Jox Games Blog

How we build games, and how to play them better.

Design notes, player guides and honest writing from a small studio in Istanbul.

Game Guide6 min read

How to Get a High Score in Catch the Cup

Seven techniques that actually raise your Catch the Cup score: rhythm tapping, obstacle reading, recovery after a near miss, and when to slow down.

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Guide6 min

Mobile Games That Actually Work in Airplane Mode

How to tell before takeoff whether a game will still run at 30,000 feet, what to check on the ground, and the categories that survive with no signal.

Guide5 min

"Offline" Games That Secretly Need Internet

Why so many games labelled offline still fail with no signal, the four patterns behind it, and how to spot them before you are stuck on a train.

Guide5 min

Small Mobile Games Under 50MB That Are Worth the Space

What a small download actually buys you — faster installs, older phones, less storage pressure — and how to judge whether a small game is small on purpose or just unfinished.

Game Design7 min

What Makes a One-Tap Game Actually Good

One-tap games live or die on feel, not features. A look at input latency, difficulty curves, failure framing, and why most of them get it wrong.

Guide5 min

Games to Play on the Subway When There's No Signal

A commute is a specific set of constraints: one hand, no signal, unpredictable interruptions. What makes a game survive it, and what rules one out.

Guide6 min

Mobile Games Without Forced Purchases or Interrupting Ads

Most casual games monetise by making the game worse and selling the fix. A clearer standard: what is optional, what is required, and how to tell the difference before you install.

Studio6 min

Building a Mobile Game Studio in Istanbul

Why Istanbul is an unusually good place to build mobile games, what the ecosystem actually offers a small studio, and the parts nobody mentions.

Guide6 min

A Parent's Checklist for Mobile Games Without Ad Pressure

What to actually check before handing a phone to a child: age ratings, ad behaviour, purchase prompts, offline capability, and the settings that matter more than any of them.

Game Design6 min

Endless Runner Games: Why the Genre Refuses to Die

Endless runners have survived every shift in mobile gaming since 2011. A look at the mechanics underneath and why the format keeps working.

Studio5 min

Why We Don't Interrupt Your Run With Ads

Mid-run interstitials are the standard monetisation move in casual mobile games. Here is the argument for not doing it, including the part that costs money.

Guide5 min

What to Look for in a Game You Play on a Five-Minute Break

Not every mobile game works in a queue or a coffee break. The specific qualities that make a game suitable for short sessions — and the red flags that rule one out.

Studio7 min

How We Built Catch the Cup

The development story behind our first release: what the prototype got wrong, the features we cut, and the two weeks spent on a single tap.

Catch the Cup app icon

Catch the Cup

One tap, works offline, nothing interrupts a run. Free on both stores.