So I've been checking a site with mobile games and Hearthstone seems to be steadily dropping to around #15 or so range on the top grossing games on mobile. While I don't think Hearthstone was all that great, I thought it was surely a lot better than the stuff they claim to be games on the mobile market, but Hearthstone seems to be doing worse than say, Summoner War, a typical Korean game where you have to spend a lot of time watching the game play by itself to grind while also needing to spend a ton of money to get anywhere. I saw an article from Nintendo's move to mobile and they say they need to make a quality game to distinguish itself because otherwise people can't tell the difference. I'm wondering if quality is even something you want in mobile gaming. Hearthstone is from a huge name and while it's nothing fancy the graphics are at least passable as opposed to say Game of War where the commercial never has anything to do with what's in the game because nobody would ever buy it on graphics. Sure the game might be simplistic compared to MTG but it's no worse than any generic CCG. Or is it because Hearthstone doesn't attempt to overtly beat you up for your money which is why it's not getting anywhere, at least relative to games making as much or more than it that certainly doesn't seem to have the same level of quality? I mean, I remember the PC version sure doesn't pop up a 'buy this for $99.99 NOW' every session and that was actually kind of nice to not have to worry about these things. Actually, I'm not even sure where you're supposed to go in Hearthstone (probably the card packs area I guess?) to spend money on the game versus most mobile games where I have to be careful to not accidentally click on something that charges money.
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Hearthstone on mobile
- Because playing them is not enough, we have to bitch about them daily, too. We had a Gameplay forum, but it got replaced by GameFAQs.
Maybe it's more complex to play then your average mobile user wants to be bothered with? It is still a card game, and card games are still pretty niche. The game doesn't really go out of its way to really draw in a brand new player who picks it up, you can actually fail the tutorial of all things if you're bad enough.
Seems like a game needs to be able to play itself to be successful in mobile gaming. I remember when I was in college there's this game called ProgressQuest which basically just shows your character going off grinding in a RPG environment by themselves and the longer you leave it on the bigger the numbers become and the fancier your abilities/equipment are. You never actually play anything in the game and it's just something you leave on. It seems like that's what most mobile game is, though you can insert money to speed up the process. One of the irony I find is that people are always talking about how they don't like P2W but if a game that plays itself that also plays itself faster when you put in more money isn't P2W, then I'm not sure what can possibly be not P2W.
It's almost like you got to eliminate the gameplay from a game because if you have to actually play the game, you can always fail, and you don't want that to happen.
It's almost like you got to eliminate the gameplay from a game because if you have to actually play the game, you can always fail, and you don't want that to happen.
Casual games reign on mobile.
1. Under three minutes required play, with no play or pay cap.
2. Persistent long term goals.
3. Polished UX.
It doesn't necessarily mean that the game has to be simple. It must be polished and intuitive, however. The player should have the ability to perform tasks which allow progression during down time. If the player wishes to continue playing, they should have that option - like taking advantage of social features or some kind of repeatable loop gameplay; like Clash's pvp battle system.
I think Nintendo's experience will resemble their 3DS Street Pass games; which are casual genre games that are an evolution of their pioneering Brain Age formula. They may also do something in the Tomodochi Life franchise - I thought that worked well.
I don't like the idea of Summoner War's constant "Buy Me!" spam is tacky.
What I prefer is gameplay that pinches the player in ways that Clash of Clans does; as the player builds up their grind currencies over time, the penalty of being raided also rises - so the closer a player gets to their goal, the more in danger they are of losing. A bit of premium currency spent removes the risk. There's also a nice little conversion tactic in the early game "Pay 10 bucks to get 4 Workers now!" which are very useful to ramp up in the early game, but not essential. The game also makes it clear the 4 workers are worth it, whereas Summoner War's starter pack does not.
1. Under three minutes required play, with no play or pay cap.
2. Persistent long term goals.
3. Polished UX.
It doesn't necessarily mean that the game has to be simple. It must be polished and intuitive, however. The player should have the ability to perform tasks which allow progression during down time. If the player wishes to continue playing, they should have that option - like taking advantage of social features or some kind of repeatable loop gameplay; like Clash's pvp battle system.
I think Nintendo's experience will resemble their 3DS Street Pass games; which are casual genre games that are an evolution of their pioneering Brain Age formula. They may also do something in the Tomodochi Life franchise - I thought that worked well.
I don't like the idea of Summoner War's constant "Buy Me!" spam is tacky.
What I prefer is gameplay that pinches the player in ways that Clash of Clans does; as the player builds up their grind currencies over time, the penalty of being raided also rises - so the closer a player gets to their goal, the more in danger they are of losing. A bit of premium currency spent removes the risk. There's also a nice little conversion tactic in the early game "Pay 10 bucks to get 4 Workers now!" which are very useful to ramp up in the early game, but not essential. The game also makes it clear the 4 workers are worth it, whereas Summoner War's starter pack does not.
-Insert Inspiring Quote-
