How to make a successful Flash Game
by Ira Willey, February 2008
When I started AddictingGames.com in 2002 the most popular game was Popcap’s Bejeweled on MSN’s gaming zone. Today the market has exploded and casual games have become a lot more complex than simply matching coloured gems, however the addictive quality of the games remains the same. According to the Casual Games Association, the audience for casual games is roughly 200 million people and the market has grown to over 2.25 billion dollars a year.
Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to play and review, by my estimate, over 10,000 Flash games: some titles engrossed me for hours and some I didn’t even make it past the loading screen. You might ask how I can review a game if I didn’t even get past the intro, but the casual games sector is different from that of traditional video games. This is a market of fulfilling instant gratification and capturing the player’s attention as quickly as possible. The player has invested nothing more than bandwidth and a few seconds of their time, so if a game doesn’t captivate them almost instantly they will move on to another game (and there’s a lot of those!) So what makes a game become an Internet classic like Line Rider or disappear forever into obscurity? In this article I will try to answer that question and define the common elements found in successful Flash games.
Naming
A great game name is essential for separating yourself from the pack. You want to consider a player’s initial attraction to a name, convey a sense of the gameplay, and make it easy to remember so they can find it again. Perhaps one of the best Flash game names I’ve come across is Ninja Kiwi’s Bloons. It’s original, short and memorable. No surprise Bloons has spawned many sequels and spin offs and is one of the most successful Flash game franchise’s out there. Some of my other favourite names are Age of War, Dark Cut, Bowmaster, IndestructoTank and 3d Logic.
Bad names are generic, uninspired or hard to remember. Roll, Ball and Particles will all be difficult names for players to find again. Adding Super, Extreme, Insane etc. has been done to death and over-saturated the market with such titles. You may also want to consider Google when choosing a name for your game, depending how SEO-minded you are. Very generic names will be hard to take a top spot for in search results, such as Feudalism, which is competing with a historical Wikipedia article on the subject.
Originality
There are thousands of Flash games out there and it’s hard to come up with an original idea. Not every game is going to spawn an entirely new genre like Tower Defence did, but you can still have a successful game even if it is a remake. If you can’t come up with a new idea, try some of these approaches:
- Contemporary touch. Campaign Game and Presidential Paintball both play off the 2008 US election. Neither title has particularly original gameplay yet they are engaging and have done well due to their relevance to current events.
- Remake a classic. Curveball has been a huge hit and it is a 3D remake of Pong. Portal the Flash Version speaks for itself.
- Seasonal. Even a another “avoid the X” clone can be a moderate hit if it’s Reindeer or pumpkins you are avoiding.
- Penguins. People can’t seem to get enough of this flightless bird. For example Spaced Penguin, Club Penguin and Yeti Sports. If your game is boring add more penguins or another lovable member of the animal kingdom… it’s worked for Orisinal.
What’s hot right now? Shift, Cursor*10 and Time Bot have all impressed me and I expect to see more puzzle platformers coming out. The balls/stars/lines/particles/pandas bouncing around waiting to be either collected or avoided by the mouse cursor genre has been beaten into the ground.
Physics
Shooting a bow, pulling back a catapult and bouncing a ball are all simple ideas and the basis for hundreds of popular games. Good physics in a game are essential. Line Rider would not have been the hit it was if the user couldn’t predict how the sled would behave. There have been many popular games based entirely on realistic physics for a ragdoll body, like Stairfall. If your game engine is fun to play and experiment with even before any gameplay elements have been added, you are heading in the right direction. If the frame-rate is low and you can’t figure out what planet or dimension your game takes place in, go back to the drawing board. I suggest Box 2D Flash, a fantastic open source physics engine for Flash.
Presentation and Graphics
Too often the menus and title screen in a game are an afterthought. Filler had a very simple theme and menu system; nothing fancy, but it was clean and got the job done. I’m a fan of the Strategy Defence series, however, the menus and interface are too busy. With so many people involved in making a Flash game: developer, publisher, sponsor, etc. the amount logos and credits can easily clutter the title screen and overload the user. Good examples of presentation are Shift, Raft Wars and 3D logic. I also love the nostalgic look of Nitrome games.
While graphics are important in games they are often overrated. Keeping the look of the game simple, clean and consistent is more important than the latest 3D effects. Casual gaming is the territory of 2D graphics, leave the first person shooters for the PC.
