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Research Question: What development and advertising techniques can be identified in successful

apps and games?

Steven Jantz

Senior Project Advisor: Kurt Pattison

Abstract:

Many developers do their best to create popular games that only end up failing. Success is not
always certain just because a lot of time and effort was put into a product. However, with the
right tactics, the likelihood of an app reaching success can be greatly increased. Additionally,
knowing what may fail allows the developer to better manage their time and develop apps and
games that will have a higher payoff. In this paper, a successful app is defined as an app that
generates adequate profit for the developer. Profit enables developers to continue developing
their applications so they can meet consumer demands and sustain market relevancy. This
research paper draws from a multitude of sources which look at key concepts that influence the
success of an app or game. These concepts include psychology, marketing, and intuitive design.
These sources highlight that the formula necessary to replicate success of an app involves
designing an app’s features with psychological theories in mind, ensuring the app is easy to use
and organized, and marketing the app to bring it to mainstream attention. If a developer is trying
to make a living from app/game development, the developer should follow guidelines to ensure
success.

Humanities 12 Grade Humanities

Animas High School

10 March 2019
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Flappy Bird was a free mobile app released by Vietnamese developer Dong Nguyen in

May of 2013. It was a simple game that involved tapping the screen to navigate a pixelated bird

through a series of infinite pipes. The game was difficult for players despite the simple concept,

making the game addicting for many people who were not content with their last score. Through

the help of online influencers and articles, the game was able to rise to the #1 spot in the free app

section of both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, all without the developer paying a

dime to advertise his product. The app was short-lived but immensely successful, earning

Nguyen around $50,000 a day from advertisers alone. Nguyen’s case is one of many examples of

how the mobile app/game industry can be profitable when the right tactics are utilized to market

a well-designed product. In fact, mobile apps are predicted to reach $188.9 billion in revenue by

2020 (Mobile). There are several key elements that successful apps have in common, including

aesthetically-pleasing and intuitive design, proper integration of features which favor

psychological theories, connection to social media, and, more often than not, a “freemium” app

model. This paper will analyze each of these elements in order to provide a detailed guide on

how to increase one’s chances of developing a successful app.

There are several methods to make money with apps, but one way to consistently ensure

that an app has a chance to grow is to use the “freemium model.” This is a model that “offers

both free and premium access,” allowing people to download an app for free and then pay money

later for in-app purchases to upgrade the app experience or subscribe to a service (6 Ways 21).

Subscription-based apps like Spotify are designed so that consumers can use the app with limited

features. Monthly payments allow users to gain access to exclusive content as long as they pay

the fee. Making an app free is a smart business choice because people will automatically have
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more incentive to download your app since they can simply delete it later if they do not make use

of it. For example, Pokémon GO is a free game, but in-game items can be purchased with real

money to help the player. People are first drawn to the app because they can easily download it

and try it out without any investment, and if they enjoy it, they may be willing to spend money

on the game that they would not have otherwise spent. One successful app studio, Ketchapp, is a

pioneer in the free mobile app economy, consistently releasing mobile games with this model.

More often than not, the freemium model is effective for drawing users in and creates profit as

they continue to use the app.

Advertising is another method to make money with a free app. This enables the developer

to generate a constant stream of adequate profit through advertisers, who pay the developer to

show their product or service. When apps are initially released, ads typically are the main source

of income because it is more consistent and reliable than in-app purchases. When the app begins

to gain popularity and is downloaded more times, it may be possible to generate income

primarily from in-app purchases. When people buy a paid app, they do not expect it to be littered

with ads, so it is good practice to limit the advertising to free versions of the app only. There are

many types of advertisements that can be used in apps such as banner ads, interstitial ads, video

ads, and native ads. Banner ads are one of the most common forms of advertising and are shown

at the very top or bottom of a page. Interstitial ads block the entire view of the page and must be

closed manually. Native ads are a form of advertising that “integrate seamlessly with an app” (6

Ways 20). These ads have a “non-disruptive approach” resulting in a higher amount of “positive

user experiences” (6 Ways 20). It is important to note that the ads should not be too intrusive

(flashy and quickly changing) because this could annoy the user and result in the deletion of the
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app. Interstitial and autoplaying video ads are regarded as the most annoying form of advertising

out of the four, so should be used cautiously.

Another way to advertise to users is advertising in-app purchases with the freemium

model. If the developer uses the freemium model to design an app, they will have in-app

purchases available, which can be advertised in-game to the user. In regards to mobile games, “a

key consideration is presenting the right offers to the right players at the right time” (6 Ways 9).

