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Show HN: I made 22 apps and games this year mostly by myself – here they are

davesapien.com

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Re: Show HN: I made 22 apps and games this year mostly by myself – here they are

#21

Post by tlarkworthy »

timthorn wrote: post #14
fit2rule wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe you can answer a question for me - why is that the hackerspaces in the UK are not open to the public all the time? I've been quite surprised at how difficult it is to get involved in the hackerspace scene in the UK - but I guess I'm kind of spoiled with the Metalab/Vienna situation. Is there some law in the UK that makes it difficult for hackerspaces to maintain an open door policy for the public, or is it more…

Our funding model relies on subscriptions, and public access all the time would severely erode the value. In addition, we need to make sure that everyone using "dangerous" kit is properly trained, which is more practical with a closed door model.

hello Tim! lovely to randomly encounter you in cyberspace.

Re: Show HN: I made 22 apps and games this year mostly by myself – here they are

#22

Post by DaveSapien »

shuaib wrote: post #18
velcro wrote: post #12

Very nice work Dave - one thing thats probably a more interesting question - can you make a living on that? Making many small apps? Have also been toying with an idea to start doing apps for a while now and rather than do a major idea, instead do many small apps. Like for example if 1 app brings 100$ per month - then making 20 could make 2000$ and so on - but does 1 app make 100$ on average at all?

Agreed. Dave, can you please share your income statistics if any. That would be interesting insight.

I average two sales ($.99) a day, minus a few spikes here and there. So as the say in Sunny Scotland 'pish'.

Re: Show HN: I made 22 apps and games this year mostly by myself – here they are

#23

Post by velcro »

DaveSapien wrote: post #22
shuaib wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Dave, can you please share your income statistics if any. That would be interesting insight.

I average two sales ($.99) a day, minus a few spikes here and there. So as the say in Sunny Scotland 'pish'.

Is this an average of all of your apps? Or a minimum per app?

I've also noticed that you started doing more iOS apps towards the end of the year. Is this because (as some people previously reported) iOS apps tend to generate a lot more sales currently? i.e. could you compare different stores in terms of the number of sales?

Thanks!

Re: Show HN: I made 22 apps and games this year mostly by myself – here they are

#24

Post by tseabrooks »

velcro wrote: post #12

Very nice work Dave - one thing thats probably a more interesting question - can you make a living on that? Making many small apps? Have also been toying with an idea to start doing apps for a while now and rather than do a major idea, instead do many small apps. Like for example if 1 app brings 100$ per month - then making 20 could make 2000$ and so on - but does 1 app make 100$ on average at all?

There is a question of what constitutes a "small" app. For my purposes I'll assume small is - "can be made in a month @ half time". I know someone making a decent salary on about 8-10 of these types of apps. they vary in technical difficulty and a couple required coming out of pocket a small amount of money for rudimentary design work. But it's definitely doable.

Re: Show HN: I made 22 apps and games this year mostly by myself – here they are

#25

Post by DaveSapien »

macarthy12 wrote: post #15

can you tell us some technical details of the painting "engine"?

Its a bit of a secret sauce kinda thing (feel shitty saying that). Basically I'm doing a pigment/light equation and a heck of a lot of cheating to get it run fast.

Re: Show HN: I made 22 apps and games this year mostly by myself – here they are

#26

Post by DaveSapien »

velcro wrote: post #23
DaveSapien wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I average two sales ($.99) a day, minus a few spikes here and there. So as the say in Sunny Scotland 'pish'.

Is this an average of all of your apps? Or a minimum per app? I've also noticed that you started doing more iOS apps towards the end of the year. Is this because (as some people previously reported) iOS apps tend to generate a lot more sales currently? i.e. could you compare different stores in terms of the number of sales? Thanks!

Yeah an average on Dave Sapien ltd. Me and the Giants (my other studio) is about the same again. The reason I was releasing more iOS apps towards the end of the year was simply todo with my development schedule. The painting apps took a lot more than you would assume.

Re: Show HN: I made 22 apps and games this year mostly by myself – here they are

#27

Post by SilkRoadie »

DaveSapien wrote: post #22
shuaib wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Dave, can you please share your income statistics if any. That would be interesting insight.

I average two sales ($.99) a day, minus a few spikes here and there. So as the say in Sunny Scotland 'pish'.

Do you feel that making half as many things and spending twice the time on each app would lead to better sales? Presumably the extra time would allow for more content / polish / marketting before release?

Re: Show HN: I made 22 apps and games this year mostly by myself – here they are

#28

Post by velcro »

tseabrooks wrote: post #24
velcro wrote: post #12

Very nice work Dave - one thing thats probably a more interesting question - can you make a living on that? Making many small apps? Have also been toying with an idea to start doing apps for a while now and rather than do a major idea, instead do many small apps. Like for example if 1 app brings 100$ per month - then making 20 could make 2000$ and so on - but does 1 app make 100$ on average at all?

There is a question of what constitutes a "small" app. For my purposes I'll assume small is - "can be made in a month @ half time". I know someone making a decent salary on about 8-10 of these types of apps. they vary in technical difficulty and a couple required coming out of pocket a small amount of money for rudimentary design work. But it's definitely doable.

Yeah, its definitely a weird calculation I know. Was just curious if an average "small" app makes anything at all or not...

My definition of small is even stricter than yours :) I'd say something that you'd be able to make in 2 weekends - like lottery/weather apps (of course both of these have been done to death - but in that general direction). I'm not expecting those to make anyone rich - just curious if something like that could make nothing, 10$ per month, 100$, etc...

Like just from appstore exposure and no marketing... but lets assume that all the apps would be decent looking and programmed to work nicely - just with a limited feature set... and maybe a mix of appstores if I develop them in something thats able to do cross-platform compiles...

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