cocos2d for iPhone

A fast, easy to use, free, and community supported 2D game engine

1. 

   krashcan
   Member

   'Casual' : This term has come a long way, from a mere adjective it has become a game genre, but I believe it has further evolved beyond just a game genre.

   Nowadays, how do you define a "Casual Game"? The most common description I hear of is that the game would be built around a simple core game play mechanic, think Angry Birds and Bejeweled.

   A friend asks me, "If angry bird causes you to play it for hours non-stop, is it still casual?". If a game with complexities like a RPG would have (stats builds, skill trees etc) but at the same time allows me to put it down anytime, is that casual? How much complexity can you add to a "simple game" before it is no longer considered "simple" or "casual"?

   Another friend tells me that "It is a matter of players' perception". Then would that not make "casual" an equivalent to the term "fun" ? If this is the case, you can no longer say "I am going to design a casual game!" as that would equate to you saying "I am going to design a fun game!", but is this the actual case?

   Posted 5 months ago #
2. 

   Stephen Morris
   Member

   You somewhat defined the difference between a casual game and a complex game within your post. A casual game will have a simplified game mechanic whereas the more hardcore games will have more complex mechanics at work. The total amount of time spent playing isn't a factor of whether or not the game is defined as a casual game but more so the time spent needed to learn how to play the game.

   A casual game will have a pick-up-and-play experience and appeals to a large range of groups. A hardcore game will need more time understanding how it works and is targeted to a particular group.

   Posted 5 months ago #
3. 

   krashcan
   Member

   Perhaps I do know the answer to my own question, but there exist people around me who tells me a certain game which i classify as "casual" as being "stupid", or telling me "mobile games are casual games". I know that even if a complex rpg is simplify, it is "more casual" but does not necessarily makes it a casual game, but these people who thinks by doing so will attract "the casual crowd" should be wrong no?

   i guess I'm just ranting here.... like why would someone be designing a "casual game" when he can't tell the difference and i'm not exactly in a great position to tell him he's wrong...... but then again, if what we are doing is to port a social game (ie from FaceBook) to mobile, good chance it can be considered casual right?

   Posted 5 months ago #
4. 

   krashcan
   Member

   Super mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, they are built around just running and jumping. Does this makes these games casual? Angry birds, it starts off just throwing birds forward, then it gets more complicated with introduction of birds with various abilities, if they were to introduce even more abilities, does it make AB no longer casual?

   ...lol, feels like I'm just trying to corner myself

   Posted 5 months ago #
5. 

   Stephen Morris
   Member

   Mobiles are an excellent platform for casual games because you can easily play a game whilst your in the queue, travelling on the bus etc. However, saying all mobiles games are casual games is stereotypical as there exists a lot of hardcore games. Take a look at (for example) AirTycoon, the upcoming 'Gratuitous Space Battles', Final Fantasy and even Gun Shadow. These are all hardcore games directed as specific markets whilst using the mobile platform. Compare them to Angry Birds, Tiny Wings, Eat the Rope and Ski Solitaire (shameless plug I know) - these all appeal to a larger age range / market.

   Ultimately, a lot of mobile games can be considered casual as they cater for the market of people on the move. It is all about the target group.

   Posted 5 months ago #
6. 

   Stephen Morris
   Member

   Argh. Posting at the same time. Mario and Sonic would be considered casual - the gameplay is 'reach the end and collect coins'. The core mechanic for Angry Birds is still ' Shoot Bird from Giant Catapult' - adding in extra birds is considered building upon the mechanic.

   Other casual games, Pong, Asteroid, PacMan, Tetris - they all have mass appeal and cater for anyone.

   Posted 5 months ago #
7. 

   krashcan
   Member

   lol, seem like you you are the only one kind enough to engage me in this little ranting, anyway thanks for the heads up on "Gratuitous Space Battles'", didnt know its coming to the mobile.

   Posted 5 months ago #
8. 

   Wayne
   Member

   I guess that "genre is in the eye of the beholder". What I consider a casual game is one that allows you to advance in the game through gameplay in small or non timed, increments.

   Posted 5 months ago #
9. 

   Eamonn
   Member

   I think that these days a casual game is more defined by its target audience. I game that would be played by people who wouldn't usually play other games is a casual game in my books, naturally these games would be more simple then most.

   Posted 5 months ago #
10. 

    varedis
    Moderator

    I think @Wayne has said what I think better than I could.

    Posted 5 months ago #
11. 

    bradparks
    Member

    I think that this is a good question.... It's understanding things like this that can seriously make or break your game!

