Mobile games / Mobile Game Development. At some point in our lives, we’ve all played one. It’s the ideal method to while away the hours. Whether you’re out and about or cooped up at home. They are available in a variety of shapes and sizes. They range in price from free to slightly more expensive. But, for the most part, they’re all made to be addictive and to keep us, the gamers, occupied for hours at a time.

We’ll take a closer look at mobile gaming in this article. We’ll go through what they are, some examples, and how to create one. Make sure you stay till the very end to avoid missing any important information!

What Is A Mobile Game?

A mobile game is a video game that has been compressed for use on a mobile device. Many mobile games are free to download, and the ones that aren’t are rarely more than £10. People appear to be turning to mobile devices as an alternate way of gaming as video game consoles and their games become increasingly pricey.

While main consoles may limit a player’s ability to play outside of their living room, portable consoles give them the freedom to play anywhere they choose. This same concept is used in mobile games, albeit at a far lower cost.

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What Makes A Good Mobile Game?

A decent mobile game must be good value for money first and foremost. If a game costs ten dollars, it should have a lot of content by mobile gaming standards. In-game purchases can also be acceptable if a game is free or costs less than £1. It’s no longer only about making games available only to people with money.

Although, in the end, those that invest money will enjoy a more in-depth experience. These micro-transactions, often known as in-game purchases, can be used to purchase goods that improve gameplay and make it flow more like a conventional video game. As soon as money is involved, it could become as dangerous as gambling, so play responsibly!

Another indicator of an excellent mobile game is that it is addictive. It doesn’t matter what amount of difficulty there is because there will always be a demographic for it. Unless they are a player who feeds on the anguish of losing and the pleasure of improving themselves, an easy to play game is more likely to garner greater delight and playtime from them.

Popular games like Pokemon Go and Clash of Clans are ideal examples of games that have captivated millions of players over time. The number of similar games in this category is far too long to include here!

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What Types Of Mobile Game Apps Can You Develop?

Within the realm of video gaming, there are a variety of genres to choose from. So it’s only natural that this apply to mobile gaming as well. While you may publish game apps in a variety of genres on both the Google Play and Apple stores, including action, adventure, role-playing, racing, and many others.

More genres, such as arcade, casino, and educational games, appear to be allowed in the Google Play App store. This diversity demonstrates that, while the options are definitely not limitless, they are far from it.

How Much Money Can A Mobile Game Make?

The gaming industry has well-and-truly boomed over the past few years. Technological advancement has allowed for state-of-the-art next-generation consoles, eSports has burst onto the scene. This has made starting a career as a professional gamer an attainable concept.

This certainly carries over to mobile games and apps. They don’t cost the consumer as much money as say a new PlayStation 5 or Nintendo Switch title.

Additionally, they can generate a substantial amount of money through in-game purchases and ad revenue. Of course not forgetting income through a sheer number of sales. 

This effectively lays out the steps for creating a profitable mobile game. New game concepts, on the other hand, are a risk because there is never a guarantee that a game will be a huge hit and produce millions of dollars. It’s all about understanding the industry and what people want in order to separate out from the pack.

If marketed correctly and kept fresh with upgrades and new features, a unique game app that is successful and played globally may produce millions, if not billions, of dollars each year.

How To Make A Mobile Game App

In this section, we will run through the steps you need to take in order to make a mobile game. Let’s dive in!

Plan

It’s not easy to figure out how to make a mobile game. First and foremost, what is your goal in this situation? What is the primary demographic and target audience for this product? What genre will this be classified as? These are just a few of the things you’ll have to ask yourself before you start.

A mobile game may be anything these days, from a 2D puzzle in which you move shapes around to a 3D village with fully interactive elements and UI. Choose a genre, the content’s major core (whether it’s complex narratives or brain-teasing games), and the overall size and scope of your project. These are excellent stepping stones to help you get going.

You must also consider if this is a solo project or if you will bring in other people to help. This might sound like a small detail as the chances are that you thought of this idea and want to do it yourself. 

It’s important to note however that working on making any kind of game can potentially require knowledge of or skill in; coding, art design, music and sound dev, and game design itself to thread everything together. 

This isn’t even considering narrative and creative design, along with a plethora of other areas that the big games will have several people in each. 

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Monetization

It’s crucial to plan for the worst-case situation, in which only a few people buy your game. It’s also worth thinking about how to increase the total amount of money you can gain from people who do invest in your product.

In-App Purchases

The most frequent technique of monetisation in mobile games is the freemium model. Though they account for less than 5% of total revenue, they are a valuable supplementary source of revenue in video games in general, and perhaps even more so in mobile gaming.

Ads Within The App

When creating a mobile game, it’s a good idea to combine specialized and relevant advertisements with in-app purchases, as neither can bring in a lot of money on their own.

Premium Versions

Premium editions provide a free taste of the game to potential consumers. Whether it’s in trial or demo form, they’ll be prompted and asked if they want to buy the game to save and advance their progress.

Essential Equipment & Purchases

How to make a mobile game app for free is extremely difficult as you will need some equipment to get you started. 

Let’s take a look at what you will need!

Computer

Because game engines do not work on mobile phones, you will need to use a computer. This is required in order to set up and use a game developer studio. It’s critical that you choose either a PC or a Mac because some game engines don’t support cross-platform play. As a result, once you’ve chosen one, you’re practically stuck with it.

