Design Guidance for the Mobile Genre Showdown

Introduction

The following are best practices and design considerations to consider when building mobile worlds on Horizon. 

Quickly Reach the Fun

The average mobile gaming session tends to be short (2-5 minutes), so designs that prioritize immediacy of engagement and encourage return visits may be more attractive to play. This can be achieved through:

• Brief onboarding/tutorialization that allow players to quickly jump into the fun (integrate tutorial into gameplay if possible)
• Simple controls that are intuitive to learn
• Short rounds or levels that allow for a sense of accomplishment more quickly
• Early and frequent gratification through positive feedback, points, or rewards, to keep players engaged
• Progression systems, such as unlockable abilities or items, that motivate returns and encourage continued play

The option to make progress quickly lowers the barrier to initiating sessions in mobile games worlds. 

Effective & Engaging Onboarding/Tutorials to Drive Clarity

References for deeper learning:

• Growth Insights Series: Building Competency in New User Onboarding
• Growth Insights Series: More Best Practices for New User Onboarding

Clear onboarding helps players quickly understand how to play, reducing frustration and reliance on trial and error. When onboarding is effective, players enjoy the experience more and are more motivated to continue. Recommendations:

• Build Competency:
  Competency is a user’s ability to learn and perform key actions in your app, such as using controls, moving, and navigating the UI. Higher competence leads to better retention—when users feel capable, they are more likely to keep playing.
  • Teach Skills Progressively: Introduce one skill at a time to prevent overwhelm. Give users time to practice and build confidence before adding complexity. Start with essential gameplay skills, and teach secondary skills after onboarding.
  • Support Newcomers: Make the experience easy to learn by including controller diagrams with button prompts, offering replayable tutorials, thoroughly teaching fundamental actions, and providing clear feedback when tasks are completed.
• Adapt onboarding/tutorials to user learning style:
  Some users want detailed onboarding, while others prefer to skip ahead. Your onboarding should support both styles, but still ensure everyone understands the core mechanics before progressing.
  • Allowing users to skip dialogue, cutscenes or steps if they master them.
  • Allowing users to replay tutorials from the menu if needed.
  • Providing contextual tutorials that only appear when users are using the relevant skill.
• Balancing narrative with interaction:
  Avoid lengthy non-interactive sequences during the FTUE. When including narrative elements in the tutorial, consider:
  • Keeping story sequences brief and engaging.
  • Making all narrative sections skippable.
  • Prioritizing getting users into interactive gameplay quickly.
  • Incorporating story elements during active gameplay.
  • Prioritize user action over non-interactive cutscenes.

Balanced Challenge

Balanced challenge in mobile games means designing difficulty that keeps players engaged—challenging but not frustrating. If a game is too easy, players may lose interest due to repetitive and unrewarding gameplay. Conversely, if the difficulty is too high from the outset, casual players can become overwhelmed and disengage, limiting the game's appeal to only the most dedicated users. 

• Players should feel challenged, but never unfairly punished due to poor configuration or design.
• Wins should feel earned, giving players a sense of accomplishment.
• Use rewards when possible
• Don’t make the world too hard, too soon as it will intimidate beginners.
• Don’t make the world too easy for too long otherwise it will feel repetitive.
• Avoid repetitive gameplay, incorporate variety and increase difficulty over time.

Progression System

Progression systems in mobile games set goals, structure gameplay, and offer rewards to keep players engaged. Common features include leveling up, unlockable content, in-game currency, and cosmetics. These systems motivate players by:

• Rewarding Time Investment: Clear goals and rewards make players feel their time is valued.
• Guiding Gameplay: Progression provides direction, helping players know what to do next.
• Fostering Growth: Players experience tangible improvements in their characters or game knowledge.

Overall, progression systems encourage repeated play by making achievements visible and meaningful. Recommendations:

• Experience Points and Leveling: Players gain XP to level up, unlocking new abilities or improving stats.
• Skill Trees and Abilities: Players invest points into skill trees to acquire new skills or enhance existing ones.
• Unlockable Content: New levels, characters, items, or areas become available as a player progresses.
• In-game Currency and Resources: Earned through gameplay, used to purchase upgrades or items.
• Cosmetics: Customizable outfits, skins, or visual enhancements.