This can be accomplished with the utilization of algorithms, increasing the likelihood that a user

will purchase something to benefit their gameplay. For example, if a player was consistently

losing at a certain segment in a game, the game could recommend that they purchase a “skip

button,” which allows them to progress in the game.

However, will people relate to the app? Psychological theories can be utilized for apps

and games to create a much better product. It is ideal that people enter a state of cognitive flow

while they are using/playing the developer’s app/game. Cognitive flow is a psychological

concept which means that the player becomes completely engaged in an activity (in this case, the

app) without focus elsewhere. A player will lose track of time when they enter this state, keeping

them hooked on the game for much longer than they realized. Scrolling through an endless feed

of posts on social media or completing multiple levels in a game are both perfect examples of

activities that are enhanced during the cognitive flow state.

A game should have clear goals to keep the player interested and engaged. When it is

unclear what to do, “flow breaks down” and “when this happens, gamers disengage and are more

likely to stop playing” (Baron 10).

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It is important to note how game difficulty and the player’s skill level relate to each other.

When a player’s skill is low “and the task too hard, people become anxious” (Baron 5).

Contrarily, if the skill level is high and the difficulty is low, the player becomes bored (Baron 5).

Games should be designed around a concept of optimal performance and aim to captivate the

majority of players in that performance zone. “People enter flow states” when the skill and

difficulty complement each other (Baron 5). Additionally, when these are balanced, they become

motivated to complete in-game tasks due to the joy of the task itself.

Some other factors that influence cognitive flow are having “clear and timely feedback

on performance and goal accomplishment” and the minimization of “extraneous distraction[s]”

which inhibit focus (Baron 7). Timely feedback is the result of an in-game action. This feedback

should occur “200 to 400 milliseconds” after the action is triggered in order to create “the

strongest associations between action and outcome” (Baron 39).

Gameplay should not be overly complicated and the user interface should be organized,

easy to use, and nice to look at. Excessive information negatively affects a game or app

experience by making “the [user’s] ability to find and evaluate important stimuli” much harder

(Baron 45). Just because a developer has the ability to program an interesting feature does not

mean that it should be included in their app or game. Sean Baron, author of article “Cognitive

Flow: The Psychology of Great Game Design” states that “understanding the limits of player

ability and cultivating player skill is of critical importance. If players are unable to accomplish

goals -- even if goals and rules are clear -- then they will find their gaming experience

dissatisfying.”
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Video games are a standout tool for engagement which can both challenge and motivate

people to do a wide variety of tasks. Games can be purposefully be designed with psychological

theories to set the atmosphere of a game. Some of these theories include self-efficacy and goals,

encouragement, barriers, and use of sound and music. Implementing the mentioned

psychological theories will greatly enhance the experience a user has while playing. Self-efficacy

is the level of confidence someone has that they are able to accomplish goals. When the player’s

level of confidence is high, people create challenging goals for themselves. If the game is

designed to gradually expose players to higher difficulty, they will be more confident in their

ability to complete goals within the game and stay interested in the challenge. “Self-efficacy is

also increased through observational learning” meaning that players will observe how the game

works and learn from the “actions and outcomes of others ” (Starks 14). Encouragement should

be used to reward players for accomplishing a task. This reward could be a flashy reward screen

accompanied by a sound or a new item that is unlocked. Barriers are obstacles that force the

player to think about a task critically in order to solve a problem. Problem-solving and

challenges are necessary to keep the game interesting, but should be “designed in a way that

develops the player’s coping skills rather than discouraging game play” (Starks 12). Designing a

game is a balancing act which requires the developer to carefully cater to their intended

audience. Finding a middle-ground where players are entertained by challenges and are not

discouraged is the goal.

Functionally rather than psychologically, there are ways to design apps/games so that

they are more appealing and accessible. There are three rules of app design, says Marissa Mayer,

chief executive officer of Yahoo: the “two-tap” rule, the “five points” rule, and the “98%” rule.
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The “two-tap” rule states that “once [a user is] in the app,” they should be able to achieve what

they want to in two or fewer finger-taps (Carlson 3). Most social media apps, such as Facebook,

Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, are able to achieve this criteria today. All of these apps have a

tray at the bottom of the screen with four to five icons that allow the user to access any major

part of the app whenever they please. The “five points” rule requires the designer to tally points

for every different font or color shown on an app interface or webpage. An app that exceeds five

points is “too busy” and should be simplified so it remains easy to interact with and pleasing to

the eye (Carlson 7). In addition, the “98%” rule means that an app should be designed to fulfill

the app’s intended purpose 98% of the time. When users perform an action, this action should be

a “delightful, fluid, [and] simple experience” (Carlson 12).

