KEY UI & UX GAME DESIGN TRENDS TO FOCUS IN 2021

A well-constructed user interface can increase the conversion rate of your website or applications by up to 200% and a better UX design can achieve conversion rates of up to 400%. 

(Source: Forrester)

There are numerous video games on the web, many of which are downloaded and played regularly by users. And, which is why Gaming industry and a game development company are working hard on the user interface bit of game applications and on other design aspects like branding, design, usability, and function. The companies understand the importance of the user interface and that it is an important element of user experience. Over and above that, there is an imperative need for such companies to offer the users a visually attractive, exciting and convenient to use application that gives them a good and relevant experience and makes them want to stay.

Even so, the UX and UI trends keep reshaping every year and something new and exciting comes in that changes the whole UI and UX design game. Let’s get deep into the dynamics that will rule the UI and UX designing in 2021.

1. INTEGRATION OF AI IN UI DESIGNING

Integration of Artificial intelligence in user interface designing resolves many issues and challenges that existed before AI bridged the gap between developers and designers. The challenges that arose from remote working, comfortable utilization of design systems, and other causal factors. AI-led modern tools and technologies to come up with new versions of their software that made the life of a designer not just easy but also encouraged progression in their work….Read more- KEY UI & UX GAME DESIGN TRENDS TO FOCUS IN 2021

AI TRENDS IN 2021 TO BOOST BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

It was back in the 1950s when a group of experts from different arenas came together to discuss the possibility of developing an artificial brain. Then again in the mid 1950s, John McCarthy coined the term “Artificial Intelligence” during a summer conference at the Dartmouth college. Since then, with every passing decade, there were innovations and observations in the field of AI that assured the future of AI to be promising and evolved. It was in the 1900s when many computer scientists around the world dwelled into research based findings in AI and this technology took its first big step towards advancement. What was once just a mere theory, now became the crux around technology and innovation.

Eighty-four percent of the respondents indicated that AI would allow their organizations to gain or sustain a competitive advantage over their rivals. 

(Source: Statista)

There’s tonnes of data generated everyday of our lives and more often than not businesses know the importance of using this data to their advantage. And, it is technologies like Artificial Intelligence that help them do that. Having said that, AI trends and solutions are taking customer experience to another level with chatbots, digital assistants, facial recognition, biometric scanners, and more. It is helping companies draw insights from the large amount of data available and is making business intelligent. And by business intelligence, it means improving the effectiveness of marketing, understanding customers better, creating personalized experiences, and developing business strategies to help corporate decision making and leverage artificial intelligence in business management…..Read more- AI TRENDS IN 2021 TO BOOST BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

IMPORTANT METRICS DEVELOPERS MISS WHEN MAKING GAMES – USER ENGAGEMENT AND RETENTION

You might be aware that user engagement is not just another marketing gimmick. It is a survival approach in the wild digital marketing world, as well as a way for your company to stay afloat.

Almost every day, a new app is launched. With some, we see the hype, but after some time, they vanish. This pop and fizzle are because most game development company forget the importance of user engagement during the game development process. 

With billions of desktop and mobile apps as well as a higher expectation for a user-friendly interface, user retention and app engagement are vital in converting a first-time, curious user into a long-term active user.  

Speaking of retention and engagement, there is no clear distinction between the two in marketing apps. They instead complement and also sometimes interchange with each other. You might have your vision, but retention is often all about working with a current user base, which in turn involves a particular strategy and techniques to get them back.   

To some extent, user retention is difficult to achieve. The mobile gaming app market is brimming with applications, and with each day, they are skyrocketing. Like it or not, but for your own good, you must fight for your user retention.

Before we dive deeper into the strategies to boost user engagement and the tools used in user journey mapping, it is vital to understand what it is and why it is important for any web or mobile apps.

You may also read about: Fundamentals of game design & development

WHAT IS USER ENGAGEMENT?

