Game-play is KING!

1. Use the full screen. Do not make things too small on the screen.
   
   
2. Support both the keypad and the joystick. This is especially important on a phone like the coming Sony Ericsson S700i, which will be commercially available in Q4 2004.
   
   
3. Make the controls simple. A mobile phone is not a game-pad and the joystick is not built to handle too fast switches. (You could however target your game to users of e.g. the Sony Ericsson's Game-pad accessory and 'shoot and move' functionality of its active buttons).
   
   
4. Make the game look good. Spend some time on the graphics.
   
   
5. The screen real estate is limited. Don't bog down the game with too many things happening at once or it will only become confusing.
   
   
6. In-game sounds should be limited to fx only. Use sound only when it adds to the experience (dropping bombs, shooting etc), not just for the sake of it. Use music on the intro/menu pages instead.
   
   
7. Allow the sound to be turned off and the setting to be reinstalled next time the game is started.
   
   
8. Consistency in menus and soft buttons.
   
   
9. Go for simple game-play. The player should be able to jump right in and play.
   
   
10. It should be easy to get started, while not too easy to get a good score. But after a few trials you should quickly become better.
    
    
11. If the game is difficult, you should allow the user to "continue" instead of starting all over.
    
    
12. For games that take a long time to complete, it should be possible to save and exit and resume from this point the next time you start the game.
    
    
13. Write a powerful and attractive game description that lives up to the game play performance.
    
    
14. Produce lots of AVI and screen shots to help a consumer visualize the game performance and style of the game.
    
    
15. A proper help description - test the description on a few people to see if it is understandable.
    

Ideas and tips for future games:

• Develop games that enable the consumer to listen to quality MP3 music while they play!
• Add 3D effects to your game next time to enhance the game-play.
  

Some general business tips:

• Quality wins!
  This means the overall chance is poor for a low-quality game, created under time pressure - e.g. "to make a fast buck and get 'good' games with a minimum of effort spent" - to be published. You should beta-test your games as well as possible, especially when porting to other handsets. Beta-Testers are quite easy to find by announcing in Forums and Communities with related content.
  
  
• Multiple levels
  Develop games that are built into multiple packs with each pack being a continuation of the original.
  
  
• Think about helping operators increase ARPU (Average Revenue Per User)
  Build in high score functionality so operators can build community based features and services around games.
  
  
• Do not work alone!
  A steady team with properly assigned areas to work in helps you to concentrate on the main targets of what YOU can. Don't forget to share the income ;-)
  
  
• Well-choose Your GFX!
  The optic sense is the most important so you can score most with Graphics. Not all types of graphics (Pixel Style, Photo Style, Anime Style) fit in a certain genre or for certain games. A mobile's screen is (still) small and limited and you only have a small area to well-display (or better present) the game's world, so the measure for the graphics is also something not to forget to pay attention to.
  
  
• Engage help!
  Most programmers are not very good in doing both graphics and audio, but both of these are important to create a good game. Where you can find help you can afford if you're alone? By searching the web for pixel artists and pixel graphics forums and communities, you can find a bunch of those as well as most artwork they've performed. Depending on the amount of graphics to be done, the price for work can already start at 20-30$. For audio you can stick to the same procedure, but search for Midi forums.
  
  
• A license can help!
  To immediately gain attention, a license can help you; probably not cheap but probably as effective. Royalties of today's games are nearly unaffordable but by checking some of the thousands of Amiga, Atari and C64 games you might spot something interesting to license.
  

Some summarizing tips and lessons learned from arranging the Sony Ericsson Game Developers Challenge 2004:

• You have to have an appealing screen shot for people to pay attention to and be attracted to your game in the first place.
  
  
• The game description, i.e. the product description, and short, easy-to-understand instructions are crucial for people's perception of your game and their ability to quickly start playing and enjoying it.
  
  
• Your game has to be intuitive; mobile users don't have a lot of time to invest into understanding game-playing obscurities, and mobile phones not a huge screen to display complicated game intrigues.
  
  
• The most common reasons for failing the Application Shop partner's Handango Mobile Ready testing were:
  • Invalid application error received after downloading, preventing from launching the application.
  • Application froze at various points of game-play; some after receiving a phone call, some after passing a level.
  • Very slow performances with keys intended for game-play not responding.
  • Application error indicating that it takes too much memory, even if there are no other applications saved.
    
    
• Files that are intended for download over-the-air should not be larger than 100 Kb, since many operator WAP gateways have set size limitations.