    I'd say:

    - Fast fast load times, and almost instantaneous "retry". e.g. When you fail at an Angry Birds level, Retrying the level loads super fast.

    - Doesn't require your constant attention. You can look away from the game for a bit and you don't "die". Angry birds is basically a "do one action" type of game, and then wait to see the results. You can do that one action, then turn around for a minute, pick up the game and nothing "bad" has happened while you were looking away!

    - And a little less important, is that the game can't be offensive in anyway. What's that got to do with casual gaming? Well say your sitting on the bus playing the game, or killing time while in a meeting. Would you feel like you could play the game in both those crowds without offending someone? If you can't, then you're killing a bit part of the social talk about your game. I think this is true for letting little kids play games too... My wife and I don't let our kids (7,8) play games that have any gore in them. Doesn't matter if it's cute for 90% of the game, if it's gory for the other 10%, it's not on our phones. I think lots of parents think like that....

    Posted 5 months ago #
12. 

    ShaneT
    Member

    I am old and I like casual gaming. Anything you have to learn in a game is to much. Got to learn too much daily anyway to have to learn when playing a game.

    If you need a help page I guess it isn't casual gaming.

    Posted 5 months ago #
13. 

    bradparks
    Member

    Good point @ShaneT.... I'm old too ;-) and I download probably about a million games and almost never play any of them for more than 5 minutes, if even that long.... I've only played 2 games on the iPhone through to the end, those being Plants vs Zombies and Soosiz....

    Both Soosiz and Plants vs Zombies don't bore you with a ton of "here's how to play" stuff up front... They teach you bit by bit as you play... For example, in Plants vs Zombies you learn about a new plant every level.... So you don't have to know how all the plants work right up front....

    Posted 5 months ago #
14. 

    Birkemose
    Moderator

    If you don't have to stop surfing porn to get 3 stars, it is a casual game.

    But the term is to gaming, what the term hypocrite is to politics - a bit washed out.

    Posted 5 months ago #
15. 

    letmeknow
    Member

    lol, I thought casual game is the game you both surf porn & get 3 stars at the same time.

    Many of us watch TV, answer the phone (other phone), listen to someone, wash dish, walk the dog, etc. while playing casual game.

    Posted 5 months ago #
16. 

    letmeknow
    Member

    I think wiki have the best definition of casual game.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casual_game

    - target mass audience
    - no special skills required

    Posted 5 months ago #
17. 

    ShaneT
    Member

    That's my kind of game actually. Playboy Pet in top right corner saying every so often come visit me baby?

    Sure all you kids wouldn't get the highest score on that sucker. :)

    Not sure whether iTunes would allow it though.

    Posted 5 months ago #
18. 

    clarus
    Member

    I thought a "casual game" was one you could play without wearing pants. Damn it. Now I have to redesign EVERYTHING!

    Posted 5 months ago #
19. 

    krashcan
    Member

    @shaneT
    "If you need a help page I guess it isn't casual gaming. " totally agree with this. Even if i cant be sure at what point a casual game becomes not casual, as long as it can be easily learned without a help/tutorial page it should be good as a casual.

    @letmeknow
    yep, wiki has a good definition, but there exist designers who thinks what they designed just fits in there when it doesnt.

    @bradparks
    adding to your "fast retries", I would say it should also be easy to get back into the game. Let's say this game has been sitting on your home screen for months untouched and you just restarted it up, you should be able to easily play it without relearning stuffs (like riding a bicycle,lol). But if this is the case, I won't think Plants vs Zombies is THAT casual, because after a long time I kind of need to relearn what each of those p[lants does before i can restart the game after long time of not playing it. And it has got pretty much strategy and real time decision making involved in its gameplay, so it also contradicts a little with your "Doesn't require your constant attention."

    Posted 5 months ago #
20. 

    davidlxk
    Member

    A casual game would be one that you can play without using your brain ~

    Posted 5 months ago #
21. 

    bradparks
    Member

    @krashcan - I agree plants vs zombies is not as casual.... but it gets it right where it counts - making it so when you first start playing it you don't have to learn a million rules before you start playing.... and speaking of Plants vs Zombies, one more thing makes it kind of casual - that being that even if you were all the levels in the game start out a little bit slow... so anyone, even if they have no experience, can last about 1-2 minutes on almost any plants vs zombies level.... unlike lots of games where if you're at an advanced level and you pick it up, you can be dead in about 10 seconds ;-)

    Posted 5 months ago #
22. 

