A lot of 460+ projects in our portfolio are either built on mobile or ported to iOS and Android. We’ve co-developed them with large studios like Sony, EA, and Rovio and small gamedev initiatives and indies, helping deliver stories, quests, and adventures right into the player’s hands. iLogos works in many directions within mobile game development services.
You reach out, and we set up a call. You tell us about your idea for a game, your needs & wants, the release schedule you’d like to have, and the financial & technical constraints of the project.
If, at this stage, you have detailed specifications or even have a game design document (GDD) that’s when we receive it.
After the meeting, we assemble our game development team and calculate what we would need to do what you want.
That includes the number of people on the team, the tech stack we’re going to use, the approximate schedule we’re going to work within, and the budget that is necessary to create your game. We also see if iLogos has people who’ve worked within the genre/setting/type of game you want to build (we usually do) and make sure to include them in the project.
In pre-production, we do documentation-related work, the most vital of which are:
— signing NDAs and service agreements;
— creating GDD: a document that covers everything that will be included in your game. All plotlines, character designs and backstories, core loop and other game mechanics, specifics of the mobile game’s economy, and so on.
— creating Visual Style Guide: our art lead and art director work with you to figure out what you would like your game, characters, locations, levels, etc. to look like.
After you validate the documents above, we create a detailed roadmap with a schedule: forward, and toward the release of MVP (or more like: minimal playable game — a few levels of your title that are representative of the big picture).
Then, we can do a more accurate budget estimate — and apply it to the entire length of the development process.
We develop in 2-week cycles via Agile methodologies; you’ll hear from us regularly — in meetings and reports. You’ll start seeing the results of our work 1-1.5 months from the start of the development and after that, at the end of each cycle.
For a six months project, we deliver the MVP about 3-4 months in. Complex mobile games, of course, would take more time.
A vertical slice is a simulation of the release of sorts. It will help us discover if there are any inconsistencies, glitches, gameplay elements, or plot hooks that are unreadable for players, etc., — and if the players are enjoying it. All that feedback will go into increasing chances of success after release.
A soft launch is a hardcore version of the vertical slice. The main levels/core chapters of the game are released to the players and they play around with it for several days. Then, we receive feedback.
The soft launch for mobile games is a bit different than the soft launch for PC titles. For PC games, studios are releasing the game with a few levels in Steam’s “Early Access”, and then reacting to feedback, completing the game, and releasing it fully. In mobile gaming, the game is usually completed before soft launch, and the expansion goes from the local market and one platform to the global market and two platforms.
Android is a go-to platform for soft launches within mobile (84% of smartphone users have Android — it’s easier to set up target ads) + release to Play Market is a bit cheaper.
We fix everything we caught during the soft launch, and — lo and behold, it’s released, — all according to your vision and GDD. Now, globally: on iOS and Android.
The LiveOps stage includes a) maintaining the game, b) releasing updates with new content: levels, quests, tournaments, and events, and b) upgrading the game if, for instance, a new version of iOS was released.
Mobile games development is creating games for mobile. It includes creating the concept, crafting the narrative & core mechanics & art for it, assembling the game in the engine and engineering, testing, fixing, and launching. The process can take from six months to years.
In the past, the industry didn’t believe mobile players had money and they didn’t see how people who loved video games and enjoyed playing on PCs and consoles could switch from amazing graphics and seamless controls to the agonizing compromise of smartphones. In 2022, puzzles are one of the most popular casual game genres in App Stores. During 2021, they brought $37.74 million of revenue from players just in America.
Mobile games, as it occurs, are profitable, and the mobile game market is open to all kinds of monetization strategies. PUBG Mobile, a battle royale by LightSpeed & Quantum Studio, got $2.01 billion in 2021. That’s a lot. That’s a sign people love mobile games.
So, in a way, mobiles game development is building something people enjoy, too.
Puzzles are the most important across different genres: ≈21% of the market share for all mobile games belongs to puzzles. In the second place, according to Statista, we have casino games (≈19%), strategies (≈17%), and RPGs (≈14%).
Unity seems to be leading the race, with its cross-platform capabilities, amazing functionality for bringing to life fluid 2D and 3D graphics, and features for post-launch maintenance, updates, and monetization. Call of Duty on mobile is built on Unity. We’ve developed quite a few mobile titles with Unity as well: Shadow Fight 2 and Shadow Fight Arena with Nekki, for instance.
We’re going to give the answer we always give: it depends. If it’s a simple puzzle that doesn’t require a lot of art assets, animations, or complex engineering under the hood, you can get it developed for about $15k. The more complex the puzzle is, the more levels, visual effects, and algorithmic intricacies it has, the higher the price would be.
Middle-level games like Angry Birds would cost up to $300k-$1m to develop. Why? Consider the fluidity of animation in this game, various objects players encounter, crushing & sound effects, number of levels, and other features. That’s a lot of work.
For large games that have networking, multiplayer, cloud saves, cool 3D graphics, and so on, the development would cost from $750k, — and the sky’s the limit.
We’ve written a whole article about figuring out the cost of mobile game app development. Check it out, we promise it’s useful.
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If you prefer to contact us, use this email: bizdev@ilogos.biz