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Casual games is a category of electronic or computer games targeted at the mass audience, which are peculiar for their simple rules, engaging game design, require no time commitment or special skills from an end user as well as comparatively low production and distribution costs from producer. "Casual game" is a term recently coined to refer to video games designed to be played to completion in a few minutes or less. The term is fairly nebulous, but casual games almost always have certain common features, including:
The word "casual" is used to define this type of games to indicate that they are produced for casual Consumer who can ‘pick them up and learn to play quickly’. Casual game players normally classify themselves as non-gamers, in contrast to the fans of video games. Casual games are played primarily in short bursts, during work breaks or (in the case of portable and cell phone games) on public transportation, and are thus designed to be short and simple. HISTORY ''(This section is based primarily on observation and conjecture. A more professional approach would be helpful, although the field is so new that such an approach may not be possible.)'' Microsoft Solitaire , which came free with Microsoft Windows , is widely considered the first successful "casual game" and was particularly played by secretaries and other office workers who were using Windows for their work. Subsequent versions of Windows included Minesweeper , and once Microsoft discovered the popularity of their pack-in solitaire, they improved on it with FreeCell and Spider Solitaire . In 1989, Nintendo 's Game Boy was released with the free pack-in casual game Tetris . Tetris on the Game Boy was immensely popular partially because, as a casual game, it was quick and simple, which was ideal to the portable gaming model. The advent of Macromedia Flash created a boom in web-based games, while also limiting them to using a single-button mouse, and having no built-in functionality for save states, encouraging designers to create simple games that could be played to completion in one short sitting. The most prominent game from this period was Diamond Mine , released in 2000 by PopCap and licensed by Microsoft, as ''Bejeweled'' for their Microsoft Zone . Casual games received another boost when cell phones with large color displays became the norm because, like Macromedia Flash before them, the cell phones had limited capabilities ideally suited to short, simple games. Casual games are mostly computer simulators of common everyday Games ( Chess , Checkers , Pinball , sudoku, Solitaire , Mahjong ). The primary task of this game is to engage a player with simple rules that can be learnt intuitively. SHORT LIST OF CASUAL GAMES
CASUAL GAMES GENRES There is no precise classification of casual genres in the modern gaming industry. That can be explained by the easy ideas that form the basis for each game as well as a great amount of genre mixes existing in this field. The most popular casual genres for 2005 are: puzzle, word, casual action, card and board games. Below is the listing of the most popular genres along with the game play description. Puzzle – is the type of casual games, where a player’s main task is to solve a puzzle, e.g. match the identical pieces on the playing field or place the falling blocks in a line (Tetris). Puzzle games are aimed at training player’s logical thinking and reaction if the game is played at a time limit. The most popular examples of the puzzle games are matching games (Match-3), Tetris , Sudoku games. Matching games present the biggest percentage of casual games produced nowadays. The player’s task is to match two, three, or even four identical pieces on the playing field. In order to indicate the identical pieces, the player usually has to swap them with the neighboring ones, shoot, or place them together by mere clicking. Once a player clicks the identical pieces, they are removed from the playing field. The final mission of the matching game is to clear the playing field. According to the IGDA Casual Games Developer Whitepaper for 2005, the most popular puzzle game is Big Kahuna Reef, which is an example of a match 3 game. The playing field is formed out of many charts and boxes with different pictures of undersea animals and plants inside. The background for the game is a 2D picture of the undersea. Word games present the second largest category of casual games. In general, the point of every word game is forming a word (or a phrase) out of the letters (or words) on the playing field. The word games are aimed at training writing skills as well as improving the knowledge of spelling or studying a foreign language or learning alphabet for kids. The classic example for a word game is Bookworm Deluxe or Spot a Word. The playing field consists of the set of letters of the English alphabet. A player is required to form a word out of the neighboring letters on the playing field by clicking on them. Action games require a player to participate in an action in order to win. Its main attribute is a character or a set of characters that need to be controlled by a player via keyboard or a mouse. Card and Board games are computer clones of the regular card and Board Games . The plot of many casual card games is inherited from the usual games like solitaire, Russian card game Durak etc. The player’s task is to find two matching cards with identical value and place them together. Board games present another category of games (checkers, chess, billiards, pool house, Mah Jong). The game takes place on a board similarly to checkers, billiards, mah jong games. General Rules and game play features are preserved. CASUAL GAMES TOPS There are two major weekly casual games tops:
MEANS OF DISTRIBUTION Software Type The primary source of distribution for casual games is the Internet. Nowadays most of the casual games are distributed as a Shareware on the websites of the game developer or publisher. Each casual game is packed in the .exe file that can be downloaded via the Internet on PC and further run from the local it. The optimal file size for such a casual game almost rarely exceeds 10-15 MB. A large percentage of casual games are distributed on the “try-before-you-buy” basis, i.e. a player downloads a trial (evaluation) feature-limited version of the game for free. During this period he plays the game, yet he has a limited access to the features of the game. The evaluation copy of a casual game may allow the limited number of levels, or a certain number of game sessions. In evaluation copy some features of the games, like autosave or numerous backgrounds are not available. Once the evaluation period is over, a player purchases the full version of the game. In return he is issued a license number (registration code) to enable the full version. Its main attributes are unlimited game play, unlimited access to the levels as well as a complete feature set. Distribution channels There are two distribution channels on the I-net for casual games industry. They are the developers and publishers. In contrast to Video Games Publisher s publishers in the casual games industry are responsible for publishing the developed games at their website, marketing and advertising. In that case publishers act as the casual game vendors that obtain their goods from a producer. |
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