Some questions before releasing my first app

News & General Discussion
1

Hello,

I’m developing a mobile puzzle game, it’s my first game made with Unity.

I’m halfway through the development and i started to think about monetization and in-app purchasing.

Since I have no experience with this kind of things i was hoping someone could help me and answer my questions.

The game is playable and all the core game-play mechanics are finished. I just need to add more levels. For now 60 are completed, my goal is 100 levels.

About the google developer account

1) Should I create a developer account and register for the google play store now or it’s better to wait until the game is ready for release?

About monetization system

The game is very simple, there isn’t a “undo” option, only a complete reset of the level. There are no “Lives” either.
The player has to think carefully about every move since one error can prevent the level to be completed.
There is no “character”, players interact with environment objects, so skins and cosmetics are not possible.

I am not sure which monetization system is better.

My initial idea was to publish the game for a low price (below 2€) but then i realized I don’t have resources to make Ads for the game, nor the skills to make Ads videos and marketing stuff in general.

So I think it’s better to release the game for free with Ads.

In my experience with mobile games, pop-up Ads are generally annoying because they interrupt the game experience.

I saw there are different ways to implement Ads in the game, for example the player choose to watch an Ad and get something in-game, but most of them rely on a shop system based on in-game resources, or lifes, or cosmetics.

My only idea was to insert Ads between level transitions screens, or a banner, but I’m not sure what is better.

2) Any suggestion on how I can implement Ads in my game?

Thanks

2

Most games on Google Play are free, making your game free isn’t a replacement for marketing and isn’t going to generate installs on its own. There is no getting around the fact that you will need to market your game in some form.

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Have you started thinking about marketing too? Because it’s completely irrelevant how good your monetization is if no one plays the game. Android alone has more than one hundred thousand apps per month released. You’ll just be buried if you don’t have a marketing strategy.

With that said it’s good that you decided to release it for free with ads because to be blunt almost no one tries to sell the actual game itself and that includes large studios that would normally sell games on PC for $60. You just can’t make enough money selling the app itself to justify it. Ads and in-app purchases make far more money.

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I don’t really think it makes a difference. Creating one now might give you the opportunity of getting more familiar with how it works though.

With rare exceptions - paid-apps are usually a very poor ROI.

You can implement them however you like to be honest - it depends on your creativity and some research.

  1. The first thing you should do is implement analytics into your game.

https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/UnityAnalytics.html

This is pretty much a “must” as you need it to track statistics, engagement etc. For example, you could test two ad formats and see which one generates more revenue based on the analytic results.

  1. Then there is Google-provided resources specifically for publishing on the play store
  1. Checkout UDP (Unity Distribution Portal) if you are interested in publishing on as many stores as possible.

https://unity.com/products/unity-distribution-portal

  1. Literally a knowledgebase for Unity Ads

https://unityads.unity3d.com/help/index#:~:text=Unity Ads is a comprehensive,the world’s largest gaming community.

  1. Download other free games in the same genre/similar to your game and check out the ad tactics they use.

  2. Youtube

  3. See what Google says about monetization
    https://developer.android.com/distribute/best-practices/earn/monetization-options

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Thanks all for the answers.

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Sorry to bump this up again but i have another question i forgot to answer.

For the google developer console should i create a new email address?
Google suggest me to use my gmail account that I use for many things now.

It’s to us e anew account like GameName.at.gmail.com or i can use mine with myname.lastname.at.gmail.com ?

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It’s up to you, but I’d say use your everyday Gmail account.

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Even if my everyday email name is…unprofessional, like qwerty11111 ?
I was thinking something like gamename.support@gmail.com ?

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any @gmail address is non-professional. I mean you could try and make it look nicer as you said “gamename.support@gmail.com” but unless you have “support@website.com” then it’s always going to be “unprofessional”, right?

Also, there are other ways to look at this. When your email is “faceless-corporation@company.com” then:

  1. users can often be more harsh in reviews because “it’s a company - not a person”
  2. you miss out on people tempering their expectations for solo devs.

I’m not saying your email should be “ToastMan0090@gmail.com” but I don’t think it’s too important in the grand scheme of things.

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It’s worth mentioning that the email address you’re registering with won’t be the email address that’s listed on the product page.

(see ‘Developer information shown to users on Google Play’)

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I see, thanks

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let us know when your app already realease :slight_smile:

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Just like to know or ask, did you import Google admob and Google play service for your monetization, leaderboards, etc.

If so, have you encountered errors?

I’am also about to publish, but hit an obstacle(errors).

Also want to know did you do an internal testing?

Have you checked if your App is 64bit?

Because the 64bit surprise me when I uploaded for testing.

Thanks

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Opt-in rewarded video ads at a natural break in the game, such as when the player completes a level, will provide the best user experience. The trick is making the ‘reward’ desirable to the player, they need to know the value of what they are watching the ad for.

If you can’t think of a desirable reward, then perhaps forcing a user to watch a video interstitial, or just a standard interstitial might be the better option.

A good IAP to have is to allow players to purchase a ‘no-ads’ option, so they get the reward automatically if possible.

Don’t forget to implement some analytics, to know what your players are doing in-game, this is really important.

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You are right, maybe professional wasn’t the right word to describe what i intended. I was trying to say that if the emal is ToastMan0090@ or k459fe3@ the app might not be considered serious and it can be a bad application to install. I don’t know how much the users look into the app description but i always look those information as well as the application access requests. But you have a point about the email

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I did not implemented Google play service yet but I intend to do so mostly because of the cloud save service. I’ll still have to look at it but my idea is to make it optional since i want my game to be playable offline too.

I implemented the unity analytics and ads packages but i have some problem with them and i am trying to figure them out.

For testing i usually create a build, install it on my phone and see how it works. In unity dashboard I added my device to the list of testing device to avoid possible fraud about ads.

I didnt tested from google playstore yet

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Thanks.
My game is a puzzle game, i already implemented interstitial ad between levels. I want to add some rewarded ads but i can’t think of something the would be in line with the game. I thought about a “undo move” button, but it’s hard for me do implement because I am still learning the engine and programming.

I know i could create some lifes based system or money or items, but I want to avoid those

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Thanks for the reply.

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I got to ask, what is your main goal about the app? Well for me is to get a lot of install and play time. So the ads would be efficient.

But of course what do we do make users play longer. Do we entise then with false advertising?

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My main goal is to entertain people, I implemented the ads so i can earn some money out of it, but since it’s my first app i don’t really care about money that much, i just want people to like my game and have fun playing it.