• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Newsletter
  • YouTube
  • Podcast
    • Apple Podcast
    • Spotify
    • Anchor Podcast
GAMEMAKERS

GAMEMAKERS

F2P Game Development

  • Saturday School
  • GameDev Events
    • Events | All About Battle Pass
    • Events | Future of Mobile UA
    • Events | Live ops Best Practices
  • LILA Story
  • Contact

Game Design

Garena Free Fire: Secrets to Success & Analyzing the Fall

July 14, 2022 by Joseph Kim Leave a Comment

The World's Most Downloaded Shooter Game Faces Major Headwinds This Year Garena Free Fire has become one of the most successful F2P mobile games of all time. Some highlights: Launched September 2017 on mobile before FortniteAchieved 1 billion downloads by December 20211Set a record of over 150M daily active users in August of 20212$4.33B life-of-product gross revenue … [Read more...] about Garena Free Fire: Secrets to Success & Analyzing the Fall

How Idle Heroes made $100M

February 27, 2018 by Joseph Kim Leave a Comment

In June of 2016, little known Chinese publisher DroidHang Games (aka “DH Games”) launched  Idle Heroes, an auto-battle RPG with very heavy Asian metagame design influence. Although seemingly unremarkable at first launch, the game has steadily grown its download and revenue. Today the game sits on an estimated $70MM in accumulated net revenue. DH Games Monthly In-App … [Read more...] about How Idle Heroes made $100M

F2P Game Design: Gameplay vs. Systems vs. Social

October 26, 2017 by Joseph Kim Leave a Comment

Overview This post focuses on three primary forms of F2P game design: gameplay, systems, and social. The console and PC world are currently dominated by a "units sold" business with emphasis on gameplay focused design. However, the F2P (free to play) business model requires additional forms of design to be successful. I explain requirements for success within each game … [Read more...] about F2P Game Design: Gameplay vs. Systems vs. Social

“Key Risks” Based Game Pre-production

January 11, 2017 by Joseph Kim Leave a Comment

Pre-production Risk

Context: Mobile game pre-production teams often focus on the wrong activities. An early focus on playables in software or building a game's core loop may be useful but not the best approach. Any team with limited resources should prioritize what's most critical to maximizing the success of a game. Unfortunately, the most common approach I encounter … [Read more...] about “Key Risks” Based Game Pre-production

The “Strange Attractor” in Video Game Design

April 2, 2015 by Joseph Kim 11 Comments

Context Before gameplay, mechanics, monetization, or any other key design consideration, a new video game design needs to consider the most important aspect of all: a good concept. Feature film screenwriter Terry Rossio (credits include Shrek, Pirates of the Caribbean, Aladdin, and many others) developed the notion of a "Strange Attractor" to help other screenwriters … [Read more...] about The “Strange Attractor” in Video Game Design

Mobile Game Design: Iteration vs. Planning, MVP = Dangerous!

February 16, 2015 by Joseph Kim 5 Comments

Mobile game design typically follows two primary schools of design philosophy: Iteration based design = Just get some core mechanics in and then keep iterating until you get something fun; some initial but not extensive design before development Planning based design = Think through all of the features, every key screen, all of the dependencies and interactions between … [Read more...] about Mobile Game Design: Iteration vs. Planning, MVP = Dangerous!

+1 Game Design: A Problem-centric Framework

April 26, 2014 by Joseph Kim 1 Comment

I was recently asked about the best approach to come up with a +1 mobile game design and wanted to cover this topic. In my view, a very specific approach and process to maximize your chances for success should be considered. What is that approach? I call it a "problem-centric" framework. What does that mean? It means that you are taking an existing design and trying to … [Read more...] about +1 Game Design: A Problem-centric Framework

Mobile UI and Game Design: Screens vs. Flows

March 23, 2014 by Joseph Kim 3 Comments

Context: Mobile game design by flows refers to the concept of mapping out the entire set of screens a user can tap through in a mobile game: the user flows. While many of the larger mobile game studios such as Zynga or GREE routinely design UI/UX by flows, many mobile application designers are still designing individual screens by feature. In this blog post I describe: … [Read more...] about Mobile UI and Game Design: Screens vs. Flows

The Compulsion Loop in Game Design Explained

March 16, 2014 by Joseph Kim 4 Comments

A man can surely do what he wills to do, but cannot determine what he wills. - Arthur Schopenhauer John Hopson introduced the concept of the compulsion loop applied to video games as early as 2001. Since then, compulsion loop mechanics continue to get integrated into video games fairly broadly. The compulsion loop concept regained popularity in the 2010-2012 period … [Read more...] about The Compulsion Loop in Game Design Explained

