FEATURE: 10 Tips for Success in Casual Games

1. Innovate!

Just imagine, if nobody at PopCap Games had thought to try charging $20 for the souped-up version of Bejewelled back in 2001, we might still be waiting for the casual games market to get going. The economics of relatively cheap-to-make games, easy online distribution and the potental of a purchasing decision-free revenue stream from advertising means that innovation should be the norm in casual games.

2. Don’t innovate!

Just imagine, if the developers of Jewel Quest, Zuma, Chuzzle and others had gotten shouted down by some innovation zealot during their respective design meetings, millions of gamers would still be turning to Bejewelled for their colour-matching fix and casual gaming’s communal coffers would be a billion dollars poorer. If an idea has been flogged to death, try working in monkeys. Only if that flops should you reluctantly look for something new.

3. Give them some credit

Not everyone has both a Visa card and a short attention span. Kids, for instance, are extravagant spenders but they seldom pack an Amex. South Korea’s Nexon turned to microtransactions to fuel MapleStory – parents buy credits, kids spend credits to buy stuff – while Disney’s Club Penguin features a membership system – basically, a virtual version of the subs fees the middle classes used to pay for Scouts or Brownies. Club Penguin also boasts a shop selling Club Penguin-branded merchandise. (Would your three-colour matching game make a decent puffer jacket or hoodie? No?)

4. Revisit old gaming genres

The best-selling PC game of the 1990s was Myst, a serene point-and-click adventure game. Embarrassed, the adrenaline junkies and barely-reformed dungeon masters that then ruled the games industry responded to Myst’s tremendous sales success by declaring the point-and-click dead, and killing off developments in the genre. The memo mustn’t have reached Big Fish Games, however; in 2006 it released Mystery Case Files – essentially a point-and-click adventure game, albeit lacking in adventure. Mystery Case Files has since sold millions, returned in more exciting sequels, and has been much copied. (See? We told you not to innovate).

5. Spend more time on Facebook

If you’re feeling out of touch, it’s possible you’re not allocating enough of your working day to Facebook. No, we don’t mean you ought to be spending even more hours hunting out unlocked profiles of your friends’ cute siblings – we’re talking games for the Facebook platform. Facebook offers existing casual games developers a chance to promote their wares without seeking immediate revenues, while social gaming start-ups such as Playfish – founded by successful ex-mobile games entrepreneur Kristian Segerstråle, and already boasting three games in Facebook’s top 10 – threaten to take casual gaming en masse to where the next generation of casual gamers are.

6. Go mobile

Apple’s iPhone equals Mobile Games Hype 2.0. Conventional games publishers like Sega and THQ are planning to invade the platform, but as we’ve already seen with Nintendo’s DS, it’s typically casual games that work best on the go. The iPhone is a simple device to develop for compared to the vastly heterogeneous mobile market proper, where you’ll do best to license your games to a mobile specialist, or at least seek an expert partner. (Trust us, it’s pay now or pay a therapist later).

7. Consider user-generated content

We don’t mean the speedy Flash games that populate the likes of MiniClip, Newsgrounds and Kongregate – user-generated content shouldn’t mean the users need to be partway through a computer science degree. We’re thinking zombie shooters with drag-and-drop faces from a user’s desktop. Hidden object games stuffed with the possessions of players.  A desktop tower defence set on the player’s own desktop. The emerging rule of user-generated content, from MySpace to YouTube to Flickr, is that a significant minority like to be creative, and that many more of their friends and family enjoy seeing what they’ve done. User-generated content driven games will need to be idiot-proof to succeed in the casual games space, and not just because we’ll be playing them.

8. Seek a sponsor

Desktop Tower Defence developer Paul Preece told us recently that a competent Flash games developer delivering modestly-sized, good quality games every two months or so might be earning between $10-20,000 in sponsorship right now. Hyperactive bedroom game developers who’ve been making a knock-of Flash game every fortnight would do well to cut back on the coffee, calmly proceed to someplace like FlashGameLicense.com – which brokers deals between developers and brand managers – and get set-up as mini game developer tycoons. You’ll be wrangling over maternity cover and office furniture before you know it! Well, maybe.

9. You’re probably not the chosen one

Are you going to be the company that sells casual games without the usual giveaway trial version? Really? Or is your business model based around your games being so good that you’ll achieve a 5% conversion rate – when 1% is widely considered very good going? Or are you leaving the crowded downloadable casual games space to seek your fortune bringing skill-based tournaments to gaming’s hardcore – an established graveyard of ambition? Really? We’re sure you’ll hurry back here to tell us if you succeed. Note to tech support: keep the website server cooling ice on ice.

10. Know when you’re done

Appreciate the difference between gently dumping your girlfriend (it’s not her, it’s you) and an exit strategy in business. Casual game production will eventually consolidate, as production values and costs rise. The conventional games industry did so long ago – to the detriment of any remaining third-tier developers, many of whom have since gone bust. In contrast, 2004 and 2005 saw leading mobile games developers like Jamdat, IOMO and Mr Goodliving snapped up for multi-million dollar sums on the promise of jam tomorrow, making these pioneering entrepreneurs a fortune. If you’re absolutely sure you won’t ever want to sell, then you’ll probably need to turn predator yourself.