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Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

theguardian.com

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Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#11

Post by mfoy_ »

howlingfantods wrote: post #5

I played Clash Royale for several days and the insistence on payments to progress was really off putting. The gameplay itself was quite addicting so I presume they're trying to avoid players burning out from binging. But the fact you either had to pay money or wait three hours to do anything of value was just too much to bear. The entire game design is genius in how it funneled you toward purchases.

I'm 99% sure most mobile games are designed to psychologically drive players to spend as much money on microtransactions as possible. That, and now they are specifically targeting whales, so there's less "a little goes a long way" on IAP and now you really have to shell out to get anywhere. I know that I've personally spent more on in-app purchases that I care to admit just to get an edge on other players in some of those games. T_T

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#13

Post by NoGravitas »

throwanem wrote: post #6
stegosaurus wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> rather than just kill time Yeah, that's something I find really odd about most mobile games. They seem designed as a way to basically put the brain into a low energy state or something, rather than actually being interesting. My personal experience of games like Candy Crush is that people play them on the subway or whatever when there's nothing else to do. If they had a book with them they'd read that, if someone…

> If they had a book with them they'd read that You can fit lots of books on a phone!

Smartphones are actually a terrific medium for casual reading [1].

[1]: http://www.collisiondetection.net/mt/archives/2014/02/_thats...

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#14

Post by jwcooper »

If you can get past maybe the top 50 or 100 grossing games there are a lot of really good games out there that aren't looking to leech money from you. I have plenty of games that have been worth every penny I spent with a lot of depth and strategy required in order to master them.

Letterpress, Spelltower, Hearthstone, Tiny Wings, Ticket to Ride, Strategery, GD Swarm, Ridiculous Fishing, Monument Valley...I could go on and on. These games were all priced probably too low for what they offered in time played.

This is almost a fluff piece to promote a developer coming up with 'something new for mobile'.

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#15

Post by roymurdock »

jwcooper wrote: post #14

If you can get past maybe the top 50 or 100 grossing games there are a lot of really good games out there that aren't looking to leech money from you. I have plenty of games that have been worth every penny I spent with a lot of depth and strategy required in order to master them. Letterpress, Spelltower, Hearthstone, Tiny Wings, Ticket to Ride, Strategery, GD Swarm, Ridiculous Fishing, Monument Valley...I could go o…

How do you discover quality games? I've found the ability to discover apps outside the top 100 to be virtually non-existent with the current app store configuration.

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#16

Post by Derpdiherp »

It's a question of looking through heaps of shite to find a gem. There are decently designed mobile games out there, they're just rare when compared to the amount optimised for ad revenue.

Hoplite springs to mind, and some of the ones pushed in the Humble Mobile bundles (some anyway).

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#17

Post by TillE »

stegosaurus wrote: post #3
askyourmother wrote: post #2

If they can get games to be fun again, where you want to play, rather than just kill time, that would be awesome. I still play games on the old 8 and 16 bit consoles, where gameplay always shone. No matter how many times you complete R-Type, you still come back for more.

>> rather than just kill time Yeah, that's something I find really odd about most mobile games. They seem designed as a way to basically put the brain into a low energy state or something, rather than actually being interesting. My personal experience of games like Candy Crush is that people play them on the subway or whatever when there's nothing else to do. If they had a book with them they'd read that, if someone…

It was a tired cliche for describing games even before smartphones existed, but the model for typical mobile game design truly is the Skinner Box. You press a button to get some shiny reward designed to make your brain feel like it accomplished something.

It's a remarkably elaborate ruse to disguise the fact that there really is no "game" underneath all the chrome.

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#18

Post by jwcooper »

roymurdock wrote: post #15
jwcooper wrote: post #14

If you can get past maybe the top 50 or 100 grossing games there are a lot of really good games out there that aren't looking to leech money from you. I have plenty of games that have been worth every penny I spent with a lot of depth and strategy required in order to master them. Letterpress, Spelltower, Hearthstone, Tiny Wings, Ticket to Ride, Strategery, GD Swarm, Ridiculous Fishing, Monument Valley...I could go o…

How do you discover quality games? I've found the ability to discover apps outside the top 100 to be virtually non-existent with the current app store configuration.

This is the biggest problem for sure. So many of these games just get buried in either app store by the worst type of games and apps.

I've mostly discovered them over time by recommendations from people, or from discussion boards or sites that cover games, or even when they get featured by Apple in the app store.

It's amazing that app discovery is so difficult to solve for the big app stores.

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#20

Post by throwanem »

NoGravitas wrote: post #13
throwanem wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If they had a book with them they'd read that You can fit lots of books on a phone!

Smartphones are actually a terrific medium for casual reading [1]. [1]: http://www.collisiondetection.net/mt/archives/2014/02/_thats...

As were some Palm OS devices before them - those with 480x320 screens, at least. (They weren't good for much else!)
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