i REALLY need some help/guidance | Mobile Apps

[Carol Andrei]

So for the past 2 - 4 months i've been working on a 2D platformer game, its a pretty shit game not gonna lie, the art its kinda shit (pixelart) but the mechanics the physics are ok/kinda good.

I put ads (AdMob) on it, NOW i don't know what to do, the game it's not finished, i've been working so much on this that I'm afraid its not gonna make me any money and ive wasted so much time on this while i could've done something more productive, i have no idea; should i finish it or trow it in the trash.

I can post the game only on Play Store, i don't have fucking 100$ for Apple Store.

So i need advice from someone who has deal with this before, what kinda money did you make form ya games or apps, i don't ask to give me your secrets, just an approximation to make sure that this isn't a waste of time, if you don't want to post it here DM me pls .

Thanks

 

[smartsoft]

Ok, m8, what if I say to you that: "Moonton's Mobile Legends: Bang Bang has accumulated $502.5 million in lifetime" . Any questions?

 

[Carol Andrei]

Ok, m8, what if I say to you that: "Moonton's Mobile Legends: Bang Bang has accumulated $502.5 million in lifetime" . Any questions?

Yeah its nice and all, but it has 100,000,000+ Installs , i dunno if my game can reach like 10k, plus i dont have in-app purchases; where the big bucks lie

 

[smartsoft]

Yeah its nice and all, but it has 100,000,000+ Installs , i dunno if my game can reach like 10k, plus i dont have in-app purchases; where the big bucks lie

And? You already have answered all questions. You have to make proper monetizion plus promote your game.

 

[Carol Andrei]

And? You already have answered all questions. You have to make proper monetizion plus promote your game.

Not gonna lie, i don't know how the fuck to put in-app purchases, i've tried looking on YT for some tutorials, but for the engine that im using there aren't any, i guess i just have to put my faith in regular ads for now, then maybe when i get more experience with the engine only then.

So yeah i think you are right, what damage can it do if i try to post the game and see what happens...

 

[rinoahart]

Having worked in a game studio - my advice would be to get what you already have stable. Don't think about any new features / bells and whistles - just get it so that it doesn't crash.

Decide on a 'BundleID' - this is usually com.[developername].[game_name] - the 'game_name' bit (might!!) actually contribute to your rankings as a keyword in the Play Store, to use this wisely. If it were a car game for example, it could be com.[developername].[game_name]_2D_car_racer
You can't change this later...so choose wisely.

Upload it to Google Play as an 'Open Beta' - send out tester links to friends and family to make sure it runs on lots of different types of phones / tablets.

When you're ready to make it publicly available, make sure your icon is simple (complicated ones don't perform as well) and your screenshots are clear, and are as different to each other as possible.

There is a Facebook group called "Indie Game Promo" where you are encouraged to share your download links - you'll receive feedback (some of it good, some of it not useful!) but will also increase exposure for your game. There are also lots of "Indie Game Developer" groups where you can ask for help/advice - you might find someone who can help you with IAP.

Good luck!

 

[Carol Andrei]

Having worked in a game studio - my advice would be to get what you already have stable. Don't think about any new features / bells and whistles - just get it so that it doesn't crash.

Decide on a 'BundleID' - this is usually com.[developername].[game_name] - the 'game_name' bit (might!!) actually contribute to your rankings as a keyword in the Play Store, to use this wisely. If it were a car game for example, it could be com.[developername].[game_name]_2D_car_racer
You can't change this later...so choose wisely.

Upload it to Google Play as an 'Open Beta' - send out tester links to friends and family to make sure it runs on lots of different types of phones / tablets.

When you're ready to make it publicly available, make sure your icon is simple (complicated ones don't perform as well) and your screenshots are clear, and are as different to each other as possible.

There is a Facebook group called "Indie Game Promo" where you are encouraged to share your download links - you'll receive feedback (some of it good, some of it not useful!) but will also increase exposure for your game. There are also lots of "Indie Game Developer" groups where you can ask for help/advice - you might find someone who can help you with IAP.

Good luck!

Ohh thank you so much man, i knew about the BundleID and how keywords work but again its my first game so... i can't say that i know what im doing, and for the Facebook groups; i didn't think about that, its a good idea but im kinda ashamed to show my game because i don't like how it looks, when i look at others Indie games... man their games looks so good, i really don't know how they are doing it, maybe it comes with the experience but when i see "my first game, that i worked on for 1/2 months" its kinda killing my whole vibe...

How many games did you make and how many games had success?
And i really dont do it for the money, i like what im doing but some money would be nice. you know? Did you manage to support yourself from game development?

