How do you create moments that the user isn't expecting? It's all too easy to pigeonhole games by way of their features, but if you create all new elements it will make your game memorable. We're not saying that you should copy the games mentioned here, only that you should, if it makes sense for your game, add elements that make people think 'hey, that's new'. If your game is suitably different from the rest of the games out there, like Eliss it may be fine as it is.
High scores are almost ubiquitous in most games, but three stand out in their implementation. First off, Gaia takes a unique approach to entry and display - not only is the game's interface language independent, high score names can be drawn onto the screen and then replayed when the game pops up the leader board. You can draw literally anything - your initials, a smiley face, you name it - not only does this give the game more personality, it makes you want to play it some more so that you can get a cool illustration done on the score board.
It's not important what your score is as long as it's higher than your friend's.
Doodle Jump has markers that are displayed on the right hand side of the screen, so you can see yourself jumping past other people's scores, whether or not they are local or online. This gives a real sense of encouragement and a great visual indication of how you're doing. Take Shapium too, a game which doesn't need to display the score all the time (it would be a distraction) - instead, score is displayed when you complete a round. A nice feature is that it will let you know if you've surpassed someone else's score whilst you're playing - after all, it's not important what your score is as long as it's higher than your friend's.
Ambitious games like Rolando will often have many things that are different and unique - in this case we're focusing on two. The first thing is what you see when you load up the game - a visual toy allowing you to fling around Rolandos with the accelerometer. Yes, it's pointless, but it's a little mindless fun before you dig into the main portion of the game - it makes a great menu screen. The second thing that comes to mind is the interactive credits screen - instead of running some scrolling text, you can traverse a level which is dotted with fragments of text that detail who made the game. It makes you want to play through and discover, rather than watching a list of names that would otherwise be skipped.
Speaking of visual toys, there's many other games that utilise this technique - Circuit_Strike.One has an accelerometer controlled camera in it's title screen, Payback has a pause menu which pans itself around the in game environment which is artfully blurred (although non user controlled), and Wooden Labyrinth 3D has the silver ball which can be moved about in the menus as well as the game environment.
You don't even need to put much work into implementing a complicated toy - the smallest of touches can make a game much more replayable. Edge allows for any orientation the player chooses, with the entire contents of the screen rotatable by 90 degrees, simply by twisting the game with two fingers. This has the added bonus of avoiding accidental orientation switch, as can happen if you're too vigorous with the accelerometer. Although not a necessary feature, Moonlights has a neat trick in which it's music levels are tied to how complete the puzzle is. It's a small touch but it works well in differentiating the game and making the experience more fun.
Bonus content is also a great way of attracting replay value - for example, California Gold Rush unlocks trivia when you complete the campaign missions, so that you can read about the real gold rush whilst you're playing the simulated one.
Ultimately, by implementing thoughtful features, you can help your game rise to the top - whether it's a new interface attribute, making the game more accessible or just creating a small, fun distraction. With the ever increasing amounts of apps being approved and released, it's getting ever more difficult to get noticed - by tweaking the experience to include similar attributes to these that are listed, you can make sure your game is worthy of a purchase.
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