Camouflaging surprises at every corner is the hallmark of every impressive Smartphone game that aims to gain a viral popularity among its users.
Creating a game that truly connects with your users is beyond stuffing it with deep-rooted technicalities and intricate setups that are beyond the comprehension of average users. What you instead need is staying true to the basic strictures of delivering a great user experience. And this user experience is about nabbing the gamers right at the start and not making a wrong move (making the right and the wrong moves are the gamer's prerogative):
Give the Player a Landscape to Explore
The main character no longer cuts it with the users anymore who are not singularly focussed on it. It is the fillips that attract them, like the background with its varying set of colors, a bump here that the character doesn't need to jump over, a car there, zooming past the character without coming in his way, or for that matter, the expansiveness of the vista that the character has to be explore.
Multiple Levels
“The final goal” is what every game is all about. However, having once single goal isn't likely to help the cause of developers and the company that are seeling the game. The Smartphone entertainment realm is filled with games of highly sophisticated games that are not just sleek, but extremely intriguing in terms of the attention span they boast of. Just having a difficult game won't do the job for you, because sooner or later the difficulty is glided past by the gamer and he is expecting the game to swing something new-fangled at him – with a rhythmic charge.
Add Rewards for Sub-Levels
Now, as a game developer, you get a chance to throw something new at the gamer by the means of adding multiple levels to the game. Not only does it add variety within the game, it also gives the gamer more than a few sub-goals to achieve and after each level passed, the gamer has some reward in store – like more power or more weapons in a combat game. This way, you give the gamers a bona fide reason to 'graduate' from one level to the other, all the while hooking them to your game. Hill climb Racing is a fine example of the same. After you win a certain number of points, you are given a different tractor, a different set f tyers, tools, more fuel, etc. And all of these add to the strength, speed and balance of the car/tractor you are driving in the game.
A Game that Puts High Score Above the Rest
Well, there is a different approach developers take than assigning a goal or mini goals in a game. They make the users chase a target, and every time they chase it down, the game keeps on egging them to better it. High scores are what give users the inducement to keep on playing the game. One session in these games, more or less, lasts for a minute or two, and just for the sake of some flashy and animated character lighting up the screen with a non-fussy message like “Hey, that's the highest score!” users keep on pushing the figures on the scorecard.
Tetris is also a game wherein you don't really put a high score, but make people do the same thing over and over again. The best part is that people do end up doing the same thing over and over again, following the rabbit trails and thus they cross all barriers of addiction. That's when you know you have created a beast!
Some Creative Control Over the Main Character Would Help
Again, games like Hill Climb Racing and Tennis 3D can be cited as an example, as in these games, gamer is given a choice to don different colors or use different car/weaponry, etc. This helps personalize the game from the perspective of the user as he gets to create his own look and feel of the character that is dancing and jumping and killing around for him on the screen.
Target Your Audience According to Their Taste
At times, you are creating a game to cater to the audience of a specific country, state or a culture. As your target audience narrows, your band of options widens. Now, you have the various other parameters to tinker around. Without being politically incorrect, you can take bits from a particular culture and integrate them with your game. The ore demographically centered you game is, the better interpersonal connection it manages to create with your target users. Personalizing the products has never hurt any business (unless you over-personalize them) and same will hold your business in good sted for the future.
Include an Option for the Multiplayer
When virality is truly on the agenda, you won't want to restrict the game to just one player. A particular user would find it more interesting if instead of the automated player, it is his/her friend over the network that he has to combat with. A John Cena fan would love to play Cena and beat Brock Lesnar to pulp, especially if it his friend calling the shots as Lesnar.
At the end of the day, it all boils down to user engagement. Keep them hooked, and the reliably excellent results shall start pouring in.
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