Before an app is even released, there are a number of ways to maximize the chances that

it will become a success. Properly marketing the app to the right audiences is an essential step for

developers to take. Widely-accessible social media enables developers to market an app/game to

a large audience and creates a groundwork of excitement so that it has traction when it is initially

released. If the product has traction, it will be more capable of making sales during its “critical

window” period a few days to weeks after release (What Are 7). It is a good idea to create a

website, Twitter account, and other social media to promote one’s game. Marketing is just as

important as the quality of the product one sells. One constructive way to advertise is through

small-scale ads which test various aspects of the game to audiences. This is known as A/B

Testing, and it can be used as a marketing tactic to discover what is best suitable for an audience.

For example, if there are two potential art styles for a game and the developer wants to know

which one is more appealing to the majority of users, the developer can release different demos
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of the game to two unique audiences and learn which art style is more appealing to those

audiences based on retention. Through this process, the developer can “get live feedback from

your potential audience” as well as “build awareness before launch” (What Are 12). It is also a

good idea to garner an audience through social media due to its wide accessibility and

opportunities to utilize it for free.

Creating trailers is one of the most basic but beneficial prerequisites for releasing a game.

Contacting journalists and media outlets is immensely helpful as well since they already have an

established platform to share new content with the public. It is crucial to remember that “a game

draws most of its sales within the first few weeks, and even days, of release,” which is why

advertising and hype-building should be taken seriously (DellaFave 7). A game can find its way

back up the charts later if it goes unnoticed, but this is much harder to achieve.

It is important for developers to “pivot quickly to cater to user demand” since the initial

idea a developer had for an app is not always the idea that takes off and becomes profitable

(What Makes 18). The app’s users should dictate how the app is designed so it best meets the

demands for that specific market. Developers should “pay attention to new developments in your

industry” so they do not get left behind (What Makes 24). Developers should pay attention to

competition. The the current state of Pandora when compared to Spotify and Apple Music is

solid proof. Of course, Pandora is still a successful app, but it was surpassed by its competition.

Developers should pay attention to competition and analyze what competing apps and brands are

doing both right and wrong. An app should have one main purpose so as to not confuse the users.

People download apps to fulfill a specific purpose and this should be kept in mind during the

development process. If an app has “too many features...it runs the risk of becoming a Swiss
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Army knife – a tool that performs myriad functions, but inevitably winds up confusing users”

(What Makes 11). People want apps to work efficiently, in fact “72 percent of respondents

(according to a survey by research firm Clutch) said completing all onboarding processes in less

than a minute is a key factor in their decision to continue using the app” (What Makes 7). Apps

should be designed to satisfy the needs of the user which mandates that the developer creates

simple, intuitive layouts that work quickly. The necessity of easily understandable interfaces in

the age of quick information should not be overlooked.

With all of these concepts in mind, developers need to take into consideration where they

should be putting the majority of their time and hard work. Development is a long process with

many steps and not every app can be refined to the developer’s liking. If a developer moves

through this process gradually and with care, they can achieve success in this new and growing

industry.
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Works Cited

“6 Ways Free Apps Make Money [Examples Tips].” Appster, Appster, 5 Dec. 2018,

www.appsterhq.com/blog/make-money-free-apps/​.

Baron, Sean. “Cognitive Flow: The Psychology of Great Game Design.” Gamasutra

Article, Gamasutra,

www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/166972/cognitive_flow_the_psychology_of_.php?prin

t=1​.

Carlson, Nicholas. “Marissa Mayer's New Rule For App Design.” Business Insider, Business

Insider, 23 Jan. 2015,

www.businessinsider.com/marissa-mayers-new-rule-for-app-design-2015-1​.

DellaFave, Robert. “Marketing Your Indie Game: The Single Most Important Thing to Learn.”

Game Development Envato Tuts , 2 July 2014,

gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/marketing-your-indie-game-the-single-most-imp

ortant-thing-to-learn--gamedev-7157.

“Mobile App Revenues 2015-2020 | Statistic.” Statista, Statista,

www.statista.com/statistics/269025/worldwide-mobile-app-revenue-forecast/.

Starks, Katryna. “Cognitive Behavioral Game Design: a Unified Model for Designing Serious

Games.” Frontiers, Frontiers Media, 10 Jan. 2014,

www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00028/full​.

“What Are Some Good Marketing Strategies For An Indie Video Game?” Forbes, Forbes
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Magazine, 10 Aug. 2018,

www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/08/10/what-are-some-good-marketing-strategies-for-a

n-indie-video-game/#5210e462588c​.

“What Makes a Great App? Top 10 Things to Know.” Appster, Appster, 5 Dec. 2018,

www.appsterhq.com/blog/great-apps/​.