This year I have worked a lot on hypercasual games. I like the fact that its development requires you not to get attached to any specific idea. You design a game mechanic very quickly, put your hand on the engine with few specifications and then you speak on something done.
It reminds me of a method proposed by Jordan Mechner, creator of Prince of Persia.
Working on hypercasual games I learnt that:
- The Players hate to lose. The failure rate of your levels is directly related with drop off of people, day to day.
- Players are more tolerant to ads that we may imagine. As a game designer, I hate those freaking ads! Anyways, if your game is good people accept your ads easier than you may expect
- Players live the experience in three main stages:
The noob, they really have to understand things well. You need to slow down that difficulty curve, believe me
The pro, they like to have games which permit to spot a perfect path to follow and win
The hacker, they will try to hack the rules of your game. Best games out there permit them to do that, for instance Aquapark.IO