Hi, I am trying to design a mobile game for someone. Long story short, I am looking for a little advice. Like the title implies, I don’t have much experience, but, I do know I bit about what makes a good game, and what breaks one. Now, I have had dozens of ideas for games, but this is the first time I have needed to be through. So that you know what I am trying to do, let me do a little explaining. First, he told me to just worry about it being able to make money, and that its fun. I decided to go with a 2D adventure platformer with some online multiplayer stuff, and a mix between static levels and randomly generated levels. I have done a lot so far but I do want a little advice before I send this to him. Last thing, I am not really worried about the writing for the story (stories in the case) because I am a writer and I know a lot of others.
You didn’t ask for any specific advice, so all I have at this moment is, don’t expect to make money on a mobile game. It’s a lottery and unless you have a large marketing budget, your game (however good it might be) is unlikely to win.
My advice, make the 2d platformer single game for now. Your first game should probably not tackle multiplayer at the same time. Scope small. Do something you can actually finish. This is advice to someone who has a lot of unfinished games. 
I have two questions now, first, what are some effective ways that I can spread the word, and get people to get the game when I finish it? second, what do all (or most) popular app games have in common? (I am only asking this last one because I don’t have anyway to play any mobile games to find out for myself)
Get something done and show it off. Do not be afraid to do so early in development. Come to a Friday Feedback here and get feedback with a small build from other developers. You will get better feedback than showing it just to friends.
The start a community on Discord or wherever, invite your testers and use social media to keep up to date. Marketing is the weakest part for most developers but you just have to do it. 
However…worry about developing the game first. Then worry about marketing.
Thanks, unfortunately I am not going to be directly building the game, not as much as coming up with a solid idea for a game, but I do appreciate your thoughts and advice.
That’s one idea I keep forgetting. X(
Designing a game, your first game, with the specific goal of making money, is a recipe for failure. Also “first game” and “multiplayer” shouldn’t even be in the same thread.
Make a good trailer, spread it around, try to build awareness. It helps if popular youtube/twitch reviewers or players give your game some exposure.
What most popular mobile games have in common though is a very large advertising budget (example: Clash of Clans). If they don’t have that, they went viral somehow (Flappy Bird).
I see, although I don’t know how Flappy Bird went viral, I’ll just look it up. If I should not be worrying about making money, what sort of mind set should I have? what should I worry about other than just making it fun? Also, thank all of you for the advice.
Nothing else for the time being, use geometric / pimitive shapes, make it engaging, reduce your scope, 0 textures or graphic effects. I wish this is how I started TBH.
The first game should be as minimalistic as possible. Not too much features such as multiplayer, only the well-designed and engaging core mechanics. And perhaps only abstract graphics are enough instead of visually stunning 2D art?
I think starting with board games or simple platformers is great idea. No complicated art. This way you only focus on the core of what maeks the game fun to play. The rest is just icing on cake. Try to eliminate any technical problems which would take more than a few hours to solve.
A curious one. You should want to learn about this stuff on your own, you should be looking up resources, you should be doing your own experiments. You should be making and showing off stuff just to get feedback.
Are you coming up with an “idea” or a “design”? Those are two very different things that should not be confused with one another.
I can come up with “solid” ideas for games fast as I can shove twinkies down my throat. So what?
Reality check: you aren’t clever and your ideas are not interesting. There is almost eight billion idiots on the planet. Every one thinks they are special. Because they were born. A few do something interesting. Among those, even fewer actually learn something useful worth sharing. Like maybe they climb everest. But whoop dee doo. How many dumbasses already done that and wrote a banal book about it?
And yet, chances are, that banal doctor who paid their way up everest has vastly more interesting life experience than you do. So how could you have anything more interesting to say?
Somebody says, “I got solid ideas”, I read “I am a lazy bum who won’t do work but wants respect anyway.”
Home dawg, listen. If you don’t feed the tribe, tribe ain’t gonna feed you. It’s that simple. You do the work, or you starve alone and nobody gonna care to hear your pity party.
Set yourself apart by doing work. Completing work. Loving work. You grow as a person by doing work. You learn about the world and yourself by doing work. Work is the most interesting part of life. The more you work, the more interesting a person you become.
You want to know a person so you ask them their opinions about things. Blah blah blah that’s all crap. Opinions are nothing. They come and go and change by the second. Observe how a person works and you see the true character. Somebody who don’t finish work – what can be said about them? No character! Might as well be a worm.
Yet, nobody wants to do the work. Because they are afraid to be judged. How stupid! There is only benefit to gain when you do the work!
Watch and see what other people hate to do. There is your competitive advantage. Everybody likes to talk about making this game and that. But nobody wants to sit and grind out the monotonous work. They “lose faith” in the design. Blame their partners for this or that. Pick up new projects. It’s all bs! Simple fact is an aversion to work. It comes from a deep place that is hard to detect, so you fathom other excuses to explain it. But really it’s just laziness.
Gain advantage by doing what others hate to do. Observe laziness in others and it’s easy to imagine what the inverse must look like. Do that. Then you are on the best path accomplish your goals.
No evidence that anything like a soul exist. There is plenty of evidence that habits are the most powerful shaping force in a persons life though. That’s why building habit of finishing work is so important. Set yourself up for success, not failure.
You build the right habits and your daily motivational mood swings don’t matter much at all. You get down a little around lunchtime, so you learn to take a walk. Because the habit of finishing work is there. You gonna find a way to get it done one way or another.
You train yourself the same as you train a dog. Dog pees inside, what do you do? Slap him on the head and yell. Pretty soon he knows precisely where not to pee. Dogs are dumber than hell but they figure that out. You do the same thing with yourself. Today you notice that you got no work done and procrastinated. You gonna spend all day tomorrow philosophizing about why? No! Slap upside the head and get back to work.
If you have the bad habit of quitting because you “feel bad.”
I think you are talking to yourself. Doesn’t follow anything I was saying.
Vague topic and going nowhere fast. Closed.