Tal Lahav – Crucial Hyper Casual Prototyping Tips | HGC Istanbul

Tal, a publishing manager at Crazy Labs, shares valuable insights on prototyping hyper-casual games. Tal outlines a three-step approach to prototyping: ideation, marketability testing (CPI), and day one build. To kickstart the process, Tal emphasizes the importance of playing and analyzing successful hyper-casual games to understand market trends and what works. This analysis helps identify trends that can be incorporated into the game design. The next step is to find references from other successful games to inspire and guide the design. Tal advises against cloning games but rather suggests taking inspiration from various elements like mechanics, visuals, and themes to enhance the core gameplay. Tal then focuses on perfecting the store font to attract users. This involves having a clear and concise game name, a simple yet engaging icon that reflects the gameplay, informative screenshots showcasing game progression, and a compelling description with relevant keywords for improved discoverability. Finally, Tal stresses the significance of developing a day one build with around 30-40 minutes of original gameplay, concentrating solely on the core game loop to ensure user satisfaction. Once the core mechanics are enjoyable and satisfying, further development of the meta and monetization strategies can be undertaken.