Is Game Development All That Fun?

Almost all of us have played games online, but only a few are curious to know how such amazing games are developed! Some also wonder if game development is as exciting as playing games.

Game development is a special category in software or application development. It is trending globally with the rapid increase in demand due to the use of smartphones among users of all ages.

According to a report by The Business Research Company, the global video game software market grew from $197.54 billion in 2021 to $225.71 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.3%.  

Most software or mobile app developers may need specialized skills to develop games as the gaming industry has some unique requirements that differ from financial, education, or other common business apps. 

Why Are Requirements of Gaming Apps Different From Other Major Industries?

The main aim of games is to satisfy the user's entertainment needs. This is one of the crucial needs nowadays when there is too much stress. Moreover, hectic lifestyles keep people glued to their homes even in their spare time, and games can keep such people entertained at any time convenient. 

So, the game is not a utility that will pull the user to your app, so developers must offer something extra. The responsibility of game developers is high, and they must provide exceptional solutions that can catch users’ attention, keep them engaged, and motivate them to bring in more users.

Most expert developers develop a variety of apps with different features. However, gaming apps have a special focus on User Experience, User Interface, graphics, animation, audio quality, etc. So, game development has to accommodate such features. 

Does that mean game development is more challenging compared to other apps?   

Challenges in Game Development

Game development, when done by specialized developers who are conversant with the intricacies, may not be very difficult. However, it does have its challenges that the developers should prepare for; let’s identify these.

Costs

Current trends in game development include heavy use of technology such as Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, etc. The development of apps involving such technology and real-time features is costly compared to other limited-feature apps.

Moreover, such technologies require regular upgrades in knowledge and resources that further add to the costs. 

Game development relies heavily on user experience, user interface, graphic quality, and animation. Game development costs are thus high and can only be reduced to a certain point. 

Suggested Reading: How AI in Game Development Will Transform the Gaming Experience   

Quick Change or Preferences

Preferences change rapidly in the game industry because of shorter attention spans and the need for higher engagement in gaming apps compared to other utility apps. Game development thus requires keeping track of changing entertainment needs, trends, technology, and much more. Based on changing needs, the app must be updated; otherwise, the user gets bored and switches to another game.

Selecting the Right Game Engine

Frameworks specifically designed for game development are called game engines. They include libraries and support code for game development needs. Unity, Cocos2d, CryEngine, Unreal, etc., are some commonly used game engines.  

Suggested Reading: Game Development Using Unity Platform

Adapting to Different Devices

Gaming audience is varied worldwide. Many users prefer Andriod OS, while many others prefer iOS. Users won't switch the OS or device for your game; you have to make the game exciting to all users with their own preferences of devices. So, the gaming industry has to develop for a variety of device types, resolutions, and screen sizes. 

In fact, Android devices also come in different sizes, so there is a vast range. Android game development faces challenges in providing excellent user experience across various devices. 

In a nutshell, game development is a challenge as the developers must ensure that the solution offers equally good UI/UX across different OS and devices. Also, the game should be engaging for the entire audience as they refer and bring in more users. Their reviews and feedback also affect your user base.  

Social Features

As we all know, users look for social features in game apps. Social features increase engagement, encourage competition, promote sharing, etc. In-app chats, notifications, activity logs, etc., are common social features in game apps that help players track fellow players and their activities.

Although many perceive that it is easy to implement social features in game apps, it requires much research to find out what social features will make your game stand out from your competitors.

To build a successful game, you must know the most engaging social features for the users. However, the more features you add, the higher will be the difficulty in making the app perform efficiently. Costs are an added problem. 

So, businesses must trade-off for the most desired social features so that the app performance is not affected. The selection is based on research about your audience, their preferences, age group, gender, and a lot more. Prior big data analytics should help you prevent pre- and post-development shocks in game apps.

The infographic here lists the most desired social features in game apps. However, as suggested above, businesses must research the audience before deciding which features are must to include. 

Multi-player

Game apps have some distinct requirements, such as the interaction of different users through the apps in real-time, as in a multiplayer game. Real-time synchronization between the players poses challenges for developers as they have to incorporate features and functionality such that the game doesn't crash in multi-player use. 

Apart from the above, the network speeds, devices, and software of the users are different, and the app must adjust with the same, else the user perceives it as a fault of the app if it crashes due to limitations in some user environments.

Moreover, managing players per session limits is tricky as it is difficult to predict how many users will use the app in the same session. Scalability is thus a crucial factor in game apps!

Special Focus on UI/UX

Gaming industry is focused on entertainment compared to utility. It must make the user feel good about the product or solution. So, user interface and user experience are the primary focus of game development. Functionality is definitely important but useless if the solution fails to entertain the user and keep him engaged.

Operating System Dilemma

Before game development, businesses must research the target audience, their likes, demography, etc.

After you are clear on your target users, you can get insights on who to develop the game for and what specifics to consider for that set of audience. A crucial part of the game development dilemma is choosing the operating system for which you are developing the game.

Let’s analyze the challenges based on the two most popular OS among the users.    

iOS Vs. Android Game Development

Game development is costly and time-consuming. So, businesses must plan a lot of issues in advance. For example, if you want many users, you must target almost all operating systems. However, the most common operating systems, such as Android and iOS, are difficult to include simultaneously in development because they have different frameworks, languages, and tools for development. 

Generally, the best iOS game developers may not be the best Android game developers, and vice-versa. So, businesses opt for different developers, which can cause a mismatch of game products on different OS. Also, this increases the costs of development. Here are some interesting insights on the difference between iOS and Android game development, indicating how challenging it is to include both solutions.  

Wrapping Up!

We all love playing games, but it is not that easy and entertaining for the game developers who work very hard for our entertainment. Game development is thus a specialized field in software or app development, as only experienced developers in this domain can deliver a successful game development solution. 

If you are a business going for game development, you must keep yourself updated about the challenges faced by game developers. Depending on the type of game you are developing, there could be additional constraints and challenges that you must research and solve before you make a successful game. However, game development has a huge market and has the potential to make your costs on, time, and resources worthwhile in the long run. So, go for it!