Gaming & GDC
February 28th, 2018
by David Quinn
Game developers are gearing up for the Game Developers Conference 2018 in San Francisco. Many are excited to experience the expo, attend networking events and, of course, represent at the coveted Independent Gaming Festival and Game Developers Choice Awards. This year we’re sure to see new innovation within the Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality spaces, but there’s also going to be a plethora of great information and inspiration for every aspect of gaming! This is why Gummicube has decided to create a series of blog posts dedicated to gaming and GDC. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be publishing articles on marketing AR/VR, an in-depth look at three popular mobile gaming genres, a guide to what to expect at GDC and an update to our popular Gaming Cheat Sheet. This post will serve as your “one-stop shop” for content regarding the upcoming conference and provide you with links to each post once they are published. Check back over the next few weeks to make sure you have all the information you need to make GDC 2018 the best experience possible!
What to Expect at GDC
Whether it’s your first GDC or you’ve been every year, there’s always something new and unique to experience. In this article, we’ll take a look at what you can expect to see in the expo and during the panels. We’ll also give some tips to making the most out of your GDC experience.
Genre Showcase: Casual Games
Our first gaming genre showcase will focus on casual games, an ever-growing app category that populates millions of smartphones. Games like Candy Crush, Minion Rush and more have loads of competition, yet an app with just a few differences can stand out from the crowd and quickly gain popularity. We'll take a look at why keyword choices are so important with casual games and how finding the right keywords can improve your app’s visibility.
**[Tips For Marketing Your AR
or VR App](/2018/03/tips-for-marketing-your-ar-or-vr-app/ "Tips for Marketing Your AR or VR App")**
With the ever-increasing popularity of VR and AR, it’s no surprise that Gaming is leading the way in those fields. As with any new technology, new ways of marketing emerge as the tech and the markets around it develop. This article will take a look at the current state of the industry and where we predict it’s going over the next year. You’ll also receive some tips and tricks on unique ways to market an AR/VR app.
Genre Showcase: Puzzle Games
Before smartphones were smart, we had phones that played simple games, many of which were puzzle-based. As one of the most common genres, mobile puzzle games have come a long way since the days of Snake and Tetris clones, but they still tend to be simple and fun. With such a rich history and frequently similar gameplay across many of the apps, standing out often times depends less on the gameplay itself, and more about the creatives. We’ll look at the genre as a whole and analyze commonalities and differences between popular apps’ icons, screenshots and preview videos.
Genre Showcase: Action Games
With smartphone technology allowing developers to create nearly console-quality experiences, it’s no surprise that action games have become so popular. Games like MARVEL Contest of Champions, Dragon Ball Z DOKKAN BATTLE and Rules of Survival are great examples of how advanced the gameplay has become. We’ll look at the most popular games in 2018 so far, break down what makes them popular and how they use their title and descriptions to make a niche for themselves.
Cheat Codes to Improve Visibility for Mobile Games
The final article for the series will be an update to our popular ASO for Mobile Games Cheat Sheet from early 2017 that showcases ASO best practices for mobile games. This will combine the concepts we talked about in the Genre Showcase posts and put them into one place to easily access and reference.
Looking Toward the Future
2018 is promising to be an amazing year for mobile gaming. Augmented Reality has become the focus of many developers, while Virtual Reality is still a major interest for PC and console gaming. The Gaming Industry will continue to grow, with new players frequently entering the scene. While having a solid game is most important for success, strong ASO strategies will help you drive downloads and get new users to try, and hopefully keep using, your app.