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My Year as an Amateur Android Game Developer

kerebus.com

21–30 of 73 posts

Re: My Year as an Amateur Android Game Developer

#21
I have every wish for success of this and every other business, but in the spirit of helping other impressionable developers, making a business is hard enough without making video games.

How do I love games and hate games businesses, let me count the ways. User expectations are pegged by AAA games, whose budgets you cannot possibly match. Those AAA products set a price point at $DIRT_CHEAP. (Angry Birds costs what?) Your core users are thieves. When you fail at marketing on day one, which you will because everyone does, in any normal business you get progressively better but in games the obsessive fetishization of the new means your game is virtually sunk. It is virtually impossible to iterate based on user feedback because your users are a) transients and b) not wonderful people to deal with. Gamers are virtually immune to ads, don't search for anything gaming-related, don't pay prices sufficient to justify CPc spends, and if by some miracle they hear sbout you via word of mouth they will search for you on PirateBay/etc first and Google second. Meanwhile, in addition to megacorps staffed by people who have been doing this professionally for years, you are also competing with a virtually inexhaustible supply of hobbyists, because perhaps 3 out of every 4 CS majors got into computers to make video games and the fourth one is lying.

Does any of this get better for mobile devs? No, it gets worse, unless you're picked by the platform's kingmakers.

Re: My Year as an Amateur Android Game Developer

#22
post #8

This needs a lot more polish. Why not contact some (student) animators or illustrators who are willing to work for a small percentage of the profit ?

Braid wouldn't be Braid without the art. Dirt cheap illustrators won't help him; he needs someone good.

Re: My Year as an Amateur Android Game Developer

#23
very good post. enjoyed reading about your experience. I also think you should write more on 1) learning Android development (maybe tutorials for the novice) & 2) more on marketing. Like you, I am new to mobile app development/business. Learned Android development first but then got into iOS. For now, sticking mostly with iPhone. It’s way different but the idea is “fish where the fishes are”. I like Android but to me at this point, it’s good for consumer but kind of harsh for developers. People ask for refunds on Android apps and they can continue to use the app moving it to the SD card. Glad you are trying out different things on marketing. I am doing the same and my first app is no out yet :-) Apple still reviewing it. You are correct on graphics. I think that is mighty important. I am sharing my journey of app development, marketing and overall experience through my blog too. Check it and share your thought. Good luck!

Re: My Year as an Amateur Android Game Developer

#24
post #21

I have every wish for success of this and every other business, but in the spirit of helping other impressionable developers, making a business is hard enough without making video games. How do I love games and hate games businesses, let me count the ways. User expectations are pegged by AAA games, whose budgets you cannot possibly match. Those AAA products set a price point at $DIRT_CHEAP. (Angry Birds costs what ?)…

Good summary. I agree with all but the first point. User expectations are not pegged to AAA big-budget titles. At least not on mobile phone platforms. Casual games that can be started and stopped in the time you spend waiting for the bus are increasing in popularity. The fact that Nintendo is at game conferences whining about the state of mobile games would seem to indicate this.

An advantage of writing games is that suddenly the pesky and difficult question of 'what problem does this solve for my user' suddenly vanishes.

Still, thanks for the candid summary.

Re: My Year as an Amateur Android Game Developer

#25
post #21

I have every wish for success of this and every other business, but in the spirit of helping other impressionable developers, making a business is hard enough without making video games. How do I love games and hate games businesses, let me count the ways. User expectations are pegged by AAA games, whose budgets you cannot possibly match. Those AAA products set a price point at $DIRT_CHEAP. (Angry Birds costs what ?)…

agree on the games. In his case, he can narrow his target area and focus maybe on smaller target market. putting a game app out and placing it in that category and competing against big guns is like a suicide mission. You can bleed money on marketing but nothing will happen unless you have another Angry Bird like idea. I would recommend him trying different categories. Not all of them are so competitive. Also he shouldn't invest so much of his time on this one game. Every product has lifecycle and his app is no different. He should have a target of downloads/money too and once achieved, move on to the next app/game. Average iPhone app makes $750 per year and I am sure that number is somewhat similar for Android too.

Re: My Year as an Amateur Android Game Developer

#26
post #5

> I knew I had a marketing problem but instead I preferred to refractor my code Heh, I know this too well. I suck HUGE at marketing. I've got 4 games in the iPhone app store and made since October 2010 whooping $780 ... Actually I would be very happy if I got 20 sales a day :) I guess my adventure in indie gamedev will end by the end of this year when my funds are used up and I'll have to get an office coding job ble…

this is for all of you guys. when you mention you have an app in the market, mention the name or at least give your blog link or app link. in a way it would be your free marketing and for readers it would be a reference to see what type of app is getting what kind of downloads.

Re: My Year as an Amateur Android Game Developer

#27

Couple of things from someone who has been in a similar situation: 1) You don't have to be a good marketer to set up a twitter account and tweet when you add new levels and new features. Retweet them from your personal twitter account and it will at least hit your followers. Don't feel ashamed of asking a few friends to also retweet to their followers. The effect might be small, but it's a minimal effort. 2) Focusing…

good points, I agree! I would also say include all social sites in your marketing effort.

Re: My Year as an Amateur Android Game Developer

#28
post #21

I have every wish for success of this and every other business, but in the spirit of helping other impressionable developers, making a business is hard enough without making video games. How do I love games and hate games businesses, let me count the ways. User expectations are pegged by AAA games, whose budgets you cannot possibly match. Those AAA products set a price point at $DIRT_CHEAP. (Angry Birds costs what ?)…

Sorry but I have to disagree with you - you use an awfully narrow definition of "game".

The game he makes is very unlikely to ever compete with the studios who makes AAA games, this much more of a casual game something that you may play on the subway or the bus during your commute; it's main target is not teens and he doesn't have the expenses usually associated with a game that size.

Minecraft proved that you can make money with non-casual games without competing on the graphics.

But if you restrict your definition of games to games targeted at teens and competes on graphics, then yes you will be left behind.

Re: My Year as an Amateur Android Game Developer

#29
I forgot to gave you some of my marketing ideas. I am executing these for my iPhone app but you can apply the same for your Android app too. Review the list part 1 and 2. Let me know what you think

App marketing part 2: http://tukulogics.com/blog/?p=63 App marketing part 1: http://tukulogics.com/blog/?p=50

Re: My Year as an Amateur Android Game Developer

#30
post #14

If the game has been around on the web (under various names), why did he have to get a license from iPhone developer? It's not like iPhone developer "invented" the game.

He got a license from the guy who invented the game originally, not the guy who wrote the iPhone app. I'm not sure if he really needed that as such, but it sure seems like a nice gesture.

I think he wanted to use the same name. So probably he had to get some sort of blessing from the original author.

He also ended up using all the levels - 79 of them - which would have been a huge time saver.

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