Why does android gaming suck so bad?

[Big Cheese]

I want to say mobile gaming, but I've never used iOS so I can't be sure.

The top games on the playstore are like something a 10 year kid in somalia put together for his homework. If they were on the PC or console they'd be compared to Big Rigs Over the Road Racing (maybe even worse) but on the playstore they get a rating of 4 stars out of 5. The playstore gaming category is a desolate wasteland. There is not a game there worth playing for more than a few minutes before you uninstall it (except piano tiles 2, that game is sick).

 

[ControlD]

There are some decent games out there like Pixel Dungeon, but in general mobile gaming requires sorting through piles of trash to find anything decent.

 

[Big Cheese]

There are some decent games out there like Pixel Dungeon, but in general mobile gaming requires sorting through piles of trash to find anything decent.

You are on Pixel Dungeon marketing team?

 

[tsupersonic]

This is how I feel about all mobile gaming. I play two genres of games - FPS, and racing. I prefer a keyboard/mouse for FPS, and a controller for racing. I just don't see the point of mobile gaming - the input isn't there (and yes I know you can hook up a controller), you're playing on a small screen, mobile hardware has less power so it's not enjoyable as a PC or even a console.

Outside of a simple sudoku game, I'm out on mobile gaming.

 

[JeffMD]

You are not alone in thinking this. I also think mobile gaming is currently complete crap. IAP energy based games are the far majority of new releases and is no way to play a game.

Also apple does a little better with iOS only releases, as I have more games on my ipad then my phone. But most of their releases is also energy based crap. Pretty much if a game has ANYTHING that limits how long I can play, I drop it before it has any chance to get me addicted.

 

[richierich1212]

Mobile gaming sucks period.

 

[BoberFett]

I've found mobile games to be mostly mindless tapping. If I'm killing time on public transportation or sitting in a waiting room, I'd rather read news. I imagine the only decent games are the ones that are direct console/PC ports like the Final Fantasy games.

As was mentioned, the ones that let you play for 5 minutes a day before requiring you to buy more "lives" are bullshit and get deleted immediately.

Clash of Clans was amusing for a while, until getting to the point that I couldn't progress because I'd get raided daily for a huge chunk of resources by someone vastly more powerful, and I wasn't going to be able to move ahead without paying for resources to upgrade my stuff.

I haven't found a single mobile game that's worth my time. I'll stick with consoles and PC thanks.

 

[Kelvrick]

I play a few mobile designed time wasters here and there, but my mobile gaming is mainly roms of playstation, gameboy, etc games. Bringing back all those old school RPGs and action games from my childhood.

 

[mnewsham]

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic is my go-to mobile game, that and Piano Tiles 2.

 

[Insomniator]

Because mobile gaming is for 10 year olds that have access to their parent's phones to make unwarranted purchases.

Gaming on a phone is good for piano tiles, subway surfer, temple run etc... but what more do you expect? Fallout 4 isn't gonna be fun on a 5" touch screen phone.

If you want serious mobile gaming, go with some nvidia streaming solution.

 

[Oyeve]

Only serious game I play on a phone one is ff3.and I played it years ago on a game boy ds.

 

[HeXen]

I do actually like hidden object games. Not so much the puzzle solving elements but I enjoy finding objects and some of the horror types have some nice atmosphere to go with it. I have a few haunted house types that I enjoy on occasion.

Also, some of the console emulators on Playstore isn't too bad, some old NES games play ok with touchscreen controls.

 

[jhu]

Robot Unicorn Attack 2 is pretty good.

 

[ControlD]

You are on Pixel Dungeon marketing team?

Damn, you got me dude.

I waited over 4,000 posts and 10 years before I started spamming the forums. For a free game. Top notch detective work.

 

[HeXen]

Damn, you got me dude.

I waited over 4,000 posts and 10 years before I started spamming the forums. For a free game. Top notch detective work.

Persistance pays off to seem legit to users and that technique may work for the commie spies....but you came to the wrong forum mofo. Looks like I have another name to add to my ignore list.

I'd also like a link to your free game please :'(

 

[ControlD]

Persistance pays off to seem legit to users and that technique may work for the commie spies....but you came to the wrong forum mofo. Looks like I have another name to add to my ignore list.

I'd also like a link to your free game please :'(

 

[Commodus]

There are serious mobile games, so I wouldn't dismiss the category entirely. Ever get embroiled in an hours-long Civilization Revolution game? Having said that, there's no doubt that mobile gaming lends itself more to simpler titles and shady tactics like pay-to-win.

Android and iOS share a lot in common gaming-wise, but I will note that Android tends to lag behind iOS somewhat in terms of games. It's a combination of ease of development (iOS developers have both a narrower set of target devices and better tools) and piracy. Not that piracy isn't possible on iOS -- it happens a lot -- but it's considerably more rampant on the Android side.

 

[Fingolfin269]

You might like "The Room".

 

[StrangerGuy]

Like I said before budget is now the limiting factor in making games these days, not available compute power. And that budget isn't going to be big if the games need to run on a set of super-fragmented hardware consisting overwhelmingly of low end devices for maximum penetration to bring money in on F2P/P2W monetizing model.

 

[pete6032]

There are some good board games you can buy for Android. Outside of that, I've never played an actual video game on my phone.

 

[IntoxicatedPuma]

The depressing thing is seeing all the great games they had on systems like GameBoy but nothing like it on Mobile. If the rumors about Nintendo coming to mobile are true, I'd gladly pay $20-$30 for an actual good mobile game.

I can tell you that game developers (at least in the area where i work) who make mobile games mostly startups or new teams trying to prove they can make a profitable game. As a result the quality will never be particularly amazing because they're new teams or on a very very tight budget - and they've got investors to pay off so they're just looking for maximum return on investment.

 

[phexac]

Some ported games turned out well, such as FTL and xcom enemy within. They aren't that great on tiny phone screens though. On the iPad on a plane they are great though. Most of the rest and the typical mobile games are utter garbage though.

 

[lxskllr]

I'd also like a link to your free game please :'(

https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=pixel+dungeon&fdpage=1&page_id=0

 

[DealODay]

There's a lot of amazing games out there,

World of Tanks
CS portable (once you get used to it, I suggest you set it to the old control scheme and change around the buttons to your liking)

Hero Fighter X, it's like a ported little fighters from PC but much better.

Fist of Awesome

Punch Quest and many more

 

[Mopetar]

iOS gaming isn't that much better to be honest. They might get games first, but the best tend to be PC ports or old console games that you can play with an emulator.

I think that the biggest problem for mobile gaming is that people are so used to the $.99 apps or free games with microtransactions that there's not much of a market for a quality title that needs to cost at least $20 to make its money back.