A couple of months ago I started looking into the evolution of casual games, from the year 2000 until today. I started comparing the public's perception of a game (measured by its sales) to the critical perception. And what I noticed was an interesting parallel between the evolution of casual games and the first few years of the arcade video game industry. This article summarizes what I found.
The first thing I looked into is why casual players seem to buy the same genres over and over. Is this a recent phenomenon or something that has happened before? I began my research by examining a subject I knew very well. . . .
This was me when I was 7 years old. And this was my game
Space Invaders got me hooked into videogames. Back then, I didn’t know anything about game design, of course. But I didn’t care.
A year later THE game was Galaxian. Galaxian was a game that had its own innovative elements, but it was based on the core mechanic originally seen in Space Invaders. Even so, I played—and enjoyed—Galaxian . . . a lot.
Didn’t I care for innovation? Was innovation irrelevant to me when I knew very little about game design? To find out, I decided to compile a list, looking at the games I played in the first few years of videogaming at the arcades.
Juan’s Gaming Evolution 1978 – 1984
Nothing but space shooters. I was playing them because they had a fun game mechanic, I was good at them, and winning was rewarding to me. I remained engaged because there was really something new in each game I was playing.
Match-Three Game Evolution, 2001
To see if I could find a similar pattern of preferences among casual game players, I decided to create a list of match-three hits from recent years. To qualify for my list, a game had to have spent four weeks or more on Real Arcade’s Top Ten list.
Match-Three Hit Games on RealArcade
- 2001
Diamond Mine (Bejeweled)
- 2002
Super BounceOut
Cubis Gold
- 2003
Tip Top
High Roller
Mind Your Marbles
Walls of Jericho
Chainz
- 2004
Bounce Out Blitz
Jewel Quest
Mad Caps
Cubis Gold 2
Bejeweled 2
- 2005
Big Kahuna Reef
Chuzzle
Bewitched
Chainz 2
Gem Shop
Rainbow Web
- 2006
Legend of Aladdin
Wonderlines
7 Wonders
Da Vinci Code
Sky Bubbles
Jewels of Atlantis
Treasure Island
Diamond Detective
Turns out that when you clean out the list, and only look at the match-three hits, in most cases each one has a unique feature. Casual games have been innovating, incrementally anyway. But is incremental innovation sufficient?
Looking Back to Look Forward
I decided to create a list of unique arcade games available in 1984 (six years after Space Invaders) and compare it with unique casual games in 2006 (six years after Kyodai Mahjong).
Arcade Games List, 1984
To qualify for this list, an arcade game had to meet several requirements:
- The game was released in 1984.
- The game was the most popular of that particular genre in that year.
- No games with same game mechanic were allowed, irrespective of theme.
- Themes could be duplicated as long as the game mechanics were different.
- In the case of arcade games, ergonomic differences made a different game (so if a racing game, for example) was controlled with a joystick, and another had three screens in a cockpit, it was considered a different game).
Of the 34 games that made our list, 13 of them represented incremental innovations over existing game mechanics while 21 of them offered new game mechanics—radical innovation for the market (Antartic Adventure, Bomb Jack, Boulder Dash, Buggy Challenge, Cobra Command, Mr. Do Run Run, Circus Charlie, Duck Hunt, ExciteBike, Hat Trick, Mikie, Hyper Sports, Kung Fu Master, Lode Runner, Marble Madness, Mr. Do Wild Ride, Paperboy, Pac-Land, Punch Out, Road Fighter, and Root Beer Tapper).
Casual Games List, 2006
I used RealArcade’s Top Ten for January and February, and Logler’s Top Ten from March through December. To qualify for this list, a game had to meet several requirements:
- The game had to remain in the Top Ten for four weeks or more.
- No games with same game mechanic were allowed, irrespective of theme.
- Themes could be duplicated as long as the game mechanics were different.
Of the 16 games that made our list, 11 of them represented incremental innovations over existing game mechanics while only five introduced new game mechanics, providing radical innovation to the casual market (Magic Match, Fish Tycoon, Family Feud, Virtual Villagers and Westward).
Conclusion
Let’s be clear: Incremental innovation is a good thing—a great thing. After all, it’s what most players feel comfortable with. Still, it seems that there was a lot more radical innovation 20 years ago than there is today, and that’s a little worrisome. I believe that radical innovation is what attracts new players and renews the interest of existing ones who may have grown bored with their favorite genre.
In order to keep a healthy industry we need both kinds of innovation. And the more the better.
Juan Gril heads the production at Joju Games. Joju produces Casual Games for web, PC downloads, consoles and mobile platforms, and for clients such as RealArcade, MTV Networks, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon. Previously, as one of the first members of the Yahoo! Games team, Juan was the lead producer for the downloadable games area and community manager of multi-player games. In the last year of his tenure at Yahoo!, Juan was the head of Yahoo! Games Studios. Juan is one of the editors of the IGDA Casual Games White Paper, and is a frequent speaker at industry events. Juan holds a BFA in Electronic Media from the University of Illinois. He can be reached at juangril@jojugames.com.
