Some may argue that hyper-casual is probably one of the easiest genres to analyze when it comes to game design. Some may argue that hyper-casuals aren’t worth analyzing because it’s a trend that will die soon. I beg to differ, and I wonder who are these people and why do they argue so much?
I don’t claim to be an expert in hyper-casuals. I am just a consumer who can no longer enjoy games as a consumer, thanks to my analytical game designer eyes. Since I’ve been playing (analyzing) a lot of hyper-casual games on mobile recently, I thought, why not do a short write up on what’s so intriguing about them and what we as game designers can learn from them. Again, it’s not a go-to guide on making hyper-casuals, it’s a short hypothesis (always wanted to use that word) on various game design choices and systems that help make hyper-casuals fun. If you don’t agree on something, know that I’m always up for debates.
Let’s dive right in, shall we?
Hyper what?
For those living under a rock for the past few years, a hyper-casual game is an ultra-simple game that offers an addictive gameplay loop, combined with minimalist art, and usually playable with nothing but a screen tap. It often presents straightforward goals – get the highest score (Stack), clear levels (Phases), and more. Think of it as something developed in a game jam, but with better production quality and meta.
If you are someone like me who looks forward to the App Store refresh every week, you will notice hyper-casuals taking the App Store by storm, and that’s because of a good reason. Since these games are built around minimalism, developers can produce them quickly within a few weeks, if not months. This is a part of the strategy that makes hyper-casuals a success, and you’d see all major hyper-casual publishers like Ketchapp, Voodoo, Appsolute Games release at least one game a week. And boy, people love ’em – Hyper-Casuals were downloaded more than 100M times in 2018!
But enough about numbers and analytics, let’s get our hands dirty!
Let me play this thing already!
For the sake of simplicity and since I can’t possibly play all the hyper-casual games available on mobile, I am going to use a few of the popular games as examples while exploring different areas in the genre.
With that said, let’s start with discovery.
One day, I was bored and browsing Instagram. That’s how I discovered this game called ‘Ball Blast’.A short 30-sec video ad, showing nothing but the best features of the game, made me download the game. The video showed how easy it was to play the game and beat it. In short, it looked fun. I wanted to start playing it immediately, which was made possible thanks to the low download size, a crucial thing for hyper-casuals.
An example of an ad that runs on social media
An example of an ad that runs on social media
Now, you have to understand how most of the users discover these games. Hyper-casuals rely majorly on User Acquisition campaigns on social media. Whenever someone’s browsing one of these social media channels, it’s safe to assume that they are bored. They are looking for ways to bring an end to this boredom, and that’s where these hyper-casuals come in as a ‘Knight in Shining Armor’, ready to put an end to their misery.
The idea is to quickly educate potential players about this game that’s super fun and allow them to start playing instantly. Since they’re browsing on their phone, chances are that they are on mobile data. Nobody likes to download GBs of data while on mobile, except if you are super rich or your daddy pays your bill. Even if you are on Wi-Fi with good download speed, it’s hard being patient after seeing how fun the game looks in the ad. Hence, the low download size.
Okay, so the player has managed to download the game and is ready to enter the game’s world. Now what? This brings us to our next topic – onboarding.
Roughly, it takes about 7 seconds for a player to decide if the game’s fun and worth the storage space on his phone. Such a short window means, no lengthy tutorials or UI transitions!
Ball Blast does just that. The moment you fire up the game, you’re presented with the game screen which says “swipe to shoot”, and that’s the only gameplay ‘tutorial’ you ever receive. You touch the screen, and the canon starts shooting bullets.
How inviting!
How inviting!
When you start shooting, you notice that the canon also has the ability to move horizontally by following your finger. When your brain has become used to the idea of shooting and moving, multiple numbered balls enter the game area for you to shoot. You shoot the balls, watch them explode dropping coins, and realize that bigger balls burst into smaller ones. Simple, isn’t it?
