How to Develop a Mobile Gaming App

The mobile gaming industry is getting bigger and bigger with every year that passes. From small games like Archery and Knock Down, to major games like Genshin Impact and, more recently, GRIS, the gaming app industry has been on a steady rise since its beginning.

Statistics show that the global gaming app market is expected to reach $339.95 billion by 2027.

This is a very interesting fact – more than half of video gaming revenue comes from mobile games – a massive $165.9 billion!

It’s no surprise, then, that many enterprises are entering the movement and getting into mobile gaming app development. Considering the furious competition, and the costs of developing a mobile game app for Android and iOS, you had better make sure your mobile game is exciting if you wish to succeed.

Be that as it may, the figures sure are attractive. But how do you go about designing a mobile gaming app? What are some of the intricacies of the industry? What should you pay attention to?

Well, look no further; this blog will describe how to make a mobile game app, the countless factors of mobile game app development, details of game design, and more.

Let’s dive in.

What type of Mobile Games Can You Build?

With billions of mobile gaming apps for iOS and Android, you can begin creating a mobile game app with your chosen audience. Here are some gaming app categories:

Puzzles and Word Games

Sudoku has a high engagement percentage. A study reports that around 38 million monthly users play puzzles, and such games have a maximum shelf life. Now, that’s amazing!

Simple jigsaw puzzles or mathematical puzzles are also viral, as well as straightforward to make, and are something that you can always choose from the infinite gaming options, to ensure you’ll turn a profit.

Strategic games

Games like Clash of Clans (CoC) are highly engaging and are proof of the popularity of strategic games. Strategy-building games can be challenging and fun – the gaming app created can be addictive and also generate good revenue.

Arcade games

Arcade games get a lot of attention and are famous among gaming enthusiasts. You will need an excellent storyline and challenging difficulty levels that give players a feeling of competitiveness.

So, start developing your dream game app, come up with a great idea, develop a strategy, and turn your idea into a successful arcade game.

How to Start the Design of a Mobile Gaming App?

1. Understand Yourself

The primary step is to understand yourself, especially your business goals. Why is it that you are entering the mobile gaming app industry? What are you passionate about in mobile gaming? What are your strengths, and what keeps you motivated?

We recommend you do a SWOT analysis. The inputs will help you to look at your business to understand your unique selling points and also to look at the market and understand your competitors.

2. Market Research

Insights from understanding your market and your target audience.

Examine the best trending mobile gaming apps or visit the app stores and look at the various categories and genres of games will give you insights about what’s popular among the mobile app gamers, and what brings in the most revenue.

3. Develop an Exciting Gaming App Idea

An exciting mobile gaming app idea is the heart of an app. Ideation is the most crucial phase of a successful mobile gaming app. Communicate with your team and develop a killer gaming app idea that will keep gamers engaged and influenced for hours at a stretch.

The nice part is a well-planned and designed gaming app can be an instant hit, and you can amplify the app with a touch of advanced technologies like AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality).

The process is quite simple – you primarily work towards the developing of a great gaming app idea and then work towards delivering the perfect gameplay to gamers.

4. Create a Great Gaming Story

A successful game needs a great gaming story. If you create an excellent storyline for your game with a universe of characters, success parameters, surprises, fun elements, and rewards, then gamers will celebrate the gameplay experience.

Once your gamers get involved in the story, it will drive them to further levels, keep them excited, and attract new users.

5. Choose Mobile Platforms

When planning anything on mobile, you need to choose the platform. The first options are typically between Android and iOS.

You can also opt for a hybrid model. You would need to think about the additional costs incurred in developing a mobile gaming app for multiple platforms.

6. Choose Your Gaming App Software or technology

Take advantage of the advancement in app development tools that do the coding for you so you can focus on the more creative side of your product.

• Unity: This is the most widely used software among mobile gaming app developers. It is free to use (until you launch your gaming app onto the market) and has very high graphics capabilities.
• UDK (Unreal Development Kit) introduced by Unreal Engine: This comes with a readymade basic gaming app project so you can experience fun and practice creating a prototype game to learn about the tool sets.
• GameSalad: This requires no coding knowledge but uses what they call a “behaviour-based logic system.” Think of it as a sort of drag-and-drop gaming app creator. Of course, there is still a learning curve, and you won’t be creating a complex mobile gaming app as soon as you start using it. However, it is powerful and can easily port your games onto Android, iOS, and Windows with the click of a button.

Once you have the gaming app idea in place and the mobile platform identified, you then need to plan the design tools and set up the gaming app development processes. Native app development is the most popular choice if you are looking for performance.

Native mobile gaming app development usually involves using languages native to a device platform for coding. So, you may opt for Java for the Android platform or Swift for iOS. Mobile gaming app development also uses web technologies such as HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript.

