I work at iBearSoft.com (producing apps for iPhone), and we have just made public our survey results regarding the top 10 most desired iPhone game features. Here is our list - and your own opinion on your favorite features is a lot welcome. I invite everyone to share. Feature 1: Reasonable simplicity (meaning that a game must have good controls and a gameplay, which is easy to manage); Feature 2: Clear idea (meaning that a game must appeal to the players with its main idea); Feature 3: Dynamic changes (meaning that gamers expect that a gameplay must change quickly); Feature 4: Scoring (meaning that gamers expect to see numerical results of their achievements); Feature 5: Multiple levels (the gamers normally want to have many levels in one game); Feature 6: Competition (gamers like to compete with each other, and want the game to allow such a possibility); Feature 7: Quick interaction (meaning that gamers want to make a lot of movements per game); Feature 8: Reason (meaning that a game must provide some logical challenge to the players); Feature 9: Appearance (meaning that gamers like when the game has high quality graphics); Feature 10. Updates (meaning that gamers like to have free updates, which may involve more levels and options available in the game). For more information regarding the survey results and what we MEAN by each point, please refer to the following web page http://www.ibearsoft.com/en/blog/10_most_desired_iPhone_game_features.php
I posted this on my blog around october of last year "1. If Im not able to resume my game after getting a call or text DONT PUT THAT **** IN THE APPSTORE! Why should I pay for a game that I have to start over every time I have to deal with the real world?? 2. Please beta test your apps Just go to any forum and look for people that seem reputable and ask if they will try your game or app out. I love beta testing and am willing to help however I can. Bug filled apps are not ok. 3. Dont complain about the appstore economy and how you cant sell your app for 5 dollars. Make a game/app with as high a quality as you possibly can and charge whatever you please. If the quality is there then the price wont matter (just look at BeeJive and Jaadu) 4. Let me see my battery life or GTFO! This goes doubly when you are talking about games that involve the accelerometer or gps, they burn a lot or power and I need to be aware of my battery life. I cant risk burning through the battery of my phone if I am going to be out all day 5. Let me choose how I want to hold my device! In the counter clockwise landscape view: - the volume button is facing down - the volume button is flipped. pressing it left makes volume go up, pressing right makes it go down - the speaker is covered by my right hand - the headphone jack is covered by my left hand In the clockwise landscape view: - the volume button is on top of the device easily in reach - the volume button is orientated correctly. pressing it left makes the volume go down, pressing right makes it go up - the speaker is above my hand and uncovered - the headphone jack is uncovered incase I want to play with my headphones in. I prefer clockwise and it annoys me to no end that devs are refusing to put in the work to allow me to play the game I payed for COMFORTABLY"
VegantTnT, those are valuable comments, yet not quite what I meant when started the thread. At iBearSoft we were trying to figure out not just the features that can improve the games, but such features that make a game stick out. Interestingly, most of gamers did not want the game to be complicated, so we can say that a game can stick out easier IF it is NOt complicated rather than if it is. What you are writing is very important, yet relates more to usability of the game rather to its .. gist (so to say).
You left out "A good storyline". I prefer games with a good novel like story: Interesting characters, suspense, surprises, etc.
I really appreciate this thread iBearSoft, it presents interesting reading for anyone involved with iPhone development. Thanks!
Quick loading, decent story or at least progression, and I would say most importantly and most lacking in a lot of games: replayability after the progression. For games with a number of levels this can be as easy as a lot have done with 'Quick Play' options; but I guess it's also down to the fact that a lot of the common iPhone game genres just don't provide obvious routes for extended replayability.
You are right, we left out the good storyline. This is because (for whatever reasons) it was not among the top 10 most popular features... According to our findings, clear idea is more important than a good story... Although possibly some people meant a good story by clear idea.
Folks, you are absolutely right that a good game MUST encourage gamers to play it again, however in our terms REPLAYABILITY is not a feature, but a quality. By FEATURES we mean WHAT the game consists of, and quality appears as a result of the features. So the question is, which features do you think make a game replayable.
