10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game

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10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game

• (and 3 Ways to Make a Good One)

Jason Kapalka Co-founder, Chief Creative
Officer PopCap Games jason_at_popcap.com Casuality
Amsterdam, Feb. 8, 2006
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10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game

• Theres no secret formula for coming up with a
  good new idea for a casual game. Its more an art
  than a science, and really good ideas require
  luck and inspiration as much as anything.
• However, once you do have a good idea, its very
  easy indeed to wreck it. A lot of cool game ideas
  lie entombed in the wreckage of bad
  implementations.
• The examples Im using in this document of bad
  ideas are all from earlier PopCap titles that
  wed do differently now

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10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game1. MAKE IT
REALLY HARD!

• Not enough playing time in your game? Kick it up
  to SUPER MAX DIFFICULTY!
• Make people fail each level 5 or 6 times, at
  least.
• Punish newbies with violent death. They deserve
  it!

Heavy Weapon was probably too hard for new
players
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What you SHOULD do instead

• Dont punish new players who click around
  randomly at first. Give them time to experiment.
• No casual game ever failed for being too easy.
  But plenty have failed for being too hard.
• Games that depend entirely on skill can be
  intimidating. Games that rely entirely on chance
  can be boring.
• Bad tutorials can make an easy game seem much,
  much harder. Lavish lots of time and energy on
  teaching people how to play.

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What to do instead

• Dont neglect the fact that people may enjoy
  taking it easy for a while on levels that they
  have mastered. They dont always enjoy going
  right into something at their maximum level of
  skill.
• See for example Bookworm a game that is quite
  easy once you have a bit of skill, but allows you
  to set your own goals like making a 10-letter
  word, or using 4 gold tiles at once, and so on.

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10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game 2. HAVE A
DOZEN MEDIOCRE GAME MODES INSTEAD OF ONE GOOD ONE

• Which of these modes is good? Which to play
  first?!
• Difficulty level do I want Easy? Normal? Hard???
• If you cant decide on one version of the game
  thats actually fun, just throw every iteration
  in there! Quantity will make up for quality.

Our game Big Money suffers from an overdose of
game Modes, plus difficulty levels 9 ways to
play!
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What to do instead

• Extra modes do provide value, but focus on making
  sure the main game is as good as it can be.
• Selectable difficulty levels are problematic. New
  players have no way to know what subjective terms
  like Easy or Normal mean in this new game.
  Avoid if you can!
• Be sure to explain alternate game modes as
  clearly as you can before users have to choose
  what to play. But see Rule 8! Nobody wants to
  read!

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What to do instead

• Dynamically adjusted difficulty levels are one
  way to avoid the problem of having too many
  choices for the user to make.
• There are other possible solutions in
  Typershark, we give new users a brief typing test
  before they begin the game, to determine their
  current typing skill. The game then recommends an
  appropriate starting level.

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10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game 3. Make it
a 600mb download that requires 2 next-gen video
cards and 4gb of RAM and test it on just 1
computer

• 3d texture bump mapping is awesome, lets toss
  that into our Solitaire game just for fun!
• Nobody still uses a modem anymore. Do they?
• QA, shmoo A. It works fine on my computer.
  Anyway, we can always patch it later.

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What to do instead

• Dont use 3d. Or have a 2d fallback mode.
• Remember that every extra technical requirement
  you add shrinks your potential audience for the
  game whether that is a newer processor, more
  memory, a larger download footprint, etc.
• Test thoroughly.

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What to do instead

• Beware of requiring weird plugins or the like for
  your web game. Users are not keen on installing
  the latest JVM. Similarly, any apps you require
  to be present on the users machine for a
  downloadable game, whether that is the latest
  version of DirectX, or some arcane video player,
  are problematic and risky.

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10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game 4. Price
your game at 35. Or 3.50. And sell it only from
your myspace home page.

• I dunno, that price just feels right to me.
• We dont need no stinking contracts or partners!
  Well launch this game on our own!
• Someone offered us a deal! No time to read the
  fine print! Sign!

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What to do instead

• If you price too low, people will think your game
  is probably garbage.
• Be polite and reasonable when talking to
  publishers. Its a small industry and word gets
  around if youre difficult.
• Consider your upsell incentives very carefully.

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10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game 5. Use the
Right Mouse Button

• Making critical control elements rely on the
  right mouse button or the mouse wheel is cool.
  Doesnt everybody have an RMB?
• For that matter, why not use the keyboard to
  control stuff too?
• Mouse AND keyboard at the same time? Even better!
  How about a flightstick?

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What to do instead

• Casual game players prefer to use a mouse, and
  they dont like to right-click or use the
  mousewheel or keyboard.
• Many players run games in windows be aware of
  the interface problems this poses.
• Players do not generally have the patience to
  master complex or fidgety control schemes if
  they dont get it in 5 minutes they will move
  on.

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10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game 6. Give it
a terrible name or theme

• Everyone knows casual game players love dungeons.
  In space. With robots. And skulls. Right?
• How about a game with robot skulls in a SPACE
  DUNGEON?
• Remember to use words that resonate with your
  target audience, like blood, war, and
  assault.

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What to do instead

• Pick an easy-to-spell, easy-to-pronounce title.
• Make sure you can trademark the title.
• Find non-violent, bright themes that appeal to
  casual gamers.
• Make sure your theme meshes well with the
  mechanics of the game.

