Casual games x Hardcore games.

Look at those graphics man! And they were awesome that time!

If you look at the tags 'Casual' and 'Hardcore' you will think that its a easy thing to describe, but me and my friends just doens't get to a point in telling that a game ir or not hardcore, for example: The House of the Dead, at first, we tell that its a Hardcore game, but if we look close, we find that the game has a simple gameplay (shoot the screen, or the side) and you don't have to learn something difficult like a craft system or so, and we can also compare that game with this one: Fruit Ninja. I mean, why not? both have things on screen that have to die, fruits or zombies, and its almost linear, both has a simple gameplay, and the only visible difference is that your mother would preffer to play the second one. But The house of the dead is not a casual game, why? I don't think that the theme

Just 166? pff

 sugests the tags, its not because it has a horror theme that we must name it Hardcore, i believe that the theme have a percent on that, but its too little in compare to other things, and there goes my list of things to find out that if the game is casual or hardcore:

• Progression of learning
• Theme
• Gameplay
• Story
• The Audience
• Sub-Systems

Progression of Learning:

If the game has some mechanics that you have to learn the entire game, you can bet that it is a hardcore game, Super Mario World introduces new mechanics every time  so the player have to learn always something new, and that make a game more complex and long.

Gameplay:

Do not think that gameplay is the same thing as progression of learning, the progression is about learning in time, gameplay is about learn and do basic game stuff, like jumping in Super Mario Bros: Its simple, its fast and you use it all the time. But in a game like Street Fighter, at some point of the game, pressing all the buttons in any sequence will not always ensure a victory, so you got to do the dirty job of practice a combo and execute it. Some old spaceship simulation games for PC, also use like, the entire keyboard, you have a key to do almost anything, in Joint Strike Fighter, you have to press CRTL + ALT + E to eject the player and some other keys, (if i remember) . A casual game have a simple, constant, and fast input/feedback action (this should be a rule for every game), and hardcore games have a right to use multiple actions with multiple keys.

Story:

All the complexity of humanity in one image.

Story have a small part on the duty, but when the story become so complex that a player would play again just do see something that he misses, the story can make you name a game hardcore, casual games story is like Angry Birds, just a screen, and the player know it all. Hardcore games could have: Multiple ends or non-linear stories, a lot of conversations and characters, various secrets and side plots, like Harvest Moon, its so complex, and has so much endings and things that happens at just some days on the game that you could really stay a long time playing it and still don't see everything! On the other side, RPGs like Breath of Fire IV, have a lot of dialogs and cut-scenes that makes you watch and read a lot, and wait hours to play minutes.

Sub-Systems:

Does the game have a item craft system inside it? (any MMORPG) A Mini-game that makes your character strong? (Arc The Lad 3) A customization for units? (Front Mission) that makes a game more complex, because you increase the progression of learn and the gameplay actions, a game like Breath of Fire IV that have a complex fishing game, a generic skill system (you can learn enemies skills), a race game, a fairies city to build, and some other sub-systems makes the game a much more bigger and complex.

Theme:

I think the theme is almost irrelevant, but it still does some changes on the public that will play it, if a game is cartoon or reality-like, the audience could change, if you are telling a story about some crime, or an adult audience theme, it will change in somehow the aspect of your game. I still think that the theme is kind irrelevant, but it affect the game in the way of playing it, like Resident Evil, Dino Crisis and so on.

The Audience:

At last, the public who plays the game, can re-name your game from casual to hardcore, it means that, or the game design and balance is not set correctly, or the gameplay is too hard for that public, or the public does not know how to play it. One simple tip to find if your game is casual, is to make your grandma play it, if she plays it, its casual, other thing is: Can you play it on the bathroom while you sh*t? :)