Research Into Casual Gaming

I am going to research into casual gaming, and how they work in terms of Visual graphics, Gameplay, User interaction and Replayability, which should help me to understand how casual games work and will hopefully help me to create my own casual game. I have to create a carnival shootout game with a modern twist which can be played on the internet.

What is a Casual Game?

A casual game is a video game targeted at and used by a mass audience of casual gamers and families, which nowadays can be found on most games consoles, the internet, and even on mobile phones! Casual games can have any type of gameplay, and fit in any genre.

They are typically distinguished by their simple and user friendly gameplay so that a wider audience of people can enjoy them, in contrast to more complex games, which are usually aimed at people who enjoy more challenging, in depth gameplay and also have a strong liking to video games and consider it a hobby.

Reference:  http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6186207.html?tag=result;title;0


Casual Games require no long-term time commitment or special skills to play, and there are comparatively low production and distribution costs for the producer. However, these development costs may vary depending on the content and the quantity of it in the game. Internet games have the most varied range of production costs, which can cost between $100,000 to $500,000. For apps and mobile phone games, they would cost around $20,000, casual games for handheld consoles would cost around $300,000 to make and for casual games that are downloaded onto a games console would cost $230,000 to produce.

 Reference: http://www.casualgamesassociation.org/faq.php#casualgames2


Casual Games can be very additive, due to simple gameplay, and achieving a top score. Casual games don't often have an in depth story either and also would have simple characters.

Graphics of casual games seem to have developed over the years. However, not all casual games need to be visually impressive and can have very simple graphics and the character design doesn't need to be too complex. For example, Pac Man and the four ghosts that chase him in the first Pac Man game, and even now look basic, whereas a character in a more complex game would have a more complex design, a lot of the time based on their personality.

 

Simple character designs compared with a more complex character design from Kingdom Hearts, an Role Playing game.
http://www.free-extras.com/search/1/pacman.htm
http://images.wikia.com/pacman/images/c/c3/Pac-man_ghosts_blinky_inky.jpg
https://www.socialtext.net/data/workspaces/planinternationalnl/attachments/kingdom_hearts:20100301132305-0-13027/original/Sora-3.jpg

Casual Internet Games

Lots of casual games appear on the internet, and my goal at the end of this project is to create an internet game.  These internet based games are short games in the sense that their objectives can be accomplished quickly. Moreover, you need to use only the few basic keys to play these games. The game play is configured for ease of play and this is why people from all age groups play internet games. If a game is easy to play and if they enjoy the game, then people have no second thoughts about playing it. Moreover, people play these games as time fillers. If they're bored or they have nothing better to do, they might want to log on to the internet and play web games. Therefore, these games are easy to play. All you need to do is use your mouse or the arrow keys, more often than not. A lot of websites feature casual internet games, which can be played by people of all ages.



Plants VS Zombies, an example of a casual internet game.

Reference: http://www.multigames.com/articles/play_web_games


Different Types (genres) of Casual Games

Casual Games have a wide variety of genres, such as

• Puzzle Games, (e.g. Professor Layton)
• Racing Games (e.g. Mario Kart)
• Arcade/Action (Pac Man, Space Invaders)
• Party Games (Mario Party, Wii Play, Wii Party, Wii Sports/Resort)

Examples of Casual Games

Some may consider Pac Man, released in 1980, to be the first casual game made, due to its simple concept. Other iconic games released in the 1980s, such as Space Invaders and Tetris, are good examples of casual games and are considered by many to be addictive, which shows that these games have really good replayability.

 






Some examples of casual games from the 1980s (from left; Pac Man, Space Invaders, Tetris)

http://marshallbrain.com/discard6.htm
http://sorgatronmedia.com/chachisays/2011/06/24/game-41-space-invaders/
http://superherozippo.blogspot.com/2010/09/tetris.html

Modern casual games can also appear on consoles, handheld consles such as the Nintendo DS and even iPhone apps such as Angry Birds. Angry Birds is a brilliant example of a modern casual game with it's simple gameplay and objectives, which are separated into different levels of the game. For ths reason, Angry Birds has great replayability which makes it a great casual game, and also for the reason of unlocking different levels and different 'Angry Birds' as you progress in the game. Actually, I must say my mum's probably better at Angry Birds than I am!






Angry Birds screenshot
http://www.dualshockers.com/2011/02/07/angry-birds-now-3ds-bound-as-well/

Carnival Shooting Games

Some examples of Carnival Shooting Games, or similar to Carnival Shooting Games, are Toy Story Mania! (Wii, mobile phone game), and Duck Hunt (NES)

The graphics for Duck Hunt, released in the year 1984 on the NES, doesn't look as visually impressive as the other shootout game listed here, possibly due to the other game being released on consoles such as the Wii. Although, unlike the other game, it doesn't necessarily feature carnivals and targets, the concept of the game is quite similar, and I feel the simplicity of this game, as with many others like it, makes this a very successful and addictive game. The game has been recreated in games such as Wii Play, on the Wii, where you shoot other targets as well as ducks, such as cans and UFOs. I feel that having a wide variety of different targets works very well and will be something I should consider when creating my game. I also like how they haven't just used traditional round targets here, even though this game may come across as cruel to ducks. Poor duckys!