Difficulty
Somewhere between boring and frustrating lies challenging, the ideal spot for a successful game. Consider the first level as the tutorial: it should be nearly impossible to fail. Completing a level gives the player a sense of accomplishment and draws them into the game. If Level 1 takes more than few tries it’s likely they will quit. Conversely if a game is too easy and by level 12 there still has been no challenge presented, the player will get bored and quit. A save/load feature will alleviate some of the stress the player may experience if a game is difficult and is also a great way of getting visitors to return to the game in the future. Spin the Black Circle is a challenging game, but due to the very addictive gameplay and well executed save/load feature, it keeps the player coming back for more. Unbalanced gameplay can break even an otherwise well-made game. I loved the concept of Anti-Pacman(You play as the ghosts attacking Pacman) but it took me about 5 tries to catch that yellow jerk on the first level. Stormwinds had great production value and gameplay, but the biggest complaint in the community was that it was just too easy.
Game Over
When a player dies make it easy for them to restart again. Don’t punish them a second time with a bad user-interface. After death, the level should restart itself automatically, or with the press of the space bar. If the game is primarily controlled by the keyboard, do not make the player use the mouse to reset, or vice versa. Adrenaline Challenge is a good example of what NOT to do: it forces the player to take their hand off the keyboard and reset with the mouse-driven menu.
Sound and Music
Avoid generic sounds from Flashkit or the opening door sound from the original Doom, it’s better to have no sounds than bad/annoying sounds. Sounds effects should be mandatory for certain games situations: shooting a gun, billiard balls colliding and bubbles popping.
As the market expands casual games are a great way to promote indie music. This benefits both the developer and the artist. For the right game this can work, for example I’ll be Lightning. Not the greatest game, yet still a fun experiment and it resulted in exposure for the artist. I expect to see a lot more indie and big name artists using the casual games market for promotion in the future.
Whatever you decide to do, always have an option to disable sound effects and/or music. There’s nothing worse than a 30 second techno loop playing over the Rush I was enjoying.
Loading …
Reducing loading time and intros is even more important now that a lot of developers are using MochiAds. If a player watched a 10 second ad the last thing they want to do is see 3 game logos. This also applies for a lot of instructions/story line/tutorials which should always have an option to skip. There are exceptions depending on the game genre. Escape the Room games such as Submachine 5 are targeted to an older, more patient crowd. If it’s a new shooter, get the player into the game as soon as possible. Between loading and logos it takes about 30 seconds to play Zwingo, a great game, but not worth waiting that long for.
Requiring registration to play is a bad idea. Even a “Play as a guest” immediately turns people off. If you are trying to build up a registered user-base, require it for high scores or level sharing, not gameplay.
I’ve also noticed a disturbing trend of 10 meg Flash game files recently. If the game is superb, such as Portal or Sonny, then this is acceptable; if a game is terrible to begin with it’s only going to make the experience that much worse.
Learning Curve
Two recent games, Tarnation and Shape-a-licious, had novel gameplay concepts that weren’t readily apparent how to play. Instead of a separate tutorial choice on the menu, they used the first few levels as the tutorial. This is a good idea since players don’t feel like they have to invest any time before jumping right into the game. Casual gamers are impatient and will rate your game low if they can’t figure it out quickly. Include good instructions and control documentation and have them accessible for reference at any point during play.
Humour
If all else fails make your game funny. If you don’t have the money or talent for top-notch production value or even any coding ability, humour is always free. I never made it past chapter 2 of Actionscript for Dummies, but two of my games, Buried Alive and Sim Web 2.0 Company, have over 3 million plays combined. Other examples of humour in Flash games include Fancy Pants Adventure, Unfair Platformer, Stickicide, Impossible Quiz and Don’t Click Stick. Casual gamers are a clever bunch, and lame sex euphemisms like Naughty Gym Class and Putt It In are not enough to compensate for a mediocre game.
Goals
If you want people to keep playing your game they will need goals. Like mice in a maze we want to be rewarded for our efforts, even if that reward is only a piece of cheese or Level 3 turret upgrade. There are three main types of incentives in games:
- High scores. Winterbells was a huge hit Christmas 2006 because of it’s addictive nature and competitive sharing of high scores. Dolphin Olympics is another good example of a game based around obtaining a high score. Also consider adding rank as well as score, such as “Newb Defender” or “Expert Mouse Clicker,” they are another great motivator.
- Levels and Ranks. Tower Defence was an enourmous hit and spawned dozens of clones. Getting more money, tower upgrades and the next level kept players killing wave after wave of creeps. A side effect of this was every Internet forum had a Tower Defence strategy thread. If your game has tactical depth, multiple strategies or requires a walkthrough, expect a lot of free promotion from viral marketing.