Same goes for this neat little game called Stack by Ketchapp which also boots at the game screen, allowing the player to start the game by tapping anywhere. As soon as you tap, you watch a square move to-and-fro, and you learn that whenever you tap, the moving square drops on the stack of squares below and any part which is outside the stack gets trimmed out. Because these games boast a simple single mechanic, it’s reasonably easy to teach it without using complex tutorials. The player learns by failing and overcoming the challenge. The gameplay is “Youtubeable”, meaning, it’s easy to learn by just watching.
Get in and get out!
Have you noticed how easy and quick it is to start playing a hyper-casual game on your phone? You take the phone out, unlock it, tap on the game’s icon, and within 2 seconds you are in! Isn’t that great?
That’s what the brain wants when it’s dead-bored and wants a potion that can revive it instantly. I start the game, play a session, fail a couple of times, beat my high score, and collect my rewards. That’s what makes up the short feedback loop in the core gameplay. The actions contributing to success or failure are communicated instantly. Combine this with upgrades (discussed later in the blog) and you have a strong positive feedback loop that’s rewarding and highly engaging while being short.
EDIT: In the short feedback loop illustrated below, you’d realise that the player also improves by failing, thanks to Sampath for pointing that out!
If you’ve managed to create a game with a fun gameplay hook and the players love it, know that’s probably the only thing they care about in your game. Ball Blast puts me right into the action as soon as I start the game because it understands my needs — instant fun. No UI transitions, cutscenes, or texts.
Even if I play the game after a week, I know how to interact with the game, thanks to the ultra-simple mechanic, and no prior commitments. Getting in and out of a game session is another crucial aspect that helps towards the success of these games.
While at work, I often take breaks in the form of short game sessions on my phone and I rely on hyper-casuals for the same, because I know I don’t have the time or the environment to play anything “complex“. Hyper-casuals give me my dose of fun when I want it and where I want it.
Give me all the power!
This is where things get interesting. As mentioned earlier, the core gameplay is what makes the player stick. It’s simple yet addictive, and mastering it encourages the player to come back. If you remember Ball Blast, you’d wonder what’s so fun about shooting balls repeatedly? I wondered the same when I saw the game’s ad for the first time — “Okay, this looks fun, but would it still be fun after a couple of days?”. To answer that question in short — yes, it was fun, and it still is!
To better understand what makes the core fun, we have to talk about the key behind it — upgrades!
In Ball Blast destroying the balls reward you with coins and gems, a form of soft currency. Let’s talk about coins, as gems only allow you to purchase cosmetics, and don’t affect the gameplay much. Coins are used to upgrade your canon. There are four types of upgrades available:
Fire Speed: upgrades the shooting speed.
Fire Power: upgrades the damage dealt with bullets.
Coins Drop: improves the value, and the rate of coins dropped after shooting balls.
Offline Earnings: which increases the rate of coins earned while the game is in background.
If you observe the upgrades closely, you will notice that they work in synergy to enhance your ‘power‘ in the game. For example, upgrading Coins Drop allows you to collect more coins in a session, which makes it easier to horde coins and spend on other upgrades. Upgrading your canon is what makes you feel powerful because it lets you destroy balls quickly, even the bigger ones who felt harder to destroy at some point. This is what makes the core loop special. The player feels powerful after each session. The player is always craving for power, which he can only achieve by playing more, earning coins, and then using those coins to upgrade his power.
Levels are well-balanced to support this loop by giving you areas to showcase your power and then introducing stronger balls, encouraging you to upgrade the canon even more. The progression is not only meaningful but is easy to convey. Spend just five minutes in the game, and you’ll see what I am talking about.
Another game which uses this methodology quite well is Mr. Gun by Ketchapp. You kill bad guys, they drop coins, and you can use these coins to buy guns with better damage and fire rate, enhancing your ‘power‘ in the game. You are introduced to your first premium gun pretty early, as a gift, and that’s how the game teaches you about upgrades in the form of new weapons and how they can benefit you in the game.
I’d also like to use this opportunity to compare this type of hyper-casuals with dungeon crawlers. Bear with me, please.
