Casual Connect Kyiv 2012: gamedev trends
Last week, a Casual Connect conference was held in Kiev, which traditionally gathers developers, publishers and all those involved in game-devour four times a year in different parts of our planet. In Kiev, such a conference is being held for the seventh time, and if previously PC casual developers met here, most of the teams now specialize in creating mobile games.
Photo by Sasha Paleeva
The participants mainly talked about one thing, about free-to-play games: technical details, features of the idea of ​​such games, what techniques work and what don't, how to adjust the balance of the game so that the purchase offer is not intrusive and etc. We talked about this both on the sidelines and on the reports , and if we make a list of those speeches where one way or another dealt with the topic of free-to-play, it will include almost all the speeches for the three days of the conference.
In the near future, the Alawar blog will begin a series of articles on collecting statistics in f2p mobile applications: a story about our methods and case analysis. Stay tuned!
')
The other mobile trends under discussion are, firstly, an increase in the share of the Android platform in terms of the number of sold devices (their number increased by about 160%), and in the number of applications (also increased about one and a half times).
And secondly, this is the growing popularity of tablets (the number of iPads sold increased by about 50%, and the number of Android tablets increased by 170% compared to the previous year).
Also at Casual Connect discussed such a new trend as the transition to the "mix-media". This is a new idea in the field of entertainment, which defines the strategy for product development. The idea of ​​mix-media suggests us when creating a game, like any other entertainment brand, to plan its development based not on the technologies through which it will be implemented (for example, in game-de-va we are used to, above all, talk about engines, firmware and operating systems) , and based on the communication channel. The success of Rovio and their “Evil Birds” in the souvenir niche led many other developers to believe that game devs and the rest of the entertainment industry are closer to each other than it seemed before. Why do we easily imagine children's backpacks with characters of any cartoons, but do not think in the same direction when we consider the prospects for the development of our own game? Already at the start of the project, we can assume how we will further develop the plot idea through cartoons or comics, which plush toys will come out of our characters, how the game logo will look on the cases for smartphones, etc.
Close to this idea and the "concept of four screens", which was proposed by Google . When developing a game, we need to learn to think like our players in categories of gadgets. The idea of ​​four screens teaches us that the user should easily switch between the same information on a smartphone, tablet, computer and laptop, TV (or rather, on the console). It is these “screens” that stand out, not any others, because these types of gadgets differ in several key parameters. First, the management. The phone and tablet have a touchscreen, the computer has a keyboard, and the console has a joystick. Secondly, they have different consumption habits, the circumstances in which we are accustomed to using the gadget. We use the phone in transport, in line, in general, somewhere outside the house; tablet - at home on the couch; A PC or laptop is a device for work, we play there only if we want to give ourselves a pause, get some rest; and the console is probably the most social gadget, we turn it on either when we want to play with the whole family, or when we receive guests. Of course, these features should be taken into account when adapting the gameplay, management, affect the duration of the gaming session and the possibility of multiplayer.
A very important point of this concept is that the user should be easy and switch from screen to screen. As shown by Google research, 90% of all users anyway, starting activity on one gadget, continue it on another. This mainly concerns the search on the Internet - about 80% of users do not limit their “Internet surfing” to one gadget. If we talk about games, then a quarter of all our users in parallel with the games keep another device turned on. For example, our user plays on a tablet, and watches a sports program on TV. Or playing on the console, while on his computer playing Internet radio. As Google research shows, now our users live in a world of four screens that are interconnected with each other. We need to learn how to make games, given this fact.
We told about these trends on Casual Connect. If it is interesting to learn more, a video recording of the speech of Alexander Lyskovsky, the general director of Alawar, on the first day of the conference with one of the opening reports will be posted soon. In the meantime, you can download a pdf-presentation of the report "Three elements of the game universe: platforms, brands, community" , and we will be happy to answer questions in the comments.
And for those who love pictures, we suggest going to the facebook-album of photographer Sasha Paleeva, who uploaded 250+ photos from this conference.
Photo by Sasha Paleeva
The participants mainly talked about one thing, about free-to-play games: technical details, features of the idea of ​​such games, what techniques work and what don't, how to adjust the balance of the game so that the purchase offer is not intrusive and etc. We talked about this both on the sidelines and on the reports , and if we make a list of those speeches where one way or another dealt with the topic of free-to-play, it will include almost all the speeches for the three days of the conference.
In the near future, the Alawar blog will begin a series of articles on collecting statistics in f2p mobile applications: a story about our methods and case analysis. Stay tuned!
')
The other mobile trends under discussion are, firstly, an increase in the share of the Android platform in terms of the number of sold devices (their number increased by about 160%), and in the number of applications (also increased about one and a half times).
And secondly, this is the growing popularity of tablets (the number of iPads sold increased by about 50%, and the number of Android tablets increased by 170% compared to the previous year).
Also at Casual Connect discussed such a new trend as the transition to the "mix-media". This is a new idea in the field of entertainment, which defines the strategy for product development. The idea of ​​mix-media suggests us when creating a game, like any other entertainment brand, to plan its development based not on the technologies through which it will be implemented (for example, in game-de-va we are used to, above all, talk about engines, firmware and operating systems) , and based on the communication channel. The success of Rovio and their “Evil Birds” in the souvenir niche led many other developers to believe that game devs and the rest of the entertainment industry are closer to each other than it seemed before. Why do we easily imagine children's backpacks with characters of any cartoons, but do not think in the same direction when we consider the prospects for the development of our own game? Already at the start of the project, we can assume how we will further develop the plot idea through cartoons or comics, which plush toys will come out of our characters, how the game logo will look on the cases for smartphones, etc.
Close to this idea and the "concept of four screens", which was proposed by Google . When developing a game, we need to learn to think like our players in categories of gadgets. The idea of ​​four screens teaches us that the user should easily switch between the same information on a smartphone, tablet, computer and laptop, TV (or rather, on the console). It is these “screens” that stand out, not any others, because these types of gadgets differ in several key parameters. First, the management. The phone and tablet have a touchscreen, the computer has a keyboard, and the console has a joystick. Secondly, they have different consumption habits, the circumstances in which we are accustomed to using the gadget. We use the phone in transport, in line, in general, somewhere outside the house; tablet - at home on the couch; A PC or laptop is a device for work, we play there only if we want to give ourselves a pause, get some rest; and the console is probably the most social gadget, we turn it on either when we want to play with the whole family, or when we receive guests. Of course, these features should be taken into account when adapting the gameplay, management, affect the duration of the gaming session and the possibility of multiplayer.
A very important point of this concept is that the user should be easy and switch from screen to screen. As shown by Google research, 90% of all users anyway, starting activity on one gadget, continue it on another. This mainly concerns the search on the Internet - about 80% of users do not limit their “Internet surfing” to one gadget. If we talk about games, then a quarter of all our users in parallel with the games keep another device turned on. For example, our user plays on a tablet, and watches a sports program on TV. Or playing on the console, while on his computer playing Internet radio. As Google research shows, now our users live in a world of four screens that are interconnected with each other. We need to learn how to make games, given this fact.
We told about these trends on Casual Connect. If it is interesting to learn more, a video recording of the speech of Alexander Lyskovsky, the general director of Alawar, on the first day of the conference with one of the opening reports will be posted soon. In the meantime, you can download a pdf-presentation of the report "Three elements of the game universe: platforms, brands, community" , and we will be happy to answer questions in the comments.
And for those who love pictures, we suggest going to the facebook-album of photographer Sasha Paleeva, who uploaded 250+ photos from this conference.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/156981/
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