Something I miss: The success
DGApp
Member Posts: 25
I have five games up (+1 in Review +1 in work) and currently I sell 2 a day for all five games. I know they are not the best ones (I'm working with GS for less than a month), but I wish I could get more sales. On my best day I sold 6 but on all the others between 0-3 and my oldest apps sell nothing.
http://itunes.apple.com/artist/david-georgi/id422950384
Tell me what you think
PS: Please don't say something like: "Put more work on your games"
I will! Thats not the problem...but I want to get something back.
http://itunes.apple.com/artist/david-georgi/id422950384
Tell me what you think
PS: Please don't say something like: "Put more work on your games"
I will! Thats not the problem...but I want to get something back.
Comments
- get some better fonts, paid are best but fonts4mac.com are all free and pretty good.
- try to add some sense of story or purpose to your games, they kinda lack personality. Maybe some characters.
- don't use GS fonts in game, custom font scores are easy to do and look 100 times more professional
- perhaps a bit more depth to your games, the descriptions and screenshots are clear but don't strike me as being too much fun
- graphics are all very basic, your screenshots and icon are your only real selling tool for people browsing the app store, if they don't look really proffesional then people will buy something that does for the same money
- as much as you don't want to hear it :-) take more time. 5 games in a month tells me they were done quick. All the things above are what takes the time. Polish it, polish again and then a bit more til it's perfect.
Hope that doesn't sound too harsh, but it's my feeling having looked at them.
Second one is, you need to hire a graphic designer, your games are probably fun and all, but they don't look like it.. just good gameplay doesn't cut it on appstore..
also, what are you doing for your marketing?
Maybe put some of them up for free? That way you'll get attention to your other games..
There is something i would like to know...
What is the most important selling-factor?
Game Quality? Marketing? Or only luck?
and:
Can you really boost sells when you make an update which really improve a game in all categories (graphic, fun, levels)?
All of the looks really basic.
I think the beast advice is:
"Put more work on your games" and hire an artist/buy good clipart(just make sure you end up with an consistent style).
I think you should focus on quality , not quantity.
In the latter topic, I said, The first person to devise a consistent, winning app-selling strategy will be king!
I doubt it would hurt sales if you put out an update but I also wouldn't really expect a huge boost either. It seems like most of an app "fame" happens within the first week of release. I could be wrong though.
The quality of your game will get customers to buy or look out for your other apps, get them recommending it to their friends, and get you good reviews (or avoiding bad ones).
I think equally as important though is your icon design, screenshots and description. After all, these are the only things we can control in the selling process and it's these factors that will 'convert' a viewer on your app's page in the store and generate a sale.
I do my best with icon and screenshots (and graphics generally, but the problem is I haven't got money for professional software (because I'm 15, so @dhondon I can't hire an artist or pay for graphics
We worked 3 months on our game (http://shadow-embryo.com/games/saucer-44/) and it earned us 8$ each:) A bit depressing, but we had fun. That why we'll continue to make game, money is just an really nice bonus. It's not a waste of time, you'll gain experience for each game you make( unless you're just re-skinning GS templates or worse).
To give you an analogy. If you want to bake a cake you have to have all the correct ingredients. Sure, if you choose to miss out an important ingredient then you will still get something in the end, but it's not going to be all that appealing to someone who wants to buy it.
If you can't put in the required elements to your games then sales won't happen. It seems to be every week someone asks why their games are not selling. The answer is always one of comparison. Look at how other 99c games look (the ones that do sell), can you compete with these? If not then sales will, of course, be a large order of magnitude less.
A good description is not really going to help much.
There is one thing I really would like to know:
How long was your way until your average sales become two-digit?
But as mentioned by others, with money as the motivator it is too tempting to release quick games to try and make a buck. Take time and care for a much better game. Even better, take time away from game making to learn some graphics and art skills.
Thanks a lot for your great advices, answering my questions and that you take your time to help me.
Let's see what the time brings
Unitl then
Greetings from Germany
You have been working with Gamesalad for less than a month......but have 7(?) games "completed" right?....wow!
You really need to concentrate on adding quality, and adding value to your games, THAT will help you to get people to buy them. If they look a bit half arsed and unfinished, punters will give their 99c to something that looks better/more interesting.
You don't HAVE to release everything you make... I have a load of games that are anywhere between 50 and 90% complete here, but they are just not up to scratch for what I want to release.
That said....there is an element of luck involved with getting sales too.
But as said by others...if getting paid is your main incentive for making games, you will start to lose focus on what matters in game design.
I'd personally go with what Stusapps says - indeed, he's right about most things. Listen to the guy - he knows what he's talking about!