    Dani
    Member

    Maybe there are no casual games, but casual gamers? Who knows :D

    Posted 5 months ago #
23. 

    letmeknow
    Member

    @krashcan: everything has exceptions, but minor. It depends on what majority people see, think and accept.

    There is a white paper with a single drop of black ink.
    What do you see ?
    you may tell people that you see the black ink on the paper.
    I tell people that I see the paper with a drop of black ink.
    That's the difference.

    Posted 5 months ago #
24. 

    krashcan
    Member

    @Dani
    that brings another question to mind. Who are the hardcore gamers? Who are considered casual gamers? A friend of mine is very very "pro" at playing DOTA, spends lots of time on it, but he doesn't play much of other games, what does that make him? Nowadays, I spend lots of time looking for interesting games on various platform, but I don't commit much to each game, what does that make me? And for someone who only spends time on game he really wants to play and those games are usually AAA titles like Batman or Skyrim, but only do so once in a while (when the title he wants get released which can be months apart), how to you categories him?

    But of course, this is a question of perhaps little importance to developers... I don't know

    Posted 5 months ago #
25. 

    bazcocos
    Member

    I'd agree that Plants vs Zombies is casual. Its a little more complex than some, but it introduces the concepts slowly. Anything that gets onto BigFishGames is casual, for sure.
    I suppose its about learning-curve, presentation, controls, difficulty, theme. Angry Birds appears to satisfy those, too (though completing some levels can be frustrating).

    Posted 5 months ago #
26. 

    sndwav
    Member

    For me, a casual game is a game that you play in small amounts... casually.

    For example, Angry Birds is a casual game for me, since I usually play it for 5 minutes at a time.

    Order & Chaos, on the other hand, is not a casual game for me, since once I get started, I can spend 30-40 minutes of play (before I quit playing that game altogether).

    But to each his own (^_^)

    Posted 5 months ago #
27. 

    clarus
    Member

    I think a "casual gamer" is easier to describe-- someone who is essentially a non-gamer but does play one or two games. As an example, I know people who like to play AB but don't regularly play games and don't even have a gaming console. They're casual gamers. For that type of person, the games need to have relatively quick pay-off, require little skill to get good and have very simple instructions. You don't need to master head shots or complex maneuvers or controls. Casual gamers need games that don't require a high level of skill to advance or else they'll become frustrated and abandon the game.

    A "casual game" is what a casual gamer plays, although others may play it as well.

    Posted 5 months ago #
28. 

    Scryb
    Member

    Maybe we could attack this from the other side? What makes a game non-casual/hardcore?

    Let's use an example I think we can all agree is decidedly non-casual: World of Warcraft. What is it about that game which makes it not casual? Is it the hundreds and thousands of hours players have to pour into it in a never-ending quest to be "at the top"? Is it the story (stories) and other elements that make the player feel as part of this other world? Whatever it is, nobody enjoys playing WoW for 15 minutes, three times a week.

    Skyrim would be another recent example, which might be even better since it is not an mmo and not really designed to sucker the player into playing as much as they possibly can. This game is a classic example of an immersive video game which is so enthralling and satisfying that players can be sucked into it much like we can be sucked into a good novel and lose track of time. Most good RPGs are like that – it has more in common with reading a novel than with playing Angry Birds.

    And try making a game like Civilization, Sim City or Starcraft casual. It would be a very difficult feat to make these games instantly accessible but at the same time have as much complexity and depth as they do now.

    I think the essence of a casual game is the classic idea of "easy to learn, hard to master" – they aren't necessarily restricted to casual play but they all have in common that you can pick it up and feel confident in the mechanic after a minute or two. Tetris, Chess and many other games are like this. You learn the basics almost from just glancing at them but you can spend hundreds of hours trying to become really good at them.

    Posted 5 months ago #
29. 

    krashcan
    Member

    @Scryb
    Just curious, if a good rpg can be compared to reading a good novel, what would you compare AB to? Would you use the term "immersive" to describe AB?

    I think to sum up most of what we have describe what we think is a casual game, the most common description that most agrees is that it is a game that should be very easy to pick up even without tutorial on how to play it. The second most common description is that it has to allow the player to put it down almost anytime without losing progress. Well it seem these at least defines how a casual should AT LEAST be, this makes a casual game, but it is still up to each developer and designer talent to make a GOOD casual game.

    Posted 5 months ago #
30. 

    Wayne
    Member

    I think @Birkmose is close. Casual gaming is like casual sex, a quick gaming booty call at any time and you still get ....... ahead. No long term commitment or effort required.

    Posted 5 months ago #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply »

You must log in to post.