For every groundbreaking, visually stunning game that flies off Xbox360 shelves, it seems like there’s an equally popular re-release of the old NES classics such as Ninja Gaiden or Legend of Zelda on the Nintendo Wii.
Still with its 8-bit graphics and midi sound. And no need for WiFi headsets. No triggers. Just two button controls that allow you to set the controller down one evening in 1991 and nineteen years later pick it back up and still remember how to play the game.
It appears that for every step we take toward a new breakthrough in technology, we simultaneously – and quite willingly – take an equal step back and resuscitate the simplistic methods we thought we were improving upon.
Think about it. What are some of the most popular apps available on the iPhone? Or the games people spend hours upon hours playing on Facebook, like Farmville or Mafia Wars. They’re the 8-bit throwbacks to the games we grew up on. Just look at Google on Pac-Man’s 30th Anniversary. It was such a phenomenon that offices were about as productive as the day following the Super Bowl or the first day of March Madness. There was so much chatter about the game, that even Pack-Man – the misspelling – was a trending topic on Twitter.
In a society where everything’s becoming more and more complex, it’s their simplicity that’s so endearing and keeps people coming back decade after decade. And it’s something that app developers or businesses looking to launch an app of their own must take note of. These games are intuitive. I lost my Super Mario Bros. booklet within days of getting the game. Do you think that mattered? After a minute of gameplay, we knew all we needed to know about how to play the game.
Your iPhone app should follow a similar pattern. It should only take thirty seconds for a user to get to where they want to go in your app, no matter where that is. Your app isn’t your website. Let your flash-heavy website be tailored to the Red Dead Redemption crowd, if that’s your wish. Those visitors may have more time to find their way throughout your site and discover all it has to offer. But your app user is a person on the go, and this means they’re easily interrupted or using it while at a red light, in line at the grocery store, or while waiting for their friends to sign into Xbox Live.
Make it as easy and intuitive as possible for them to pick up the app and get to where they want to go, whether this is the first iPhone app they’ve ever downloaded or just their first one today.
Bruce is a Mobile Media Specialist at Roll Mobile. He is a lover of good music, bad puns and ugly sweater vests. Want to learn more about adding mobile components to complement your existing marketing strategies? Or have a BLOG@ROLL topic you’d like us to explore?
Contact bruce@whyroll.com or on Twitter via @RollMobile.