 

[rinoahart]

I'm not a dev myself (well I dabbled in a few game engines, and I can do mid-level web coding) but I worked at a game dev studio for 8 years in production management and marketing.
Some of the games made in the studio were for clients, some were the studio's IP. The studio absolutely pays for itself.

TBH I don't like the term 'indie game developer' because it is still such a broad term - indie devs could be a one man start up working on their first title, or they could be an ex management dev from Riot cashing in on their previous studio's name. One thing I have found though, is that the 'indies' you'll find in those facebook groups are largely really nice people. Provided you're not asking someone to work for free 'for exposure' or 'portfolio building', you'll be fine. Even if someone doesn't directly spell out what you need to do to add IAP, for example, there's a good chance someone has come across a fantastic tutorial in the dark depths of the net that they can link you to, and save you time.

Mobile games, especially the android market, can be really hard...not going to lie. I'm glad you are getting personal value out of game development, but do a regular stocktake to make sure you're still enjoing what you're doing. Find something unique to inject into your games - maybe it's the graphics, maybe it's a gameplay feature - and sing that from the rooftops! Reviewers love being able to say "It's like [this other popular game] but better because [x]"

 

[Carol Andrei]

I'm not a dev myself (well I dabbled in a few game engines, and I can do mid-level web coding) but I worked at a game dev studio for 8 years in production management and marketing.
Some of the games made in the studio were for clients, some were the studio's IP. The studio absolutely pays for itself.

TBH I don't like the term 'indie game developer' because it is still such a broad term - indie devs could be a one man start up working on their first title, or they could be an ex management dev from Riot cashing in on their previous studio's name. One thing I have found though, is that the 'indies' you'll find in those facebook groups are largely really nice people. Provided you're not asking someone to work for free 'for exposure' or 'portfolio building', you'll be fine. Even if someone doesn't directly spell out what you need to do to add IAP, for example, there's a good chance someone has come across a fantastic tutorial in the dark depths of the net that they can link you to, and save you time.

Mobile games, especially the android market, can be really hard...not going to lie. I'm glad you are getting personal value out of game development, but do a regular stocktake to make sure you're still enjoing what you're doing. Find something unique to inject into your games - maybe it's the graphics, maybe it's a gameplay feature - and sing that from the rooftops! Reviewers love being able to say "It's like [this other popular game] but better because [x]"

Really man thanks for the advice, i never had a chance to speak with someone from this industry, im going to try to do the things you said (=
blackhatworld is full of assholes but your one of the good ones, thanks again!

 

[rinoahart]

A pleasure.
When you've got your store listing up - shoot it through. Maybe I can make a suggestion or two.
Take care!

 

[Barium]

Having worked in a game studio - my advice would be to get what you already have stable. Don't think about any new features / bells and whistles - just get it so that it doesn't crash.

Decide on a 'BundleID' - this is usually com.[developername].[game_name] - the 'game_name' bit (might!!) actually contribute to your rankings as a keyword in the Play Store, to use this wisely. If it were a car game for example, it could be com.[developername].[game_name]_2D_car_racer
You can't change this later...so choose wisely.

Upload it to Google Play as an 'Open Beta' - send out tester links to friends and family to make sure it runs on lots of different types of phones / tablets.

When you're ready to make it publicly available, make sure your icon is simple (complicated ones don't perform as well) and your screenshots are clear, and are as different to each other as possible.

There is a Facebook group called "Indie Game Promo" where you are encouraged to share your download links - you'll receive feedback (some of it good, some of it not useful!) but will also increase exposure for your game. There are also lots of "Indie Game Developer" groups where you can ask for help/advice - you might find someone who can help you with IAP.

Good luck!

I'm not a dev myself (well I dabbled in a few game engines, and I can do mid-level web coding) but I worked at a game dev studio for 8 years in production management and marketing.
Some of the games made in the studio were for clients, some were the studio's IP. The studio absolutely pays for itself.

TBH I don't like the term 'indie game developer' because it is still such a broad term - indie devs could be a one man start up working on their first title, or they could be an ex management dev from Riot cashing in on their previous studio's name. One thing I have found though, is that the 'indies' you'll find in those facebook groups are largely really nice people. Provided you're not asking someone to work for free 'for exposure' or 'portfolio building', you'll be fine. Even if someone doesn't directly spell out what you need to do to add IAP, for example, there's a good chance someone has come across a fantastic tutorial in the dark depths of the net that they can link you to, and save you time.

