Developing Games for iPhone and Android - Lessons Learned

If there's one thing we've learned from developing our first games for the iPhone and Android platforms, it's that there's a lot to learn.

For the last 8 or so months we've been working with Adobe's AIR for Android and Packager for iPhone applications to redevelop some of our online Flash games for both mobile platforms.  While the Adobe tools are still in development, we're pretty excited about their potential. We're already benefitting from the efficiencies on offer, taking games developed in Flash for the web and porting them to Apple's iOS platform for the iPhone/Pad/Touch and to Google's Android platform for smartphones.

The commercial team has also been in learning mode, starting to understand how best to market games in Apple's App Store, how pricing sensitivities effect sales and how marketing online can impact sales.

We're still learning, but here are the top 5 lessons so far:

1. The 'Develop Once, Distribute Everywhere' Model is Getting Closer

Adobe's tools are making it possible to take a game or an app developed in Flash and port it to the iOS and Android platforms. This makes for a rapid development environment which can see a development cycle of weeks, instead of months. At this stage, there is a fair amount of re-versioning required for both iOS and Android and the 'develop once' vision isn't quite there yet, but 'develop once and re-version' is a reality.

Adobe have recently launched the AIR SDK for development for the Blackberry, opening up another huge mobile market. Soon we'll be effectively developing for Android and the Blackberry using the same tool. The lesson is that now when we start planning an online Flash game, we consider from the start if and how a version can be developed for mobile. Which is how we come to lesson 2...

2. Re-version For the Device

To state the obvious, the mobile phone is not a computer and they are used differently. Some games that work on the web or on the desktop will translate brilliantly to the phone. Some will need paring back or aspects of the game play will need tweaking to accomodate both the processing limitations of the devices and the touch screen inputs. The general rule for the mobile device is keep it simple.

You only have to look at Angry Birds, the top performing game on the iPhone, to understand what's working on mobile devices. Boiling a game down to it's elements, while maintaining the essential game play is key. Oliver Joyce, lead developer of our hugely successful Swords and Sandals series, likens it to the way we started developing casual games fifteen years ago: "We took the elements of console games and stripped them back for online casual games. With mobile games there's one level again of simplication."

Which isn't an argument for 'simple' games on mobile devices, just one for considering what works on the mobile.

3. Incorporate the New UI and Game Play Opportunities

Apple devices and most of the smart phones incorporate user inputs such as touchscreen, for single or multiple finger touch, and an accelerometer (tilting, shaking, changing the aspect of the device). Think about how these have changed the driving game on an Apple or Android device - using the accelerometer capabilities, the phone has become the steering wheel.

Plus, they've got the camera (the iPhone 4 has 2, front-facing and rear-facing) and audio recording. They've spawned new game possiblities like 'Upsies' where the player holds the phone over their feet and, using the camera, tries to kick a virtual ball. Similarly, geo-location software allows us to integrate new location-specific aspects to games.

4. Market the Game Online

As with any game development, the game is just one part of the project. With hundreds of thousands of apps available in the Apple and Android stores, cut-through is a challenge.

Launching our new iPhone game, Swords and Sandals, in August last year, we had he advantage of a ready-made audience on our games network, Fizzy. We promoted the games to our existing 6.5 million monthly users with display placements throughout the network, clicking through to the game's iTunes page from where the prompt for the user is to open iTunes and buy the game online. Our social network presence was also important, where we promoted the launch through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

5. The Importance of App Store /Android Market Charts & Price Sensitivities

The App Store market charts are hugely influential in what gets bought. It's classic chicken and egg - the more people buy your app, the more it gets up the chart, the more people buy your app...

One of the most effective ways we found of influencing purchase numbers was to experiment with price. We started off higher at $3.99 and then to drive volume we put it on sale 'for a limited time' for $1.99. The tactic worked and saw sales volumes increase more than 5 times. This drove us up to the most popular charts, getting us first into the top 50 RPG games, then the top 10, until eventually we were at no.1 in 10 iTunes stores around the world. Once up in the charts, we increased the price again, which didn't result in much of a drop in sales, but did increase ARPU.

So the lesson is, start with your pricing higher so you have room to move and use 'sales' tactically to increase popularity.