Are you passionate about mobile games and want to make your own? You might think you need a lot of experience, skills, and resources to enter the mobile gaming industry, but that's not true. In this article, we'll show you some steps you can take to start your journey as a mobile game developer, even if you have no prior experience.
The first thing you need to decide is what kind of mobile game you want to make and what platform you want to target. There are many options to choose from, such as iOS, Android, Windows Phone, or cross-platform frameworks. Each platform has its own advantages and disadvantages, such as market size, user preferences, monetization methods, and development tools. You also need to consider what genre of game you want to create, such as casual, puzzle, action, strategy, or role-playing. Different genres have different levels of complexity, popularity, and competition.
In my opinion, the best way to jump into the mobile gaming industry with fresh eyes is to target a casual mobile game for a popular platform like iOS or Android. This way, you can leverage the massive audience and existing tools without getting bogged down in super complex mechanics. Think about a genre you love as a player.
Make a prototype! Today we can find several videos on youtube that teaches you how to create a simple game that can run on mobile, after you have a playable prototype you can start focusing in playtesting the game with your friends, with random people, and see how you can improve your proto based on their reactions, I can't enphasize enough how important is the first time user experience on mobile so be sure to test with new people frequently untill your game is ready to present into a publisher. Most publishers will test your game on the mobile store and grab all the data that you need to estimate the true potential of your game.
Choose a popular yet simple genre to begin with, you can take the example of voodoo games. They make simple endless runner games etc. Simple and easy to make and teaches you a lot about the whole cycle of game creation
Once you have a clear idea of your platform and genre, you need to learn the basics of game design and programming. Game design is the process of creating the rules, mechanics, story, and aesthetics of your game. Programming is the process of implementing your game design using a programming language and a game engine. You don't need to be an expert in either field, but you need to have a solid foundation of the principles and practices of both. You can find many online courses, books, tutorials, and communities that can help you learn game design and programming.
Before diving into it, you should always start with a game design document. It’s basically like the information architecture for an app
A game engine is a software that provides the core functionalities and features of a game, such as graphics, sound, physics, input, and networking. A framework is a set of tools and libraries that simplifies the development of a game for a specific platform or genre. Using a game engine and a framework can save you a lot of time and effort, as you don't have to reinvent the wheel or write everything from scratch. There are many game engines and frameworks available for mobile game development, such as Unity, Unreal Engine, Cocos2d-x, Corona SDK, and GameMaker Studio. You should choose one that suits your needs, budget, and skill level.
A lot of good game engines are there, which doesn’t require prior coding knowledge to develop games. You can start building stuff using the existing blueprints
A prototype is a simple and incomplete version of your game that demonstrates the core gameplay and mechanics. A prototype is useful for testing your game design, finding bugs, getting feedback, and improving your game. You should make a prototype as soon as possible and test it on your target device and platform. You can use tools like TestFlight, Google Play Console, or App Center to distribute your prototype to testers and collect data and feedback. You should iterate on your prototype until you are satisfied with the results.
The final step is to polish and publish your game. Polishing is the process of adding the finishing touches to your game, such as graphics, sound, music, user interface, animations, and effects. Polishing can make a big difference in the quality and appeal of your game. Publishing is the process of releasing your game to the public, either for free or for a price. You need to follow the guidelines and requirements of your chosen platform and store, such as Apple App Store, Google Play Store, or Windows Store. You also need to market your game and attract players, using strategies such as social media, blogs, videos, or ads.