Simplicity Sells - The Surprising Success of Bocce Ball on the iPhone: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/WilliamVolk/20110218/7031/Simplicity_Sells__The_Surprising_Success_of_Bocce_Ball_on_the_iPhone.php The surprise success of Bocce-Ball has changed my view of the iPhone game scene. This isn't the video game industry I worked in for thirty years. This is something new and different.
An inspiring story - I reckon if anyone has a simple IOS controlled idea - go for it. Most people just want to pick up and play.
Interesting how none of the tips mention "gear your app towards a specific audience/demographic" as it seems perfectly reasonable that a Bocce ball game might easily make it to #1 in Italy, the birthplace of Bocce. It's like making a baseball game for the US market.
interesting article, and congrats on getting a front page nod from gamasutra. sounds like you've got a fair amount of history which led you to this point, would be interesting to hear te ups and downs of it I'd bet As for the tale of game's success itself, it is a little misleading in that it just sounds like "make something fun and simple that caters to a crowd and follows a formula, and you've a good chance at success." Forgive me if I am misinterpreting - but this has been attempted countless times already, and lots of folks have not cinched it. There's a fair amount of behind-the-scenes which must go on, and of course the all-important timing. If this game released 3 weeks earlier it could have just got lost in all the other news and got nothing. There's so many factors to consider. All you can do is try to study what's come before, to the best of your ability (what has worked, what hasn't), try to put your own twist on things that's not too much of a substantial departure from "what is accepted," get it all nice and tight and polished, use any connections you've got if you can, and then cross your fingers!
Thank you for the reply. I don't think it's a formula at all. What I do think is that UI matters a great deal and it's important to find "best practices" and build upon them. This "iPhone-ness" thing can't be overestimated. "Paper Toss" was a example of a good "throwing U.I.". If anything the iPhone is about innovation and breaking the mold. The issue is usage patterns. How do users play the games? In my case, 30 years in the game business blinded me (somewhat) to why the simple games (Doodle Jump, Mega Jump, Paper Toss, Flick Fishing) were winning on the iPhone. In 20/20 hindsight Match 3D was handicapped by the sheer amount of complexity and options in that game. I'm lucky I didn't know about the fancy Nokia Bocce game. I honestly think it wouldn't fit the play pattern as well, although I would be a FOOL if I didn't wish we had the level of look-and-feel that title has. Now we are faced with the task of adding network play and a host of features without losing the simplicity of this title.
Yep, and yes ... we were surprised and perhaps, shouldn't have been. In the USA we waited for the first update (there was a Game Center issue that didn't show in testing) and then we did ran some ads, it got into top 50 and then watched it take off. Eventually it hit #6 in all free apps. That was a nice moment. All during the Verizon weekend.
First congrats >This isn't the video game industry I worked in for thirty years. This is something new and different. Yes, but this isn't a new industry either. That's the casual industry (BFG like) that most AAA devs had look down on it for many years. Now, everybody want theirs titles to be casual. Personally, I like this trend. JC
Surely a "surprising success" would have been if the game was priced at $1.99 or something. I'm no guru, but pretty and free seems a tad more obvious. I've just downloaded it myself, and I'm no fan of Bocce either.
imo "success" is just as much long term as it is short, unless you are really able to hit it big on the paid charts for even a week or 2 (in which case you earn enough to support your company long term). With our first game N.Y.Zombies, we never even broke the top 100 paid charts in the US, yet we are still chugging along selling 100-300 copies a day almost a year later. It amazes me still that we have achieved this kind of "success" with a game which was never in the spotlight and never was at the top of the charts, and generally flew under most peoples' radars. Plus, I don't think making casual games is the sure fire way to go for success. Sure, they have more potential to blow up, but they also face much more competition and are MUCH harder to stand out amongst the crowd. For every 1 successful casual game, I see 100s of other well executed games that don't make it, despite good game play, graphics, and presentation. I think the key is that with other types of games (more hardcore games for ex), its easier to target your market and make sure of at least some success. For one you can reach your user base much easier. With casual games, you don't even have a focused target market (its kind of like, everyone), so you really have to rely a lot on luck, media connections, marketing (which is $$ and not even a sure thing) and how big of an apple feature you can get (more luck to a degree). Imo that is risky, which is probably why so many devs walk away in the end. Going the other route doesn't have the potential for as much success, sure, but then again I don't think its even close to as risky. The problem with going for more hardcore or "gamer" games of course is that you arguably need more resources, manpower, and development time to compete in that arena. So there are definitely pluses and minuses, its just a matter of knowing what you want to do and handling it accordingly. So far with our 2 games released, we have neither achieved great success, nor have we flopped. We are surviving comfortably in the middle ground, in part bc I think we have successfully reached our target market and are fortunate enough to be able to compete in the "gamer" market, and I think things will only grow from where we are now.
