Elements of Successful iPhone Games

The most addicting games I've played are the ones that deviate from the segmented, level-based gameplay seen in Angry Birds and Cut the Rope. You're competing in a saturated market against companies much larger than you. If you're determined to try your luck, then focus on style. Make it extremely dark and depressing or conversely witty with faux seriousness. Do something to stand out and carve out your niche. Polish your game. And most importantly, don't insult your users by making the game only completable with in-app purchases. To them, it's like lying. Find a way to make them want to spend money instead of feeling like they're being forced to.

The list is missing a marketing budget. The single greatest factor (in my opinion) of what makes a game succesful in the app store.

To me this Economics 101. If your IAP removes ads, and people like the game, they'll spend the 99 cents for that purchase. If they feel they are being hampered because they have not bought an item and therefore can't compete in a game, they'll avoid the purchase.

Give people what they WANT and they'll buy it. Force people to buy something and they'll find a cheaper route, as in playing a different game.

I agree with the frequent updates. The goal is simple:

1) Avoid the spike. Game sales the weekend after release is big, and then dies.

2) Keep the game on the phone. With 1500 new game submissions A DAY, you need to keep the attention of the player. You do that by giving them short term goals and keep'm coming.

Ah, "freemium". I've seen several games out there with the dual-currency model: normal money for day-to-day operations and "special money" for neat things / making things happen faster, a currency that you mostly get by chance.

So you hook the user with variable-reward conditioning and then encourage him to become impatient enough to pay you $$$... No; I'm not really cool with that. Worst gameplay mechanic ever.

I'm leaning towards lite and full whack app. I find freemium games far more frustrating than fun. I want to build a game I would play myself.

Re: comments on Marketing. It's not something I know much about at this stage. I have read though that game is only half the battle for a successful release. My research was really only based on what I could find directly from the games.

This list just solidifies in my mind why I don't like mobile games. As someone who enjoys pc and console games, mobile games always feel dirty to me. They feel like they've been designed to be addictive, not fun. I'll happily spend $60 on Skyrim, but spending $0.99 on a game that feels like it's been engineered to get me to spend it feels like I'm rewarding malicious behavior on the part of the developer.

I get that mobile game devs need to make money, and I support that goal. I just wish I had an answer that didn't involve what feels like unethical behavior.

These are surely the feature sets of many successful games, but they didn't all start with hundreds of achievements, hundreds of levels, and so on.

The most successful games started with an original idea. People like the game, so they keep adding and improving.

The real secret to success is keeping your player coming back for more, giving them more opportunities to talk with their friends about it, tweet it, or get seen playing it in a social or populated location.

Not all successful games share these traits. Paying to skip a level is sketchy. What if you make a level impossible to beat? How would you expect a player to tell?

My best elements of a successful game are quality and attention to detail.