Traditionally, hardcore games were rated by their ability to frustrate: save points being the stuff of dreams in the early 1990s. 

According to NaturalMotion CEO Torsten Reil, however, mobile games should be designed to flatter.

He was speaking at the HackFwd Build 0.8 event, detailing his studio's experiences when it comes to building a hit iOS game.

Simply does it

Reil said NaturalMotion's original aim was to combine its experience in animation engine technology with simple gameplay. The result was the Backbreaker series – the studio's arcade-esque multi-million downloaded American football series.

The firm has since gone freemium only, launching its first free-to-play release My Horse last September. Three months later, its downloads tally passed the 5 million mark.

As a result, Reil used the talk to boil down successful iPhone development to 12 key areas.

He claimed developers should look to serve up games that can be digested in snack form, offering players games they can entertain for a few minutes at a time.

Design-wise, Rein believes iPhone games should make players feel good – delivering a 'win' near the start of play – and the concept behind them should be simple.

Short and sweet

"Your game needs to be able to be playable in 3 or 4 minutes and come to a natural conclusion [within that time]," he stated.

"Most people play on their iPhone while they're waiting for the bus or before meetings before important meetings at work. Mobile devices are played differently because they're social."

You can view the full speech below.

 



[source: HackFwd]