A user engagement simply means the number of users who are consistently engaged with your product over a given period. It measures whether the users find your product valuable or not. It is a significant factor of business success or failure…Read more- IMPORTANT METRICS DEVELOPERS MISS WHEN MAKING GAMES – USER ENGAGEMENT AND RETENTION

BUILD INTERACTIVE VIDEO GAMES WITH AR & VR TECHNOLOGY

The Market for AR and VR for Gaming is forecast to reach $11.0 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 18.5% from 2021 to 2026. The market is driven by the growing popularity and integration of AR and VR technologies in mobile phones and other wearable devices. (Source: Industryarc)

The above statistic makes one thing very clear that the gaming industry along with the game development company has seen tremendous growth over the past few years and predominantly smartphones are the major cause behind it. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that the industry owes its expansion to the smartphones that have given the users the flexibility to play anywhere and at any time. Augmented reality and Virtual reality are a user-focused technology that does amazing things and let’s people indulge in experiences that bring imagination to life. One can’t help but wonder about the experiences it provides its users to interact with the digital world by commingling the real world with the virtual.   

You may also read: Future Of Smartphones With Increasing Dynamic User Experiences

There are a lot of big investments happening in these commercially feasible technological advances and the percentage for this is just expected to grow in the coming years. As regards, there are many reasons behind businesses showing strong confidence in Augmented reality and Virtual reality, few of which we will discuss going forward. But for those of you who are new to this subject, let;s first understand what these terms actually mean…Read more- BUILD INTERACTIVE VIDEO GAMES WITH AR & VR TECHNOLOGY

BEST HTML5 GAME DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORKS OR ENGINES TO CHOOSE

HTML5 has been one of the most popular technologies among game development company. It is compatible among various browsers, supports 2D and 3D graphics, multiplayer experiences, audio APIs, and provides offline asset storage. This markup language allows developers to create cross-platform and cross-browser games. It’s amazing web and mobile game engines that are used for video game creation and they make the whole game development process smooth and unproblematic by taking care of the physics, audio, animations, maps, and so much more. And, so the HTML5 game development frameworks and libraries have made game development an easygoing process. There is an HTML5 game engine that were initially developed by people to create their own game but when they realised that other HTML5 game developers could also use these to create their own games, they made the open source code available to them.

There are many game development companies that are not using Javascript anymore but have understood the enhanced graphic capabilities that come with WebGL, which is a Javascript API. An API that renders 2D and 3D graphics within any compatible web browser without the use of plugins. This lets developers create games that deliver engagement and entertainment and having said that, gamers play HTML5 for immersive gaming experiences. Thus, under-mentioned are 5 best HTML5 game development frameworks for every game app developer to score an ace at game development and understand why html5 is the future of global gaming business...Read more- BEST HTML5 GAME DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORKS OR ENGINES TO CHOOSE

THE BEST GAME DEVELOPMENT ENGINES TO DISCOVER IN 2021

According to the recent KPMG report, the online gaming segment in the country is projected to grow at a CAGR of 21% over FY21-FY25 to reach a size of Rs 29,000 crore. (Source: ThePrint)

The pace at which the gaming industry is growing is unbelievable. The massive surge in use of smartphone, internet and digital payments in recent times have taken off. Game development engines are a software-development environment designed for developers to create video games for different platforms. There are various factors that are considered when choosing the right gaming engine for your star game ide like the programming language, compatibility with operating systems, cross-platform support, and many others. Further, we have explained the rationale behind choosing one from the best game development engines to help build your first game.

UNITY GAME DEVELOPMENT ENGINE

Unity is one of the best game development engines and the most popular one among the other gaming engines. It has an imperative 45 percent share of the global game engine market which is nearly three times its size of its nearest competitor. (Source: The Next Web) 

COMMUNITY 

It is the largest community where Unity users and creators connect and learn plenty from each other. There is a Unity Forum where the Unity users interact and share a lot of information about the software, its updates, challenges, suggestions, latest developments, and so much more. This archive of knowledge about the Unity system is available on the platform for all. Unity blogs give the latest information and news on all things Unity. Then there is Unity 1:1 guidance from its verified community expert that the brand offers and along with that there are one-on-one lessons with certified Unity community experts that are available on its portal. Its issue tracker gives information about the bugs they have reproduced. Documentation 

UNITY ASSET STORE

It is a growing library of 2D and 3D assets that include sprites, fonts, textures, characters, environments, materials, UI elements, amongst others. Its section of 3D assets offers characters, vehicles, trees, bushes, animation, and other props. Unity and its community members create these assets for their use and also make it available for others to use by publishing them to the store. There are a range of assets available out of which some are free and others can be accessed at affordable prices. These assets are way more valuable than they seem. They save the developers time, effort and game development company cost that can be put into use to a task that demands it. 

