Show HN: 6 months ago I quit my job to pursue indie dev. Here is our first game • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: 6 months ago I quit my job to pursue indie dev. Here is our first game

#321

Post by glanch » Thu, Mar 07, 2013, 7:29 PM UTC

lmirosevic wrote: post #198

seanalltogether wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for all the feedback, it's all really good advice, We've gone back and forth on the ad thing and we're still not sold on whether to integrate them or not. The game was written in cocos2d, and I wrote the initial prototype in html5, so thats whats being used on the website. Also yeah "Adrift" was taken as an app store entry, so we had to figure out something else for the title, I agree its a bit clunky.

I sympathise with you 100% from first hand experience as an iOS dev[1] on the ad front. As designers we want our products to be beautiful and "pure", and for every single user to love the experience of using our app. You have to remember though that at the end of the day you want your company to do well and provide some sort of return on your investment. Having said that let me give you some numbers which you can cor…

What you said about user percentages doesn't surprise me at all. I thought about it and I would say those numbers accurately describe my habits personally. There are a handful of apps on my phone I haven't even opened yet. At least 70% of the apps I download never get launched again. And a tiny percentage of apps I download do I ever use a month later.

Re: Show HN: 6 months ago I quit my job to pursue indie dev. Here is our first game

#322

Post by honzzz » Thu, Mar 07, 2013, 7:46 PM UTC

triplesec wrote: post #315

honzzz wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I think that most people believe that the last few Tours have been clean. I used to race (although not on very high level), I know the environment and I would bet my balls that last few Tours have NOT been clean.

Hey I'm interested in this. How are they not clean now? Times are down by about 6% from Armstrong's heyday. I do want to understand your thinking as there may be something I' missing. I'm sure there are dopers, but AFAIK the leading teams are largely much much better now (look at Team SKY)

Where did you get that 6% and was that reliable source? And even if that number is somehow "correct" (each Tour is different and it is not possible to just numerically compare them) it does not mean the cycling is now clean, it does not even mean it's cleaner... there are too many factors that can influence this.

My opinion is this: cycling may be a bit cleaner in a sense that maybe doping is not as widespread as it used to be and maybe the effect of doping is more limited because they need to be more careful. But I don't believe cycling is clean now. There are new drugs that are undetectable and mentality has not changed. I believe this is more realistic: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/italian-judge-says-doping-is...

And about SKY team - I have no proof and it's nothing more than just my guess but I don't believe they are clean either. Remember last TdF? They totally ruled, they controlled the whole race. My cycling intuition tells me this is not natural. They certainly compete against some (I would say many) riders who are not clean (some of them even got caught, like Frank Schleck) and they were not even competing on the same level - they were superior. I don't believe it is possible without doping. The fact that they claim otherwise on every occasion means nothing to me - I have seen this too many times.

My guess - and I realize it's nothing more than guess - is that if in 2030 they use their new methods to test today's samples they will find out that there is some substance that is undetectable today.

I would love to be proven wrong on this - I love cycling.

Re: Show HN: 6 months ago I quit my job to pursue indie dev. Here is our first game

#323

Post by archagon » Thu, Mar 07, 2013, 7:56 PM UTC

triplesec wrote: post #316

archagon wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree completely. 90% of the games that are currently on my iPhone were a) made by dev teams with 1-3 people, b) provide a unique and polished experience, and c) became known mainly based on community outreach. None of them are currently in the top rankings, but as far as I can tell they make enough money for the teams to get by. People keep talking about "hidden gems" on the App Store that failed to succeed despit…

Which ones, please, and how? I'd love some good recommendations, and to examine how those companies did it!

One very notable example is Sword & Sworcery EP. The guys behind the game did a talk at GDC '12 about making games for niche audiences instead of stooping to the lowest common denominator, but I can't seem to find it.

Simogo has made a couple of very unique and artful games, including last year's Mobile Game IGF winner Beat Sneak Bandit. It's notable that their games are premium priced ($3), but still have hundreds of reviews.

