Game Design: Competitive Mobile Games

This thesis explores the design process for a competitive multiplayer game mode in “baldorf,” a ball-throwing mobile game developed by Mystic Rhoads Productions. The research aims to enhance the overall gaming experience by introducing a competitive mode that challenges players’ skills and facilitates interaction with others. The research methodology included reviewing the popular competitive mobile games: Marvel Snap, Clash Royale, and Clash of Clans, which boast high download numbers and chart rankings. This analysis helped identify key features and mechanics that contribute to an engaging multiplayer experience. As a result, several designs were proposed, covering the profile, matchmaking, match, and leaderboard screens. These designs, created using the Figma mockup design tool, provided comprehensive descriptions of each feature and its in-game appearance. Additional features proposed in this thesis include synchronous play, a time limit for turns, forfeit options, summaries of turns and matches, live spectating, emotes, replays, and a match log. Collectively, these features and designs aim to provide a compelling and enjoyable competitive multiplayer mode for the game “baldorf.”  The thesis concludes by discussing multiple directions for future research in this area, including more features, implementation, and monetization.