20 Great Innovations in Casual, Social and Mobile Games That You Should Steal discusses 20 innovative casual, social and mobile games that leverage different platforms and mechanics in interesting ways such as using a player's music library or location in gameplay, integrating social networks, or combining multiple genres. The document provides examples of games that use viral social sharing of scores, asynchronous multiplayer, photo integration, augmented reality, and episodic monetization among other novel approaches. It cautions that some innovations may introduce privacy, licensing, or gameplay issues that would need addressing for successful implementation.

1. 20 Great Innovations in Casual, Social and Mobile Games That You Should StealStuart Dredge

2. Who am I?Journalist since 1998 – new media, games, mobileBlogger since 2005(ish) – gadgets, virtual worldsTwitterer since 2007 – cats, babies, breakfast

3. What is Pocket Gamer?Consumer mobile games site: J2ME, iPhone, N-Gage, AndroidPocketGamer.biz – trade site for mobile games industryPrinted mags for operators, N-Gage and ZeemoteiPhone podcast

4. What’s all this about?The session title is a big fat lie50 ideas. You may want to steal 20 of them. Maybe. iPhone, casual and social (but mostly iPhone)Not all of these games are good

5. MATES

6. Restaurant CityHire your friends as chefs, waiters, cleanersViral without feeling like you’re marketing to matesDanger: your mum might get hooked

7. Tower Bloxx / Bumper StarsSee your friends’ scores while you’re beating themConstant competitive carrot to keep playingBack it up with a brag feature

8. Dr. AwesomeTaps into your address book to get friend namesYou then get to ‘treat’ themNo privacy infringement / connectivity

9. Premier FootballFacebook football manager game with your friendsMore notifications when you pick peopleGets around licensing issues

10. FaceFighteriPhone boxing game from Ready 2 Rumble developersTurn a photo into a fighterPerfect for pub show-offs

11. Who’s Your Friend / Word ChallengeWYF: Facebook game – guess who your pixelly friend isRanks you against your friends at end of gameWord Challenge: mini-gameDanger: too many friends?

12. music

13. Audiosurf / Phase / Dance FabulousUse your MP3 collection as basis for rhythm gameRacing / Falling notes / DanceWorks for PC or iPhone/mobileDanger: can you cope with Napalm Death?

14. The Sims DJiPod version of the game lets you DJ with your tunesLets you listen as well as play – solves issue of competitionDanger: Can your game cope with Nap...

15. Song Summoner: The Unsung HeroesSquare Enix’s tactics RPG uses songs as warriors (Barcode Battler mechanic)Encourages gamers to delve deep into collectionsAlso promotes sharing and song-swapping

16. Pole Position RemixClassic Pole Position, but billboards from album coversIncidental to gameplay, but once noticed...Danger: You don’t know what albums they’ve got

17. BUZZER! Music QuiziPhone game tests your knowledge of your libraryGuess the intro / album / artwork / genre / artistTwo-player split screen

18. SonifiOfficial app for trance artist BTBluetooth mixing – one takes beats+bass and one takes melody+harmonyNo actual game or scoring, but there could be...

19. Location

20. UnderworldiPhone dealing game – sweets, not hard drugsTurns local map into list of dealing spotsDon’t need to actually run around them

21. JOYityAndroid platform to make your own LBS challengesTreasure hunts, tag, racing...Gets around the problem of games only working in one city

22. GowallaCollecting game – icons, stamps, pins...Only worked in certain cities at the startBUT people could create their own landmarks

23. Seek’n’SpelliPhone game that DOES make you run aroundCollect letters and create words with themWorks with one friendNot geeky (or not too geeky)

24. FoursquareNot a game, but a social networking appBUT wraps game-like elements around it – badges etcJust go to your usual places and do your usual things

25. twitter

26. Star DefenseiPhone Tower Defense game with Twitter featureBrag about your score with a tweet in-gameCheck out other people’s and challenge them

27. Spymaster / SNODS / 140 MafiaNot games that use Twitter, but Twitter gamesBuilt around Twitter, and tweeting every actionIntrusive and annoying? Yes, but early days

28. TweetBricksYes, it’s Tetris with tweetsBUT those tweets belong to your friends (or you)Twitter’s open API has potential for games(Well, some games)

29. TweetCraftTwitter plug-in for World of WarcraftContradicts previous point about fantasy worldsLimited potential? Maybe

30. Connect

31. Anytime PoolPool game for Facebook, iPhone and mobileKey thing: play across all of them seamlesslyAsynchronous turn-based gameplay works well for this

32. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09Complete the mobile game, get bonus in the console gameRelied on EA login, but could be done with codeReason for console gamers to bother with mobile

33. Prototype (trailer)Viewers logged in with Facebook ConnectPulls out profile data and friend photosShows what’s possible when you start with personal data

34. My BruteOr, indeed, any mafia game on the iPhoneFriend codes with rewards – wolves’n’weaponsMore viral-ness without feeling like marketingDanger: pyramid scheme?