Mika Mobile is a husband & wife team with a number of fantastic brawlers under their belts, including Battleheart and Zombieville USA 2.

Tiger Style is (in their own words) a "distributed collective of independent game developers" that have most recently developed the award-winning exploration/space-gardening game Waking Mars.

Jeff Minter releases a new iOS game what seems like every other week. (Though he once characterized it as "run[ning] frantically on the iOS treadmill".)

Zach Gage has made a number of small, fairly popular games, including SpellTower and Bit Pilot. ("Net Gross for me is probably around ~110k for 3 years of work. but the profits would probably be quite a bit lower than that")

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Notable recent failures include Punch Quest (F2P model didn't yield any income, so they switched to paid) and Gasketball (again, the F2P model they were using was too permissive).

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So, not a perfect ecosystem, but not an abysmal wasteland either. Enough for the kooky hobbyists to get by as long as their products are top-notch and their business model makes sense. (At least that's how I see it.)

Re: Show HN: 6 months ago I quit my job to pursue indie dev. Here is our first game

#324

Post by archagon » Thu, Mar 07, 2013, 8:04 PM UTC

isoiphone wrote: post #318

archagon wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree completely. 90% of the games that are currently on my iPhone were a) made by dev teams with 1-3 people, b) provide a unique and polished experience, and c) became known mainly based on community outreach. None of them are currently in the top rankings, but as far as I can tell they make enough money for the teams to get by. People keep talking about "hidden gems" on the App Store that failed to succeed despit…

Which games? Please be specific.

I replied to the poster above you with examples, in case you're interested.

Re: Show HN: 6 months ago I quit my job to pursue indie dev. Here is our first game

#325

Post by meitalvered » Thu, Mar 07, 2013, 8:09 PM UTC

physcab wrote: post #184

VonGuard wrote: post #130

Hey guys, thought I'd throw in my 2-cents as an Independent Games Festival judge, and as press. First of all, your presentation is terrific. Great art and sound. Top notch, feels like it came from a very talented team. With this game on your resume, you've got a great future ahead of yourselves. Now, the bad part: from a gameplay perspective, your game is not unique enough to win out on its own merits in any app stor…

I'm not sure cheating helps as much as it used to, and even so is a poor tactic and will possibly get you banned. That said, Apple's App Store is an absurdly tough market in the U.S. When your game goes live, it needs to be at its best, and even large gaming companies have trouble getting games out there that do well, even with significant legitimate ad spend. Here are some ideas, based loosely off of the experience…

hi physcab

Please see my thread http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5339639 i will appropriate your your input.

I have a similar problem i guess :) , although i am in the thouht that we did a very good game but the game is not climbing...maybe i am just asking too much :)

if you dont want to look at the thread i will just say that my game name is Atlantis Breaker HD, link: https://itunes.apple.com/app/atlantis-breaker-hd/id576385319...

What do you say?

Re: Show HN: 6 months ago I quit my job to pursue indie dev. Here is our first game

#326

Post by triplesec » Thu, Mar 07, 2013, 8:12 PM UTC

archagon wrote: post #323

triplesec wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which ones, please, and how? I'd love some good recommendations, and to examine how those companies did it!

One very notable example is Sword & Sworcery EP. The guys behind the game did a talk at GDC '12 about making games for niche audiences instead of stooping to the lowest common denominator, but I can't seem to find it. Simogo has made a couple of very unique and artful games, including last year's Mobile Game IGF winner Beat Sneak Bandit. It's notable that their games are premium priced ($3), but still have hundreds o…

Big thanks! Wish there were a favourites list on here

Re: Show HN: 6 months ago I quit my job to pursue indie dev. Here is our first game

#327

Post by triplesec » Thu, Mar 07, 2013, 8:18 PM UTC

honzzz wrote: post #322

triplesec wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey I'm interested in this. How are they not clean now? Times are down by about 6% from Armstrong's heyday. I do want to understand your thinking as there may be something I' missing. I'm sure there are dopers, but AFAIK the leading teams are largely much much better now (look at Team SKY)

Where did you get that 6% and was that reliable source? And even if that number is somehow "correct" (each Tour is different and it is not possible to just numerically compare them) it does not mean the cycling is now clean, it does not even mean it's cleaner... there are too many factors that can influence this. My opinion is this: cycling may be a bit cleaner in a sense that maybe doping is not as widespread as it…

I was wrong... it's 10% down according the source I was remembering: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18921784 and the 6 was from the power ratio of the top riders now down to around 6W/Kg.

