To be honest, I obtained 80% of my players with ads and now, I do not spent anymore money…
I got 1 - 3 installs per day (without ads) which is really low.
So I’m trying to check what I’m doing wrong with user acquisition to correct it and I need some advises on game “marketing”.
Remember that it is a free to play game so 1000 downloads is a really low number
Is this your first game or do you already have a name?
If this was my first I would be very happy with 1000 downloads
1 download per day would be good for me
But I realise you may have different expectations
Did you do this for fun? the learning experience? or money?
I was a professional game developer during 4 years and I’m now trying to make my own games.
I was bored to work on game concepts I dislike so I’m trying to make games I appreciate.
But for sure, if this games could give me enough money to survive as an indie game dev, it will be awesome
I’m good on technical development but I’m really bad on communication and game marketing that’s why I’m trying to learn about it.
So to answer your question, I do this because it is my passion and I really want to make it last more than for one project so I need to make money with games I create :-/
It’s a mix with fun and money xD
I don’t know if there’s an answer to this, really. The game looks polished and has a neat style. I’m not really positive what kind of game it is, or if I’d be interested in playing it, but… it definitely looks “good.”
There’s a big discussion in another thread here about marketing issues. In this case, I think just being part of a flooded market is why you’re having slower performance than you’d like. You just might have to invest more in ads, maybe?*
I am not an expert and have had 0 downloads on my 0 released games.
Don’t get me wrong and don’t be offended, and I could also be completely wrong, but maybe its your trailer? Whilst it looks good, it kinda needs to quickly and snappily show you what you do in the game and the bare bones of its mechanics.
Hum, you think that the trailer doesn’t show enough of the game mechanics… It is true, there is too few minutes of gameplay to really understand the game.
I will add that to my to do list =)
Thanks for this comment.
Looks good. I understood the mechanics from the trailer, but that might be because it reminds of one of the mini games from an old xbox game called shrek super party.
Icon/graphics. All look very nice/polished
Video: Shows gameplay across multiple levels, has sound fx, etc - looks generally well produced
Whats bad:
Gameplay looks boring. All I got out of it was you tap bugs on the screen. Maybe there’s more?
Video looks like it has low fps. If I saw a video that was laggy, I sure wouldnt download it.
IAP. $1 - $105… $105? really? What on earth do you think is worth that much?
Description could use some more meat to it.
Arcade: Arcade is a flooded category. I would try a different category if you can find one that suits
Its generally a better effort than a lot of crud you see released on the store, so that’s a good thing. Dont expect to live off the profits of it though. I’ve made about $150 with hardkour, which has 23k downloads currently, and has been out for most of a year.
Hi James,
Glutton Leon gameplay is based on colors combinations and accuracy.
You have to move across a colored branch to change your body color and your hairs takes the main color of the last insect you eat.
Some insects don’t have any color and can be easily caught, others have one or two colors so you have to use your brain quickly.
Some insects got shields or drop seeds which stun you and you will encounter magic flowers and spiders to change the gameplay.
All of this in 6 different game modes (which are just gameplay alternatives).
It is clearly not a AAA game but just a basic mobile arcade game you can play in toilets :X
For InApp, it depends of the quantity of virtual money you want. You don’t have to buy the 105$ to play the game but if someone wants it, here it is…
Thanks for your comments about the categories.
I’m working on a new game and I’m looking for a 3D graphist ^^
But I feel sad to see so few downloads on this game :-/
Okay, those mechanics actually sound rather fun, but sadly I couldn’t see any of that from the trailer
Try redoing your trailer, maybe the name (not sure here, what does anybody else think?) and tweak the landing page
I don’t think the game is the problem, rather your communication to the consumers of what the game is
Never noticed the dude changing color (admittedly I didnt even realise he was a chameleon). If possible, I would make it so more than his belly changes color.
And put some of those other details into your store page so users know that its more than just a bugs on screen clicker.
However, the biggest issue I see is that I don’t see who this game is marketed to. It has a 3+ age rating, so is it kids? The artwork looks a bit scary, and the character doesn’t look close to cute for this, so I doubt any kids/parents would play it. I don’t know about most adults, but this certainly doesn’t look fun to me based on the little bits of game play I can see in the video, so right away it looks like you have no target market.
You clearly have development skill here, but I don’t really see what can be done to save this project, as it looks flawed from the start. Maybe I’m completely wrong, but it looks like you began with the concept of a cute character (e.g. like Cut The Rope has), designed some scenery based on this character, shoehorned some game play in, and then wondered where your users were at. In my opinion you should begin with a list of concepts you find fun/passionate, cut out the ones that would take too long, and then run these remaining ideas by some people to find out which has the most potential, and then develop that. I say this because I don’t really see how someone with professional game development experience can exit the industry to make a bug catching game like this, usually they make something really out of the box/innovative, or produce a new take on some popular game/genre they’ve already had experience with.
Well… So first of all, sorry if I don’t make something “really out of the box/innovative” or if I don’t “produce a new take on some popular game/genre” I have already had experience with.
I start creating this game with a so “basic and non innovative concept” because it looks easy and fast enough to develop it alone in 2 months.
The main constraint was to develop something fast and alone. It was clearly not the “game of my life” or a game I was waiting for years but a game to make a try.
So it starts with the basic gameplay concept and not the visual.
Then I ask for some help to a 2D graphist friend because I’m not a graphist… And he creates this funny chameleon.
The game is marketed for all audiences. Bugs are cute and I don’t think the chameleon looks scary.
It’s really interesting that you feel the chameleon a bit scary, it is something nobody never say to me and it’s maybe true for a part of the audience.
The video is clearly not the best marketing video it is true : not enough fun gameplay shown and half of the video is totaly useless.
The name is too long and not memorable, it is true.
People playing the game like the gameplay but ask me to reduce the difficulty.
The retention percent is not so bad.
I got some elements to change now and I thank you for that.
PS : Working on the game industry doesn’t mean you are good at Marketing / 2D graphhics / 3D graphics / Animations / Development / Project management / Communication / and all the jobs relative to the game industry.
But maybe your are a game industry chameleon
There’s nothing wrong with making a game that isn’t innovative, or doesn’t have a new take on some genre, but your whole post was basically asking for reasons why you didn’t get as many downloads as you’d have liked, and to me that seems like the obvious reason.
The 3+ rating is a complete non-issue. That just means theres no content that could offend children. Doesnt mean thats the target audience (although in this case, might be).
RakeshPrakesh : I thank you for your help but the end of your last paragraph was more about a personal judgement =)
JamesLeeNZ : Yes, the rating is only about legality and clearly not about target audience ! It only look at the violence and sexual content. It’s not about gameplay