Mobile Devices

If you intend to release the game on various platforms, it’s a good idea to have at least two of these phones on hand at all times to play-test your invention, preferably one iPhone and one Android.

App Developer Account

Before submitting apps for evaluation and approval, both Google Play and the Apple Store need potential developers to sign up for developer accounts.

These will vary in cost so be sure to research this in advance.

Choose Your Desired Game Development Path

You should have determined on the overall direction you want to go on this trip of learning to make a mobile game throughout the planning process. You’ll have to choose between four different types of development procedures. The following are three of them:

Native Mobile Game Development 

This form of game development involves using languages native to a device platform for coding, such as using Java for Android.

Native development should be the primary focus and concern if optimal performance is your highest priority.

HTML5 Mobile Game Development 

This method makes use of more common web technologies like HTML5 and JavaScript. HTML5 takes a write-once, run-anywhere approach to cross-platform programming that works well. If such a platform change is found desirable and required, this would undoubtedly save time.

Hybrid Mobile Game Development 

Hybrid mobile game development combines the benefits of both native and HTML5 models. It uses HTML 5 design inside a container cell to run the game on any platform.

Game Engines & Game Development Kits

The fourth option is to use development kits, which are software and game engines that are more efficient in terms of working smoothly and quickly. There are numerous options available. This includes drag-and-drop game engines like GameSalad, which is arguably the most simple way to create mobile games. The main heavyweights in the gaming engines area, however, are Unreal and Unity, both of which are based on code.

There are a slew of others, each with its own set of benefits and peculiarities. These two, on the other hand, are the most tried and true. Especially in the context of video game creation as a whole.

If money isn’t an issue, there are a plethora of options available to you. However, if you want to learn how to develop a mobile game for free, you need do some research because it is doable.

Unity

Many aspiring game creators, whether they are young and upcoming or well-established, employ Unity Engine. Unity is free for an individual account for people who are just getting their feet wet in this setting. In order to be eligible, any game must have generated less than $100K in sales or funding in the previous twelve months.

It’s basically as simple as this: if your game becomes popular and successful, you’ll have to pay for your subscription. When you consider it, it’s a really good offer! While it is simple to use Unity to a high quality, its editing capabilities do have some limits.

Assets will also have to be purchased or made elsewhere, aside from basic shapes.

For a deeper dive into Unity, check out our informative Unity Game Engine Review.

Unreal Engine

The Unreal Engine was created by Epic Games, the company behind Gears of War and Fortnite. The success of this development firm should speak for itself in terms of how extensively it is employed. It’s a great competitor to Unity and, in some ways, offers more strong performance as a finished product.

This is because it provides additional capabilities for completely refining subjects.

Unreal Engine, like Unity, can be used for free, with 5% royalty payable if and when the games created with it make large money. There are many different coding languages in use.

When it comes to Unity and Unreal, the most common languages are C# and C++. On Udemy, you may take a variety of courses to help you get up to speed with the coding part of game production. Of course, this is in addition to everything else.

Begin Development

Once you know what software you will be using, and if you are using code which language you will be proceeding with, it is time to proceed.

Code, art and gameplay are the core aspects that will take the most time to get right, so you’d better get to it.

Create Assets & Art

This might go a number of ways, depending on your game plan first and foremost. Second, your level of creative expertise and skills. You may easily just utilize the shapes and templates provided by any program you choose. Additional assets can be purchased from a variety of retailers. You can also make your own using third-party apps and technologies.

Blender comes to mind when it comes to 3D art. It is incredibly accessible, and there are a plethora of courses available to teach you how to use it effectively. Not to mention videos on YouTube. The most important thing to remember when it comes to your materials and artwork is that the art style should be consistent. As an example, using polygon assets alongside pricey and intricate character designs would be incompatible.

Trial & Error Will Get You The Gameplay You Desire

Now is the time to experiment with your scenes and the moving parts that will inhabit them, as well as the tools to connect everything with code. It’s up to you to figure out how to make every relevant concept and idea a reality. Some of them will fail, but that’s the idea of trial and error.

You might come across something unexpected that works quite well. How long it takes to create a mobile game is highly dependent on your mindset, ambitions, skill set, and other factors.

There are ‘Game Jams’ that exist within the community to make games within a specified topic and time limit. They can range from 1 day, to a week, or even longer.

How To Submit Your Mobile Game To The App Store

Once everything is in place and has been threaded together to make a functional game, it is time to release and launch the game. An important thing to remember is that if you have a predetermined launch date for the game app in place, then you need to stick to it and ensure it gets released on that date. 

Depending on where you are uploading it to, it may not even matter if it isn’t a finished product. It’s important to just get the game out there and see where the wind takes it. 

If your game requires some fine-tuning after its first release, updates are there to help. Look up the terms and conditions for the platform you want to release.

This is due to the fact that it varies, with Apple requiring a finished product in particular. It is important to factor this into your release date, perhaps submitting for review at least a month before launch to avoid too many last-minute panic moments.

Submitting the app to the Google Play store and Apple store is a complicated process, and your final product submissions will take time to be reviewed, so it is important to factor this into your release date, perhaps submitting for review at least a month before launch to avoid too many last-minute panic moments.

Now You Know How To Make A Mobile Game

So there we have it! With everything covered in this article, you should now know more about the concept and have what you need to try and create your own mobile game. With hard-work, perseverance, careful application of skills and a willingness to better any necessary skill areas, making your own mobile game is a perfectly reasonable and attainable goal to have.

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