pretty + free that's a huge part in reaching the mainstream. Also should be easy to grasp concept just by looking at screenshots. It's not that hard I dont think.
Me too. One difference on the iPhone is that I am convinced users demand an "iPhone Like Experience." You have to live up to that expectation.
Freeimum is the Future IMHO. There will be worthwhile things to buy in the game in the near future and we are running ads (in a tasteful way) in the app as well. The next game (a word puzzle title) will have micropayments at launch, but all features will be available from the get go.
I don't think I've seen a more competitive game market than the one that exists on the iPhone. It's easy to forget just how FEW NES titles were actually shipped for the device. Maybe 500 or so. You would get your allocation and off you would go.
If you needed additional proof of this hypothesis, the breakaway success of "Tiny Wings" should be proof enough. A charming, incredibly simple and challenging game.
I'm not sure 1 game constitutes proof... like I said before I think simple, casual games have the potential to be bigger hits, but they also have a bigger chance to flop and go unnoticed. Games geared more towards gamers seems to have a better chance of having moderate, predictable success if well done. Of course its harder to blow up huge if you're making that type of game, but thats the trade-off. You're also charging a higher price to make up for a lower chart position. Gameloft is the perfect example. They continue to pump out more expensive, high quality games for gamers, and each game has predictable success. Their games don't top the charts, but they stick around in the middle for a long time, and at a higher price point they end up grossing quite a pretty penny. Compare this to say, Chillingo, which focuses on releasing lots of casual, low priced games, and I think its safe to say Gamelofts rate of success is MUCH more consistent, even if individually they're not as spectacular as the "once in a blue moon" mega hits that Chillingo has. Anyway, when all is said and done we are living proof that there are other ways to succeed in the app store as indies besides making only simple, casual games.
I dont think making casual games is the key to success. I play some here or there that are free or I got as promo code. But most of the games I buy are over 99 cents. Dont let the cheapies fool you , if you make a solid game with level structure and power-ups , you will make money. I might once in a while dabble in 99 cent games, but most of my games are higher priced.
Gameloft's strategy is prudent and sound. I'm not suggesting that there isn't a market for the sort of games that dominate the console and PC markets. What I am saying is the many of the best selling titles are simple games with deep play and elegant interfaces. Yes, the risks are higher ... but so are the rewards in creating a truly iPhone-Centric experience. "Failure has to be an option, in art and in exploration. Because it's a leap of faith. And no important endeavor that required innovation was done without risk. You have to be willing to take those risks." - James Cameron There's nothing wrong with focusing on a strong niche of players or taking a known quantity (like Bejeweled or Scrabble) and bringing it to the iPhone. And yeah, correlation doesn't imply causality ... otherwise I'd be working on a game with fat cute birds, since at least two of the top titles now feature fat cute birds I didn't have anything to do with "Tiny Wings" but it's appearance couldn't be better timed for my hypothesis that simple, iPhone-centric titles can achieve great popularity. I do think that Freemium is the Future, but of course ... Activision probabily made fine $$$ on the iPhone CoD title at a high price per download.
Check my upcoming game, I'm working with fat cute birds, if only I get a tenth of the succes of these games BTW, I didn't use fat birds because of Angry birds... but just because I find them cute
Looks interesting. Nice quality on the artwork. I'm thinking of doing a 1st person shooter but have all the characters be Crows. Craw of Duty is the working title. (just kidding)
