Text based games aiming for $1000/month

Hey guys! I just wrote this for another forum, but thought I'd do the same here. Hope that's ok!

- What I do
I run a text based mafia game based on the script mccode. I bought the script for about $100 and I've modified it a lot, and also made the game available as an android app. I'm good with php, mysql, java and other languages so it was quite easy to set everything up.


- How I make money
The way these games make money is when the players donate/buy ingame goods. This can be done with paypal donations (most common), mobile (sms) donations or with incentivized offers they have to complete. I'm doing all of the mentioned. I've got paypal donations ready, ZayPay for mobile donations and TrialPay ready soon to let me players complete offers to get ingame goods. I found this great example of a guy making $2.5k/month with a game like this - in case you don't believe me. He was using paypal donations only.


- Current status as of May 1.th
I've got around 10 players active daily, but none of them are donators so far. There are more than 500 players who have logged in to the game the last 45 days. That tells me I gotta make the game easier to understand for new players, so that they'll stay longer. So that's one thing I'm working on right now.


- Advertising
I've spent some money on admob which worked pretty well, and some money with appbrain that wasn't good at all. I don't have more money to spend right now, but I'm looking at using game advertising networks like game-advertising-online when I get more money.


So ask me any questions or give me suggestions, guys. I'll keep updating this if you're interested. And shoot me a PM if you want to work with me on a game, I'm looking for cool people to work with.

keep us updated, neat idea.

Panther28 said:

keep us updated, neat idea.

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Thanks man. If anyone has ideas on what I can do to advertise I'd really appriciate it. I have some ideas but they'll have to wait until I get more money to spend.

Great Idea of the game. Keep us posted on this one. try offermobi as well. they reputable company

imperial444 said:

Great Idea of the game. Keep us posted on this one. try offermobi as well. they reputable company

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Thanks for the suggestion! Didn't know about them. Looks like they're offering 50 free installs for new advertisers - gonna check that out.

Good luck pal, seems like an interesting journey. Will be following closely

Interesting. Subscribed.

Looks like people are interested in starting games of their own. Here are some suggestions for a script:
- MCCODE, mafia game. The first version is free (but buggy). I recommend paying for it.
- ezrpg. A nice engine to start a game with. Check the git: https://github.com/ezrpg/ezrpg
- New world engine. Both free/paid versions. Haven't tried it but it looks good. http://www.nw-engine.com/
- Gangster legends. Free, and it's a really cool script. http://www.glscript.net/
- Try searching "mmorpg" on sourceforge and github - lots of results!

Note tho: You won't get very far with text based games if you don't know basic php and mysql.

Seems like a great journey
Subbed
Will you share a link to ur game? here or in pm?
maybe i'd play it)) love text games

mak3r said:

Seems like a great journey
Subbed
Will you share a link to ur game? here or in pm?
maybe i'd play it)) love text games

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No, for the usual reasons I'm not sharing the link to my game. It wouldn't help you anyhow as I've written everything I've done in here, and I plan to keep on doing so.

A mini-update: I've ordered a new google play description of my app from a fiverr-gig. Also I'm learning more about optimizing my game listing in the play store.

sumusikooo said:

If you want to advertise your game I'd be up for the job for the right price

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Send me a PM if you think I'm interested

Don't believe all those Flippa listings. Anyway, good luck with 100% whitehat method.

biglia said:

Don't believe all those Flippa listings. Anyway, good luck with 100% whitehat method.

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I'll believe it until I prove it wrong with my own game Thanks!

Seems pretty cool, I've looked into running a browser game in the past, interested in seeing how yours goes. Good luck.

dnenb said:

I'll believe it until I prove it wrong with my own game Thanks!

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That's true. Always try it by yourself. It's better than sitting and doing nothing.

Sounds like an interesting strategy, keep us updated!

baur228 said:

Are there any alternatives out there where you can give users tokens or points for doing surveys? Only one I have seen is trialpay but are there any others?

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There are tons of other net works with these offer walls and incentive offers that could work. I've only tried trialpay so far, but I'm looking at options.

I'm climbing a little higher in the google play rankings, but now as much as I'd like. I'm gonna try to make my players review the app but adding some notifications.

PM me your game link if its good I can do the marketing part.