 

Duck Hunt screenshot, and a screenshot from the game heavily based on Duck Hunt that appears in Wii Play.
 http://www.consoleclassix.com/nes/duck_hunt.html
http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/749/749172p1.html

Toy Story Mania is another game where you shoot at targets and is a compilation of more than 30 minigames on the Wii version. On the phone app, there's only about 5 minigames, which seems a lot more realistic for an internet game as well. What I like about this is that this game is actually based on a theme park attraction of the same name, but with 'Midway' in it's name. Toy story Midway Mania (The theme park attraction) is an interactive, competitive shooter where you shoot balls and darts at targets from a cannon, which is what I feel is very good inspiration for a game. Toy Story Midway Mania also happened to open in Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney world Resort in Forida on 31st May 2008, just after the last time I went to Florida. I actually didn't know this until doing this research, and is now making me wish I was on holiday there even more!

 

Toy Story Mania, the game (Wii) and the theme park attraction in Orlando, Florida

Reference: http://uk.gamespot.com/wii/puzzle/toy-story-mania/news/6209278/toy-story-mania-hands-on?mode=previews



Inspiration for these games could be from rides such as Duel in Alton Towers, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin in Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida and the Golden Nugget Wild West Shoot Out ride in Drayton Manor. These rides involve you sitting in a car and shooting targets along the ride. There is usually someone else sitting with you in the car and you both have a score, and at the end of the ride your scores get compared. This may be a good idea for what my game could be, although it may be a bit complex for an internet game. I think if I manage to simplify this 'ride' idea, then I feel that this may work very well =)


Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Walt Disney World, Florida
http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Buzz_Lightyear's_Space_Ranger_Spin

Games/Imagery that may influence my game ideas

Now that I have actually looked at a few online shooting games, I feel that some of them have really good ideas and concepts.

I know this isn't really an online game, but I really like the ideas of Toy Story Mania! and also I love how it's actually influenced on a theme park ride, which I think might be what I would want to do. I also love the colours used and the game looks very happy and fun, which I feel is what's needed for a party game. However, I feel that, for an internet game, 3D graphics, as shown in Toy Story Mania! may be too complicated and may cause the game to run slowly.


Toy Story Mania Screenshot
http://www.impulsegamer.com/wiitoystorymania.html

Urban Sniper 2, an online shooting game, has some really good ideas. I love how you have to use the space bar to change from normal view mode to sniper mode, and I feel this would work very well in my game. I also think that using the mouse to fire works well, so I feel the overall gameplay is brilliant. However, I found the menus for this game very confusing, but when you get past the menu it is actually a great game.
I also like how the graphics aren't too complex, and that everything in the game is black and white and all the people are stick men, but I might want colours for my game, as I'd like my game to look happy and cheerful sha la la la la la la la. Another thing is, that my game will have targets in them, and not really people.

 

Urban Sniper 2 screenshots,
http://www.freeonlinegames.com/game/urban-sniper-2.html

Another similar game that uses the sniper camera method, and also has lots of stick men in it, is  Sniper Assassin 5: Final Mission. I think this sniper idea may work really well for faraway targets, and also because most theme park rides like Alton Towers' Duel are usually quite dark inside and only lit where the targets are.


Sniper Assassin 5: Final Mission screenshot
http://www.addictinggames.com/shooting-games/sniper-assassin-5-final-mission-game.jsp


Exit wound is also a shooting game which features stick men shooting and killing each other. I find this one particularly entertaining because of the 3D gameplay and walking around a 3D level. This could work for my game, but at the same time, could cause my game to lag and to run very slowly. Thankfully, though, this game runs very smoothly, possibly due to the very simple character and stage design. I see that stick men and dull colours are quite the theme here and also red blood for when they get shot. However, I feel that with this research I am slightly digressing from the colourful carnival theme that I felt a lot from Toy story mania.

Exit Wound Screenshot
http://www.addictinggames.com/shooting-games/exit-wound-game.jsp

On a more carnival theme I have seen a few more games. First of these games is Carnival Star, which sees you trying to shoot all of a red star off a piece of paper in 100 shots or less. I like the thought of holding don the mouse button for rapid fire, which could work maybe in my game, but I found this game very difficult and a bit boring if I'm being honest, and with the other games I've played so far haven't really bored me that much. Having said that, I feel this is a good idea, but I don't really think this is as fun as it could be.
http://www.kongregate.com/games/ZekeBrill/carnival-star

Another Carnival Shooting game I've found is imaginitively called Carnival Shooter, where you shoot animal targets, such as squirrels and ducks, while avoiding koalas and girls with lollipops. I feel this is a very good example of a carnival shooting game which works very well, although it did take me a while to work out how to reload.
http://www.buzzedgames.com/play-4825-Carnival_Shooter.html