Hi guys,
I know you want to know how is Roll Turtle going on,
As a indie developer, I have to say it is a really hard time.
Roll Turtle, which has IOS feature front page in 116 country,
just has only 2400 download in the first 2 month.
I have to say,
It is really hard time for me.
even Roll Turtle got apple Featured, gamesalad game of the month, some indie game award, I saw Touch Arcade reviewed "Rush Rally2" and "Pinball Breaker", I don't know why Touch Arcade skip "Roll Turtle".
I think if they play it, they will love "Roll Turtle" just like you guys
Media/press review or report is very important,
But Roll Turtle don't get any press review.
here is Roll Turtle downloaded chart,
left Small hill is apple featured, when featured is end, download is stop,
roll turtle release on 5/19, first week is 2000 downloads,
and now total downloads is 2400 downloads.
yes, first week, apple featured make 2000 downloads,
and when apple featured end, 2 month just 400 downloads,
No Apple Featured,No Media/Press report and review,
It means that no one can know Roll Turtle,
even it is a great game.
I feel depressed, low self-esteem, jealousy and fear.
Jealous will make people become cynical,
"Why they(other game) could have such good result?"
"Why they(other game) could have Touch Arcade review?"
This is a very bad state.
Roll Turtle is a bad game?
I ask myself this month every day,
Feeling like my heart was digging a hole, very painful.
But now I began to be understood and accepted.
Any creation all have the same nature,
Good game =/= Many people download.
good creation just basic.
and don't complain, just keep going.
player review support me stand up,
it's really touch my heart,
I read it, and rethink my life,
I love to do this,
even if the pain is accompanied
I still love to create games.
5/5 Star by app store player review.
"This is one of those excellent puzzle games that might fall under the radar unless it's featured. This is certainly not a baby's game. With similar mechanics to Roll in the Hole, there is a lot more challenge because you need to find a star in the level. You need to complete the level by a certain time. You get gold by doing either one of these. If you manage to accomplish to get all 3 eggs, get a star, and beat the time in the same run, you get a gold crown. These are perfect goals for completionists. A fun and well polished game for all ages with no IAPs."
byDonny K76 - May 20, 2016
"This game is actually really cool! At first I thought it would be easy to play, but after about five levels, I realized it would take a lot more skill. The graphics are great, with an excellent parallax background effect, but it's the intentionality behind the level design that really gets me excited. While not as important, the game's sound is quite unique, very modern yet it feels kind of old school too. I definitely recommend."
byrainmaker101
I read every reviews,
They soothe my heart.
thank you guys support,
I can come back to dev work now, and here is this week's work.
The localization of RollTurtle is in progress.
The iOS version will support multiple languages in next update.
and Android version will release this month.
Once again,Thank you guys with me, thank you gs forums.
@kirafu thanks so much for sharing this information, it is incredibly kind of you. You made a fantastic game, it is unfortunate that the sales don't reflect that.
It is actually a very good game, but I think the only reason you didn't have tons of downloads is because of the pricing. Even though $3 is a good price for your game, not too many people buy games on the AppStore. People only download free games for the most part. For example, the only paid game I have bought from the AppStore in months is your game. This is the only reason in my eyes that your game didn't get a massive amount of downloads.
I actually bought this game and gave a good review 5 stars!! One thing bothering me was the loading time on iPhone. Besides that I can't think of one thing bad about this game. I am sorry to hear the result. If you think of "polish" your graphics are very polished, however maybe apple had the issue about the coding part for being not polished. Gamesalad needs instant change scene. It makes a game difference.
Don't feel bad about the downloads. Yes some paid games do well, but they are usually in a different genre. Most puzzle type games like yours on the app store are free so there is a lot of competition there.
My first game Jump Jack didn't get a feature. It did get some reviews but even then it still only sold enough for me to cover Gamesalad and Apple developer costs. However player loved it and left great feedback. About 6 months later a made the game free for a weekend and got a ton of downloads so you can always do that just to get the game out there and know that people are playing it, which to me is worth it!