Implications of “Alpha” and “Beta” in Mobile Gaming

December 11, 2013 by Joseph Kim 6 Comments

Bear with me on this post. There will be some financial jargon and a bit of math but the conclusions drawn I believe will be worth your read (at least I hope so!). Let's first start with some financial theory which will form the basis of the arguments I make. In finance, the "efficient markets hypothesis" supposes the following relationship between risk and reward for a … [Read more...] about Implications of “Alpha” and “Beta” in Mobile Gaming

Why Mobile Games Need a Strong “Heartbeat”

October 14, 2013 by Joseph Kim 4 Comments

Introduction Humans require a heartbeat to live. The heart pumps blood including essential nutrients throughout the body to sustain life in a regular cycle and rhythm. Similarly, mobile games in particular require a similar concept of a "heartbeat" in order to sustain an audience and user interest in a regular cycle and rhythm. This is especially true for mobile games … [Read more...] about Why Mobile Games Need a Strong “Heartbeat”

Micro vs. Macro Gameplay

October 10, 2013 by Joseph Kim 11 Comments

Context: Surprisingly, a large number of people in the video games industry expressed ignorance on  the concept of micro vs. macro gameplay. If you're not familiar, now's your chance to learn. It's an important concept in video games and a concept that raises some interesting questions in the context of a mobile device. Stop and think: Which kind of gameplay … [Read more...] about Micro vs. Macro Gameplay

12 Critical Mobile Monetization Concepts (Part 1 of 3)

August 15, 2013 by Joseph Kim 28 Comments

Are you ready to level up your mobile app monetization? Context: In October of 2011, an article about DeNA included a number of key mobile monetization insights: High Ass ARPU: Claimed $12 ARPU (average revenue per user) - this was a strong indicator that there was a meaningful way that DeNA was designing monetization in their games not found outside of Japan User … [Read more...] about 12 Critical Mobile Monetization Concepts (Part 1 of 3)

Psychology & Perception: How Games are Like Wine

July 16, 2013 by Joseph Kim 4 Comments

In January of 2008, a Cal Tech and Stanford Business School research study showed that the perception of a wine can influence the actual physical enjoyment of the wine. In this study, people who drank the same wine that was priced at $90 vs. $10 did not only believe that the $90 wine was better but in fact actually experienced greater pleasure drinking the wine as measured by … [Read more...] about Psychology & Perception: How Games are Like Wine

Why Your Mobile Game Failed: Complexity Kills!

July 1, 2013 by Joseph Kim 5 Comments

One of the most difficult problems in designing any game is how to address complexity in the game design. For mobile gaming in particular, this is a difficult problem as the design paradigms of successful complexity models have largely been figured out on other platforms (e.g., social, console, PC, and even game focused handheld) but not quite yet on mobile (if we define … [Read more...] about Why Your Mobile Game Failed: Complexity Kills!

Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Follow Me!

  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Philosophy

How to Argue Constructively (Philosophy Friday #20)

September 2, 2022 By Joseph Kim Leave a Comment

Philosophy #9: Bill Walsh | Don’t Make Enemies!

December 17, 2021 By Joseph Kim Leave a Comment

This Above All: Be True

November 10, 2022 By Joseph Kim Leave a Comment

PM

LiveOps – F2P Sales Best Practices 2020

September 3, 2020 By Joseph Kim

Building a F2P Liveops “Playbook” ft. Matt Emery

August 30, 2022 By Joseph Kim

Mobile Game Design: Iteration vs. Planning, MVP = Dangerous!

February 16, 2015 By Joseph Kim

MARKETING

User Acquisition Under Crisis

May 20, 2020 By Joseph Kim Leave a Comment

The Death of Performance Marketing: The Secret Interview

May 7, 2020 By Joseph Kim Leave a Comment

Creating Highly Performant Mobile Ads | The Ad Concept Model

March 2, 2022 By Joseph Kim Leave a Comment

DESIGN

The Compulsion Loop in Game Design Explained

March 16, 2014 By Joseph Kim 4 Comments

Implications of “Alpha” and “Beta” in Mobile Gaming

December 11, 2013 By Joseph Kim 6 Comments

Mobile UI and Game Design: Screens vs. Flows

March 23, 2014 By Joseph Kim 3 Comments

Footer

Top Posts

  • Micro vs. Macro Gameplay
  • Garena Free Fire: Secrets to Success & Analyzing the Fall
  • The "+1" Mobile Game Design Strategy (Gamasutra)
  • The Compulsion Loop in Game Design Explained
  • How To Be A Great Games Company CEO!

Recent

  • Market Wire | January 9, 2023
  • New World for Gaming Startups in 2023
  • Market Wire | Jan 2, 2023
  • Market Wire | December 19, 2022
  • Market Wire | December 12, 2022

Search

Tags

2021 Review Game Awards Opinion recruiting

© 2013–2023 Joseph Kim · Disclosure · Disclaimer