The cozy, arcade-style adventure ‘Moldwasher’, is out now via Steam
Press release:
KATOWICE, Poland – June 23, 2026 – Rubel Games and Anshar Publishing are excited to s[...]
First of all, the advantage of playing games on smartphones and tablets is high portability – the device can be easily taken with you anywhere. And this means that you can also play in a variety of circumstances, from an armchair in the house to public transport. Therefore, most developers make games that are designed specifically for this pastime, with easy controls and gameplay.
There are several categories of players and corresponding mobile game mechanics: hardcore, midcore and casual. The main emphasis of game developers has always been directed at them. At the same time, these categories are a very small percentage of people in the volume of the entire planet.
Hyper-casual games are a genre of universal games played by people of all ages, men, and women. When creating such games, a game designer needs to take into account the needs of the widest possible range of players and try to make a game that will please everyone. It should have simple, understandable game mechanics, and the graphics should not cause rejection.
Different games have different simple game mechanics, but certain variations will be relevant for a certain genre.
For example:
Touch and timing. The player must choose the right moment and tap the screen to get the best score.
Games with such mechanics involve routine actions like dodging falling blocks or jumping (like in Doodle Jump). In parallel, the gameplay is accelerated, and additional obstacles may arise.
Block stacking. Stacking mechanics also reacts to clicks at a certain moment, but the gameplay does not end there. The gamer needs to dock items for as long as possible so as not to lose the round.
Rise and fall. Despite the primitive gameplay, built on moving up, the user is offered various obstacles.
Basic obstacle avoidance mechanic that is most common on touch screens. Agility is important here, and timing does not matter.
With extremely simple mechanics, the gameplay is reduced to grinding the in-game currency and improvements. In addition, a climbing mechanic is often added, which changes existing achievements to increase the progress rate on the next attempt.
Easy to understand mechanics that combine similar items. All three-in-a-row games and puzzles work on this principle.
In general, these are clear and simple mechanics, but developers spend dozens of hours on design and development to become such. Often, development teams outsource design or level design. One of these companies is RetroStyle Games, with its range of outsourcing services. The range of services is truly impressive, from level design to 3d modeling and concept art creation. In the conditions of modern game mechanics ideas, outsourcing will be an indispensable way to close all the deadlines of any game project.
In the current year (in this case, 2022), more and more people are playing games on the fly on their smartphone, tablet, Switch, or laptop.
Accordingly, a game designer needs to take into account the tastes of a very wide audience and create games with the best mechanics, a universal setting, and images suitable for everyone. Unfortunately, this means narrow styles and environments are becoming the stop-content for hyper casual game ideas: Disney-style graphics will turn off adult audiences; steampunk, space setting, and games about orcs or marines will attract the male gender but repel female players.
To create a universal setting in the game, you need to strike a balance between masculine neutral and feminine bright color schemes, choosing something in between that is suitable for both genders and using graphics that are close and understandable to different players.
The mechanics used in the development are combined into a system of interaction between the player and game objects. This considers not only the most popular casual games and restrictions set by the developers but also the individual behavior of the player. The gameplay shapes the player’s experience, which is based, among other things, on what he expected and what he received.
The mechanics of hyper casual games are built not so much on originality, but on already known and proven ideas. Tetris, three in a row, runners, arkanoid, platformers – all this is so deeply rooted in the consciousness and modern pop culture that even a person who has never touched games before will intuitively understand what they want from him. Namely, this is what determines the success of hyper casual games as the most massive, understandable and accessible product for a wide audience.
However, there is a fine line in the game design of hyper-casual games: adding additional levers of involvement, you should not complicate the game and produce the essence of big games in it; otherwise, the development of a “small” game will drag on for a long time.
Hyper-casual games have a short “life” on users’ phones. According to a study by Game Analytics, only 16% of the top games in this genre have 10% of players by day 7, while the rest have user retention below 4%. To get into this 16% with high retention, you need the gameplay to captivate the user and create a wow effect. To do this, at the beginning of development, you need to work out the core mechanics of the game, its balance, and involvement (engagement), and only then take on graphics, achievements, and leaderboards.
Summing up, we can say that for hyper casual games, now is the most ideal time. The heyday of the gaming industry, attracting casual gamers and expanding the audience. Hyper casual games carry a simple logic behind them – user satisfaction through the encouragement of his actions. They lack a system of punishments for failure, the levels restart quickly, and the way to reach the goal is not hidden.
There are an incredible number of games with best mechanics on the market, and this number is growing every day. Some of them stand out for their original appearance, while others look like two peas in a pod.
Who knows what the hyper casual games ideas hold for us? Whether hyper-casual games will remain, there are already a few things that can be taken from them that will be useful in developing games in other genres or popular game mechanics.
***Sponsored post by retrostylegames***
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Tags: Android, Casual games, Gamers, Gaming, iOS, Mobile games, Retro games, Video games
