Virility

Having a game that naturally promotes itself is a challenge. The old techniques of tweeting your score or sharing the app on facebook are not enough to make something popular or have it go viral. The mechanic to make something go viral has to be much more deeply integrated.

The virility of games like Draw Something was astounding, but it was also a natural extension of the type of gameplay. In order to play you needed to get your friends in the game. It’s growth was astounding because of that.

I started to dissect another popular game recently called Clash Of Clans made by SuperCell which takes things to a new level. The live in game chat and team gameplay create a fascinating dynamic that works extremely well on a mobile device.

It’s clear that the bar has been raised. Creating a top game now requires a complex server side backend, a massive amount of content, depth of gameplay which can attract new players but keep existing ones playing for a long time and a polished high quality look.

Thinking now about creating a great game to be released in 6 months is a real challenge. How much more complexity will be expected by then?

The added complexity of making a game naturally viral rather than tacking on twitter and facebook buttons is hard. It requires thought about how to change the game mechanics to work these things into the core of the game. Making games that are inherently social will be a fun challenge for game designers. A challenge I’m looking forward to.