4 Humble Suggestions for Small Scale Game Developers

If you're a small scale developer, take a look at the chart below. I took the MAUs of three large scale developers: Electronic Arts (EA), CrowdStar and Zynga and compared them to a developer that received 50,000 monthly active users (YOU). Notice anything missing? Yes, it is your slice of the pie. After rounding off to the nearest tenth of a percent, you don't even receive the slice covered in anchovies (sorry to offend any anchovy fans out there). As a small scale developer, you need to understand how small you really are compared to some of the top developers in the industry. However, don't be discouraged. Here are some tips that can help you succeed a little better than some of the other small scale developers out there: Be more social... Obviously a "social" game needs to be social, but always think of how you can make your game even more social than it already is. When it comes to making a game social, large scale developers are always ahead of the learning curve. If you think your game is social enough, it's not. Take apart games like CityVille, Zynga Texas Hold'em Poker and FarmVille to understand what social aspects of the game Zynga uses to attract its users. Communicate through Quora... As I stated in an earlier article, Quora is an absolute gold mine for small scale developers. Take a look at Quora every single day when you get the time. It's important to know what the individuals at the top of the social gaming industry are discussing. Where else will you be able to obtain valuable information like this? If you are too nervous to ask a question, skim through the already answered questions and you will find yourself learning things that you never knew before. Update frequently... As most of you know, life gets boring, which means social games do as well. Don't just assume gamers are happy with your game's current status because mostly likely they're not. Even games like FarmVille, CityVille and FrontierVille have little things about them that users would like to change: find out those changes for your games. Here's an idea: poll your gamers. See what options the users of your games would like to see changed and then change them, make the experience better for them. By updating your games constantly, users will not be bored and will most likely continue coming back. Add a new item or a new reward of some type for your gamers to obtain. Be different... Always strive to be unique in some sort of way. Games CityVille, FrontierVille and FarmVille have their own unique themes that users enjoy. All of your games do not have to be related in any sort of way. It's imperative for you to have a game that stands out and doesn't remind people of another game. CJ Arlotta covers the world of social gaming for development firms as well as the average consumer. Currently, he is accumulating more knowledge of the international gaming market to follow and understand what global developers may need to compete with already striving markets.

Social Pro Daily

4 Humble Suggestions for Small Scale Game Developers

If you're a small scale developer, take a look at the chart below. I took the MAUs of three large scale developers: Electronic Arts (EA), CrowdStar and Zynga and compared them to a developer that received 50,000 monthly active users (YOU).

CJ Arlotta

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CJ Arlotta