Angry Birds is a poster child for the way "modern indies" design there games:
* evergreen mechanic
* cute visuals
* generated contentWhy Angry Birds is so successful and popular?
51–60 of 81 posts
Re: Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular?
#52Angry Birds is a poster child for the way "modern indies" design there games: * evergreen mechanic * cute visuals * generated content
Not sure what you mean by generated content here.
In Angry Birds, all the levels are designed. Not generated algorithmically (as opposed to a game like Canabalt, where the entire level is generated on the fly).
Re: Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular?
#53I love projects that add a vim-like interface to browsers and other GUI applications. But adding an Angry Birds-like interface to enterprise applications would boost productivity even more. It's strange how rarely gaming metaphors influence business software, and I've often wondered why CMS software doesn't adopt the same type of interfaces you find in RPGs, making them more intuitive and engaging.
Re: Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular?
#54I'd wasted enough time on Angry Birds to feel qualified enough to write about it. 1. The splash screen shows a high degree of polish compared to all other games. Every time I start it, it stands out heads and shoulders above other apps. 2. The whimsical characters mean that there are no scruples with killing real pigs. 3. The ability to advance to the next level quickly, but at the same time, there is a higher three…
What do you mean by point 5?
Re: Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular?
#55I don't think it's the cute visuals. I have struggled with compulsive gambling for over 15 years. I normally hate casual games, but immediately had the same addiction to Angry Birds that I do to gambling (which is good because it costs less :) ). The same thing occurred with Tiny Wings. In fact, I've been able to predict both the rise and fall of several game titles just based on my initial reaction to the game. I guess I am hyper-sensitive to any addicting elements that exist.
Anyway, if you want to design an addictive game, look at the characteristics of casino games and design games around those. Maybe all game companies should take copies of their games to Gambler's Anonymous meetings for vetting :).
Re: Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular?
#56And there I was thinking that AB's success and CTC's failure was that the former doesn't finish after a mere handful of levels...
Re: Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular?
#57An even simpler game that's doing very well in the app store is Little Wings. All you do is touch the screen to fold the little bird's wings, so he falls faster. Just goes to show casual games don't need much complexity to be fun.
Re: Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular?
#58What about the story ? As already stated in the comments, Angry Birds is almost identical to "Crush the Castle", another game, of which Flash versions were quite successful but mobile versions weren't. (It involves destroying castles with a trebuchet -- play it here: http://armorgames.com/play/3614/crush-the-castle ). It would have made for a more interesting article to compare Angry Birds and Crush the Castle (CTC)…
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Re: Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular?
#59I'd wasted enough time on Angry Birds to feel qualified enough to write about it. 1. The splash screen shows a high degree of polish compared to all other games. Every time I start it, it stands out heads and shoulders above other apps. 2. The whimsical characters mean that there are no scruples with killing real pigs. 3. The ability to advance to the next level quickly, but at the same time, there is a higher three…
What do you mean by point 5?
It's like teasing. To draw a ridiculous analogy, its like foreplay to sex. It makes it better.
Less ridiculous is this comparison. It's like that slight twitch you get watching the "starting in 3..2..1" dialog before a round of Starcraft or Halo or something... but even more frequent. Anticipation is everything. You get addicted as much to the anticipation, as the moment itself.
Re: Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular?
#60I don't understand how this is a cognitive breakdown of Angry Birds. Trying to relate short-term memory to the success of the game really misses the point. There is so much more that went on the contribute to the success of the game. I guess the question I would want to have answered is how can I attribute qualities that make a game fun and playable to my own games. If there was a direct and single answer to this question I believe no game company would fear losing money on any of their triple A titles.