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SOFTGAMES is a Berlin-based developer and publisher of mobile games and applications. It has worldwide partnerships with carriers, mobile social networks and mobile portals. As co-founder and CEO, Alexander Krug witnessed the creation and publishing of over 1000 mobile games since the company’s creation in 2006. It has a combined total of over 25 million downloads. With more than 10 years’ experience and the success of SOFTGAMES, Krug gave unique insight into how to successfully build, distribute and monetize HTML5 games.
First and foremost, Krug believes a passion for games is indispensable to development.
If you don’t love games, you can never be good at making one.
Along with that, he advises paying careful attention to game details as well. For personal experience, he has seen what happens when the details aren’t given due consideration. “Having a ground-breaking game concept is worth nothing when the programming is done sloppy,” said Krug. “Instead, each of the many components of a game must be attended to carefully: game logic, graphics, sound, assets, etc.” That is why advergames, games whose main purpose is to advertise, don’t have much success. “Companies that make such games in order to promote their brand often don’t realize how difficult it is to make a game that is actually good,” said Krug. That is why Krug thinks a game should be made to entertain users. “Marketing models such as Freemium have proven that games must satisfy the players first before they can generate any revenue,” said Krug. After development, there are still a number of other concepts to consider, such as distribution and monetization, according to Krug. “There is so much to be done to make a game successful,” said Krug.
Programming language is one of the details developers need to pay attention to. Along with HTML4, HTML5 is a new tool to consider. HTML4 depends on third party software for graphics, wasn’t made with mobile in mind, and has compatibility issues with different platforms, said Krug. HTML5, on the other hand, is better suited for developing mobile games, in his opinion. With so many different platforms, compatibility can become an issue. “They all work different, but they have one thing in common: They have a browser, most of which are compatible with HTML5,” said Krug. “And according to recent surveys, in a few years, over 2 billion mobile devices will have HTML5 compatible browsers.” He praised the facts that HTML5 is simple, free and creates a better user experience. He sees it becoming the future of the mobile game world, as mobile devices won’t have a Flash Plug-in. “Market leaders like Apple, Google and Facebook already invest heavily into HTML5,” said Krug.
With HTML5 being new, there are some challenges to overcome. Krug regards monetization and discovery to be the greatest challenges. SOFTGAMES created a way to help HTML5 developers with their product with “SOFTGAMES Connect.” Developers can connect their game to SOFTGAMES API and watch it go online a day later. SOFTGAMES handles everything else, including monetization and discovery. “By taking the burden of distribution, marketing, and monetization off the developer’s shoulders, they can concentrate on their core competence: making great games,” said Krug.
SOFTGAMES is working on making “SOFTGAMES Connect” the leading global cross-platform mobile gaming network. Krug also notified us on SOFTGAMES intent to extend the business in Russia, South East Asia and North America. “This way, we can give developers the unique opportunity to focus on making great and entertaining games, offer traffic providers with a new way to create highly engaged users and give gamers fantastic, in-game experiences and entertainment across multiple platforms and devices,” said Krug. SOFTGAMES continues striving towards its vision to let developers make great games.
