The Key to Addicting Games: Game Loops

Source Article: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/173732/Video_How_to_make_killer_game_loops.php#.UG9K7bWd6So    by Gamasutra, July 20, 2012           

           What is considered a good game? What makes games addicting? Being able to make your game not seem like a grind (Maplestory a few years ago comes to mind) is crucial for success. World of Warcraft, the undisputable king of MMORPGs is so successful because of its ability to hook players for months. The premise of WoW endgame is to do raids in order to get new epic gear - so you can do more difficult raids...to get better gear. Rinse and repeat. While you can eventually get the best gear in WoW, the amount of time and dedication required is far too steep for casual players, not to mention expansion packs and patches. This essentially provides many players with constant new content while they pay monthly subscription fees upgrading their characters to see bigger numbers on their screen.

           Besides MMORPGs, many IPhone and Android games also use game loops to great success. For example, an iPhone game called “Tiny Tower” is a free to download game that generates quite a large amount of revenue. In this game you build a tower from the ground up, with the option of building either business floors to make money or residential floors to add employees to the business floors. When you get enough money you can build more floors. The game is simple enough, but is quite addicting due to its cyclical nature and the fact that everything you do contributes to progress in the game.

           So how does Tiny Tower generate revenue while being a free to play cyclical game? Well there is a lot of waiting involved in Tiny Tower, between stocking shops and constructing new floors. All that waiting can be skipped however, for a price. Real currency can be used to buy “Tower Bux”, which can be used to speed construction, upgrade the elevator, and instantly sell all your stocks. This is quite ingenious, as we are living in an age where people want instant gratification and impulse buying is common. While the game itself is free, it makes more money than many pay to use apps by these micro transactions.

           Understanding how to create gripping gameplay and essentially manipulating human nature is crucial to be successful in today’s competitive industry. Whether it’s gripping the player to pay monthly subscription fees or running a game through micro transactions, a lot of money is to be made. Aspiring developers should definitely watch the video in the article to better understand how to make these “killer game loops”.