Game Mechanics

Tap / Timing Mechanics

Tap and Timing games are the most popular form of mechanics for hyper casual games. Most of the other mechanics
use tapping or timing as an input method for their particular gameplay. In a game that is pure tap and timing
gameplay, the mechanic relies upon an exact tap or an exact timing.
Stacking

Stacking mechanics take the tap/timing mechanic further by adding your previous taps outcome to the progress of the
round. The game The Tower by Ketchapp is a good example where the Tower itself is made up of the previously
stacked squares. Every time a player fails to get a perfect stack, the tower itself shrinks, making it harder and smaller for
the next stack.

Stacking mechanics provide more points of failure for the players, with each failure having a smaller effect than a Pure
Tap game. They soften the failure by allowing you to continue, but they maintain the clear visual clarity of how that
failure occurred. The less punishing failure the longer the round, but long rounds also signify a sense of ease.
Dexterity

These games mainly focus on a player having a very simple and repeating action that they must perform many
hundreds of times. With enough practice, these mechanics can be mastered by dextrous players and so the highest
score is a fair representation of dexterity and skill. For these games to be fun the game must usually speed up, taking a
mechanic that might be easy to slowly, but when pressurised by a time becomes more and more likely you will make a
mistake.
Rising / Falling Mechanics

Rising and falling mechanics provide interesting journeys for their players. The constant progression of the level leads to
the feeling of progression without a change in the mechanic or goal. To keep people entertained the level itself must
develop.

The player’s focus is on dealing with the next challenge along the progression and less about accuracy. There are
many ways to win these levels, a little luck is often needed over timing or skill. Your only goal is to protect an object from
a single point of failure.
Merging

Merging mechanics are very easy for players to understand. Similar things combine, different things don’t. The game
then becomes very easy for people to get right and with each subsequent merge, a new piece of understanding and a
strong sense of progression is conveyed to players.
Swerving

 These games always focus on moving from the left or right, and the primary mechanic is getting the player to
swipe. Maybe you’re dodging objects or racing down a tube. The key is in the player’s precision; how far left or
right they move.
Honorable Mentions

 Movement (running, jumping, etc.)  Color-Matching

 Turns  Puzzle
Perhaps best exhibited by the Civilization series, turns in games allow for the
player to consider their moves, and act within an isolated time period. This
 Resizing
differs from the real-time strategy in which everything is happening in real-
time.

Turns are found in games like Final Fantasy VII, Civilization VI and XCOM 2.

 Role-playing
Role-playing is when a player takes on the role of an individual character.
Games like Dungeons & Dragons have mastered the entire genre by
having people create their own characters, interact with the game world
using that character’s personality, and more.

 Tile-laying (like Scrabble)

Tile-laying is the strategic laying of resources, combat actions, and other
various actions by the player determining what their action will be.

 Shooting