I am really confused about the genre of 'arcade' game. Should it be an action game and be played in short segments? Could there be a definition? I'm going to choose my app's genre. It is said 'action' is highly competitive. How about 'arcade' or 'adventure'?
It's a match-3 game (actually match-2) takes the Fruit Ninja style. Unless this time you are not a Ninja but a sorcerer. There are unlockable spells and upgrades, and the adventure is broken down to multiple short-term levels.
http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=119256&highlight=gemania This is it. I'm doing updates, and it seems I can still change the categories.
I don't think there's an absolute, objective list of criteria to qualify something as an arcade game, but here's how I see it. An arcade game is a game in the same style as the early coin-operated games found in video arcades. Such games are characterized by being easy to learn, featuring fast-paced or frantic gameplay, having minimal story, being playable in short spans of time, having no definite end, having a steadily increasing difficulty level, and offering some kind of scoring mechanism. Not every arcade game will meet each criterion, but these are the things that come to my mind.
Arcade games come from just that, arcades. They are traditionally action based, usually score-based and offer quick play sessions (to get you to pay another quarter.) Now that term can be used for just about any "smaller" or "score based" game that comes out. Match 3 is much closer to a "puzzle" game even with action-based elements added to the mix! Just my 2cents!