- Upgrades. Age of War kept players striving for the next level of technology. You start out with cavemen and crude rock weapons but given enough time can end up with laser shooting Mechs.
Level Creation and Sharing
Casual gamers are expecting more from games and allowing the user to create their own worlds is a great way to satisfy that demand. When making Free Rider 1 and 2 we expanded on the Line Rider premise of user content by adding the ability to copy and paste a unique level code. The codes were spread on forums, Facebook profiles, comments and fan sites and the game was a huge self-promoting success. In addition custom level creation increases the replayability and life-span of any game.
Distribution
The final step is getting your game out there. The best promotion for any game is the free kind, so concentrate on a quality product and the game will distribute itself. Flash Game Sponsorship has extensively covered the subject of how to monetize your game, and I will have to explore ad revenue and licensing further in another article. My experience with MochiAds has been positive. I used a combination of Mochiads and non-exclusive licensing for Free Rider 2, but what you choose greatly depends on the individual game and what your goals are. To get started I recommend submitting your games to Kongregate, Armor Games, New Grounds, Hall Pass, Addicting Games and OML.
Final Thoughts
I hope I’ve managed to give you at least a few ideas for your next Flash game. Ultimately there is no single definable element that makes a game fun and addictive, however, there are many pitfalls you can avoid along the way. If all else fails check out my Flash Game Generator. Castle of the Naked Ninjas 2097 and Canadian Hero RPG have to be classics right?
Did I miss anything? What do you think makes a successful flash game? Feel free to leave comment or question. I look forward to reading your feedback.
February 19th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Wow, a really great analysis of successful web games. Very few people talk about the fine points of making something memorable, like naming or humor. Really great stuff Ira!
February 19th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Good article Ira…you really covered a lot of ground there. Very useful. Well written too. Chuck.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
[...] Read his article to find out more. [...]
February 20th, 2008 at 1:12 am
Ira,
This is the kind of material I’ve been looking for. I almost bought a couple game design books, but they all focused on 3-D level development and C++ programming. The information you’ve got here is invaluable- thanks a lot!
-Dan
February 20th, 2008 at 3:19 am
Brilliant for anyone wanting to make flash games! I’v always wanted to try but flash game tutorials are never any good.
February 20th, 2008 at 3:49 am
This is a lot of great tips great written
February 20th, 2008 at 6:14 am
Very well written. I noticed some things that I never thought were so important, such as having a stylish menu.
One thins you might want to add:
Long transitions between frames/menus is annoying. If you have a transition, which can look very cool make sure it’s short and has some purpose. EG. it shows the level and the stage.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Good article, although i kinda (ridiculous i know) take offense to the fact that you suggest the tower defense genre was spawned off of an internet ‘casual game’ in fact i believe it to be have risen due to Warcraft III and a very much original starcraft TD. Wow im getting picky but i played warcraft III so long it needs credit :D… Oh and linerider’s balls!
February 20th, 2008 at 8:42 am
[...] this guy knows.. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]
February 20th, 2008 at 9:02 am
yay! now if only i knew how to physically make one!
February 20th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Great article boss. Ive been with Addicting Games since the beginning and all of the games there captured me. Your taste in flash games actually bring meaning to the market. And all of the hours we gamers waste at this XD. O well, we have to do something when were bored. I think the best flash game out there is The Helicopter Game.
-Judge
February 20th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
For the love of god, include a disable music button. On the title screen. and get rid of opening credits.
February 20th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
thanks for the great information
as i am creating my own this will be of great use to me
thank you
February 20th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Some great tips :)
Ive always wanted to get into flash because ive always got a good or strange idea on my mind but I dont know what software to get or where to start
any help?
thanks, lloouuii!
February 20th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
llouui,
Check out this Armor Blog article, it discusses the technical side of game creation and lists the software required:
http://armorblog.com/?p=197
February 20th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
This was very useful, as I am starting to make a game. It is really difficult, but I’m sure that this will be a great help.
Thanks.
February 20th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
hey, great article! really helps!
i wanted to download that physics engine, but, it’s only for AS3. is there any for Flash 8 out there?
February 20th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
your site is awsome! I posted it on my site. the only thing is, I don’t know where to start making my very own flashgame.plz e-mail me back telling me how to start
February 20th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
good stuff
February 20th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Great article! OML is an awesome site, I’ve been going to it a long time! I remember when the genres were arranged in columns rather than pages! Also, what I like to see in a game is some interesting characters. Not only console games like Metal Gear or Mario have the cool main chars. The Thing-Thing series, Madness Interactive, Sonny and The Last Stand have some cool main characters.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:29 am
Very nice analysis! This really tells the numerous casual game creators out there what the gamers are looking for.
