My Next Game

I have been working on my next game for a while now. It's going to be an updated version of Bubble Bomb. This may seem like a strange choice since Bubble Bomb is essentially 'Yet Another Colour Matching Game' (YACMG?). The reasoning was very simple though - it's the best selling game on Binary Sun!

Why is the game so popular?

This is something that intrigues me - In general I don't play colour matching games, they're ok and I don't dislike them but there are plenty of other games that I think are more enjoyable. However I'm not the target audience of this sort of game.

Bubble Bomb is a very simple game. The very low computer requirements, and the tiny download size mean it's open to the largest possible audience. The game itself is very easy to get into - all you have to do is run the game, click 1 button and you're off.

The gameplay is very easy to pick up - but surprisingly deep (honestly). The first time I played the game I thought it seemed a bit shallow but having played it quite a bit now I can see depth I hadn't noticed originally. I've even learnt a few techniques that can keep me playing indefinately.

How can I make the update more popular?

The thing I had to ask myself when updating the game was what should I do to make people want to buy this over Bubble Bomb. The first answer was obvious, 'Improve the graphics'. Visually Bubble Bomb is... lacking. It's functional and suits the game ok, but is rather uninspired and, with a bit of effort, could look a lot nicer.

People have to want to play the game more than once. So maybe adding simple things like unlockable features (new bubble designs?) would help. It's a small thing but I think there should always be a reward of some sort for the actions people take.

I also want to make the game more accessible. New features that are very simple but make the game more enjoyable/ easier will be added. For example I've added the ability to undo your last move in case you make a mistake.

What to call the game?

I'm going to do some experiments with Bubble Bomb to see if I can increase sales on my other games so I want to distance the new version from the current one. This means I need a new name that makes this one stand out. At the moment I'm drawing a blank but I'll work something out eventually.

I would love to hear peoples thoughts on any of the above. Do you play simple colour matching games? Can you think of a decent name for the new game? Do you have any suggestions for things that would improve this sort of game? If you don't play play colour matching games what are your reasons?