10 mobile game design trends from East & West, as presented at the Mobile Game Forum event in 2015. Topics covered include: Touch-first interface RPG mechanics cross genres Evolved mechanics Sacha keeps growing Auto-play IP useincreasing Better word of mouth Deeper cross promo Production quality rising Added depth to social

1. 10 Mobile Game Design
Trends from East & West
Simon Newstead
CEO, Frenzoo

2. About
● CEO & Game Designer
● Studio of 25 people in HK and USA
● 3D Lifestyle games for women
● 20M+ downloads mostly in USA

3. 1/ Touch-first interfaces
● More swipe and gestures in core mechanics
● Anticipate more games with flick & fling

4. eg- Dawn of Titans

5. 2/ RPG mechanics in all genres
● Party, leveling, evolve, fuse etc
● Increased sense of ownership & investment
● Expect more customization and meta games

6. eg- Marvel Contest of Champions

7. eg- Criminal Case collect & customize

8. 3/ Evolved mechanics
● Continued iteration on proven formulas
eg DomiNations vs Clash

9. eg Candy Crush Soda Saga new
match 3 gameplay modes

10. 4/ Gacha keeps growing

12. with more sophistication...
How this mechanic works:
- gem gacha ->3+ characters
- All characters can be sold for a rings (rings can only be gained from selling 3 star
+ characters or 3 star + weapons)
- Special characters (super useful) can only gained using the ring currency through
another gacha

14. 5/ Auto-play modes
AI mode that plays on your behalf...

15. ● New play behaviour emerging
● Prediction - ios8 notifications, background play

16. ● Brands are waking up to games as a media
6/ IP use increasing

17. 7/ Better Word of Mouth
eg- Summoners War
Additional ways to invite friends
- SMS
- Email
- Line
- Facebook … So on
Rewards other than currencies as a strong
incentive, rewards you just for the
invitation sent
More social channels, meaningful incentives

18. 8/ Deeper Cross Promo
3D Simulation GameMovie Game
“Let’s take a break
from shooting - I
know a hot resort!”
Make the most of UA spend and userbase

19. 9/ Production quality rising…
Driven by great hardware improvements eg- A8X SOC

20. but RAM?!
To 512MB or not to 512MB, that is the question...

21. Side note - art still needs to
fit the audience
Zynga Wizard of Oz Slots
Zynga Poker

22. 10/ Added depth to social
● More ways to communicate, plan, help,
manage roles, compete, share rewards etc

23. ● Social also being added to other genres
outside of battle/rpgs
● Great foundation for a strong elder game

24. Bonus Trend
● Game dev tools are rapidly improving
● Easier to gather data and iterate faster

25. Final notes
● Lots more exciting things happening
○ Hardcore gets viable (FPS, MOBA, ARPG)
○ Emergence of story games
○ Events as core mechanics
○ etc...
● It’s a great time for mobile games!
simon@frenzoo.com
iteratingfun.com