By Romulo “Je” Alipio, Executive Producer, Games
DISCOVERY is the big buzzword in mobile now. Everyone is talking about application discovery, content discovery, game discovery, social network discovery . . .
Not long ago, application development was a dying industry. Content was tied to telco portals, which restricted the content available to consumers. Then, along came the Apple App Store whose success is fostering imitation by Nokia, Google and others.
But if you're a mobile consumer, how do you find what you want? And how do you do it quickly?
Mobile users have demonstrated they do not want to spend much time looking for content. Time searching is time not-playing. And the extra time online also often adds to consumer phone bills.
So, at Djuzz, we spent time thinking about how to make it easy for consumers to find what they're looking for, whether it's a specific title or a genre. We also designed the portal to dynamically highlight the most popular content.
Let's take a closer look. In this blog, I'd like to walk you through the user interface.
Go to http://m.djuzz.com/ and at the top of the screen you'll find the search box, followed by Top Games, Latest Games, Quicklist, a full category list and recommended games.
Let's say you're looking for love (but not in all the wrong places), so you type in “love” and click the arrow. On the next screen, the engine delivers the top matches: Lovematch, 3D Fun Racer (because it's described as a game for “engine-lovers”), Lovetris, etc.
At this stage, you could use the dropdown menu to do an advanced search by Category, Date Uploaded, Developer or Recommendations. Search for “Hovr”, for example, and you'll find the developer has 47 games on Djuzz, including Euro Football, 360 Speed and 3D Ping Pong. Search by date – say 2 February – and you'll find 97 titles uploaded that date.
Back on Djuzz' home page, three applications are featured under Top Games and next to each game there's also a category link. Every time you refresh or return to the page, though, it has a fresh look. While the section only displays three entries, there's actually a “backstage” list of 6 to 7 popular games that dynamically rotate.
Similarly for the “Recommended Games” page – we display ten choices, but there are 15-20 in the background.
The Quicklist meanwhile displays the most popular categories, updated every 25-30 minutes, based on the downloads of the past hour.
Let's take a moment now to follow through on a search result. I type in “action” and the results page indicates 52 matches. I decide to check out “3D Volcano Island” to see an image and read a synopsis of the game. There's usually an opportunity here as well to view additional screenshots of the game.
On the same page, there's also a “Related Games” section to help users find additional content of the same genre.
Feedback from Djuzz users has been really positive so far. They find the search functionality easy and quick to use. We're always keeping our ears to the ground, though, so as the portal grows we can continue to make it even better.
DISCOVERY is the big buzzword in mobile now. Everyone is talking about application discovery, content discovery, game discovery, social network discovery . . .
Not long ago, application development was a dying industry. Content was tied to telco portals, which restricted the content available to consumers. Then, along came the Apple App Store whose success is fostering imitation by Nokia, Google and others.
But if you're a mobile consumer, how do you find what you want? And how do you do it quickly?
Mobile users have demonstrated they do not want to spend much time looking for content. Time searching is time not-playing. And the extra time online also often adds to consumer phone bills.
So, at Djuzz, we spent time thinking about how to make it easy for consumers to find what they're looking for, whether it's a specific title or a genre. We also designed the portal to dynamically highlight the most popular content.
Let's take a closer look. In this blog, I'd like to walk you through the user interface.
Go to http://m.djuzz.com/ and at the top of the screen you'll find the search box, followed by Top Games, Latest Games, Quicklist, a full category list and recommended games.
Let's say you're looking for love (but not in all the wrong places), so you type in “love” and click the arrow. On the next screen, the engine delivers the top matches: Lovematch, 3D Fun Racer (because it's described as a game for “engine-lovers”), Lovetris, etc.
Back on Djuzz' home page, three applications are featured under Top Games and next to each game there's also a category link. Every time you refresh or return to the page, though, it has a fresh look. While the section only displays three entries, there's actually a “backstage” list of 6 to 7 popular games that dynamically rotate.
Similarly for the “Recommended Games” page – we display ten choices, but there are 15-20 in the background.
The Quicklist meanwhile displays the most popular categories, updated every 25-30 minutes, based on the downloads of the past hour.
Let's take a moment now to follow through on a search result. I type in “action” and the results page indicates 52 matches. I decide to check out “3D Volcano Island” to see an image and read a synopsis of the game. There's usually an opportunity here as well to view additional screenshots of the game.
On the same page, there's also a “Related Games” section to help users find additional content of the same genre.
Feedback from Djuzz users has been really positive so far. They find the search functionality easy and quick to use. We're always keeping our ears to the ground, though, so as the portal grows we can continue to make it even better.
