Top trends in game development

We will tell you how video game trend has changed, what games are popular now and what players are buying.

Picture 1 of Top trends in game development

Nostalgic games

There is such a thing - classic games. These are the first installments of Super Mario Bros, Pokemon, Final Fantasy, Doom, and other games that entire franchises have grown from. Anything that came out before 2006, when Sony released the PlayStation 3, is now considered "classic games".

Most likely, the trend for remasters will not go anywhere due to the incompatibility of new hardware and old games. Not every nostalgic gamer wants to customize DOSBox or buy their first Playstation to play an old game. And if he wants, he will not give up the pleasure of buying his favorite childhood game with modern graphics.

Indie games

Game publications mainly write about large projects and bypass indie games. But players buy indie games well despite the fact that they are hardly advertised.

Independent developers experiment with plot and game mechanics to provide the player with a unique experience. At Plague Inc. the player controls the virus, in Frostpunk he tries to survive the ice age, in Beholder he spies on the neighbors. Indie projects provide players with something that they will not get in large projects.

Indie games are cheaper than AAA games, while still providing more fun for the players. 16% of gamers prefer to buy 5-10 interesting indie games instead of the new FIFA or Call of Duty. In addition, some developers in game development company give away their games for free. For example, Helltaker, which can be downloaded from Steam.

The third reason why players love indie games is the simplicity and addictiveness of the gameplay. Often times, these indie projects are built around one or two unique mechanics. As the player progresses, they face more difficult tasks, master the game mechanics deeper and enjoy their own progress.

A virtual reality is one of the main gaming trends

Two years ago, gaming journalists predicted a quick end to VR gaming. There were reasons for that:

1. a small audience of VR headset owners due to the high cost;
2. the complexity of the development and optimization of games for existing VR helmets on the market;
3. gamers quickly got tired eyes, there was a feeling of nausea and disorientation in space.

In 2018, the VR gaming market was reminiscent of the days when gyroscopes and accelerometers first appeared in smartphones: app stores were filled with simulators of candles, glasses of water and lightsabers. There were no normal games that used the accelerometer as a convenient control. There were only techno girls without gameplay. Then there were racing simulators and shooters, sharpened for control using an accelerometer or gyroscope.

VR games in whimsygames.co are good for developers because they have a really paying audience. If a person bought a virtual reality helmet and computer hardware for a comfortable game, then he is likely to buy several high-quality games. VR games are easy to promote in specialized publications, so even very average projects pay off.

Multiplayer

Multiplayer gives you the opportunity to compete in skill with other players, as well as have fun with friends. Now the trend is cooperative competitive multiplayer, when it is not lone individuals who are fighting for the first place, but close-knit teams.

The 2008 Left 4 Dead game set the fashion for cooperative multiplayer. In it, a team of survivors makes their way through crowds of zombies to a safe bunker, and a team of special infected interfere with them. Following the success of Left 4 Dead, co-op multiplayer has appeared in singleplayer games like:

1. Far Cry 5;
2. Assassin's Creed: Unity;
3. Saint's Row The Third.

Conclusions

Players expect games to be fun. Nostalgic gamers want to refresh their childhood memories, multiplayer lovers want to have fun with friends, VR headset owners want a new gaming experience.

In addition to these genres, there are other popular trends: MOBA games, MOBA shooters, purely competitive shooters and sports games. We did not talk about them, because their niches are firmly occupied by large projects. Any attempt to make an Overwatch or League of Legends assassin will fail regardless of budget, and we don't recommend doing it.

But there is a strong demand among gamers for interesting indie games, multiplayer with asymmetric gameplay, and thoughtful auto-battles with an element of randomness.

Micah Soto

Update 13 March 2021