My internship gave me a great opportunity to work on three mobile game projects, each varied and each offering different challenges.

The mobile game development process involved four main stages: ideation, design (creating a detailed game design document), production and porting (developing versions for various handsets). Each of these stages could have one or more iterative sets of tasks which could be generalised as plan, action, testing/review.

My role involved concept generation, defining rules, prototyping, game play testing-tweaking-balancing, storyboarding, etching out the game world and its characters, defining game modes, structure and screen flow, level design, UI design, detailing game’s textual content, defining art and sound assets requirements, focus user testing and obtaining feedback.

The view of mobile games, as compared to experience offered by PC and dedicated-console platforms, is fast changing. Advanced handsets, enhanced networks, involvement of big publishers and a growing awareness of the mobile platform have given rise to high-quality mobile games which make the mobile a serious entertainment option than ever before. Mobile games are not time-killers any more, but offer a rich gaming experience with variety, challenge and fun to keep one hooked!

I realised that the mobile is a unique platform with its own limitations and strengths. I experienced subtleties and nuances of good mobile games and learnt from them. My project was fun and also made for a lot of intangible learning which has helped me grow as a game designer.