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Show HN: Math Attack – My side project of 3 years

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Re: Show HN: Math Attack – My side project of 3 years

#81

Post by josho »

When you want to grow revenue past what ads support look into purchasable themes. E.g. have zombies or godzilla skins (targeting boys), and similar for girls.

I had jumped on the app store bandwagon at the outset and did alright selling apps at 99¢-2.99 but was hesitant to switch to IAP. It turns out I was wrong and the kids apps that did switch faired well enough to continue. E.g. While I was fighting for 99¢ sales, other similar apps were selling $10 bundles for graphical skins. As a developer it makes me ill that the core experience is worth nothing, but some new flashy artwork can be sold for $10. Sigh, but it works.

Good luck.

Re: Show HN: Math Attack – My side project of 3 years

#82

Post by kejaed »

Sanctor wrote: post #45
carlmungz wrote: post #43

Although I've not played the game (I only have an iOS device), I'd like to say well done for finishing your side project!

Thank you! I bought a Mac Mini the same time I made my first commit on this project so I could build for iOS. I will definitely release an iOS version. It's just that, I have to get an iPhone and pay $100 for the developer program. It's out of my price range for now :) I developed this game using my late 2012 Glaxy Note 2.

Just a note, to work on the port you don't need a device to run in the simulator and you don't need to pay the $100 until you want to submit to the store. As of last year you can install on personal devices without paying the $100 either.

Re: Show HN: Math Attack – My side project of 3 years

#83

Post by Sanctor »

josho wrote: post #81

When you want to grow revenue past what ads support look into purchasable themes. E.g. have zombies or godzilla skins (targeting boys), and similar for girls. I had jumped on the app store bandwagon at the outset and did alright selling apps at 99¢-2.99 but was hesitant to switch to IAP. It turns out I was wrong and the kids apps that did switch faired well enough to continue. E.g. While I was fighting for 99¢ sales,…

Thanks for sharing your experience. I will think about it.

Most of the games I see nowadays sell what's basically shortcuts to success. This creates a very crooked sense of value especially in children that play these games. But selling environment and character skins and other non-functional stuff might be a good idea.

Re: Show HN: Math Attack – My side project of 3 years

#84

Post by Sanctor »

kejaed wrote: post #82
Sanctor wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you! I bought a Mac Mini the same time I made my first commit on this project so I could build for iOS. I will definitely release an iOS version. It's just that, I have to get an iPhone and pay $100 for the developer program. It's out of my price range for now :) I developed this game using my late 2012 Glaxy Note 2.

Just a note, to work on the port you don't need a device to run in the simulator and you don't need to pay the $100 until you want to submit to the store. As of last year you can install on personal devices without paying the $100 either.

I'll get XCode and check it out as soon as I can. I didn't know about the personal device thing.

Re: Show HN: Math Attack – My side project of 3 years

#85

Post by clbrook »

randlet wrote: post #60
karmajunkie wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I second that... I'll pay for a good math game for my kid—I don't let him play ad-based games though.

Thirded. This game is a little advanced for my 4 y.o. but I would MUCH rather pay a couple dollars to have ad free games. Most of the free educational kids games are crappy to use for a 4 y.o. because they pop up ads over the game. Inevitably she clicks on them by accident and then ends up in the Play store and confused about what happened or how to get back to her game.

I made a math game that was ad-free. It started out with a $1 purchase price at first launch, but I decided to make it free since it was not being downloaded. I'm curious if you have any advice on how to market to your audience of "parents that will pay for ad-free kids' games".

Re: Show HN: Math Attack – My side project of 3 years

#87

Post by bko »

Majestic121 wrote: post #20
Sanctor wrote: post #2

Hey everyone! I've been working on this game for about 3 years in my spare time. It's a simple puzzle game utilizing arithmetic operators. I made it using Unity3D. All the visual assets are made from scratch and the sound effects come from various free sound effect sites. Although the idea is simple I've put a lot of effort into it to make it look polished. For example there is a day/night cycle which serves no other…

Your game looks very nice, but I'm not a big fan of ads. Is there a way to pay a premium for an ad free version?

I would go a step further and just not include ads at all. I released several iOS games and the market is just too tough to make money especially off adds. Instead of likely collecting a few dollars the first few months (literally) , you may as well have a free beautiful game untainted by ads or monetization. If it really hits off I'm sure you can build in monetization, but from the beginning it's not even worth the extra time needed to integrate ads.

Re: Show HN: Math Attack – My side project of 3 years

#88

Post by mathattack »

Sanctor wrote: post #51
mathattack wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I must say you've chosen an auspicious name! :-)

Wow, your membership is older than my idea for the game. Don't sue me please :)

I had an idea for a side project and you beat me to it. Massive props to you for being the one who is actually working on it. I am not the suing type of person. :-)

Re: Show HN: Math Attack – My side project of 3 years

#89

Post by josho »

Sanctor wrote: post #83
josho wrote: post #81

When you want to grow revenue past what ads support look into purchasable themes. E.g. have zombies or godzilla skins (targeting boys), and similar for girls. I had jumped on the app store bandwagon at the outset and did alright selling apps at 99¢-2.99 but was hesitant to switch to IAP. It turns out I was wrong and the kids apps that did switch faired well enough to continue. E.g. While I was fighting for 99¢ sales,…

Thanks for sharing your experience. I will think about it. Most of the games I see nowadays sell what's basically shortcuts to success. This creates a very crooked sense of value especially in children that play these games. But selling environment and character skins and other non-functional stuff might be a good idea.

If you look around, it obviously works. E.g. Triple-A games these days all have premium editions that add new character skins. What was less certain for me was if it would work for kids educational content. I was skeptical because kids games have shorter play lengths, e.g. kids spent a few minutes at a time on our games. But, observing both the market and my own children's later experience they were keen to have the shiny new thing in the app, even if it didn't change the gameplay. People are inherently tuned into wanting novelty, simply swapping out graphics plays to that human desire.

So, yeh, don't sell shortcuts to success, but do sell theme packs. It works.

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