September 10th, 2017

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been downloading games on my iPhone and dumping my thoughts in a Google Doc. I’m posting them here to start a conversation with the independent iOS dev community about what differentiates successful games from unsuccessful ones.

The questions I tried to answer with my informal analysis so far have been:

What are the game’s strong points?

Is there anything annoying or obviously bad about the game?

How does the game make money, and how much do they make?

What kind of developers built the game?

Why is the game successful (or unsuccessful)?

So, here they are. Maybe I’ll post more in the future too. Leave a comment if you’ve played any of these games and have something to add! (Oh, and the revenue data came from http://thinkgaming.com. Not 100% reliable, but its the best I could find.)

Flippy Knife

The name is an obvious knock-off of Flappy Bird.

Really, really, good graphics. Retro isometric w/ lots of color.

Trailer, youtube partner, website, instagram page.

Each game mode is a little bit boring by itself, but switching to a new game mode after a minute or two prevents you from getting bored.

In-game introduction, very easy to learn how to play.

Simple physics based mechanics, primarily appealing because of the graphic design.

Either pay money or watch a TON of ads to get credit to buy new skins.

Also has an Android version.

$3,000 daily revenue

Snake VS Block

Simple, original idea — guide a snake around with your finger, don’t hit the blocks that are too big for you, get points for hitting bigger and bigger blocks

Lots of game modes, each challenge level is a new mode

No explanation, jumps you right into it

WAY too many ads, full page pop ups every time you die

Pay to get rid of ads

Android version

Interesting company site with blog articles for mobile developers (voodoo.io)

Collaboration between Voodoo and two french developers

$6,705 daily revenue

Clash of Clans

One of the top grossing games of all time

Most successful strategy game on the app store

Appeals to semi-serious through hard core gamers. Not really a “casual game”

Freemium – free to play, but paying gives you an advantage (don’t have to wait while training soldiers, etc.)

Win-win situation: either you pay the game devs, or you agree to come back and continue playing their game

High profile ads before YouTube vids, on TV, etc.

No in-game ads, that would be unprofessional

$710,000 daily revenue

Flappy Dunk

Flappy Bird, but done right — more professional, sleeker, unlockables, challenges, etc.

Full screen ads almost every time you die

Want a replay? Watch ads (sometimes)

$5,631 daily revenue

Candy Crush

THE epitome of mobile gaming, and the most successful mobile game of all time

Facebook, android, and iOS versions, all of which save your progress, but people probably just pick one platform and play it

Right time, right place — it was around when social gaming (FB) was still a thing

Spiritual successor to Farmville

Lots of psychological tricks for you to get addicted, worth studying more in depth

Not sure how this game is still making money, years after its gone out of fashion

$2,100,000 daily revenue

Words with Friends

Flagship Zynga game (after Farmville went the way of social gaming)

Distributed turn-based multiplayer scrabble

Always asking “do you want to start a game with X?” whenever any of your friends is online

Full page ad pop ups after every turn

Ability to play with total strangers

Badge system when you complete daily challenges

Leaderboard among friends

Heavily integrated with facebook

Cat Bird!

iOS only

Featured on the App Store

Somewhat fun and original platformer game

Good retro graphics

On-screen controls are fun for some but not generally accepted

Full-screen pop-up ads after you die a certain number of times

Pay 2$ to get rid of ads

$450 daily revenue

Balance the Hat

iOS only

Not a very fun game, you just move a head back and forth

Not very addicting either b/c there’s no payoff, just frustration

Graphics are bland

Different hats, skins, etc.

Remove ads for $2

$145 daily revenue

Fire Emblem Heroes

Continuation of fre Emblem series by Nintendo, very successful game with large community

No ads, only in-app purchases of orbs that help you summon heroes

Turn based RPG where you control a team of heroes

Not a lot of tactical game mechanics

Amazing graphics

Tons and tons of game modes (campaign, matchmaking, squad assault, alternative story modes)

$100,000 per day

Leap Day