Blog post on Casual Games…As mentioned in the seminar on computer games, I was an avid player of 2D online casual games. Thus, I am here to tell you more on online casual games. Online casual games are targeted at a mass audience of casual gamers. Casual games have a broad audience group and the audience is predominantly females. It has been reported that 74% of those who play casual games are female.
Background of Casual games:
Microsoft Solitaire which came together free with the Microsoft Windows was widely known to be the first most successful casual game. Subsequently, Microsoft produced other casual games such as the Minesweeper, Freecell and Spider Solitaire. In 1989, Nintendo’s Game Boy was released with Tetris as a free pack-in game. In 1996, casual games moved online. With the advent of Flash, there is a boom in the web-based games. When having mobile phones with large and colourful display became a norm, casual games received another boom as casual games became portable and can be played anywhere you go using a mobile phone. In 2006, there is an increase in the demand for console-based casual games due to the release of the Nintendo Wii.
Some features of casual games:
- Casual games are mostly 2-Dimensional and only allow single player but now there are more 3-Dimensional casual games and allow for multiplayer.
- Casual games are popular for their simple rules and low commitment level unlike hardcore games which are more complicated and required more commitment.
- Casual games do not require any special skills to win and allow the gamers to reach the final stage of the game quickly. A game usually can be completed in one sitting.
- Casual games can be played continuously without a need to save the game.
- Casual games are usually free online or free to download. Some may have limited trials so as to encourage the addicted gamers to purchase the full version and in turn the developer of the game could earn some profits.
- Casual games can be played on a web browser using Flash or Shockwave or they can be played on the game consoles.
- Casual games are often simulations of traditional games such as Chess, Checkers, Pinball, Poker, Sudoku, Solitaire, and Mahjong.
Some casual games that you might like to try or have played before could be: Zuma, TyperShark, Bejeweled®, Insaniquarium, Dinner Dash, Restaurant City etc.
Recommendation of some websites for casual games:
1. www.miniclip.com
2. www.popcap.com
3. www.mofunzone.com
4. www.onemorelevel.com
5. MSN games
6. Facebook games
..., Insaniquarium, Dinner Dash, ...
ReplyDeleteThe examples given above do not fit the description given.
- Casual games do not require any special skills to win and allow the gamers to reach the final stage of the game quickly. A game usually can be completed in one sitting.
- Casual games can be played continuously without a need to save the game.
It's quite impossible to finish these game without saving. You may spend more than 10 hours to finish everything in those games. Those games are quite "light" considering the fact that you won't be spending hundreds of hours in it to finish everything, but it still takes you a lot of time to beat everything.
i believe all games requires certain level of skills to play ? Lets say you playing bejewel, you still need to think how, and what to do to get a better score.
ReplyDeleteAlternatively i think saving have nothing to do with casual games, given that state-saving is getting more and more common...
I only consider games that don't have "adventure mode" or anything similar a "casual game". The game has very simple gameplay and usually only has endless mode.
ReplyDeleteFor me, any game that has simple game mechanics with adventure mode is something between "hardcore" and "casual". It requires the user a higher level of dedication, but the game can be completed in less time than "hardcore".
And "hardcore" games for me are games with adventure mode and a complicate game mechanics. People usually spend hundreds of hours to completely unlock everything and beat the game.