When we first decided to make games we wanted to make the games that suit us best!
As a small team, we can put only so much time and effort into our work, so deciding what type of games we should make is crucial! Spoiler alert, we went with hybrid casual games.
What are hybrid casual games?
To better explain hybrid casual games you need to understand the difference between a casual and a hypercasual game.
A hypercasual game is the simplest form of mobile games, a game that doesn’t need instructions or tutorials, and often has a very minimalistic UI design, you just open the game and play (and watch some ads too).
On the other side of the spectrum, we have casual games, usually, they are more polished and established types of games, the entry barrier is still low (the games are welcoming anyone who wants to play it) but the experience is far richer compared to hypercasuals.
Hybrid casuals are games simpler than your typical casual game but provide a much deeper experience than the average hypercasual game.
The issues of casuals and hypercasuals
The biggest issue with hypercasual games is the everfalling players’ retention rate, These types of games are simple by design, have an addicting hook yet not much content to keep players coming back (you play it enough times then it gets too repetitive thus losing player’s interest)
Casual games on the other hand can keep players hooked for longer periods yet needs bigger budgets and longer development cycles, which should make it out of the question for us.
The Perfect Middleground!
Hybrid casuals! They are the best of both worlds, a game so simple anyone can understand it almost instantly, with a relatively short and cheap development cycle, yet deeper than any hypercasual on the market making it better in captivating player’s attention and keeping it for longer periods.
Conclusion
Our choice to go with hybrid casuals was inevitable, they are in the perfect spot between what we want to make and what we (reasonably) can make.
We are currently mid-developing our first hybrid casual game, more news about it will be announced soon enough.
Thank you for reading!
