Finger Spinner tops the charts, Skullgirls' leap to mobile, and how Supercell's Richard Bangs became a programmer
Supercell made a couple of big splashes last week - it just goes to show that having a few of the highest grossing mobile games ever makes people interested in you.
What really caught peoples' attention was our interview with Clash Royale programmer Richard Bangs, which was our most read article of last week.
Second up, we talk to Hidden Variable Studio's Creative Director Charley Price about bringing console fighter Skullgirls to mobile, and why he really didn't want to make a match-3 version of the game.
Funding, fidgets and fun
Third on the list is Supercell's acquisition of 62% of Space Ape Games, a move that will let the UK developer experiment further with its future projects.
And finally, Finger Spinner from Ketchapp caught onto the fidget spinner craze and became a top downloaded game the world over, and Adam Telfer stops by to deconstruct the success of Gardenscapes on mobile.
Click the link below to find out more about the stories that caught our reader's attention over the last week.
#5: Deconstructing Gardenscapes' big pivot to success
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Deconstructing Gardenscapes' big pivot to success »Gardenscapes, eh? You think you can escape it, but then it's in a video ad on another game, and we're all writing articles about it.
Wooga's Adam Telfer has also been taking a look at it and very kindly let us share his blog uncovering why the game has become so successful.
"As a result, Gardenscapes made a very important design decision. Rather than allow players to purchase stars to progress through in-app purchases, in Gardenscapes you can only purchase coins, which can be turned into boosts, lives and extra moves," he writes.
"They fully leaned on their matching gameplay to monetise rather than allowing players to ignore the match-3 gameplay and skip ahead."
#4: Ketchapp gets in on the fidget spinner craze with no.1 App Store game Finger Spinner
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Ketchapp gets in on the fidget spinner craze with no.1 App Store game Finger Spinner »As the woman on my local high street repeatedly reminded me at the top of her voice over the weekend, fidget spinners are the latest craze with kids right now.
That's true on mobile too, thanks to Ubisoft-owned Ketchapp and its game Finger Spinner hitting the top spot of the download charts around the world.
The game gives players five swipes of a virtual fidget spinner to set off the best spin they can. The more users play the game the more potential spinners they can unlock.
It's light on monetisation, featuring ads that can be removed through a single in-app purchase.
#3: Supercell acquires 62% stake in UK mobile games studio Space Ape for $55.8 million
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Supercell acquires 62% stake in UK mobile games studio Space Ape for $55.8 million »Of all the things we expected to happen during the week, Supercell buying a controlling stake in Space Ape Games was absolutely not on the list.
But, lo and behold, the fast-moving industry caught us off guard yet again, and the Finnish giant bought up 62% of the Rival Kingdoms developer for $55.8 million.
“It’s important that you know we’re still in the exact same place as we were yesterday: doing well but not at our destination,” said Space Ape CEO John Earner.
“But now we’ve got Supercell’s support to help us make and distribute massive hit games when and if we need that support.”
#2: "Skullgirls is going to establish the new high bar for what a mobile fighting game can be"
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"Skullgirls is going to establish the new high bar for what a mobile fighting game can be" »If you've played Skullgirls, you'll know that it is a weird, weird game. Like, straight up bizarre, stuff of nightmares characters. And yet it's also got a brilliant soundtrack, deep combat and amazing graphics.
How does one even begin to bring that over to mobile? We spoke to Hidden Variable Studios' Creative Director Charley Price to find out exactly that.
The game's original designer had originally envisioned the game as a Puzzle Fighter-esque title, complete with match-3 gameplay, but the idea horrified Price.
Instead, the mobile title is now a fighting game with heavy RPG elements, allowing players to deploy particular moves from a row of equippable skills as they so choose.
#1: Jobs in Games: Supercell's Richard Bangs on how to get a job as a Game Programmer
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Jobs in Games: Supercell's Richard Bangs on how to get a job as a Game Programmer »Supercell is one of the more unique places to work thanks to its unique company structure that values developers over management, so finding out how their staff got there is always interesting.
Which is why we spoke to Clash Royale programmer Richard Bangs about how he got his role at the company, and how he even got to be a programmer at all.
"I think it’s really important for aspiring programmers to be getting as much coding time as possible. There is no secret trick to becoming a good programmer, you just need to spend a lot of time programming," he told us.
"Motivation is the key, motivation to keep at a project and make sure you take it to completion, and the motivation to constantly learn and improve."