In recent years, the gaming industry has seen a boom in casual games, or as they are commonly known, flash games.
These games are usually characterized by being short, addictive and fun to play. But recently it seems that more and more effort has been put into these flash games to make them longer and more entertaining – The Last Stance 2 and Sonny to name a few – they are getting more and more complicated and advanced. However, the learning curve is still, in most cases, quick and easy.
Portals:
Flash game portals have gone from being something new to being everywhere! It doesn’t take much to start your own, as you can purchase a pre-made script and modify it to suit the needs of your particular site. However, having a successful portal is a different story as there are so many that it is not easy to stand out from the crowd. And the path from having one of the smaller ones like http://www.flashallnight.com to having one of the big ones like http://www.kongregate.com is long, but not impossible!
Developers:
The variety of people developing Flash games is huge! Game creation is no longer reserved for big companies and people with big budgets: all you need to create a flash game is an application like Macromedia Flash or Adobe CS. The age of game developers has also been changing and I was really surprised when I started venturing into game developer communities. I’ve talked to developers 10-12 years old who have been “playing” with flash for years. Although “play” might not be the best word, as some of these expert developers make thousands of dollars from their games.
A new market for advertisers:
As with any other popular scene, the rise of casual games offers a new era for advertisers.
Everywhere you look there are ads, so why shouldn’t there be some in flash games too? Some companies like Mochiads saw the potential market that flash games were creating and began to act as a bridge between the advertiser and the game developer. Now, game developers who previously didn’t earn much from their hard work, except for some recognition, can easily add a small snippet of code into their game and start getting paid for every player they reach.
However, in-game ads aren’t the only way developers can get paid for their work.
Sponsorships
Before the casual game developer was approached by advertisers, flash portals popped up and offered money to have their logo appear while the game loads and in game menus. This meant more traffic for them, and as we all know, more traffic means more money, so it quickly became self-sufficient.
Today you can see sponsorships ranging from $50 to several thousand. This means that if you have the right game and can keep your cool, you can win quite a bit of money. Don’t just accept the first offer that comes along.
There are several types of sponsorship available, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, but I’m not going to go into all of them now.
Are casual games here to stay?
The online gaming market has been growing for a few years, and its popularity will continue to grow as long as we are with us through schools, office jobs, lunch breaks, and boredom. The biggest advantage flash games have over regular games is that you don’t have to sit down for hours to play a game that costs you money and that you might not even end up liking.
If it was a flash game, you could move on to the next game and the only cost would have been a few seconds and a few clicks.