Long Load Times = BAD
Long Credits = BAD
Too Frustrating = USUALLY BAD
Yup, those are basically the three things that make me turn away from games. And for that reason, Age of War is probably one of my most favorite games! It is simple, rewarding, and the music is extremely catchy!
Thanks Ira for opening the eyes of a great number of Flash Game creators!
~ gotcha84
February 21st, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Hiya
I was wondering if it would be possible if you could at some stage leave a blog on some tips on how to create a game, simply.
And if possible using mocromedia flash or fireworks
Or suggest a program that will help.
Many thanks
February 21st, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Unfortunately this is not how to make a successful game, this is how to make a good game. There is a big big difference.
Gamers, en mass, are morons (uwe boll proves this time and time again), if you just go to http://www.onemorelevel.com and check the top games they break most of these rules, yet they are the most successful, no?
I’m sorry but these rules are largely irrelevant to success. For real tips I would suggest you read this instead.
http://www.tomrobinson.com/resource/klf.htm
Converting this wisdom to the realm of flash games is an exercise left up to the reader.
February 21st, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Hello Ira and other readers.
Good article, even thought most of this is common knowledge, but somehow many game developers still forget a lot of this. Which is really sad, since there are so many games that could have been great, but has these small flaws, leading them to failure.
The thing I liked the most about your article is the goals, that was the part where I learned something.
Being an experienced flash game player, not near Ira thought, with an impressive 10k different games played, but I played about 5-6k I think. I would say, that the market is full* of action games now, and we will see a lot more puzzle games, new puzzle games, with original gameplay. I think pretty soonish, within the next few months, we will see a trend of people combining action games with puzzles, like Portal.
Goals, forum sharing, level restart on game over, is the 3 most important aspects of your article imo.
February 21st, 2008 at 9:19 pm
hey great guide ive been on onemorelevel ever since it started and i play kongregate most games i like use what you said above and hopefully more games will be made for me to play now :)
February 23rd, 2008 at 9:08 am
you forgot something!
in my opinion its not about tons of weapons tons of deferant towers etc… my favs or simplistic but have quility in there specielty
February 23rd, 2008 at 9:44 am
Thanks for the tips. I will definatly use them. I’m just starting to create flash games (in fact i’m still using a free trial of MX2004) and i will definatly include your tips. Look out for PiGuy or PiGuyfun in a year or two.
February 23rd, 2008 at 11:23 am
Great article.
Everything you mentioned applies.
As a game developer, sometimes you just forget about these things…
February 23rd, 2008 at 12:13 pm
great! only problem is that i need a good flash maker for mac. can anyone recommend one? I have an AMAZING idea and have gotten it down on paper. no flash maker though… sniff
February 24th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
.. I think tower defence is based on retro classic rampart to be honest, not warcraft 3! Nice article Ira, thank you.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Sehr informative Seite. Vielen Dank für die Infos!
March 4th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Great stuff. It’s nice to hear it from someone with extensive industry experience.
March 9th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
This was a great article. Thanks!
P.S. The Flash Game Generator is amazing… my new game: “Eat the Bible Zombies IV” lol.
March 15th, 2008 at 7:43 am
Thank you for sharing. I came to this site to read how things really are
March 20th, 2008 at 12:24 am
Nice article! I will really benefit from this, since I tend to make unmemorable games rather than the other way around…
April 3rd, 2008 at 10:23 pm
You forgot to include “blood and gore” in your list. Other than that, I find this to be an excellent analysis of the current Flash game climate, with relevance to game design in general as well.
Oh, and nice name generator - “10 second Generic Arcade 2D” is definitely going to be my ticket to success. ;)
April 4th, 2008 at 10:36 am
one more level is awsome, but for peple who want more games to play go to http://www.freewebs.com/zanecompany/ . you will be glad you went on my site
April 9th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
nice call w/ the penguins.
April 17th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
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April 19th, 2008 at 3:01 am
Thank you for opening a wonderfully new sight..I wish you the best of luck with your new venture.
May 4th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Hello webmaster Finally I found a site the has some good information on msn gaming zone. I was searching around and found your post How to make a successful Flash Game, thanks for the good info..I\’ll be checkin back soon.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
This is very useful.
May 17th, 2008 at 2:39 am
Cheers, Loved your post on How to make a successful Flash Game. I’m interested in how to play games and on Saturday found a similar comment in a local newspaper. Couldn’t have said it better myself!