Mobile games, especially the android market, can be really hard...not going to lie. I'm glad you are getting personal value out of game development, but do a regular stocktake to make sure you're still enjoing what you're doing. Find something unique to inject into your games - maybe it's the graphics, maybe it's a gameplay feature - and sing that from the rooftops! Reviewers love being able to say "It's like [this other popular game] but better because [x]"

Nice quality information. Thanks for sharing.

 

[MofAges]

@Carol Andrei I hope that you didn't stop your hustle

As indie dev I know how much frustrated you can be about future .....

Firstly , you must have a plan or at least "promotion goals" for new app . As I read your post I can see you're very new into this and you want to take big $$$ ,pretty quick, as many others which we saw in this section .

Reality is a bit different , without promotion /buying installs / get reviews / more promotions will achieve little or nothing .Then most of people telling here its not worth it ... but this isn't truth neither .

Dispute saturation in almost every niche on GP , you can make amazing results with your new and get decent income .
You "just" need to change your perspective of thinking and working .
Explore more options about free and cheap promotions for your app , you have tons of topics here .
And about budget thing ... for my first project I had around 200$ , which few years ago was also small budget and resulting income x200 bigger then investment .

 

[souljaboydraco]

@Carol Andrei I hope that you didn't stop your hustle

As indie dev I know how much frustrated you can be about future .....

Firstly , you must have a plan or at least "promotion goals" for new app . As I read your post I can see you're very new into this and you want to take big $$$ ,pretty quick, as many others which we saw in this section .

Reality is a bit different , without promotion /buying installs / get reviews / more promotions will achieve little or nothing .Then most of people telling here its not worth it ... but this isn't truth neither .

Dispute saturation in almost every niche on GP , you can make amazing results with your new and get decent income .
You "just" need to change your perspective of thinking and working .
Explore more options about free and cheap promotions for your app , you have tons of topics here .
And about budget thing ... for my first project I had around 200$ , which few years ago was also small budget and resulting income x200 bigger then investment .

is it possible to make money with mobile games still if done properly going into 2021?

 

[Dego67]

is it possible to make money with mobile games still if done properly going into 2021?

yes is possible

 

[nakamura]

Okay, here we go:

Making "good" mobile games is difficult. Why? Because there are many things to consider. Example:

- niche
- gameplay
- retention
- overall quality
- the idea behind the game
- player motivation

Monetizing the game is even harder. Why? Because you need to figure out when to show ads, how many ads to show, and what kinda ads to show. Example:

- if your users start the game and the first thing they see is an interstitial ad, they are going to close this game instantly
- Video reward ads to collect coins/points/gems/life are a good way to make players want to watch advertising (also, video rewards are the most paying ad units!)


How are you going to learn all these things? Two ways:
- checking how other games with similar gameplay are doing it
or
- reading blogs and case studies (there are many!)

 

[hh2489]

but you have your game in play store? tell me what it is and I'll try it

 

[Caius Julius Caesar]

So i need advice from someone who has deal with this before, what kinda money did you make form ya games or apps

Hey man.

I had a few games on my google play account: a few "endless platformer' type games and a 2D platformer.
I worked more than 1 year on the 2D platformer.... at first I did all the work myself but later a friend of mine who works for a big game company helped me with the graphics ( he is an graphic artist ). The game looked gorgeous in my opinion and was fun to play... it was kinda like Lep's World and Rayman.

I published it on Google Play in June 2020 and then I tried to promote it on sites like reddit and such... unfortunately for some reason on most of those sites my posts were unallowed or deleted... so I made a youtube account and twitter and I tried to promote there but to no avail. In 4 months I had like 10 downloads, all from the friends... I made 0 money
I even posted on the engine forum hoping to get some reactions but nope.

I was so discouraged and mad that even though I worked so hard, I deleted all of them. All my work went down the drain.

So, I think is not that important if the game looks good or not. It seems the most important thing is the marketing.

There are games that look like completely shit, but have millions of downloads...I've seen games made with free graphics resources you can find on internet that have millions of downloads on Google Play....

I thought of giving up...but I have regained my confidence back and I'm already working on another games.
This time I'm not gonna stop until I became successful no matter what.

its a pretty shit game not gonna lie, the art its kinda shit (pixelart)

I'm afraid its not gonna make me any money and ive wasted so much time on this while i could've done something more productive, i have no idea; should i finish it or trow it in the trash.

Look man, it is very hard to make money or have success with your first game. Rovio made 52 games until they hit it big with Angry Birds.
If you like what you do, if videogames are your passion then you should not give up.
If you only want to make quick money with a phone game... well, that's very hard.

 

[Moneo]

maybe you will think about waste time for your first app but first app is very hard to make money. just do and never give up. Later try second app. man