So, you’ve decided to develop a mobile game.

Do you have a fantastic idea that you want to see come to fruition? Are you diversifying your company portfolio and want to support your team with experienced specialists?

Or, maybe you’ve done your research and know that mobile game consumer spending is set to reach $138 billion by 2025? (SensorTower)

If you’re looking to escalate your mobile game production or you simply have questions about hiring a mobile game developer, you’ve come to the right place.

Understanding the ins and outs of mobile game development is essential to your overall success. With a clear picture of how to begin and what it takes to execute each step of the process, you can be sure that your business plan is sound and that you won’t be wasting resources along the way.

As you’ve likely already discovered, the monetary cost of mobile app development is not a black and white issue. There are many factors that will determine overall investment costs.

First, you need to decide what kind of game you’re going to develop.

Casual Games

Casual users often spend short, irregular, time periods actively engaged with the game. Casual games can be made in any genre and marketed to a large audience of any age. These games have straightforward rules and an easy ‘tap-and-swipe’ interface; think Candy Crush or Fruit Ninja. With a simple storyline and low skill level required, these types of games can keep users coming back again and again.

Casual games consistently come in well above other types of games for number of downloads. Casual players are motivated by completing milestones, solving problems, self-expression and customization, and social features.

Mid-Core Games

Mid-Core games are a step up in complexity from casual games, both from a production standpoint as well as character development and overall game play. The hugely successful Clash Royale is a great example. These games commonly require more tactics and dedication to mastery of skills. Despite their longer play times, mid-core games can still attract a wide audience. In 2021, the highest revenues from In-App Purchases in the western mobile markets came from the mid-core games category. This trend is expected to continue.

Mid-core games require technical expertise during production to execute their specialized features and realistic graphics. Users are strongly motivated by competition. You will likely find leaderboards, networking experiences and hidden quests in these mid-level games.

Hard-Core Games

Hard-core games are generally for the serious gamer. The Walking Dead and Minecraft immediately come to mind. Players tend to be younger and able to spend long, uninterrupted time periods dedicated to the game. These games have complicated storylines and plots with multiple character development lines. Users often join online chats and communities to share tips and techniques about their favorite hard-core games.

Because of the huge time commitment required to master these games, they tend to have the highest user engagement.

AAA Games

“AAA” mostly refers to the large budget and huge teams needed to produce these games. Like hard-core games, they require a massive time commitment to learn and master. Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty could be put in this unofficial category. Until recently, AAA games have primarily been released for PC or console gaming. As smartphones and data streaming become more capable, we will see bigger game titles released for mobile gaming.

Once you’ve determined what kind of game you want to make, you need to understand the process. This will give you a better idea of final development costs and how long it will take. Let’s quickly touch on the five key stages of mobile app game development.

Discovery

You can think of this as a planning stage. However, this is more than just a budget and a simple outline of your idea. Here you must define the project in depth and hire and assemble a core team.

This stage can take a month or two while you and your team work on turning an idea into interactive documents. There are many details and nuances involved in this process, but here are a few key things you will want to be prepared for during this stage:

• Game design document – think of this as a blueprint of the project that clearly shows project development steps as well as defines the objectives, constraints and criteria of the game itself
• Screen and user flow charts – a visual map of how the player navigates through the game
• Game art and visual style – decide on the look and feel of the game
• Identify tech needs – choose a mobile engine and game platform

Production

This stage is the most lengthy part of the project, where development actually begins. The team will design characters and backgrounds, create music and sounds, write code, and much more.

First a prototype will be created. The prototype is critical to the game’s success and will allow you to get a feel for your idea in action. There will be a lot of trial and error and many iterations of the game.

When you partner with Innovecs, the production stage goes from tedious and exhausting, to fun and interesting. Our experienced team is transparent and focuses on communication. You will be included in every decision, every step of the way, if you choose to. Collaboration is key, client input is welcomed and made a top priority.

Testing

Next, thorough testing must be done to check for bugs and quality control. While there is constant testing going on during the production stage, you must also account for additional testing time after the final product is made. Every detail and aspect of the game must be tested again and again.

With a ‘soft’ beta launch, players outside of your team will get the chance to give feedback and test for bugs. No matter how careful and attentive your internal team is, this is a necessary step toward an exceptional end product.

Release

After months of production and testing, your game is ready for release! In this stage you will focus on things like advertising, publishing, and distribution. You will also need to ensure that platform and app store requirements are met and initial release to the public runs smoothly.

Post-Release

Even though the heavy lifting is done, ongoing maintenance is a must. Depending on the size and scope of your game, you may need a significant amount of work done to keep the game running as it should. Aside from debugging and regular updates you may also need new content, special features or events to keep users engaged.

Why you should hire a mobile game development company.

As mobile technology becomes more advanced, the mobile gaming world races to push limits on every level. The industry is booming, with no signs of slowing down. Every day there are more people turning to their cellphones for entertainment and escapism.

With the increase of gamers worldwide, the mobile game development market becomes more competitive. Competition drives innovation. This ever-changing market and increase in demand for newer, better, and different, puts pressure on developers and publishers who are now looking to outsource more and more frequently.

Find the Right Partner

As you can see, mobile game development is no walk in the park. It requires expertise from many areas and a creative, motivated team that can perform under pressure. When you hire a mobile game development company you get to hit the ground running with your project. The right company will have a cohesive, united team ready to make your idea a reality. Finding a team that communicates well and understands you and your goals is vital to your success.

Save Money and Time with Outsourcing

When you hire a mobile game development company like Innovecs, you have the built-in keys to succeed. This means you aren’t shelling out more money for things like top-tier software or scrambling to fill in knowledge gaps with outside experts. Our team makes the development process easy with an open-door policy. You can easily access all aspects of the game at any time and reach out to anyone on the team with questions or suggestions. No matter what time zone you are in, we can accommodate daily or weekly meetings that work with your schedule.

It’s no secret that the cost of everything is on the rise – including higher salaries for workers. Outsourcing part, or all, of your mobile game development process can significantly cut overall labor and production costs.

When you hire our full cycle development team, we are already well-versed in the strenuous task of time management on big projects like mobile games. We have checks and balances integrated into production phases to be sure that risks are minimized, and your project can launch on time.

More Creativity and Talent

Maybe you’ve exhausted your in-house creative team and you’re looking for some fresh ideas. Maybe you have a vision but you’re lacking the resourcefulness to execute it. No matter what stage of development you are in, Innovecs’ full-cycle development team will be ready with an all-hands-on-deck approach to your project. A bigger team means more ingenuity and inventiveness to draw from.

With a large talent pool to draw from, companies can variably call on experts only when needed. This ensures efficient allocation of funds and a successful ramp-up and ramp-down process. Having a flexible team at your disposal will reduce risk and give you the freedom to make last-minute changes when necessary.

At Innovecs, we do our best to keep everything internal. If hiring outside expertise is needed at any point, you will have the opportunity to oversee the process and decide budget limits.

Innovecs has skillful teams and decades of experience at the helm. We have worked with large-scale publishers to create outstanding titles. Our dedication to excellence and love for gaming truly sets us apart. You can explore our portfolio of titles here.

Now that you understand the mobile game development process from A to Z you can appreciate the importance of having a qualified team in your corner. Innovecs Games’ development teams are energetic and always ready to jump into any phase of your project. We can design and develop a project from scratch or finish developing an existing one. You can outsource small, tedious tasks or get help with niche expertise. In short, there’s nothing we can’t do when it comes to mobile game development.

If you have questions about how Innovecs can help your team achieve and surpass their goals, please reach out! We would love to work with you on your next mobile game development project.