Developing a Mobile Game: Key Principles to Follow

If you are starting your career as a programmer for a mobile game, you must have already known a few stumbling blocks and challenges typical of game development. In developing games, you need to code in more detail than other types of apps. Here in the world of mobile game development, features alone cannot rule without an active and mutual cooperation from the game design. Moreover, game storytelling and flow will also prove vital to the final outcome.
 
If you are going to build an intensive game with an array of sophisticated gaming features, so-called drag and drop tools alone will not help. But obviously, there is an array of sophisticated game building tools that work pretty well with simple drag and drop action. In spite of the availability of these tools and engines you, for superior game development, having an in-depth coding knowledge seem invaluable. You need to know a few programming languages and tools to offer a highly immersive gaming experience. Let us introduce here some of the most important do’s, don'ts and prerequisites for a game developer.

Know your engines and development software

Those days are gone when for building simple gaming actions you needed to be a good coder. No, these days you can spare with such requirement altogether. Even without learning to write a single line of code you can build an engaging and feature-rich game. When your game concept is ready with all the necessary attributes of game flow and experience that you want to deliver to your game playing audience, it is time to select a quality game engine to materialize the respective gaming experience.
 
First of all, the choice of a game engine entirely depends upon whether the game would be a 2D game or 3D game. Many game engines allow building both 2D and 3D games. Unity is an engine to be able to deliver excellent gaming experience for both 2D and 3D game types. While the engine has the robust capability and has been successfully used in countless quality games, it comes as absolutely free. Another quality game engine that is widely used for immersive 2D and 3D games is the Unreal Development Kit or UDK. It is also a free to use game development engine. There are several other paid tools and engines to choose from. Do you want a completely drag and drop game building tool? Game salad is a nice tool for that. It does not require any experience of programming.

Getting versed in the right programming language
 
Let us admit one thing: learning to code a game from scratch is, invaluable for an aspiring game developer. There are several programming languages you can opt for your mobile game development project a lot, but you need to focus on one language which is most versatile and rich in capabilities.

For ambitious game projects, J2ME is the ideal language, and Brew also comes very close. J2ME is a great language for mobile game programming. Both the languages offer an array of quality resources to ensure highly immersive gaming experience. For 3D game development, JSR184 is also an ideal language to learn. First of all, one needs to be fully conversant with these game languages and should only try to work with APIs of these game development languages.
 
Some of the key technologies you should be versed with include J2ME Eclipse, Brew C, C++ and Visual Studio for programming. As for helping tools, you should have Python Eclipse Plus, Flash Lite Action Script and Macromedia Flash. As for testing the game, you should have adequate emulator or testing device.

Simplicity is the key

If you want to pave the road to success with your game, you need to ensure that it is played by your target audience and enjoyed. Whether you build a casual game for quick game playing or you develop an immersive game with several layers and stages, simplicity in the game UI will help engaging game players. The simplicity can be ensured in two ways, respectively through the simple game plot and simple game playing experience.
 
When you build casual games, a simple game plot is something that remains to be the most important thing. The game plot should be straightforward and bereft of much twists and turns. Even if you look at the big titles among the hard-core strategy games, the plot for each level mostly remains straightforward. For game developers beginning with their career, straight and simple game storyline and plot will create more scopes of engagement.

Even if you have ensured a simple and straightforward game plot with a fairly clear storyline that players comprehend as soon as they start playing, it is the simple user experience without which this simplicity of game plot will not amount to anything. All the game controls should be simple and quickly learnable. Moreover, to ensure quicker engagement and traction, these controls should involve as less as actions possible. Controls should use a single touch or single keystroke for a myriad of actions including a throw, jump, shoot, etc.

Provide fun and reward

Finally, what makes a mobile game engaging and entertaining is the immersive and rewarding experience in the game playing. This requires lauding the player's accomplishments, offering them refreshing playing experience with new elements and keeping the sense of competitiveness with a lot of levels coming one after another. These are the ways to make even a simple game look bigger and immersive. Let us provide here the time-tested principles in this respect.

Applaud accomplishments: A game player clings to a game when running behind a sense of accomplishment by winning a level, winning a mode or just better equipment. But, when they do not feel such accomplishments to be any longer worth applauding, they may lose the motivation to play the game again. This is why it is incredibly important to praise each and every victory and even small accomplishments within the game. The game developers should create more scopes for such applauding moments.
 
The fun of playing a game should be constant and uninterrupted. With the right background music score, game graphics, sound effects and applauding effects, the game playing should constantly be a fun filled experience.
 
Finally more levels a game offers, bigger it looks. To ensure that the players never necessarily get bored and feel the gaming experience to be repetitive, include as many levels as possible.
 
After narrating all these principles, you may have an impression that we are focussing on the simple casual games alone. To some extent, it is right since most developers start their development career with such simple games. But as you mature as a developer, you should also learn the intricacies of engaging hard-core game players as well.