Game Design Secrets

Summary

Here are the key points we covered in this chapter:

• Tiger Style operates like a film production company, with the founders financing themselves on revenue from their previous games, and contractors paid through royalties and advances on royalties for the next game.
• Media coverage and Apple promotion are significant ways to increase sales.
• Trailers depicting gameplay are important for game promotion, especially with paid download apps.
• To increase installs, make frequent (and substantial) new content updates.
• To increase engagement, add leaderboards and achievement systems.
• When working with a remote team, convey the design concept through art, writing, and other assets, and delegate specific solutions to individual team members.
• Consider leveraging the potential of Kickstarter apart from fundraising, as a platform for promotion and community building.
• Develop a monetization plan that’s natural to the game.
• During the game-testing process, consider first showing the title to fellow designers, implementing their feedback, and then testing it with non-developers.
• Remove abstraction from the game’s user interface, so it feels as organic as possible to the iOS.
• It is sometimes true that only by coming up with a lot of great ideas—most of which will ultimately be discarded—is it possible to stumble on the handful that are truly magical.