Submission Guide
Spil Games HTML 5 Submission Guide
At Spil Games we receive thousands of submissions from developers wanting to publish their titles to the millions of gamers we have access to. We love games and the diversity that we receive is breathtaking, but we believe there are several factors that can help a game be a success and we would like to share these with our partners.
Of course, games are a creative product and there are few hard and fast rules, but the following should be taken as a guideline for what our audience, and therefore we at Spil, are looking for.
Game Genres
With the exception of gambling content* and content that some of our users might find offensive** we are not limited in the game genres that we publish. We love original concepts, mixing and matching different genres and presenting existing gaming mechanics in a new light. We work hard to be a destination for great original games.
At Spil Games we have built a great portfolio with a focus on:
- High quality puzzle and casual games
- Sport simulators
- Fun, quirky games
- Casual social games
- Story and narrative driven games aimed at a female audience
Research your product and your audience – what makes your game better than similar titles? Why would gamers prefer your game? If you can answer these questions with conviction, we definitely want to hear from you.
(*) games of chance with real money payout
(**) Including pornographic content, or content that promotes offense on the basis of religion, race, sexuality etc.
Quality Standards
Game quality is extremely elusive and subjective and there is no easy way for us to define it. There are, however, certain aspects of game design that you should consider when submitting your game to us:
- ‘Ease’ of Gameplay
We’re looking for games that are easy to learn but hard to master. If your game requires many splash screens to draw the user into the story, or a lengthy tutorial to explain the mechanics, chances are the audience will switch off and move on to another experience.
- Mobile-Friendly
Mobile phones and tablets are wonderful HTML5 gaming platforms and the percentage of mobile-first gamers is growing rapidly. The games we love are the ones designed with mobile in mind – in certain cases we will work with you to help you make your game more mobile-friendly but it is easier if this has been considered from the get go. Your game must load fast and the core mechanic should be suitable to play in a mobile browser.
- Art Style
There are brilliant examples of great games with vastly different art styles, and what makes them a success is consistency across the whole gaming experience and a match with your audience’s expectations. Color, button design and placement, effects, icons – everything needs to bind into a coherent package that our players will love. Please don’t submit games based on copyrighted characters, movies etc. – we can’t accept any copyright infringements.
- Theme
With the exception of gambling content* and content that some of our users might find offensive** we have no restrictions on the themes of the games we publish. Again, consider consistency and target audience – is the theme of the game being conveyed through all its elements, is it appealing to the gamers it’s aimed at?
- Unique or Improved
We prefer games that are unique – please don’t submit simple re-skins or copycats. If your game is not unique it should build and improve on existing games in the genre, simply re-creating other games is not enough.
- Game Loop
The core mechanic needs to be fun and engaging – the core game loop needs to be “closed” so the reward for playing the game is within the player’s grasp, and not only allows but also encourages and incentivizes him or her to continue playing.
- Social Features
Today’s gamers love sharing and we prefer games with social integration features – consider adding sharing buttons to crucial achievement screens.
Business Model
We specialize in games that are free to play and supported by ads. As a developer you will need to create a game that allows for this by implementing so called ‘game breaks’. These are moments in the game when there is a natural pause in the game flow such as a level change. The rest is up to us – we make sure that users aren’t exposed to too much advertising and get the most relevant ads.