June 8th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Excellent post! Pretty much the same conclusions we arrived at. Although, I think you have underestimated humor, and you are missing the concept of “crazy innovation”. ALL classic online flash games I can think of have used this concept, such as dolphin olympics and linerider. They both have something completely new and funky, crazy to them. And then there is Pac Man :P But that isn’t really a “flash” classic. Rather its a classic remake done in Flash.
June 9th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Hey this was an amazing article. We’re starting to develop our own flash games and you’ve helped us reach a better understanding of what to do. In fact your arguments for an successful flash game are really refined and well put together. Thanks for writing this article we’ll be using for what we learned here for hyperfuntime.com
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Amazing article, I learned quite a bit from it, and it has shown that I am thinking the right way, even through my friends told me I’m not…
August 27th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Nice article! I will really benefit from this, since I tend to make unmemorable games rather than the other way around…
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:18 am
very well said. bookmarked! and will get to review this article from time to time to remind myself of such until it sticks to the bone. =P
October 5th, 2008 at 11:42 am
thx man :):):)
November 21st, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Sweet article, thanks! Inspirational, as I’m working on my first game now… :D
January 26th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Hi,
I have created recently a blog about abstract games, boardgames, cardgames and so on.
I really appreciate your article. I want to translate it in french so my readers could enjoy it.
This will bring you some audience among the french readers.
Can I do it?
I will need it to begin my translation work.
Thank you for your authorization.
Ps : You could autorize me by sending me an email.
January 27th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
what sight would i go to to make a game plz email me ur article was very inspiring and got me to want to make a game so plz add to ur article wat sight to go to and wat is required to make a game thank you very much
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:36 pm
great site!!!you have really inspired me to make a game. thankx a lot!!
P.S. where do you get the softwere to make the flash games???
February 26th, 2009 at 6:44 am
Thank Ira! Great article, learned a lot from it.
@Patrick
The software to make Flash games is Adobe Flash: http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/ and it’s $699! but you can get a 30 day trial if you like.
July 8th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Hey great article. It really helped. It was very MUNCH help. lol
August 10th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
hey i am making an arcade game i got almost everything setup but could you help me with the highscore menu and scripting its based on to thing how much tickets you have and if you have completed the game 100%
August 29th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
is there any other software to use????
p.s did any of you go to guys go to kids on campus?
September 17th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
I think the newest way to do this is using HaXe. It’s free and open source software that outputs your game to .swf (flash) files. Check out this addictive game programmed entirely in HaXe: http://gumbota33.mybrute.com
October 16th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Do you know of any good flash game makers that are free of charge?
-By the way, i learned a lot from the tutorial. Thanks
October 29th, 2009 at 3:53 am
Download Game Maker 0.7 pro it allows you to make 3D game or you can download Game Maker 0.7 lite but then you can only make 2D games but it also have options to make games without coding
http://www.YoYoGames.com
December 24th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
hi friends.i’m thinking a small and new game plz help me makeing game condition
January 2nd, 2010 at 1:41 am
this really did brighten my overlook of games, i go to onemorelevel.com pretty often and i guess i see most games as this — the only thing the maker had in mind was how the game was going to LOOK not wether it’s fun or not. but this does make me understand more that games mostly (should) come from a gameplay idea - and that there are alot factors and elements that go into making a successful game (not just graphics =) PS check out yoyogames.com if you haven’t already — it’s real cool =)
January 18th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Hey, really nice article! I’ve been interested in making my own flash games for a very long time, only thing is that I don’t know which software to start with. I’ve never made a flash game before but am very familair with the type of work involved. If there is a free starter alternative then I’m more then down for that, but as for the others would anyone be able to name a few good ones and their prices?
Thanks in advance
January 30th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
Me and my girlfriend come to your site often. We love reading your posts. Thank you!
February 11th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
I am having trouble viewing this website. It displays all weird with text displaying incorrectly. You might need to check it out.
March 19th, 2010 at 5:15 pm
Thx for the ideas i have been playing this site for about 7 years it is my favorite site and it’s better then like newgrounds or armourgames but they are very fun to
May 5th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
i come every day to play here and it is relly cool and i love the actions ones can you tell me how to make it graphic because that is cool ps go to the brady site to hang out and talk about games it is cool
May 16th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
Great article, thanks for all the insight. There is always something new to learn when it comes to Flash game development. :)
May 31st, 2010 at 10:49 am
Hello.
I really appreciate this tutorial.
However, I felt that there is one element missing, namely: SiteLocking.
I think this is very important. I made a flash game recently, and the very day it was published, it was stolen. This is dishonest and should never happen to anyone. Maybe an idea to add?
Daniel