Read more of the in-depth articles about Sky. Their training methods are hugely different, and came from the GB track cycling programme which has taken the world championships and Olympics by storm over the past decade. They're open about what it is, and unlike with others, it's only the performance which makes anyone wonder. Look at the figures, and remember, they're still 10% slower than Armstrong! What they are using is demonstrable physiological science and feedback: a manifestation of the benefits of the Quantified Self approach!

Re: Show HN: 6 months ago I quit my job to pursue indie dev. Here is our first game

#328

Post by kolinko » Thu, Mar 07, 2013, 9:04 PM UTC

physcab wrote: post #184

VonGuard wrote: post #130

Hey guys, thought I'd throw in my 2-cents as an Independent Games Festival judge, and as press. First of all, your presentation is terrific. Great art and sound. Top notch, feels like it came from a very talented team. With this game on your resume, you've got a great future ahead of yourselves. Now, the bad part: from a gameplay perspective, your game is not unique enough to win out on its own merits in any app stor…

I'm not sure cheating helps as much as it used to, and even so is a poor tactic and will possibly get you banned. That said, Apple's App Store is an absurdly tough market in the U.S. When your game goes live, it needs to be at its best, and even large gaming companies have trouble getting games out there that do well, even with significant legitimate ad spend. Here are some ideas, based loosely off of the experience…

about Android - aren't the costs of testing on multitude Android devices prohibitive for an indie dev? I think even Rovio had problems with that when they launched..

Re: Show HN: 6 months ago I quit my job to pursue indie dev. Here is our first game

#329

Post by kolinko » Thu, Mar 07, 2013, 9:06 PM UTC

VonGuard wrote: post #153

phil wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is disturbingly cynical advice. If you stand by it, why not attach your real name to it? If not, why put it in public? And by the way, you're recommending buying fake reviews. Here's a better tactic (and one that's guaranteed not to get you kicked out of the app store): get your launch announcement to the top slot on a popular discussion site, and get the real people there to leave real reviews instead. Which, i…

Hey, look at the top ten apps on both app stores, then come back here and try not to be cynical about anyone's chanced of succeeding there. I've seen numbers on sales in the app stores. If yer not in the top 25, you might as well not even be in the app store, from a meaningful revenue perspective. There are very few exceptions, as far as I know. One possible one would be any app that's $20. Those probably make money,…

You can be far from top, and stil earn $100k/year...

Games are top-heavy, but there is an overlooked middle ground of devs who have a decent passive income...

Re: Show HN: 6 months ago I quit my job to pursue indie dev. Here is our first game

#330

Post by honzzz » Thu, Mar 07, 2013, 9:18 PM UTC

triplesec wrote: post #327

honzzz wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did you get that 6% and was that reliable source? And even if that number is somehow "correct" (each Tour is different and it is not possible to just numerically compare them) it does not mean the cycling is now clean, it does not even mean it's cleaner... there are too many factors that can influence this. My opinion is this: cycling may be a bit cleaner in a sense that maybe doping is not as widespread as it…

I was wrong... it's 10% down according the source I was remembering: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18921784 and the 6 was from the power ratio of the top riders now down to around 6W/Kg. Read more of the in-depth articles about Sky. Their training methods are hugely different, and came from the GB track cycling programme which has taken the world championships and Olympics by storm over the past decade. They're…

That article is interesting - it made me reconsider my opinion a bit. I certainly can be wrong about SKY team. I would have respect for them even if they were not clean because I have enough experience with cycling to be able to imagine how hard you have to work to get through any grand tour even if you are not clean. But if they are... good for them.