Some Success with Gamesalad!
JustMe74
Member, PRO Posts: 542
Thanks to (mostly) everyone in this forum for being very helpful, and especially to @tshirtbooth and @FryingBaconStudios for their great tutorial websites. I went from just exploring GS as a prototype tool in March to releasing a full game with it this month. My game was released on the 5th, and so far, sales have paid for my Apple Developer License and Gamesalad Pro membership, and it continues to sell. This small success has encouraged me to continue with the other two apps I'm working on (an interactive story book and a word game).
If anyone is curious, my app is Pin's Penguin Puzzler, and it's available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac as well as Android (on Google Play, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble). I've had most success with the iPad, Mac, and Amazon versions. Google Play and Barnes and Noble have so far been a real disappointment -- maybe B&N will be better with the Nook specific storybook app I'm releasing next. Most of the reviews and emails I've gotten from players (and you can see a pretty good review here: http://www.theiphoneappreview.com/2012/06/pins-penguin-puzzler-ipad-app-review/ and here: http://bestappsforkids.com/2012/06/pins-penguin-puzzler-hd/) have noted the difficulty and loading times as a weakness. I plan to release an update addressing the difficulty, but the loading times would be hard to fix without completely re-engineering the game. However, this as much of a problem with the way I designed as it is with GS; had I used tables to build the levels, and put the level select and main menu screens on one scene, it would have been a lot faster. Maybe the GS LUA-free update will help a bit, whenever that comes out.
Anyway, I just wanted to post this to encourage people who might be on the fence about using GS as a serious tool, or might be getting discouraged about finishing an app; my game is not nearly as polished as it should have been, and with very little marketing, it still sold (and is selling) decently. With a more polished game and a little more marketing effort, there is no reason that you can't publish a hit game with GS. I know I learned a lot from making this one, and I am pretty sure that the next two are going to be a million times better.
I had been on the fence about using Stencyl or maybe Corona for the next two games, but after this experience (despite the 0.93 bugs fiasco) I think I'll stick to GS for the time being.
Anyway, kudos to the GS team (especially @LaurenSalad and @SaladStraightShooter for being up front and visible in the forum) and this forum community -- please get the LUA free version out as quickly as possible though!
If anyone is curious, my app is Pin's Penguin Puzzler, and it's available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac as well as Android (on Google Play, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble). I've had most success with the iPad, Mac, and Amazon versions. Google Play and Barnes and Noble have so far been a real disappointment -- maybe B&N will be better with the Nook specific storybook app I'm releasing next. Most of the reviews and emails I've gotten from players (and you can see a pretty good review here: http://www.theiphoneappreview.com/2012/06/pins-penguin-puzzler-ipad-app-review/ and here: http://bestappsforkids.com/2012/06/pins-penguin-puzzler-hd/) have noted the difficulty and loading times as a weakness. I plan to release an update addressing the difficulty, but the loading times would be hard to fix without completely re-engineering the game. However, this as much of a problem with the way I designed as it is with GS; had I used tables to build the levels, and put the level select and main menu screens on one scene, it would have been a lot faster. Maybe the GS LUA-free update will help a bit, whenever that comes out.
Anyway, I just wanted to post this to encourage people who might be on the fence about using GS as a serious tool, or might be getting discouraged about finishing an app; my game is not nearly as polished as it should have been, and with very little marketing, it still sold (and is selling) decently. With a more polished game and a little more marketing effort, there is no reason that you can't publish a hit game with GS. I know I learned a lot from making this one, and I am pretty sure that the next two are going to be a million times better.
I had been on the fence about using Stencyl or maybe Corona for the next two games, but after this experience (despite the 0.93 bugs fiasco) I think I'll stick to GS for the time being.
Anyway, kudos to the GS team (especially @LaurenSalad and @SaladStraightShooter for being up front and visible in the forum) and this forum community -- please get the LUA free version out as quickly as possible though!
Comments
Did you do any marketing?
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http://jamie-cross.net/posts/ ✮ Udemy: Introduction to Mobile Games Development ✮ Learn Mobile Game Development in One Day Using Gamesalad ✮ My Patreon Page
How many downloads you are getting daily?
I'd rather not discuss the #'s publicly right now. I will write a post-mortem for this game when the sales slow down that gives more insight on how it did financially. I won't be quitting my day job, but in a week it has sold "many hundreds" of copies on all platforms.
iPad, Mac, and Amazon seem to be the highest sellers overall by a huge margin right now. the iPhone version is just doing "ok" and the other Android outlets (Google Play - 2 sales.. lol and Barnes & Noble - 30 sales.. haha) are a real disappointment. They are an order of magnitude lower than any other individual channel.
I'm surprised that my Android version has sold very many though -- there are some sound issues on a lot of the devices when more than one sound effect triggers. I mitigated this a little by removing some sound effects, but it's still choppy. Runs great with sound off though!
Right on the front page of the Mac App Store in the Games / Kids category (watch out Rovio!) :
Clearly people are looking for Mac games. I might start making it my primary platform over iOS. My sales for iOS are respectable, but not as consistent as this. With a game specifically targeted to Mac OS I think I could do really well in sales.
Jamie
http://jamie-cross.net/posts/ ✮ Udemy: Introduction to Mobile Games Development ✮ Learn Mobile Game Development in One Day Using Gamesalad ✮ My Patreon Page
@JustMe74
Excellent news; well done! As you say, clearly people are looking for Mac Games (and penguins... ;-) ) Here's hoping sales continue for a long time for you. :-)
""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps
I bought a very rough draft of this game from @tenrdrmr (one of the "Sous Chefs" here), which had the basic mechanics already done. Creating the graphics and 60 levels took the most time. It was about a month long project.
In retrospect, there are a lot of things I would have done differently, but I'm not making any major updates to it right now (I am, however, fixing bugs as they are found by customers). It was a good learning experience. I have two other projects in the works right now.
The Mac version is continuing to sell very well (10-20 copies a day), but the Android & iOS versions seem to have run their course. I released a free version for the iPhone that has 15 levels and ads, and it did boost my sales a teeny bit. I might make a 60 level free version for iOS that is ad supported.