Other than 2D and 3D assets, there are other categories of assets like Add-ons, audio, essentials, templates, tools, and VFX. The Add-ons provide more improved features for the project. The website or the Unity game framework mentions top-rated assets that are ranked by the users for better choice…Read more- THE BEST GAME DEVELOPMENT ENGINES TO DISCOVER IN 2021

WHY PREFER UNITY 5 FOR DEVELOPING INTERACTIVE WEBGL GAMES

Unity announced the release of Unity 5 on March 3, 2015 in San Francisco, CA. Unity 5.0 is the latest and biggest release of the multiplatform engine. The game development platform has been used to create video games since June 2005 and ever since it has taken the process of developing games to another level. There have been some leading upgrades and changes in the application over the years. Especially in Unity 5, there have been massive improvements that are seen in the version. The 64-bit support, global illumination, physically based rendering, physX3, speedtree, audio tools, and WebGL support are the major ones. In this blog, we are going to stress over the Unity 5 WebGL games exporter that allows game creators to create interactive and immersive games.  

Web Graphics Library is a javascript API that renders interactive 2D and 3D graphics. It was designed by Khronos Group which is a computer software company based out of the US. The WebGL exporter uses WebGL API in Unity 5 to give the game developers the comfort to publish and run GPU-accelerated graphics and Unity 5 webGL games on the web and on any web browser effortlessly without the use of any plug-ins.  

DEVELOP WEBGL GAMES WITH UNITY 5

Unity 5 WebGL supports a lot of features that help the developers create and render visual elements with great quality and complexity, most of the game development company acquired unity 5 WebGL tool to develop 2D and 3D games with unique features…Read More – WHY PREFER UNITY 5 FOR DEVELOPING INTERACTIVE WEBGL GAMES

Best Game Development Platform for Cross Game Development

Picking the best platform can be the key to successfully build and deploy a game that becomes popular. It depends upon individual preference to choose Native Game Application Development where application needs to be developed individually on all platforms or cross platform which will allow you to write a programme, runs on all the platforms and will save extra cost to develop an app on each platform individually. Cross-platform game engines offer some real advantages and, there are quite diverse and plentiful options. We provide solution and expert consulting so that you can choose the best game development platform for cross game development. I have worked on comparison between the cross platform engines which will help you in identifying the best game development cross platform engine for your game.

Unity

Unity was first released in 2005 and the interface hasn’t changed much since. Unity 3D is a game creation system that comes with an integrated development environment for engineering 2D & 3D games with consistent graphics, amazing layout, intuitive design and engaging game play. It is widely used for developing video games for desktops, consoles, mobile devices and even websites. The Unity Free version comes for free whereas the Unity Pro can be bought for a fee.

Languages supported: Three development languages are officially supported: C#, UnityScript (basically JavaScript with type annotations) and Boo.

Unity 3D game engine is a leading cross platform tool because through unity graphical editor it is easy to design the required graphics, light effects, insert objects etc. Overall development time gets minimized as:

1. It supports all the relevant features of the website with consistency
2. A solid system works for every major platform
3. Easy to learn
4. . Read full blog at- Best Game Development Platform for Cross Game Development

7 Mobile Game Development Engines You Should Know About

Game engines are software frameworks that provide the basic elements of a game, such as 2D or 3D graphic rendering, physics, sound, AI and animation. If you’re going to build an Mobile game then you’ll want to use a decent game engine. We have list down 7 most popular and used Mobile game development engines below:

Unity3: Unity 3D is a truly affordable option for a game developer, and it has some unmatched merits that other engines don’t. Most important, you have to pay for the license once, and no matter how popular your game becomes, you do not need to pay again. That surely sounds like a smart financial move, particularly for startups and new developers. Here are Unity’s pros and cons.

Pros:

• Best licensing terms in the game industry
• Easy to use and compatible with every game platform
• Great community support
• Low learning curve
• Popular option among developers

Cons:

• Limited tools, so you frequently have to create some tools of your own
• Time-consuming for making games with complex and diverse effects

Unreal Engine: Unreal is one of the most popular game engines to develop high-end triple-A titles for years now. Read Full Blog at- 7 Mobile Game Development Engines You Should Know About