BradleyAuerbach said:
Would a platformer with the features described in the article linked above be considered “hybrid-casual”?
I think across the board they are unrelated to a game's “casual-ness”. I think the article feels like a marketing blog advertising an analytics tool.
Like the people above, my experience with casual typically means “I can put this game down, stop and start and any moment”. There is a spectrum from games where you can take a single move, like Angry Birds where you can fire a single shot then put the game down, to games that are in short bursts of 30 seconds, two minutes, and longer, to games that require extensive play sessions where you may need to dedicate 45+ minutes at a minimum.
2D and 3D makes no difference. Platformers can be anywhere from casual to hardcore. There are casual platformer games where you play a level for a few seconds, hopping through it to the exit, and there are hardcore platformer games where you're playing for extended times.
Going through that “article”'s six items: Economies are irrelevant as there are economies in both casual and hardcore games. Progression systems are irrelevant as there are progression systems in both casual and hardcore games, from an Angry Birds style “unlock the levels as you progress” to a JRPG's comprehensive story and maps that are progressively unlocked. Collectibles exist in both, as any 100%'er and loot box collector can tell you. Customization is common across the board, from casual skins and themes to hardcore game features like LoL's character skins. Narrative and story progress has nothing to do with casual-ness, games like Chess or Go have no narrative and have survived centuries as casual games where you can make a single move and wait seconds, hours or days for your opponent's move. Friends and social connections have nothing to do with casual-ness, be it a Facebook game you can pick up through games where you spend hours in chat as you play. However, all of these are convenient and easy data points for analytics, which is probably why the company that makes analytics software has posted that in their blog.
Make the game that you want to build, and if you're doing it out of a goal for commercial success, incorporating whatever your market research says you should be including and excluding what you don't.