Firstly, congrats on getting five games out!
Making games is hard work. GameSalad makes it a lot of fun, but still… it's hard work.
Some people here have created a nice little niche for themselves. Butterbean makes attractive apps for kids. Tshirt makes cool little puzzle games that take advantage of GameSalad's physics engine. Stusapps makes games that will appeal to the widest possible demographic (just look at his graphics - high quality and attractive).
Their games, by and large, don't naturally appeal to me. However, they are generally very well made, very polished, work, and appeal to a large amount of people and therefore sell well. Take a look at what they make, and compare your games with theirs.
My own 'niche' is retro. It's games I used to play at your age, and still enjoy. I worked it out. My games appeal to about .0003% of the total installed iOS base (and that's being generous).
And that's fine. Because I'm making games I want to make, and I'm having a blast doing it!
Some people here are full on delusional though. They totally believe they have the next great hit, will make thousands of dollars, and then are disappointed when their game(s) flops.
I'm all for positive thinking, but a little critical thought is needed to create some balance.
Is my game honestly good enough to compete with the best on the app store?
Can I charge the same amount of money as other similar titles on the app store?
Is there a point of difference between my game and others like it?
Do the graphics pull people in? Do they look professional?
Does the game work ok? Have I tested and tested and tested it?
Have I put the customer first?
The last one is the most important. If you make a lot of sub-standard games, you're essentially 'conning' the audience out of their money. I've seen plenty of people do it, and not just those using GameSalad, I hasten to add.
This is not the way to build a sustainable business/reputation.
People come here thinking they will make the next best-selling game. The truth is, in all likelihood, they won't.
iAds and in-app-purchases will not save you. I've overlooked (or quickly deleted) plenty of free games because they have ads in them, or relied on in-app-purchases. Indeed, I shudder to think what will happen once IAP's become available in GameSalad. If the more 'mature' people making games with Corona are turning out buggy, crashy games with horrible in-app-purchase solutions, I can't imagine the clusterf**k coming when *we* all get it…
Rant over, honest! I don't want this to sound overly negative though. So have a think about this:
I've been doing this for two years. My first proper 'hit' if you will is Air Supply, my most recent game. It's not made a lot at all, but it's doing ok, and far better than my other titles combined.
Compare that with my first games, Singularity Drive: Prologue and Bugzone, which were amongst the first ever published with GameSalad (they're both free btw).
I think that's evidence enough that if you stick at it and believe in what you're doing, you *will* get better with experience.
Or:
"Everybody makes games. Nobody quits."
Cheers for reading,
QS
Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quantum_Sheep
Web: https://quantumsheep.itch.io
Find your niche and whatever you think your best effort is... put even more into it.
Beta testing is ESSENTIAL. You can get tunnel vision as a developer too, so it's important to have an unbiased perspective
Good luck!
Let's start this different! You have one advantage and that is your age. What I mean by that is in time you too will make money and best of all, time is on your side. I am more than 30 years older than you and I can't afford to experiment as much as I'd like to but you can :-)
Here is how I would look at it if I were you.
All the time and effort you have put into your five (soon 7) games earns you about 0 to 3 Dollars.
Now imagine what would happen if you would double your effort?
For your next game, spend:
1 week researching the app store to find a plot which should do well
2 weeks of planning including drawing the levels and early artwork scotches
1 week of creating the artwork, additional assets
1 week of stringing it all together in GS
2 days of testing and fixing and tweaking
1 day to create the help and info texts
1 week or more of testing and taking notes of what your friends tell you about it
Depending on the feedback you get, you might have to start over from scratch (not uncommon) or make changes which, if you made diagrams along the way is not that much work.
Perhaps a little tweaking is all you have to do. Make buttons bigger or smaller and adjust placements of this and that.
Now imagine how much such a game will earn compared to your other ones?
Good luck! :-)
P.S. I'm a blender user too
These are potentially the games designers of the future. If they can withstand poor sales, but pick up some useful skills and knowledge, and the game making 'bug', then everyone wins
If we can help and encourage, then we should!
QS
Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quantum_Sheep
Web: https://quantumsheep.itch.io
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Really thanks to QS stunapps and all the others for the fast and nice reply. i have never thought that i would get so many and long answers. What a great GS community.
...And I think i can withstand poor sales
Yeah I skimmed over some of these comments and they seem to be along the lines of my impressions and advice too.
I haven't played your games but by the looks of them - yes they lack polish, presentability, commercial presence etc. I try to keep in mind - make a game you would want to play and have fun making it. Can you imagine others playing it? Would you buy it?
TTG
And I like the high amount of sales I get with free apps
It was more along the lines of things to think about for your future games.