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10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game 7. Award
low scores

• Its not logical to award 10 points when 1 point
  will do.
• It doesnt matter if people think the game is
  low-scoring.
• Touchy-feely psychological factors have no place
  in game design!

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What to do instead

• Award lots of points!
• Set up as many combos and bonuses as you can, to
  reward the player for anything positive they do.
  Reinforce with audio and video.
• If something feels fun, pursue it whether or
  not it seems to make sense in normal game
  design terms.

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What to do instead

• The original version of Dynomite awarded just 1
  point for each match, so games tended to score in
  the low hundreds of points. When we added a zero,
  users all felt the game had become easier and
  more fun.
• Little things like sound effects can also produce
  huge psychological impacts.

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10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game 8. Expect
users to read

• If the game is complex, well just put a few
  pages of instructional text at the beginning.
• What do you mean you didnt get that part?
  Theres a three-paragraph pop-up that explains
  it!
• Its best to explain everything all at once so
  people understand the function of every single
  thing in the game before they start playing.

Once again, Dynomite serves as a perfect
anti-example. Check out that wall of microscopic
text!
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What to do instead

• Use as little text as possible.
• Show, dont tell. Use illustrations and
  animations whenever possible.
• Lead users by the hand make the instructions
  interactive and engaging.
• Use big, readable fonts, and pay attention to
  layout and typography. Dont make whatever text
  you do have hard to read.

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What to do instead

• The more text you have, the more difficult it
  will be if you ever have to localize it.
• If youre producing a game in a language that
  isnt your native tongue, do not skimp on getting
  a good writer who is fluent. Writing very clear
  instructions in a very small space is NOT an easy
  task, and style matters.
• Be careful with stories. Its very easy to put in
  way too much text, so that people will just
  ignore or skip it. You should probably never have
  more than a single screen of story stuff at any
  given point, eg. between levels. Keep in mind
  some people will skim or skip it no matter what.

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10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game 9. Make it
challenging and cerebral

• People LOVE really hard, really challenging
  mental puzzles. The kind that can totally stump
  and/or frustrate you for HOURS.
• Well, some people do, dont they? People who play
  Sudoku or the New York Times Crossword puzzle?
• What do you mean those people arent the same
  ones playing casual games? Thats just crazy talk!

Our game Mummy Maze, based on a clever old
pen-and-paper puzzle critically acclaimed,
popular with the people who read GAMES magazine,
sold about 1/100th as well as Bejeweled.
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What to do instead

• Strive to make games compelling, addictive, and
  replayable.
• Avoid stumping the player so that they can no
  longer proceed in the game.
• Be generous with hints. Let them play the way
  they want to play.

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What to do instead

• The model for most casual games is closer to
  Solitaire than the New York Times Crossword
  Puzzle.
• Remember that many casual players want to relax
  when they play a game they dont want to be
  challenged, frustrated, or agitated. This is in
  stark contrast to the typical console title,
  which is aimed at producing excitement.

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10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game 10. Ignore
what everyone else says about your game

• What the hell does my MOM know about games,
  anyway?
• These testers have been playing the game for 6
  months now! So I trust their opinion on how new
  players will feel.
• If you dont get it, youre youre just stupid!

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What to do instead

• Use the Mom Test.
• Get fresh audiences frequently to see how newbies
  will respond to your game.
• The less interested and experienced a person is
  with games, the more you should listen to their
  comments about your game.

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The worst casual game!

• Suppose you had an idea for a game where you had
  an 8x8 grid of 7 different objects. And you
  swapped them to make sets of 3 or more, which
  would disappear.
• You might take this idea and create

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3 WAYS TO MAKE A GOOD CASUAL GAME

• There is no science to coming up
• with a really good game idea.
• But try not to screw it up when
• you do come across one.

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3 Ways to Make a Good Casual Game1. Give
Feedback to Players

• Good feedback helps make gameplay intuitive
• When players do something bad, guide them to do
  something better. When they do something good,
  reward them in as many ways as possible!
• Make the interface invisible so the user is one
  with the game

Bejeweled 2s interface is a lot cleaner and
simpler than many of our earlier games.
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3 Ways to Make a Good Casual Game2. Consider
Your Customer

• The typical casual game consumer may not be like
  you!
• By nature, they are likely to be less familiar
  with computer game conventions than you. For that
  matter, many things about computers may be new to
  them!
• Theyre not stupid but they are very different.
  Remember to take things like age and eyesight
  into account.

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3 Ways to Make a Good Casual Game3. Get
EXCITED about your game!

• If you cant even get interested in the game
  youre working on, how will your players?
• Dont make a game because your research indicates
  that this type of player statistically likes
  this type of game. If you have no passion or
  feeling for the game, it will show.
• When developers are interested in what theyre
  working on, they will contribute new ideas and
  improvements.

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10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game

• 1. Make it really hard!
• 2. Have a dozen mediocre game modes instead of
  one good one.
• 3. Make it a 600mb download that requires 2
  next-gen 3d video cards
• 4. Price your game at 35. Or 3.50.
• 5. Use the right mouse button.
• 6. Give it a terrible name or theme.
• 7. Award low scores
• 8. Expect users to read.
• 9. Make it challenging and cerebral