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By Munira Rangwala

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Have you often noticed the man who rides the same subway as you every morning dedicatedly playing his regular game or 2 on his mobile? Or the woman in the doctor’s waiting area who’s playing Crossy Road on her phone till her name is called? You’ve identified the typical hyper casual gamer! We’ve compiled a list of 5 hyper causal games that have shattered the glass ceiling in the gaming world and analyzed what’s worked for each of these games.

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Crowd City

Addictiveness: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Complexity: ⭐

After churning out popular titles such as Helix Jump, Dune, and Ball Blast, French developer Voodoo created another howitzer in the hypercasual gaming world by the name of Crowd City. So far, there have been 100,000,000+ installs on Google Play alone. The mechanism of the game is fairly simple - the player has to control the crowd that runs berserk all over the city and get other people on their side to create an even bigger crowd. 

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What works for Crowd City?

The game plays on the mob mentality psyche. Crowd City puts the power of the mob in the hands of the players. You have to use your influence to gain power and obliterate all other leaders on the map. One of the reasons this game is so popular is because it gives you a sense of power and control like no other hyper causal game out there. Also, the graphics are great and it is a true ego boost to watch your strength increase as your crowd multiplies.

What could be done better?

Because the game is so addictive, most people max out all the levels that Crowd City has to offer super fast. The game is also filled with ads, which of course can be ditched by paying a minimum amount. However, even without the ads, the game lags quite a bit.

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Tall Man Run

Addictiveness: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Complexity: ⭐

Spiky items litter your path and you have to avoid the prickly traps in this casual runner game that has a whopping 92 million downloads so far. According to Carlton Forrester, developer of Tall Man Run, “I was drawn to the trending mechanic of character transformations that I saw in other runner games at the top of the charts, like increasing the length of a character’s neck or making them fatter/thinner. The character in my game grows width-wise and in height. From the start as I was building the prototype, I could tell this was an interesting and humorous mechanic.”

What works for Tall Man Run?

The developers played a gamble by taking a complex approach. They mixed in some trending mechanics, like making the anchor character taller and wider. Making the game more dynamic also worked in their favour. For instance, they added levels and constantly introduced new obstacles. Tall Man Run launched more monetization features such as the ‘skins shop’ and while at it, they also produced quality creatives to lower CPI.

What could be done better?

This game is replete with ads that can be timed with the paid version, but most users comment that it takes from the entire experience of the game. Also, it lags at some places which takes away from the overall fun.

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Rise Up

Addictiveness: ⭐⭐⭐
Complexity: ⭐⭐⭐

Balloons are a universal favourite and Rise Up allows you to protect your balloon with your finger from different obstacles. The aim of this game remains to let your balloon rise as high as it can whilst avoiding difficulties that might burst it. Even though the balloon is actually static on the screen, the gameplay is pretty intense and challenging. 

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What works for Rise Up?

Minimalistic graphics and pale colours fit the game concept perfectly. There are only simple shapes and colours - nothing to distract you from the task. Even though it appears unchallenging at first, the constant change of obstacles requires you to use a different strategy and this keeps the game interesting. You need to either push, move from side to side, or flick in a trial and error effort to save your balloon. It is safe to say that this game provides you with an almost meditative experience.

What could be done better?

While this game is fun in quick bursts, it's also the same thing over and over. Rise Up has a "challenge" section where things get really hard, but even this mode doesn't have enough variety to keep the game from getting repetitive.

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Bridge Race

Addictiveness: ⭐⭐⭐
Complexity: ⭐⭐

Bridge Race stands at 250+ million downloads so far and it has been touted as one of the best racing games ever. The gameplay involves competing with others for collectible blocks in order to build your own bridge. With more than 1000 levels to cross, Bridge Race contains mechanisms such as trampolines, ladders, sliders, elevators, and ziplines. What makes this game even more interesting is that other people can build on your bridge, essentially erasing your progress.

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What works for Bridge Race?

Bridge Race allows you to customize the colour of not only your character, but also of your blocks. You can choose from more than 80 different types of characters and more than 30 kinds of blocks. Bridge Race provides you with a roadmap so you can play the same level once more to achieve better results - maybe even perfection. And while you’re at it, you can play in any city of your choosing from across the world. The leaderboard of this game is great motivation as it reminds you to be faster and get more stars in order to secure a better place on the leaderboard!


What could be done better?

While the game sends our hearts racing with the blocks balancing act, it gets repetitive after a while. Also, the game plays ads every chance it gets with some additional ones to boost bonuses taking away the overall experience.

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Fun Race 3D

Addictiveness: ⭐⭐⭐
Complexity: ⭐⭐⭐

Were you a fan of American Ninja Warrior? Fun Race 3D is much like that where you have to get to the finish line before your opponents - plain and simple. But it’s not that plain and simple as there are several obstacles in the race. Also, you won't be competing with yourself. You’ll be racing with others and the only way you get to proceed to the next level is if you cross the finishing line first.

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What works for Fun Race 3D?

Even though the game is replete with challenges and obstacles, the controls are simple - tap to make your character run and release to stop. This game directly speaks to the competitive nature that most of us keep hidden away and allows us to unleash our competitive spirit during game play. What’s more? Every new level brings with it a unique experience that makes players want to keep playing.

What could be done better?

While the game play is exciting, the lack of info about your objectives and constant ads trip it up before it can get a full head of steam. There is no mention of how many levels exist, what the coins that are occasionally earned are for, or what the ultimate goal in the game is - other than first place. The lack of information and the constant ads makes this game feel more like a slow crawl than a race.

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Get smart with game mechanics

Puzzle, agility, timing, swerve and stacking are some popular hyper casual game mechanics with most games usually use 1-4 mechanics. Explore the possibilities of mixing them up to increase your game excitement! Stay tune as we will be covering more on game mechanics in our upcoming posts.