Design Considerations

Visibility

While in VR a dimly lit environment has been reported to be appealing, darker games/experiences may be harder to see on a small screen. Lengthy leaderboards, instructions, and object prices may also be difficult to read on a smaller screen. Music Valley and Soapstone are examples of worlds that use calming but contrasting colors that are easy to see on mobile. For mobile, consider:

• Using contrasting colors that are easy to view on a smaller 2D screen. 
• Avoid signage with lots of words. 
• Consider creative options for conveying instructions and leaderboards.
  
  

Audio

While 3D dynamic audio is important for an immersive VR environment, mobile game audio should focus more on clarity. Mobile players may join using headphones or even the built-in speakers on their mobile device. Both forms have less sophisticated outputs than those found in VR headsets or high-end gaming PCs. This means that audio designers need to optimize their sound effects and music to sound good on a wider range of devices with varying speaker quality. For mobile, consider:

• Ensuring high audio quality so that players can hear what is going on in the world with headphones while they are on the go. 
• Adding or highlighting multiple audio options to allow players to tune out distractions in a world (such as other rowdy users).
  
  

UI & Controls

Designing the user interface (UI) for mobile games is different from VR due to limited screen size, touch input, and player preferences. While in VR certain actions may feel more intuitive, the UI for mobile games needs to quickly communicate to players how to easily interact within the world. For mobile, consider:

• Giving players an option to adjust the layout of inputs (or a few layouts to choose from).
• Ensure that the icons used for buttons clearly communicate the intended action.
• Incorporate guidance on controls and settings into tutorials.

Common issues observed with control UI to avoid:

• Conflicting or overlapping UI
• Overly sensitive or delayed controls
• Insufficient control over camera
• Difficulty with item interaction and use
  
  

Game Mechanics

Mobile players often are looking for a shorter gameplay experience and games have limited controls due to screen size. Therefore, straightforward game mechanics work best for mobile games. Mobile users can’t duck or raise their hands like users can in VR, so finding unique ways for them to participate as embodied avatars is key. Interacting with objects can also be difficult, so if items are placed within a world ensure that mobile players can easily engage with them. For mobile, consider:

• Straightforward but engaging core loops
• Gameplay that hinges more on social fun and does not rely on dexterity or specific avatar movements for the game to be satisfying.
• Where certain avatar movements are not possible, include a mobile workaround (like the rocket jump button in Citadel).
  
  

Communication

Mobile users may be joining from a variety of locations - both public and private. Therefore, their willingness and ability to communicate verbally may also vary. Verbal communication is a great way to promote socialization and relatedness, but is not required for meaningful player interaction. For mobile, consider:

• Providing nonverbal ways for players to interact, express themselves, and communicate, which may help players feel they can express themselves even when they can’t participate verbally.
  For example:
  • Custom emotes
  • Custom avatar animations 
  • Releasing a balloon, pushing a button, or triggering another in-world object
  • Providing wearables to signify different statuses
  • Including ways to show if players are open to others joining mini games
    
    

Mobile Use Cases

Multitasking

Mixing play in virtual worlds with other activities is common on mobile. While VR users are typically immersed and fully focused on the experience at hand, mobile users may jump on for a more casual and flexible experience while doing other activities, like watching TV, eating dinner, or doing chores.Taking this into account, consider building worlds that allow for a “spectator mode” and allow more flexibility for stopping and restarting as needed.

On-the-Go Gaming

Mobile devices are often always with us, making them a convenient option for quick gaming sessions. Users can easily access their games and start playing within seconds no matter where they are. This differs from VR sessions, which typically take place in the home. Building worlds that are suitable for on-the-go play means considering games that can be played with one hand, making sure they make sense with the sound off if headphones are not available, and being able to pause and start again as needed.