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[Rarykos]

I had this problem putting in a pause button in my small game, couldn't fit it anywhere, and I started doubting if a pause button is actually useful on mobile. Personally I never pause any game, I just quit it.
If something happens when I'm playing or when I'm bored I have this huge HOME button I use to close everything and using it is much more natural than looking for a small pause button that's different in every game.

So why would I use a pause button?

[Chris MacAdam]

I think it depends on the game. Something like an endless runner or some high score game doesn't need any pause functions I don't think.
Even most games that would have relatively short levels probably wouldn't need it.

I believe its just comfortable for the player to have one because we have been playing games with them for so long?

Of course some games should have a pause screen, I would say most things that are real time based, like action games maybe.

What kind of game are you developing?

[s0]

strictly speaking mobile games don't need a PAUSE button, but most of them do need a MENU button (which also doubles as a pause button for obvious reasons). i mean how else are you going to access the game's settings, quit, restart etc?

[Rarykos]

Oh ok, I get it, games where you'd want to access menu should have a menu button.

But games with repetitive gameplay, where you're constantly restarting and one wasted play doesn't mean much are fine without anything. Since you get the menu screen when you lose. (like any game from Ketchapp)

I'm making a short dice-rolling game about getting high scores. And I was wondering if people get mad when there's no pause button.

[oahda]

Surely you can fit in a tiny semi-transparent button in a corner?

Or a hidden command (three, four or five fingers to pause) that they'll just have to find (or make a note about it on the menu)? :p

[Rarykos]

Surely you can fit in a tiny semi-transparent button in a corner?

Or a hidden command (three, four or five fingers to pause) that they'll just have to find (or make a note about it on the menu)? :p

But it didn't look good! Plus at one point it defeats the purpose, if it's not visible for annoyed players then why do it at all? So I decided to put it a really visible pretty button and I'm going to track how many players actually click it.

Also great idea with that hidden command! I personally believe the game should pause when someone nearby says "friend" in elvish. 

[Ninja Dodo]

I would have a menu/pause button visible in the corner of the screen at the start of the game or level. Then fade it out and only show it again when pressed/clicked, then fade out again when you close the menu. Players will know where the button is once they've seen it and then it no longer needs to obstruct the view during the game. This also works since these buttons are almost always in the top left or right corner and players will naturally tend to press there anyway.

[oahda]

Also great idea with that hidden command! I personally believe the game should pause when someone nearby says "friend" in elvish.

[Rarykos]

I would have a menu/pause button visible in the corner of the screen at the start of the game or level. Then fade it out and only show it again when pressed/clicked, then fade out again when you close the menu. Players will know where the button is once they've seen it and then it no longer needs to obstruct the view during the game. This also works since these buttons are almost always in the top left or right corner and players will naturally tend to press there anyway.

Oh that's a really interesting idea! Very cool 

[s0]

maybe you could have a little sound effect as well?

[Mittens]

a pause button is very important because mobile games are for playing casually on the train and you may need to show your ticket at any moment

[Ammypendent]

a pause button is very important because mobile games are for playing casually on the train and you may need to show your ticket at any moment

Agreed. There's many moments where pause is very useful while you're riding any form of public transportation. The only major exception I could see are games that wait on the player's input instead of going on their own(ie: turn based).

[quantumpotato]

Android has hardware back & menu buttons -- which you should take advantage of.
iPhone has hardware home button -- if they left your app, they should return paused and be able to resume at will. (Super Hexagon doesn't do this and it's frustrating if you have to do other things when you go back.. but that is a design decision - to require repeated focus.

[baconman]

I generally find the "back" button is best for that; press to pause, hold to quit to title screen/exit the application.

[oahda]

Super Hexagon doesn't do this and it's frustrating if you have to do other things when you go back.. but that is a design decision - to require repeated focus.

Pretty sure the iOS dev documentation stuff says explicitly that the home button _should_ invoke this behaviour (pausing/unpausing). Maybe the dev is Android-centric and missed that? Seems weird if the game doesn't pause if you leave the app on Android either, tho — does it?

[quantumpotato]

Super Hexagon doesn't do this and it's frustrating if you have to do other things when you go back.. but that is a design decision - to require repeated focus.

Pretty sure the iOS dev documentation stuff says explicitly that the home button _should_ invoke this behaviour (pausing/unpausing). Maybe the dev is Android-centric and missed that? Seems weird if the game doesn't pause if you leave the app on Android either, tho — does it?

Well, the game does pause in the sense that it stops running when you exit. But upon resuming, the display lags -- the game resumes instantly while the rendering hasn't caught up. It's awkward because iOS has a forced animation time and the game stutters between that animation finishing and the gameplay resuming.

[mleta20]

I think pause screens are very important on mobile games. The games are mean't to be played on the move/traveling. For example, you're on the subway in the morning, somebody stands up to exit the car and of course it's a subway so it will probably be tight. Instead of worrying about my game it would be a lot easier to pause it.

With that being said, I still do agree with the above comments and that it often can depend on the game being played.

[supermega_peter]

With that scenario, I'd probably just lock my phone, and expect the game to pause!