35. Leaf Trombone World StageNot the game (although playing a virtual trombone is kinda cool...)But the X-Factor style judging over the networkAlso UGC aspect of composing songs for others

36. NobyNoby BoyStrange but marvellous PS3 download gameStretch NobyNoby Boy as far as you canCumulative global total to reach GIRL and unlock new levels for the game

37. VIDEO

38. Spore Creature CreatorLet people Make Stuff, then Show That Stuff OffEven if it’s penisesIt’s machinima for the masses! Or something.

39. Real RacingiPhone racing game with own Cloudcell communityAuto-uploads replays of best laps to YouTubeWeb 2.0 equivalent of ‘let’s see that again!’ moment

40. Poker Face – Don’t Miss a BeatUsing YouTube interactivity for Lady GaGa (and other UMG artists)Very simple, but neatEarly days for these kinds of games – can fit in with wider ideas

41. Rethinks

42. Scrabble PlusCasual take on Scrabble with more solo modesScrabble Golf, Scrabble Battle and Scrabble WizardPutting, power-ups and categories make the game fresh

43. Tetris PopTurned Tetris into three-minute mini-gamesDifferent rules/formats, but kept true to core gameplay(Yes, I did use this one at Develop last year)

44. Pac-Man RemasteredBluetooth multiplayer where you play as the ghostsWhy not make this a solo mode too?Anti Pacman – online Flash game does this too

45. UEFA Euro 2008Rethinking trad football game controls for new playersSliding bars rather than feverish key pressesStill a game of skill, but in a different wayDanger: dumbing down?

46. Bejeweled BlitzBejeweled on Facebook with one-minute gamesSame mechanic with one crucial difference(Okay, chess got there first)Followed up with Zuma Web Connect this week

47. Mash-ups

48. Puzzle Quest / Aurora FeintMapping one genre (RPG) onto another (match-three puzzle)Build depth around casual core gameplay – or do you?Why map RPG onto puzzle and not other way around?

49. Chocolate Shop FrenzyDiner Dash meets BejeweledBut when there’s lots of Diner Dash meets Diner Dash games...Two genres familiar to same audience

50. Samurai Puzzle BattlePuzzle game meets strategy game meets action gameSimilar benefits / concerns to Puzzle QuestRave reviews shows freshness of genre-splicing

51. Bejeweled / Peggle in WoWAdd-On for WoW with two popular casual gamesTakes advantage of need to kill time while waiting for friendsTradeskill ramps up with skills / roll for loot

52. Stuff that’s interesting but won’t fit into an easily definable one-word category

53. Car Jack StreetsTop-down GTA-style game for iPhone (and now DSi)Time is the key – make $50,000 every real-life weekPush notifications could enhance this featureDanger: players drop out

54. Spore OriginsiPhone version of Spore that uses the cameraDesign your perfect Spore in a way that suits the platformCamera-enabled feature, NOT a camera-focused game

55. And before you ask...

56. iSamurai BluetoothTwo-player sword-fights with your iPhoneThis year’s iPint/PhoneSaberDifference: putting a game structure around the novelty

57. Pet SocietyPooGolden PooRainbow PooExpect the unexpected

58. SurrounDEADiPhone shooter that uses the compass (on 3GS)Takes a non-gaming feature and uses it for a gameNovelty – would YOU play it in public?

59. Galaxy On Fire 2Space adventure/shooter with whizzy 3D graphicsFree distribution model – freeplay and then payStep further – used pirate sites to get the game out there

60. YoVilleVirtual world / game on FacebookPartnership with SPCA in San Francisco – virtual cats and dogs in return for donations$20k in five weeks

61. WordFuBoggle with attitude – dice and letters/wordsMartial arts sounds whenever you make a wordComes into its own with two players

62. Flight Control / DrawRaceNot direct control over object, but instead draw its path(PES on Wii – similar idea)FC = juggling, DR = feel

63. Pocket GodThe 99-cent game that’s trailblazed episodic content for the iPhoneWeekly updatesSelling 18k copies a day at its peak – despite (or because) updates were free

64. Enviro-Bear 2010

65. Cheers!Me: sdredge@gmail.comPocket Gamer: spanner@pocketgamer.co.ukPocketGamer.biz: jon@pocketgamer.co.ukQuick plug: www.iphonegamesbulletin.com