Another handy tool to create mobile gaming app is Unity 3D, and there are many other tools, such as Xamarin, Marmalade, or Cocos 2D. Choosing the best technology can directly affect the future performance and usability of your mobile game.

7. Learn Your Programming Language for Gaming App

No matter which mobile gaming app development software you choose, learning a programming language is important. The object-oriented programming language is simple and relatively easy to learn.

8. Successful Design

Creating a successful gaming app design could be complicated. The app designing team would need to pay attention to detail and breathe in life in to the characters, art, and overall game experience.

It is crucial to provide a great user experience with the graphics and logic of the gameplay. It’s better to take time to work around the app design, as a bad design of a gaming app could spell disaster for your company.

An outstanding gaming app design that has a simple style could be a significant differentiating factor for your game.

9. Implement Graphics

You have two options when it comes to implementing graphics into your mobile gaming app:

1. Create them yourself using 2D or 3D graphics software such as Photoshop (for 2D graphics) or Maya or 3ds Max (for 3D graphics).

2. Outsource your graphics portion of the gaming app to a designer. There are lots of sites online to help you hire a graphic designer who will give you the look you’re after.

10. Create a Monetization Story

A mobile gaming app is a big investment. You’re investing money in your development team and in various other talents (like artists and voice actors), and hosting. The goal is to see your mobile gaming app succeed and get a good ROI.

When monetizing your mobile game consider whether to choose the premium way or freemium model to make money from your mobile gaming app. Some leading ways to achieve this are:

Ads

You can blend a pay-per-click revenue model to monetize your mobile game. Using a PPC model is quite popular nowadays, as it can result in an incredible ROI. According to Google, for every dollar spent on a PPC ad, your business can expect two dollars back!

Be cautious with the placement of the ads though, as if they are boring they may prove to be counterproductive. You can also provide the user with an Ad-free version.

In-app Purchases

Another effective way to earn income from gamers is to opt for a freemium model. The game purchases could account for around 2% on the Android platform and a little more on iOS; still, it is quite useful for mobile game monetization.

Premium versions

You can also offer a free trial or a demo, before asking gamers to opt for premium versions.

You may opt to go with a pay-once model, but that could affect the number of downloads for your gaming app, as people are much more hesitant to pay full price for mobile games.

Typically, only high-quality mobile games with comprehensive production times and costs from big app developers opt for this model.

Pay-per-download

You would find this strategy adopted with mobile gaming apps with every high investment.

Nowadays, most people have a mobile phone, so it’s no wonder the mobile gaming app market has skyrocketed. If you’re eager to know how to make a mobile gaming app of your own, this blog article will walk you through the steps to take to get your mobile gaming app from idea to release.

11. Elevate Your Gameplay

Knowing how to develop a mobile gaming app isn’t enough anymore. For it to be successful, gamers have to want to play it. By taking a few more steps, your mobile game will be able to compete.

1. Ensure your mobile game doesn’t conceal.

2. Make the controls easy and spontaneous.

3. Create the overall mood through music that is fun and not distracting.

4. Test, test, and test some more.

12. Testing is the Key

Game testing is an integral part of mobile gaming app development. We recommend you hire a Quality Analyst and beta testers and test your gaming app to identify bugs and errors.

Testing at every stage, whether as a prototype or a final product, will ensure a smooth gameplay experience.

13. Release Your Mobile Gaming App

One mistake new mobile gaming app developers often make is trying too hard to make the game perfect, thus delaying the app’s release. It’s better to get the gaming app out the door quickly. If it finds an audience, that’s when you can enhance the gaming app by releasing updates. If you’re more serious about making money from your mobile gaming app, you’ll need to budget for its marketing.

14. Support and Maintenance

Once you launch your mobile gaming app, you need to plan for support and maintenance for a better gameplay experience. Continue to update your gaming app, as this will keep players inspired for new features, new rewards, and new surprises.

Plan every stage of the mobile game app development and stick to a systematic approach to your app development, as this will help deliver a quality application that gaming enthusiasts will enjoy.

Search for a Reliable Mobile Game App Development Partner

Choosing a reliable and experienced mobile game app development team, such as ISH Technologies, can transform your idea into a digital reality. If your mobile gaming idea is complex, you will need experienced app developers to back your initiatives. Finding the right app developers for your mobile gaming app, designers, and other experts could be the key to your success.

Build a Successful Mobile Gaming App with ISH Technologies

Your mobile gaming app idea needs to be backed by a systematic approach to app development. At ISH Technologies we have helped many enterprise businesses to create successful mobile gaming apps.

If you have a mobile gaming app idea and want to turn your idea into a digital reality, get in touch with us.