How to Make a Gaming App for Android That Is an Instant Success?

How to Make a Successful Gaming App for Android

The global game app market generated $100 Billion last year. The figures would allure anyone into action. While there are many motivations to build sensational apps, it is important to know the “secret sauce” of how to make a gaming App for Android.

Your game will be standing against millions. To give it a chance to stand out of the rest you need to add flavors and varieties that audience would relish to have on their platter. So, perhaps it is not going to be that easy. But hang on, we are about to uncover some veiled information.

Out of the hundreds of genres, Gaming Apps on Android generate the most volumes of downloads. According to the Business of Apps,  Gaming App downloads amount to around 21-25% of the total downloads.

image source – statista

How to make a gaming App for Android?

Before you start developing a Gaming app for Android, set your technical stack right. It would not necessarily mean to learn Java, HTML, and CSS primarily.

If you know to program it may give you an edge. But if you don’t, all you need to do is pick some standard tools. Begin with downloading Android Studio, but before you start the development, let us do the groundwork for how to make a game app for android free.

Develop an idea

The Play store is brimming with gaming Apps, but what most of the games lag are creativity and uniqueness. Brainstorm with the team and come up with a killer idea that will keep the user enticed all the while. Once you have an idea of how to make a gaming App for Android, 50% of the task is accomplished.

There is no easier way to build the idea. You must always begin with analyzing what all is popular and trending in the gaming market. The answer to ‘how to create a game app for android’ may not be simple, it will require a lot of observation and analysis.  You may come across an App idea that just needs the touch of the latest technology like AR/VR to make it an instant hit.

But mind you, when you sit down to think about how to create a game app for android, the idea cannot be compromised.

Trust the experts, no idea gets a go-ahead in just one take. Keep on improvising the idea till you get to a point which is the best.

Create a Story

Games like Clash of Clans garnered maximum downloads because the game had a story to tell. It is the easiest part of any game development strategy. Creating an engaging story that keeps the players tempted to know what happens next plays a pivotal role in its popularity.

The characters of your game must set your story right and you have mastered the first step of how to make your own game app for android.

Simple and addictive

A game with simple controls goes a long way when you are pondering over how to make a gaming App for Android. Make sure the control elements must be easily accessible as per each screen size. To keep the players glued to make sure game plays are not too long, difficulty level raises and every time a player wins a game he unlocks some points or powers.

The Design is the Winner

Enchanting the players is not easy when they have lots of options. While designing a game, the designer needs to take care of the character, story, art and the overall look of the game. Creating a game design is much more complicated than creating one for an app.

History has been witness to brilliant game ideas and stories succumbing to a bad design.

Size is always an important consideration of how to make a gaming App for Android. More often to render good user experience the screen must never look cluttered with the design elements. The graphics must go hand in hand with the logic of the gameplay.

Build Monetization Strategy

Development of a game demands resources like talent and hosting. All these elements come with a dollar cost. If you plan to earn from your game, choosing the premium way is not the only choice.

You can earn with your freemium model but it becomes important to have a monetization policy in place when you are deciding how to make your own game app for android. Some of the very popular ways to achieve that are:

Ads

Best way to monetize your popular game is by incorporating a pay per click revenue model. Whenever the player clicks on a video or an Ad link, you get paid. To take your process of how to make a gaming App for Android ahead you can allow the user to go for an Ad-free version you make money while he enjoys the Ad-free play.

Micro-transaction

Popularly known as in-app purchases are a great way to keep the players glued to the game while your App makes some money. So when you offer the players an option to buy gems or diamonds to unlock the next level, you render them competitive advantages for a dollar cost.

How to make your own game app for android rulebook must always include a sustainable way to make money from the App. Android Apps still lag behind in offering in-app purchases, let your game lead the way.

Limited levels

If you are through with the stage of how to make a gaming App for Android and have an addictive game ready to be deployed in PlayStore, post a freemium model. Let the user enjoy the game till few levels. If the players wish to continue playing after a certain level, they need to make an upfront payment. Bingo! If the game is addictive be ready to count the money.

Technology Stack

Android gaming Apps are primarily driven by Java. Use your programming skills and the right SDK to accomplish the task of how to make a gaming App for Android that is scalable and renders high performance.

What Kind of Games should you build?

Gaming Apps are the most popular Apps that are downloaded on any platform. But what kind of game should you develop? To answer this question, you must know who is playing and what do they like to play and how to create a game app for android for the right audience:

Puzzles / Word games

Puzzle games are the most popular genre in the gaming world. Right from a simple jigsaw puzzle to mathematical puzzles like Sudoku, brain puzzles rack the highest engagement percentage.

As per a recent study, around 38 million monthly users are playing puzzles and these games have the maximum shelf life. Your question about how to make a gaming App for Android will automatically be answered once you know what genre you want to choose. Brain puzzle or matching a puzzle is the most favoured genres.

Casual games

Games like Talking Tom that have a low learning curve and amuse the players. With simple rules to follow they find a place in most of the smartphones but may not be played very often.

Strategic games

The success of games like Clash Royale and Clash of Clans is proof enough of the popularity of strategic games. While answering the questions on how to make a gaming App for Android, the developer’s emphasis is on strategy building in real-time. Such games create a sense of urgency among the players and have a very addictive model.

Arcade games

Arcade games have been leading the extremely competitive mobile gaming landscape. These games are generally easy to build as they do not need any story. The focus is more on the difficult levels. As these are simple to play and with changing times have the real-time factor added to the competitiveness, the Arcade games garner a lot of traction among gaming lovers.

 How to make a game app for android free?

Free game development is a delight. There are a plethora of Android SDK’s and tools that support the development of a phenomenal gaming app without you spending a dime. Let us have a closer look at how to make a gaming App for Android using these free tools:

1. Construct 3

If you are not a coding buff, that should not deter you from knowing how to create a game app for android.  The popularity of Construct 3 peaked out because the game developers do not need to write a single piece of code. Driven by an intuitive GUI, it offered developers to put in their creative best forward rather than getting trapped in coding and debugging routines.

Simple drag and drop element eases the developmental stress of how to make a gaming App for Android.

2. GameMaker Studio 2

Interlacing the programming and drag and drop capabilities, GameMaker Studio 2 renders flexibility to both coders and non-coders. The coders can choose to game up their idea by using a C-like scripting language to add the features, not in the scope of GameMaker Studio 2.

3. Unity

If you are looking for a free to use platform that allows the building of games on the latest trends, Unity is the one. Supporting both developments of 2D and 3D games, Unity is a flexible platform to build powerful games when you do not know the programming language for how to make a game app for android free.

4. Godot Engine

Loved by the game development community for its phenomenal support, Godot supports the development of 2D and 3D games. With a cleaner code, Godot Engine provides better performance as compared to Unity and has fewer bugs.

5. Unreal Engine 4

A highly futuristic and mature tool to develop games that make a mark. Supporting the next-generation feature set, its engine core is perfect to support the development of a bespoke gaming App. 

Conclusion

With this comprehensive guide, you are well equipped to jump into the game development arena. Do ample research before you set out to develop a game of your dreams!

The game or story need not be complex, even a simple game like Angry Birds can make millions for you. All you need to do is create a great idea and simply deliver the perfect gameplay to the player.

Powered by great tools, you can create a great App as your imagination will never be limited by the coding and debugging hassles. On the surface, most of the game developers lay their hands on scattered information about gaming development.

When you dig a little deeper though, you will be able to develop a strategy for a winning game. This comprehensive guide is a perfect rulebook to help you step by step in the selection, ideation and tool selection for gaming App development.