game size?

milkywaystudios

Just wondering if my game is currently 32meg now in project file mode, how much will it be when compressed to be released, I am worrying I am only half way through atm and cant think a user would download a large game.

thanks

Socks

@milkywaystudios said:
Just wondering if my game is currently 32meg now in project file mode, how much will it be when compressed to be released . . . .

That depends on lots of factors, it could be bigger (for example with the addition of non-Retina x1 assets), generally speaking projects sizes increase on publishing.

@milkywaystudios said:
I am worrying I am only half way through atm and cant think a user would download a large game.

Games of 1,000MB+ often top the App Store charts, I regularly download updates (just the update not the actual app) that are bigger than 32MB . . . examples:

My Talking Tom - update 124MB
Adode Fix - update 82.MB
Paper (53) - update 94.2MB
. . . etc etc

And like I say, these are just the updates !

Examples of current apps that are currently riding high in the App Store charts that people have no issue at all with downloading in their tens of thousands:

Angry Birds 2 - 305MB
Mystery Trackers - 929MB
Minecraft Story Mode - 1,030MB (1.03GB)
Jurassic World - 343MB
Lego Jurassic World - 1,010MB (1.01GB)
Laybrinths of the World - 1,820MB (1.82GB)
. . . etc etc

So . . . I think the idea of making a game as small as possible might not always be applicable, each year internet speeds increase, device storage increases, free Wi-Fi is increasingly everywhere, Apple continue to increase their mobile download size and so on.

I've actually sat with a bunch of 7,8 and 9 years olds going through the App Store looking for games, and one of the reasons they'd reject a game (or choose one game over another) is because it was too 'small', to them a 500MB SpiderMan game suggested they were getting more - and the game was going to be better - than a 22MB SpiderMan game.

I expect the same psychology is at work whereby a £120 pair of Nike branded trainers are more desirable than the identical shoe from the same factory, made by the same people, that might struggle to sell for £19.99 (if anyone wants them at all).

I'd actually argue for larger game sizes ! If I'd made a game that was only 9MB, I'd probably pad it out with unused image assets to 50MB or so !

Of course if you are making casual games they can often be a lot smaller - and in this instance it's probably worth aiming to come in under the mobile download limit (100MB I think?) if you don't compromise your game too much, other than that I think app size is becoming something of a moot point (within reason).

milkywaystudios

wow AWEOME info thank you so much for taking your own time to write back to me with this info!¬

The_Gamesalad_Guru

@milkywaystudios said:
wow AWEOME info thank you so much for taking your own time to write back to me with this info!¬

Plus now cell download is up to 100mb