We all like to go around exploring different places, meeting new people, and eating good food. Why not turn it into a game? That's what popular applications like Foursquare, Gowalla, and SCVNGR have been doing lately, and many other companies are following suit too. Gaming has become a popular method for drawing customers to a platform. I guess some people never realized it, but just like in the popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft, we all love getting achievements, gaining "experience points," and "leveling up" (even if they don't have any real-world value).
I think that the mobile gaming applications selling-point is the simplicity it provides for the users. Many of us grew up in the video game era when simply blowing on the cartridge of a Nintendo game solved all problems. Games were simple back then, unlike World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and other popular games now. However, these new mobile and web gaming platforms of collecting badges, exploring new locations, and sharing with friends provide a simple way to ease back into gaming even at our older ages. No one looks twice at a 30 year old checking in to a restaurant to get a mayorship in Foursquare, but they do if they see someone of the same age wearing headphones and executing 500 actions per minute (APM is to video games as ERA is to baseball) while playing Starcraft 2. The simplicity of the mobile app games now lets the older users have a little bit of fun as well and brings back memories of their childhood when technology was simple and all their friends played video games. Since these games also have a community/competition aspect, they also create a social network within the games.
I've based most of the design of my game based on all the popular mobile apps out right now. I went with more of a quest-based system because it works so well in RPGs. If the achievement system was such a success with mobile apps, I'm hoping that the quest system has a good chance as well. It's currently only a school project, but if I get a lot of development done during the semester I'd like to release it as a full-fledged project in the Android market. Any ideas for the application are always welcome. Hopefully, this will be the next addictive social game out on the market!
Mobile apps really have been modeled after RPGs. Every popular mobile game has levels and achievements in one form or another. Just like in RPGs where you keep coming back to gain experience to gain more levels, you come back to iPhone games to keep progressing into higher levels of the game or to beat your high score. Instead of having items to buy and collect like RPGs, you collect achievements and rewards in mobile apps. There are simply too many correlations between the two.
ReplyDelete--K Chiang
Your game sounds intriguing. I think mobile app games become popular because they’re simple enough that you can quickly play on your way to work, while you're waiting for a friend, on BART, etc. If they're long and involved, people aren’t as likely to pick up their phone and play. As for mobile simulation games like Farmville (I think theres some sort of mobile version...), people can just play on their own time and not for long. By the way, it’s really impressive that you know how to create a game. Good luck with it!
ReplyDeleteAs a former foursquare addict, I can see why a player would be drawn to your game. For some reason, I want to share the places I'm visiting, eating at, and how many times I go there with people in my social network. Foursquare is also a good way for me to keep track of all the cool places I've been - sometimes I have gone back to look at my history and seen just how many cool places I've eaten, truly remarkable.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the advent of foursquare and other location-based services (and games, like yours) will become a mainstream way of recording our lives. Because pictures are so easy to take (especially with the iPhone) and upload for everyone to see, there has been a dramatic increase in photo taking and sharing. Will the next development in recording our lives be recording all of the places we visit?
-Inga Chen