Photon Engine's head of growth, Mark Val, spoke at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital NEXT on the process of creating a hypercasual multiplayer game. Val took us back to the "beginning" of hypercasual games, identifying Don Nguyen's Flappy Bird as the first one.

"His goal was to build a game that puts a grin on everyone's faces while at the same time being incredibly easy to play," Val said of meeting Nguyen.

Nguyen's goal for Flappy Bird, according to Val, was for someone to be able to play on a bus with one hand on the rail and the other free to play the game.

Val then talked about the origins of hypercasual multiplayer games like Agar.io and Slither.io. In 2015, Agar.io was the second most searched game, and in 2016, Slither.io was the most searched game.

Val explains that many IO Games were released as a result of the remarkable success of these two games. The problem with these games is that the vast majority of them are "fake" multiplayer games that use bots instead of real humans.

Your aim is to bring the players together in some way, whether it's physically, digitally, or via a metaverse.

MARK VAL: “Typically, 80% of players are within 20% of the space”.

Val explained that many studios discover that creating a hypercasual multiplayer game is either too expensive, too time-consuming, or would not work on phones all over the world.

IO craziness

Val then pondered on Photon Engine's history, noting that throughout its 15-year existence, it had never created a game.

Photon Engine wanted to test whether they could create a visually stunning hypercasual multiplayer game on smartphones while also addressing the difficulties they commonly hear about.

Photon Engine built Stumble Guys in six weeks thanks to a collaboration with Kitka Games.

Stumble Guys has grown to 800,000 DAUs without spending any money on user acquisition since its launch, and it only costs one percent of revenue to run.

Val claimed that the bulk of Stumble Guys players are from areas with high latency, but that the game still works effectively in those areas and that others can do so as well.

Val then went over some of the stages that should be followed while creating a hypercasual multiplayer game.

To begin, developers could allow players to play with friends rather than using random matchmaking. Along with this option, voice chats and lobbies should be available to facilitate this contact.

"Your goal is to bring the gamers together in some way, whether it's physically, digitally. Or through a metaverse," Val explained.

"Agglomeration operations provide value because players have an intrinsic value in the game that everyone is equal and can communicate with one another. Typically, 80% of players are within 20% of the available space."

Players will be attracted to the game if it uses numerous hubs, multiple modes. And creates a community around it, as "groups attract players."

In most cases, 80 percent of players are within 20% of the space marks VALUE.

Hypercasual Multiplayer Game

Players must, however, be able to report other players who are "trolling". Like this might ruin the experience for the rest of the group.

Despite the bot issue noted previously, Val argued that bots should be used as part of the onboarding process. Players can utilize bots in training or play against bots in co-op sessions when they first start playing a game.

Bots can also be used to replace players who leave due to a weak internet connection. Or to help fill rooms that aren't being full.

Developers must also take steps to ensure proper in-game balancing. Val came to the conclusion that preventing cheaters. Val suggested using DDoS protection, server side monitoring, full server authority. And deterministic simulation to combat cheating, especially if the game is popular.