fun?
Again, a hugely broad question.

Some resources that may help you include The Designers Notebook, and the articles at Lost Garden.

Other than listing such resources it's difficult to respond to "how do you make things fun", but a few quick, general points that leap to mind include:

• Don't make things unecessarily frustrating.


• For small games, try to encourage the "one more try" factor, where you can just jump right back in to try again; Tetris is a great example of this.


• Know your market; no game is going to be fun for everyone, so you have to know when you shouldn't listen to user feedback, potentially making a few people happy with your game but turning off the majority.


• Give feedback on player success -- players like to know and feel good when they're doing well.

Hope some of that helps you! [smile]

I think any game would benefit from being fairly describable in a single sentence that a third grader could understand. If you have to have an entire page to explain the basics of your design, your design is probably a little too complicated.

Which isn't really a problem in an of itself, but it's more that it's complicated without some sort of single core idea.

Also casual is at least partially a playing style. Puzzle Quest is an interesting example here -- you can play that super casually, or you can get really hardcore with it.

Similarly, I can do major stat wonk in Morrowind, min/max my character into some sort of uberbuild, and abuse the mechanics to become the grandmaster of every guild in several long marathon sessions. Or I can play a quest or two a month and not really delve too deeply into the mechanics or more obscure hidden content.

A lot of other casual games tend to have deeper, more hardcore, and sometimes even really interesting emergent elements as well. Tetris is probably the best example here.

Ideally a casual game should appeal to both mindsets. Provide something for the people that just want to have some fun, but also offer more subtle depth and interesting mechanics for people that want that kind of thing.

Am... interesting tips. a scoreboard would definitely be good,especially if i make a semi complex score system that requires skill to get bonus points. i posted some time ago a thread here about my game idea of being an agile character and jumping around platforms. i could make the player pick a choice of taking the easier platform or going for the harder and smaller one that will give the player more points.

Also,i think the player shouldn't see everything on their first try,like an arcade style. you usually don't get to see all the stages in an arcade game on your first try,and that makes you try playing the game again. i could also put things that are hard to unlock,like a secret ending(come on,we all love

>Dog ending). an extra stage with an extra boss could be a good idea,but if i do that i'll think i'll be too much of a touhou copycat and i want to stick to being somewhat original.

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Original post by mrchrismnh Quote: Original post by lithos Also by definition simple is NOT stupid. For instance you can play bejeweled as nothing but a click fest, or you can play it like it's a game of chess(bejeweled just an example). You can play chess as a clickfest too if you want.

That sounds like fun.

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Original post by Doctor Shinobi Am... interesting tips. a scoreboard would definitely be good,especially if i make a semi complex score system that requires skill to get bonus points. i posted some time ago a thread here about my game idea of being an agile character and jumping around platforms. i could make the player pick a choice of taking the easier platform or going for the harder and smaller one that will give the player more points.

Good idea - I think an in-depth scoring system with multipliers and so on is an excellent example of how to cater to the hardcore players while maintaining accessibility for the inexperienced or casual audience.

When it comes to instant playability, especially in casual games, I agree with the guys at PopCap games and Shigeru Miyamoto who I believe have both talked about investing a lot of time into ensuring that the player's basic interaction with the system is inherently enjoyable... The simple action of moving the character around in Mario 64 or lining up a long shot in Peggle is somehow satisfying in and of itself. I think that prototyping before getting too involved with your design is the key to such great playability.

Some of the most successful casual games like Peggle and Plants vs Zombies are built almost entirely around a single central interaction mechanic (like aiming and shooting or placing a plant). A number of modifiers (based on variations in the environment or the predictable behaviour of other agents not controlled directly) inform the player as to the most appropriate course of action. Bejewled is another example of such a game, where the player simply swaps two jewels and watches as the predictable chain of events unfolds, aiming to cause a cascade of falling gems and rack up the points.

Apart from good graphics, gameplay, music/sound.


Unique Selling Point/Hook
What is going to make your game stand out, what does it offer that your competition does not.

Target Audience

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Think about your game and its intended audience when choosing a distribution path. Free browser-based web games appeal to males in their teens and twenties who tend to prefer action, adventure or driving style games whereas downloaded executables appeal to an older and increasingly female audience that tends to prefer story-based or puzzle type games.

For example look at shockwave.com, you will see the most popular type of game by far is Racing games.


Short Bursts
Its should have gameplay where you can sit down for 3-5 minutes beat the level and go do some dishes or cook dinner than come back later on.

Simple Controlshttp://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/post.asp?method=editreply&reply_id=3661870&topic_id=573282
You should be able to play the game without reading the instructions. The controls should also be easy, for example mouse only.

Powerups
Its got to have a lot of powerups, this article says 1 every 30 seconds (thats means anywhere from 6 to 10 powerups in one level).

Repability
There might be optional "tokens" you can collect to get a "gold star". They arent required to "beat the level".

In an arena type battle type game:
You might have some sort of money system which you can use to buy some equipment for example upgrade the lazer.

Than when you finally come in "first place" you unlock the next arena.


http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/articles/CasualGamesBusiness

[Edited by - Aiursrage on June 12, 2010 3:45:38 PM]