Color Switch is a casual mobile game app developed by Fortafy Games in 2015. The game involves tapping the screen to maneuver a colored ball through obstacles of the same color. It gained popularity due to its simple yet addictive gameplay and sharing high scores on social media. Color Switch is free to play but includes in-app purchases. It has been downloaded over 400 million times worldwide and its success demonstrates how casual games on mobile devices have become a popular part of culture and entertainment.

1. Color Switch
JIBRIL ABUBAKAR
WEB310 WEB PLAY, ONLINE GAMES AND GAMIFICATION
CURTIN UNIVERSITY

2. Content
 Introduction
 Historical Context
 Social & Cultural Context
 Economic & Industrial Context
 Design & Technical Context

3. Introduction
 This presentation is about Color Switch digital game App that can be
downloaded from the stores
 Digital games are becoming a cultural phenomenon in the last 10 years.
Color Switch is like casual game in terms of its business model and the
game involve less complicated game controls and complexity in terms of
gameplay or investment required to get the game (Kuittinen, Kultima,
Niemelä, & Paavilainen, 2007).
 Although Color Switch is not a social game as such, the scores from the
game can be shared on social media and that can help in socializing with
friends.
 Color Switch game received rating of 7 out of 10 (Switch & DMCC, 2016).

4. Figure 1

5. Historical Context
 The evolution of handheld games brought in a lot of users worldwide and
satisfied the players allowing them to be able to play them almost
anywhere and while moving. The success of handheld games was great
and over the years smartphones were developed such as the iPhone and
Samsung. In 2013 there were 6.8 billion global mobile phone subscription
and this became a popular hotspot for playing games download via the
App Store (Kim, 2013). This number is increasing by the day.
 Color Switch is now the new era game that has taken the App Store and
Google play by storm. The game is created by gaming company Fortafy
Games based in Australia founded in 2015 ("Fortafy Games", 2016), the
game was released on 6th of December 2015.

6. Figure 2

7. Social & Cultural Context
 The developers of Color Switch game are David Reichelt and Aditya Oza
(Takahashi, 2016).
 Color Switch can be played on almost all devices from Smartphones, PC,
Tablets and many more. The game is simple almost like Flappy Bird and
Lollipop games but with a little twist in it. All that is needed in the game is
the repetitive tapping of the screen to pass through different levels and
achieve a high score. Color Switch is among the most addictive games and
is the game of the year 2016 where nearly four hundred million games
have been played worldwide (Takahashi, 2016).

8. Figure 3

9. Figure 5

10. Economic & Industrial Context
 The game Color Switch is played for free on all devices it is compatible with.
The game has some in-app purchases, for example in the App Stores we have
REMOVE ADS for $2.99, UNLOCK LEVELS for $4.99, DOUBLED STARS for
$2.99 and the SUPER PACK promotion for all the three is $7.99 (Switch &
DMCC, 2016).
 The game is distributed in mobile devices through stores such as the App
Store and Google Play store. There is only one version of the game but gets
updated when ever something new needs to be added currently its version is
5.40 on the App Store.
 Color Switch also makes its money as an App through advertisements. Color
Switch created an automated App that allows smooth flow of user gaming,
updates and as well as business ("How Color Switch found financial success
with rewarded video ads", 2016).

11. Figure 4

12. Design & Technical Context
 To play the game is pretty simple. Starting with a colored ball at the
bottom of the screen which when ever you tap the screen it will move
upwards. The colored ball has to go through obstacles that have the same
color as the ball. Every obstacle passed through the game becomes more
difficult to control by moving very fast, changing colors quicker and
bringing different shapes which are hard to pass through.
 If crashed (failed to go through a different color obstacle) the game resets
all over again despite all the progress made. The repetitive sequence of the
game makes it more addictive by making the player trying to beat the level
they reached before with high scores compared with his/her friends
playing the same game via social media, thus making the game even
more competitive.

13. Design & Technical Context
 The game Color Switch became highly popular due to many reasons in its
design and use of different colors as quoted by one of the co – founders the
game Zeb Jaffer,
“The core points are the colors, the sounds, the music, and of course, the
frustrating and addictive format to tapping a simple ball through the right
colour section of an obstacle. Simplicity wins every time ("How Color Switch
found financial success with rewarded video ads", 2016).”
 He continues
“I also think there’s a certain amount of pop culture appeal. The game was
created by David Reichelt - a color-blind magician with zero coding experience -
and that background detail adds to the popularity ("How Color Switch found
financial success with rewarded video ads", 2016).”

14. Reference
Figure 1
Fortafy Games. (2016). Fortafygames.com. Retrieved 17 November 2016,
from http://www.fortafygames.com/.
Figure 2
(2016). Lh3.googleusercontent.com. Retrieved 17 November 2016, from
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/GFdPBzT5MNjHfcAKbqTqvsepCzhSs
3HSVt7UCt8lBZKJ1Ili8Vt0W_TX7GqSfw7Paog=h900.
Figure 3
(2016). Lh3.googleusercontent.com. Retrieved 17 November 2016, from
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Fab4p_QSrquEg- NSx_A66TQMBgNXE-
HpkHkKa3IX6lX-EctxNaDXUc_pzitYR6Q3Awfp=h900.

15. References
Figure 4
(2016). Static.eazycheat.com. Retrieved 18 November 2016, from
http://static.eazycheat.com/img/colorswitch.jpg.
Figure 5
(2016). Retrieved 18 November 2016, from
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/color- switch/id1053533457?mt=8&ign-
mpt=uo%3D2
How Color Switch found financial success with rewarded video ads. (2016).
pocketgamer.biz. Retrieved 18 November 2016, from
http://www.pocketgamer.biz/interview/62951/color-switch- monetisation/.
Kim, H-M. (2013). Mobile technology and popular mobile games in
contemporary society. International Journal of Mobile Marketing Media,
8(2). 42 – 54.

16. Reference
Kuittinen, J., Kultima, A., Niemelä, J., & Paavilainen, J. (2007). Casual Games
Discussion. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234781375_Casual_ga
mesdiscussion.
Switch, C. & DMCC, F. (2016). Color Switch on the App Store. App Store.
Retrieved 18 November 2016, from https://itunes.apple.com/ae/app/color-
switch/id1053533457?mt=.
Takahashi, D. (2016). The next Flappy Bird? Color Switch is the top 8 game in
Apple’s app store now. VentureBeat. Retrieved 18 November 2016, from
http://venturebeat.com/2016/02/05/color- switch-the-no-1-mobile-game-
makes-its-bid-to-be-the-next-flappy- bird/.

17. Thank you