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Indie developers discuss if you should focus on the game or the service

Short bursts of fun or long-term battles?

Indie developers discuss if you should focus on the game or the service

The second panel of the Indie Appocalypse, led once again by Unity evangelist Oscar Clark, covered the topic of survival strategies and whether it's better to make a short, joyous experience or a game that focuses on long-term retention.

The panel consisted of:

"It's all about creating these tiny moments of joy, and then repeating them," said Karamanci, which he says will draw players back to the game.

Pridiuk, said to "double down on catching and not losing gamers", either by implementing social actions to allow players to show off to their friends, and making sure to highlight sections that you feel will offer players the most excitement.

Choudri mentioned the oft-quoted claim that a game is just "30 seconds of fun repeated", but said that on mobile "it's one microsecond repeated", and that too much of this good thing might eventually put them off for the game.

Pridiuk also made the point that players will often not open games because they don't feel that they can commit to playing the game, because they feel like a play session will last too long, which could lead to lower retention no matter what.

There was also some discussion about whether the metagame may actually be more important than the game itself, as it can be disengaged from quite easily, something Choudri claims that Chinese developers have "got down to an art."

Finally, Parry, when asked for a final remark, said "get something out there and build on it from there."


Editor

Ric is the Editor of PocketGamer.biz, having started out as a Staff Writer on the site back in 2015. He received an honourable mention in both the MCV and Develop 30 Under 30 lists in 2016 and refuses to let anyone forget about it.