How to Get Started With Mobile Game Development

­With the rise in population and smartphones, there is no doubt that mobile games are becoming more popular these days. Where once the average smartphone user was the executive-type businessperson, now even millennials and teenagers have started to use a smartphone on a regular basis.

With the change in time and technology, mobile games are also starting to take a prominent place in the industry. This is a great opportunity for small software and gaming companies to hire the top mobile game development company in India and turn their game into a revenue-generating machine.

When it comes to developing a mobile game, one requires to take note of several key factors; choosing the right gaming framework being one of them. A good framework takes a lot of work out for development. The beginner can use a framework with little or no coding. 

Whereas the seasoned developers can use them to dramatically speed up the coding process. Whether you are an experienced game developer or you are just getting started making your first game, a good framework will make your life significantly easier. 

A game framework can be as simple as a collection of code packed up into a library in a specific language, as a javascript, or a more complex system of the scripts, tools, and workflows built on a specific platform.

The thing you need to do, especially when getting started, is to reinvent the wheel. A good framework should:

• Include impact and physics, and handles input to speed up your development process.
• It comes with good documentation and an active community to help answer your questions.
• Matches your skill level and as well as it is easy to learn.

It allows you to distribute your game to as many different platforms as possibles.

In order to get started in the right direction here is the list of best frameworks.

Construct 2 

It doesn’t get easier than construct 2. It uses a drag- and- drop behavior system that lets you create game logic from pre-made scripts attached to your game’s elements. It includes music, sound, characters, and scoring. 

Construct 2 games are built-in HTML 5 which is great for publishing games on the web. Construct 2 games are published on a variety of different platforms, too. The only glaring downside to construct 2 is that you can actually code your game, so you are fully dependent on what Scirra has provided. 

While you can add additional functionality via plugins, it’s not ideal if you come from a coding background and want to manually alter things.

Gamemaker

The game maker is an incredibly powerful 2D game-making tool with a lot of well-known, successful indie games, including Spelunky and Hotline Miami, which started out the in-game maker. 

The game maker is easy like construct 2 as you can use drag-and-drop, event-based coding. The more advanced users can take advantage of its built-in scripting language called the game maker language.

Though the game makers UI takes a little getting used to, it is still an excellent tool for the 2D games, and it supports publishing to desktop, mobile, and HTML5 is a definite plus.

UNITY

Unity is a hot game framework right now the same as to game maker, it has its own integrated development environment in which you can work using drag and drop behaviors. Unity does require some basic coding skills to get started. 

The IDE is easy to use, its a 3D tool, you definitely need a certain level of knowledge before you start developing. Unity has a free version that lets you export to desktop and mobile. The pro version is quite pricy, but it comes with lots of must-have features for more expert game developers.

Godot

Godot is a totally new open-source game engine that needs some serious attention.it uses a scripting language similar to python and claims to export to multiple platforms. The one aspect of Godot is that it is open-source, it’s possible to pop the hood and fidget around the engine itself.

Tips to Execute a Successful Mobile Game Development

• Create addictive stories.
• Create social engagement.
• Pin users with sensational sound effects.
• Don’t prioritize monetization.
• Introduce frequent updates.
• Be creative and productive for marketing.

The gameplay should be simple as possible, there should be a one good play idea and focus on that. Maximum efforts should be made with the platform to make it easy for the player. 

People don’t want to have complicated sign-in-processes single click sign-in is preferable for multi-user games. Make your narrative simple, yet engaging, draw the players in one sentence. 

It should be kept small, the smaller the download the quicker the player is playing your game. Test often on many devices. Even the iPhone has several devices and many versions of OS.

9 Stages in mobile game development.

1. Come up with the new game ideas

An idea is the first thing that comes into mind when a game is being described. However, the ideas are not complete in itself until they can answer the following questions:

• Who is our player?
• Why the player would like to play our game? What are the player’s needs does the game solve?
• Is the game fun? What part of the games are fun?
• What are the surprises the play will have when they will play our game? 
• What kind of problem-solving does the game involve?
• What is valuable in the game? How the value corresponds to the inner motivation of the player?

2. Grow the concept

A game concept is a concise document containing a quick game overview and basic representation of four building blocks of every game.

• Game mechanics
• Setting
• Technology
• Interaction

3. Expand the proof of concept

• Will the technology handle the task?
• What about the chosen controls?
• Is the gameplay engaging enough?
• How does your setting appeal to the target audience?

4. Create a game design document

A game design document is a highly descriptive and fact document for the design of the game. A GDD is a living document, which means it’s prone to feedback. Every time the requirement change, a GDD should change. Commonly, a GDD is created and edited collaboratively by developers and designers and used to organize the efforts within the team.

The mechanics’ description of the commandos game in the concept document may sound like “ The goal of the game is to infiltrate the enemy bases using a small squad of highly skilled troops. Due to the disparities in numbers and firepowers, the stealth approach is expected.

Most of the times the player will learn the patrol routes and watchman positions, periodically performing swift and precise actions to take down unsuspecting enemies,” while the GDD will include the detailed description of all the enemies types, their health, movement speed, behaviors, and their triggers, weapons, armor, field of view, etc.

5. Create models

A model should include the most important mechanics and resemble substantial parts of the game. For a game like commandos, the model would be a simplified game engine. While this kind of an early model can take some time to create, it is still central to have it regulate some mistakes in the game of design.

6. Construct architecture

Most of the game functions and scenarios expand during the development stage. Due to many new ideas and technologies, the project changes and behaves differently as compared to the GDD. 

Creating this kind of architecture design may be a hard task, but it is the most important phase in the game development process. 

7. Advancement

With the architecture already designed and models created, the team should have no problem with the actual advancement. Due to the above mentioned elusive requirements of the game, the rapid methodology should be used. Creating a minimum viable product as soon as possible is also important for team motivation and involvement of a QA into the process. Required tools should be created/bought at the highest priority.

8. Analyze the game

As soon as the first playable version is available, QAs and beta testers should join the team. When a release is approaching, the alpha and beta testing phrases are required. During the alpha testing, the unfinished game is exposed to a narrow range of potential players to get the feedback and behavior of the game in the wild on a wide range of devices. 

9. Support the game

To achieve a continual growth of the user base higher retention rates, the updates of the game are critical. The analysis of the modern hit games suggests that the updates should be released within every two to five weeks and every other update should add more to the content game. 

Wrapping Things Up

Mobile app development is a considerably critical process. Though you can execute in-house game development, it is better to hire a team of professional mobile game developers who have the desired technical expertise of working with the latest gaming engines. Moreover, when you hire a team of professional game developers, the results are going to be tremendous and the game is most likely to be engaging.