Hidden Object Games
polycounter lvl 18
I'm doing a little research for a project and need to get my head around the casual gaming phenomenon that is the hidden object game. These things do extremely well with casual audiences and I'd like to understand why so that I can extract that essence and utilise it for the peculiar hybrid game idea that I'm playing with. And then become rich and corrupt and wear a monocle.
Problem is, there is somewhere in the range of 500 hidden object games released every week and I don't really have any idea what to look for. I'd like to get hold of the ubiquitous game. The epitome of the genre. The Halo of Hidden Objects. Does such a thing exist? Has anyone here ever even looked into the genre? Do you have a parent/sibling/grandparent who has a penchant for such things?
Problem is, there is somewhere in the range of 500 hidden object games released every week and I don't really have any idea what to look for. I'd like to get hold of the ubiquitous game. The epitome of the genre. The Halo of Hidden Objects. Does such a thing exist? Has anyone here ever even looked into the genre? Do you have a parent/sibling/grandparent who has a penchant for such things?
Replies
may help!
www.bigfishgames.com
All games should have a 1 hour trial so you can try as many games as you like. If you try a few I think you should get an idea of what's good and what's bad. It's also a good idea to check out the forums on that site for each games. Usually people complain bluntly about what they didn't like in a games.
Probably your best bet would be to look at hidden chronicles (zynga's hidden object game) as that probably has the most research poured into it among the genre. Though may not necessarily be the "best" it's been sitting at a 30.7 mil DAU on FB.
I can hardly understand why they are selling as well as they do tbh. Apparently our biggest market is older women (+35) in middle america that play the games to pass the time rather than watching TV or something. They want a quick game (3-4hrs max) that doesn't require to much thought to play. When done properely though they are quite good. The games we produce are sold through Big Fish games.
http://www.bigfishgames.com/
I only played a few as research but I suggest you check out Drawn. Its got some beautiful art work in it, especially compared to the majority of HOG games. Hence the high price tag. All the games on BIG fish have a 30min to 1hr demo. So try some out. And tbh, alot of them put their best work into the first few scenes to try and get people to buy the full game.
http://www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/14359/drawn-trail-of-shadows-collectors-edition/index.html
Most of the money at Big Fish comes from subscribers I think. People who pay a monthly fee and get a set amount of games a month. With other special offers, etc.
Zynga do have a facebook version which is more about highscores and beating your friends times. By being the fastest to collect objects on a screen. The difference here is you play the same screens over and over till you memorise them rather than playing through a game casually and for the story.
You're right also. There are ALOT of these games released all the time and we have to pump them out quite fast to get a return. So this is why most have terrible cut and paste artwork. We have a vast archive of ready made cut out objects that we just paste into scenes and then match lighting, etc. So it looks right.
Anyhoo. Its a means to an end till I get my own studio up and running.
Hope that helps a bit.
heh, nice try (spammer)