Reliance Games in a series of its city based Game-Hacks made a pit stop at Pune to check what the game developers had in store for the studio. The Game-Hack started with an expert panel discussion where in experts from all the areas of gaming discussed the current scenario of mobile gaming.
Experts on the panel included:
- Sandeep Shetty – AVP Product, Reliance Games
- Matt Powers – Senior Producer, Reliance Games
- Patrice Crespy – Game Design Trainer
- Anuj Tandon – Founder at Rolocule Games
The proceedings kicked-off with an important argument as to, what one considered their game as – a service or a product?
Sandeep begun first saying, a game can be both service as well as a product. One should respect the game one is making and consider it as service when the game is in the development stage; and when the game is ready for the users he/she must consider it as a product.
Anuj reiterated that a game is a service when you put it out as a premium. A game is a product when you serve it as a freemium, since you have to churn out updates on a regular basis and keep the engagement going. A third way is the in-game-advertisements to monetise.
Speaking on game playing behaviours one encounters across the globe Matt was of the opinion: game behaviours don’t generally change with regions. A gamer in India is mostly same as the gamer in US or Europe. Games like Call of Duty, Clash of Clans and Candy Crush Saga are being played across the globe and this goes on to show that games with global connect work very well.
Anuj agreeing with Matt said he believed, today in India, people are ready to put their money on Teen Patti games and readily share their credit card information. Gambling games are earning big time in the country, he stated.
Retention has been a big issue among the Indian game developers and to share his insights for the same Patrice feels mobile game development is something different from your console and PC games. Retention markers here need to be different. Repetitive factor needs to be kept in mind. Each genre of games has a different retention method and a single retention method does not apply to all, were his wise words.
When creating a game Anuj mentioned you have to calculate ‘risk capital’ you must put in your game. Risk capital is how much time you can give to a game? How much are you willing to invest into it to make it a success? How much time can you put in to give out the best game in the market?
Analytics are an important factor and researching on them is really important to make sure what needs to be done to make the numbers go even higher. Anuj further added, knowing your analytics is as good as knowing your audience. When does the user login to your game and how much time does he spend on the game and does he login to the game twice a day? Are questions that one can have answers to.
He also had an important tip to share with the budding developers where they could start their first game based on the top games on the app stores and make one that has the most number of downloads and give it a new twist. This will help to know the development cycle and where does the strength lie.
What game does one make that is successful, was one question that is currently on everybody’s mind and Sandeep revealed some of the secrets of trade and things one needs to keep in mind while making a casual game, first and foremost it should be quick. Most of these games are played while one is commuting or while he is whiling away time. The mobile games are not planned activities. They are played on impulse. One does not plan that one will play a mobile game for one hour or half an hour, just like one plans so for a console game, where you plan to play with your friends over the weekend.
These were some very valuable insights on the mobile gaming scene in India and globally. One can certainly learn from these best practices and implement them in their future games.