Perhaps you are misunderstanding what I mean exactly by "replayability". Imagine this made-up scenario that illustrates my point... Two games, both quite similar: get a ball from one side of the screen to the other by way of a convoluted maze in the middle. Now imagine one game has a pre-set number of hand-crafted levels - let's say 50 levels. Great, you get to play 50 levels, then it's game over. Now you don't really want to play the game through a second time, because (a) you've gotten to the psychological "end" of the game, having completed all the supplied courses, and (b) if you have a good memory, you remember the courses and finding your way through them is no challenge the second time around. Now imagine the second game has an intelligent completely random maze generator, so that every time you play the game, you are presented with a maze that you have never played before. This gives you, quite literally, an endless supply of fresh new mazes to work through, which puts the other games 50 levels to shame. Now THIS is true replayability, and it is indeed a feature that will sell your game. If you want a real-world example, take a look at the recently released Blimp. It "only" has 20 levels, but in each of those levels, every time you play the exact same level over, the bonus packages you pick up are placed in different locations around the environment. So you don't ever get to memorise the course, and every time you re-play it, it's different. This is replayability, and it is a very very important feature in differentiating your game from others.
I'm torn between "replayability" and "a good storyline." In virtually every discussion about iPhone games, the question of replayability invariably comes up; most people don't feel like they're getting their money's worth if they can finish a game in an hour or two and be done with it. That's why a game like Bejeweled--released almost a year ago--has stayed in the top 10 list for almost the entire time it has been out (since the price was lowered to $2.99, anyway...) Great replayability! I also think a good storyline is important. Regardless of whether the game is an adventure game, a FPS, or a survival horror game, a good storyline is crucial; it help to engage the player. Why these two factors don't appear in your list is beyond me. Maybe you sampled a different demographic. Judging from the responses you are receiving in this thread, though, perhaps you should include these choices in your poll.
this actually all comes down to personal preference. for me, a game with a good storyline pulls me in the most. a close second would be good multiplayer. multiplayer that can make you and friends your laugh together, or feel the thrill and tension of playing against each other. importantly to me as well - no crappy controls. replayability is probably important as well, but it doesn't bother me. if I had great fun and there's nothing left in the game, I move on to something else. simple as that. graphics are the least important aspect of gaming to me, and it should be to all gamers. graphics is a plus, not a must. those who usually feel that great graphics are a MUST are usually kids who don't know what they're talking about. (no offence)
Exactly! Bejeweled is a great example of a game with replayability as a feature: Every time you play the game, it's different. You can play the game over and over and over, and you never think "I've done all this before", even though it's such a basic game. Basically, if you have any kind of random-generator, then you've got true replayability. And this is indeed a feature I look for in most games I buy, and I tend to stay away from the level-based games with a pre-defined number of levels. Do you want to know what the game I play the most on my iPhone is? It's certainly not my "favourite" game, but it is literally the most-played game... Solitaire. Yep, that's right. The simple card game. Why? Because when you can shuffle 52 cards into any order, you've got an (almost) infinite supply of card combination layouts, and I can just fire up a game whenever and play a round, one that I've never played before (in all probability). (P.S. I've amassed over $4-million in Platinum Solitaire! Can anyone beat that? )
Since replayability wasnt a choice, I was between updates and multiple levels. Picked updates just because they're fun to get, its like opening a christmas present . My next choice would definitely be reason.
BrettArchibald, I see your point. I could not unfortunately post our explanation of the questions here (it just would not look right); still in the survey we tried to establish the difference between the terms. You are absolutely right that the two games you have described are not equal, yet the terms you are using are slightly subjective (what we actually tried to avoid during the survey). Imagine a person who particularly likes to play all the same levels. The majority of people may not, but he and his fellows do - for them the game is replayable right because it is the same. This is why replayability is a consequence, not a reason. And the reason here (what objectively distinguishes the two games) is multiple (or unlimited as a subdivision or an extention of multiple) levels. By identifying this, we can say that some people find a game replayable if it has multiple (preferrably unlimited) levels, while other people find a game replayable if it has the same levels - but the MAJORITY of gamers find a game replayable if it has multiple levels. That's the feature.
Guys, I'd really love to hear more people expressing their viewpoints and want to have more votes. If you appreciate games, help us make them better - what we (meaning all the app developers) produce actually depends on what you request ))
Folks, big thanks that you keeping voting. I would say that many people can find it surprising that "good graphics" is leading now. We also were when we got the first survey results. Some of the best selling games and apps do not have high quality graphics, which makes developers feel that graphics is not essential. Although it may be not, it is surely a highly desired feature.
Graphic is absolutely the deciding factor for me. While gameplay mechanism is also equally important, graphic is the first thing that I see and decide whether I will start checking out on gameplay videos. I personally prefer 2D graphic over 3D on iPod. As impressive as 3D game is on iPod, that is the furthest where it goes. What remain is tons of rough edges and relatively low frame rate. I'll stick to my console or PC for 3D games.
