The "Polish" of a game...

DrGlickert

My game is 99% finished. I've spent the past two days "perfecting" it and, as best as I can describe, enhancing it.

I would very much like to add MORE POLISH! :-)

What are some features that "Polished" games have?

Such as;

Facebook connections (I guess I can do this with a URL for now...)
email your buddies about it
Twitter connections
GameCenter Leaderboards for the game...

Anything else you can think of?

simo103

I often think it is the little things that show 'polish' .. for example in Gamesmold's Puzzle Dozer, the animated logo, the start screen with the tractor animations, little puffs of smoke out of the exhaust or Tshirtbooth's flag waving, drifting clouds and street light flicker in Zombie Drop.

All these little touches (although some may consciously miss them) I think add up to a polished feel .. like the game was produced by an artist rather than an enterpreneur.

JohnPapiomitis

yeah like simo said, add more little effects where possible, maybe little animation, flashing stuff, things along that lines to really give it that pro wow factor look. Also as many sound effects for everything as possible without overdoing it.

GamersRejoice

What they said and remember to give your menus the attention and love that they deserve.

DrGlickert

Thanks guys. All great suggestions. I have a lot of menu "things" going on. I have things that drop from the top and buttons that interpolate in and such.

Gives it a cooler sense than just simple buttons and such. Also, the buttons change color when pressed (I find this to be a cool effect, bc the user knows that they're about to press it).

Any other ideas? Anything and everything will help not only me, but other users too!

simo103

do you have the icon, screenshots (best ones you can get), website, youtube promo-video ready?

These are often my basis for buying a game. Icon must catch my eye (if it looks poor I usually don't even bother to check out the app). I then need to see a good description and solid screenshots, some full screen, maybe a few with your characters and backgrounds outside of the iPhone in the image .. use all screenshots ... I'm suspicious of apps with only one or two thinking the seller just doesn't care enough.

Often if those have impressed me and i think I like the game at 99 cents I would probably buy it .. if it's more than that I often look for the website and a video to see what it really looks like .. so I kind of feel you need them all.

Metronome49

Those features aren't really polish. They're just... features.

Polish is just the little things that make a game seem really cared for, and professional. graphics, animation, stuff mentioned above.

How good is your sound design?

DrGlickert

I wasn't specifically asking about my game Metronome. My sound design is okay. Not fantastic, but simple. My next game will have some serious sound, graphics, and intense gameplay. I wanted to get something released just to say that I have an app for sale! :-)

I like to know what people think really sets good games apart from the average games.

firemaplegames

I agree with everything suggested. I would even go so far as to say that if a game isn't polished, it won't sell.

Like people said, animate everything. Add sound effects to everything. Most importantly, add charm and personality to everything. It's critical that players feel the love that you put into the game.

Make the theme of your game consistent, and have all of the characters in the game fit beautifully into that theme. Make the game world a captivating, believable place.

The charm and personality of the game creates an emotional bond with the player, something all of the hit games have.

It is absolutely all in the little details.

The artwork, animation, icon and screenshots all need to be fantastic and of a top professional quality. They cannot just be good enough, or "the best I could do since I am not an artist".

If you are not a professional artist, you should hire one. And pay top dollar for them. If this is a serious endeavor for you, you need to either spend the time to create artwork yourself, or spend the money to have it done for you.

The artwork is critical actually, and creates the strongest emotional ties to your game.

It goes without saying that there should be no obvious bugs in your programming. And no game design flaws when playing the game. You, and many others, should rigorously test the app on as many devices as you can get your hands on.

There should also be absolutely no spelling or grammatical errors in any of the text in the game. I see way too many apps with these errors. It goes along with the love and care that gets put into the game. If one cannot be bothered to spend 5 minutes spell checking something, why should a player invest any time playing the game?

Music and sound effects are also essential to the emotional aspect of the game and cannot be overlooked.

If you haven't already, you should download Tiny Wings, Cut the Rope, and Plants vs. Zombies for nice examples of the level of care and polish that gets put into a hit game. Tiny Wings was created by one person, and the other two were created by very small teams of just a few people.

Plus they are your direct competition! Tiny Wings and Cut the Rope are both 99 cents, and both have the level of polish that you should be aiming for.

Good luck!

P.S.: None of what I said was meant to be about your game specifically, just general advice!

gamedivision

i thought the more i do the more people will appreciate it,i've animated the logo every screen has some kind of animation,each world select,each level select,has some kind of animation,the way i see it is ,you have to make your game the best it can be and if your not happy with something,then guaranteed someone else wont be,do as much to your game as possible,make it the best it can be,then im sure it will do well.but here is my gripe dont try and emulate someone else do something different step out of the norm and just go with it.

never and i mean never release something that is sub standard,not if your in a rush or anything build a name for yourself,people respect good games not bad ones

DrGlickert

FMG - That's exactly what I'm looking for. I want to know what everyone thinks help to create the polish of a game. You've done exactly that!

Thanks for the thorough post!

My game has NO spelling errors and it all blends well together. It's super simple and I hope to upload it tonight!

Thanks again!

quantumsheep

I couldn't agree more with what FMG has written. It should be stickied in my opinion!

One important thing is not to see fellow GS users as the competition. EVERY game is competition.

If you're making a game of a certain style or genre, play games of that type till you work out what works and what doesn't. Then give your own game a point of differentiation.

To quote a fave band, "Everything counts in large amounts"

QS

butterbean

@FMG: All great pointers! Tiny wings and Cut the Rope are a few of my favorite gems in the app store.

Also, there is nothing more annoying than spelling errors. I always get a kick out of educational apps that have spelling errors too...

StuartY

To be specific, I always think games with a little bit of background animation look pretty slick.

Also, that FMG post is definitely good advice for all of us.