5 Things to Consider Before You Start Building a Mobile Game App

The mobile gaming industry has experienced massive growth over the past two decades. According to App Annie’s recent report titled The State of Mobile 2020, mobile games account for 56 percent of all app downloads. Furthermore, the mobile data and analytics company projects that over $100 billion will be spent on mobile games across all app stores in 2020.

The tremendous growth in the mobile gaming industry has seen companies invest billions of dollars in the sector. Millions of people from around the world are also taking an initiative in mobile game development. If you’re looking to start building your own mobile game app, you’re not alone—and you’re on the right track.

Now, the fact that you’ve come up with a unique mobile game app idea doesn’t mean you’re good to go. The truth is that going into the mobile app market or industry unprepared can result in costly and frustrating mistakes. The market is too competitive and it’s simply not enough to have a mobile app idea. You must take time to prepare and carefully piece different building blocks together so you can have a competitive advantage and make the entire development process easier. Here are five things you need to consider if you want to build a profitable and successful mobile app:

Market Research

The first and potentially most crucial part of building any app is conducting market research. You must first take the time to test your mobile game app idea and determine whether it’s possible from a design and technology standpoint. This is often referred to as proof of concept. But you shouldn’t stop there. A common mistake novice most beginner developers make is forgetting that the tech startup market has been around for a while now and many ideas have already been implemented.

Imagine spending sleepless nights, days, or even weeks working on your mobile game app only to find out that someone else has done the exact same project and the idea is already in the market. Ask yourself, “What is it that makes my mobile game application different?” And that means you have to conduct proper market research to gain insights about potential competitors, their strengths and weaknesses, and their strategy. You shouldn’t copy other people’s ideas directly but that doesn’t mean you can’t use their ideas and learn from their mistakes to create the best mobile game app ever.

Your Target Audience

It’s not enough to know how to use devops, container registries, Helm, and more tech tactics and jargon. After you’ve done your market research to determine what makes you stand out, you need to “know your audience.” As mentioned, it simply isn’t enough to have a brilliant idea for your mobile game application. That alone won’t guarantee success. Ask yourself, “who will be most interested in using your application” and “how is the mobile game app going to help them?” The goal is to make sure your application meets your user’s expectations. Make sure you plan your functionality and design based on your target audience’s preferences.

The Key Mobile Platforms to Focus On

You will need to consider the different mobile platforms available and decide which ones or how many you wish to launch your mobile game application. Keep in mind that the mobile platform you choose to focus on is one of the factors that will determine whether or not your app is going to be successful. The most popular operating systems for mobile devices are iOS and Android. Others include Windows and Blackberry.

Developing your mobile game app for multiple platforms may come with additional costs. You need to choose the platforms to focus on based on the core purpose of the app, the defined functionality, and your target market. You want to focus on and prioritize the operating system (s) that your most profitable users are most likely to use. Once you’ve decided on which platform (s) to use and the app type, it will become easier to plan your entire project and allocate your resources.

Your Monetization Strategy

You probably already know that online customers are used to getting most of the things available on the internet for free. Open source has since become the dominant force in today’s digital and software world. As such, you will need to consider the different mobile app monetization models if you’re looking to make money from your game. Here are some of the options for monetizing your mobile game app:

• In-app purchases- In this model, you use your mobile game app as a commercial sales channel to sell physical or digital products to users.
• Freemium apps- Freemium model works by making the app available for free downloads but locking certain contents and features, which users can only access through a purchase.
• Paid (premium) apps- In this model, users have to purchase the mobile game app from the app store before they can use it. You will need a mobile marketing strategy to demonstrate to users what makes your app stand out from other free apps already available.
• In-app ads- The user can download the app for free but you can showcase ads within your mobile game app and get paid by third-party ad networks. This is the easiest and simplest model to use.

Developing a mobile game app can be costly and time-consuming. Furthermore, your work on the project doesn’t end as soon as you deploy your app. The fact that your game app is working today doesn’t mean or guarantee that it will always be so. You still need to fight off the bugs and keep the application up-to-date as times change. This is why you need a monetization strategy so you can recover your investment.

The Design of Your Game

There’s no doubt you have a clear idea of the kind of mobile game app you want to build. Now, the next thing you need to consider is the design of your app. Understand that your design can be the differentiating factor between your application and your what’s already in the market. And that could mean having more users choosing your game over your competitors’.

You want to create a stunning design that makes your game stand out. The possibilities are endless but make sure your intricate details in your design don’t affect the performance of your game. Avoid using any unnecessary design elements that won’t support or add value to users’ tasks. The goal should be to make your mobile game app as user-friendly as possible, with minimal distractions.