Best Practices for Building Engaging Mobile Games
The mobile gaming industry has experienced significant growth in recent years, driven in part by the increased number of games and players during the pandemic. With this boom comes increased competition and higher player expectations.
In order to build a successful mobile game that keeps players coming back for more, developers must understand and meet these expectations.
Understanding Player Experience
According to Pavlo Prokopov, a client software architect at SuperPlay, player experience is a combination of business metrics, technical metrics, and player expectations. It requires finding a balance between meeting the needs of players and creating a profitable business.
However, the complexity of mobile games makes it challenging to understand and address user issues. These issues can negatively impact player experience and the game’s performance. Therefore, developers need tools to identify and prioritize these issues efficiently.
Tools for Monitoring Player Experience
Traditionally, developers relied on logging to track issues in their games. However, logging everything in a mobile game can be time-consuming and overwhelming. Developers need tools that provide more context and insights into player experience.
Eric Futoran, CEO and co-founder of Embrace, emphasizes the need for tools that think of each device as a user. These tools should provide a play-by-play of each session, aggregate data into meaningful metrics, and enable proactive issue identification.
Existing tools, such as Firebase, often fall short in providing the necessary insights and solutions to address issues effectively.
Key Topics Covered
- The latest trends in mobile game tooling
- The evolution of user expectations in mobile games
- Metrics that matter to game developers
- Moving from a reactive to a proactive approach in issue remediation
- The limitations of existing tools like Firebase
Conclusion
Building a successful mobile game goes beyond creating engaging gameplay. It requires understanding and meeting player expectations, monitoring player experience effectively, and addressing issues proactively. With the right tools and insights, developers can create games that keep players engaged and achieve high store rankings.
Source: How mobile game developers think about player experience from a technical perspective
