This is a list of useful resources to help you refine, define, execute and possibly reconsider your decision to enter mobile game development this year. The resources are a little more inclined to the business and game design parts of game development, except for a couple of ones linking other lists.

The executive summary version: It is a very attractive and fast growing market, but the odds are stacked against small, new and indie game developers. Successful games are usually paid, greatly innovative and highly polished casual titles -specially when working with a good publisher or a known brand- or free to play titles that operate as a service, seeing little revenue for a span of at least six months after launch, adding new content and/or further polishing, balancing and optimizing for retention and monetization. The former approach can be a logical step for studios that already have game development expertise, a team already in place and experience working with publishers. The latter is the approach that might yield the greater rewards, but requires a mid to long term vision, and also a tight and strong combination of resources and execution speed to actually pull it off.

What is mobile game development? We’ll consider it as any game focused development for smartphones or tablets running Android or iOS. What does this market look like? Let’s look at some numbers and insights:

 

eMarketer]

Looks promising, but it’s not all good:

So, how to make sense of the opportunity? Is it reasonable? Affordable? Worth pursuing? Let’s start with a list of general projections for gaming on 2013 and summaries for 2012:

This is a list of studies, articles and slides worth studying bit by bit to get a clearer picture:

 

Lostgarden]

Next, a collection of thoughts from established players in the industry:

Assuming you have a clearer picture now, and you are eager to learn more, what would be good resources to learn about all this?

Business links

Business Insider]

Game Development links

What Games Are]

Going live links

GamesBrief]

Last but not least, Blogs, People and Websites worth following.

Blogs


People on Twitter: All of them usually share good insights and links about mobile game development

 

@BenjaminCousins]

Sites: Good for keeping up with trends, news, good games and stuff

I hope all this serves you as a starting point to learn more about your upcoming adventure on mobile gaming this year. Enjoy!

Bonus Tracks