Great job on Roll Turtle, I still enjoy it. Your experience with downloads is very common.
It’s such a shame to see such a good game fail to make large sales numbers but unfortunately I think that’s just the state of the mobile market right now. I’ve been making games for 5 years now and things were definitely much easier when I started - but don’t give up hope yet!
Here’s what I would do if I were you:
1) Get the game out on Android as a premium priced game. I currently make more sales on Android (Google and Amazon combined) than I do on iOS.
2) After a month (once the game is no longer in the new releases charts on Android) release a free version of the game too.
It took me a long time to get used to the idea of releasing free versions and making income from advertising - but right now about 65% of my income is from ad revenue.
Use both banner ads and interstitials in the free version.
If possible build in iAP purchases, and you could always have a remove ads iAP too (though very few people seem to bother buying them!).
I find that people continue to buy the paid versions too even when there is also a free version on the stores.
Above all don’t give up, you’ve made a great game and you have a real talent.
Move on quickly and get started on your next project. Personally I try to spend no more than 3 months max on a project and so far the successes have outweighed the duds!
As everyone else has said, your game is highly professional/fun and I can't find a single thing that would deter me as a player. Regardless of how it has done, your talent is undeniable.
No matter the path you choose, you have potential to do phenomenal things whether it be in animation/graphics or as some have mentioned, smaller scale projects.
I feel you buddy. We put so much time into these games and do the most to optimize and perfect them, but we don't have the backup to promote/advertise like other companies so all our work gets unseen.
It is depressing sometimes like "what did I do wrong or how can I make this perfect game better?". But it's like making a song, video or any other entertainment item. You either have to promote intensely (aka have a large backing, spend a lot, or be pokemon), or get lucky and go viral like flappy bird somehow...
@kirafu You can always try to get in touch with some YouTubers to review your great game, do a promocode giveaway on AppPicker, create a page on itch.io or like @RossmanBrothersGames mentioned, make it free for a limited time to get more downloads and thus more exposure.
I'll have to chime in here with everyone else and echo that the game is great! Not only is it a good, fun game to play. You can tell it's made with care and crafted to perfection, as a developer and clearly a very good artist you have created something to be very very proud of.
Sadly the sate of the App Stores is that most paid games don't do well (financially) by default. People have been conditioned to expect their games, event top quality games, to be free. Which is sad and a shame. But DON'T let that fact reflect poorly on your work, the game is great, the quality is great and the attention and time you spent as a developer is something to aspire to.
@Gnarly said:
Roll Turtle is amazing game. You should be proud.
Excellent resume game. You could try and work for bigger developer company someday. Paid consultant?
Gamesalad paid developer?
You have a lot of skills.
Make smaller games quickly for some revenue?
Get part time job to help financial stress and keep making games?
Best of luck
I agree 100% with @Gnarly
Roll Turtle is an incredible game, and even more impressive when you get to say that YOU made it all on your own. This should only be the beginning on what Roll Turtle does for your life. Take Roll Turtle and turn it into a showcase of your passion and skills. You would be a great asset to a games company, and Roll Turtle is living proof.
I suggest may be since you earned a bit try spending on advertisement, may be on facebook as I see lot of mobile apps and games shows on facebook mobile, or try to advertise but keep the budget limited for each campaign so you learn where to invest on advertisement for future game and let us know , but do not skip this as I see you did not spend on advertising, you know if your game is great try advertising it in various ways and I am sure u will get great feedback, my other suggestion will try to learn from your experience, and try modifying the same game with different characters (may it mature like a solder on battlefield !! and world and try changing bit logic if you can, in this way you can recycle your work - you do not have to recreate whole game again!!
Your game is awesome but now you may want to switch gear with Marketing/Advertising and also doing a Freemium version with IAP Features.
However, I don't agree with others by doing a small project to put out a quick game to make a buck. Your game is very well polish and ppl can see that. Don't give up hope and focus on the monetizing your game. I believe your patience and hard work will pay off once you figure that out.
another sign for me that premium is dead.
Even with apple feature the download amount is small ( for the amount of exposure)
I know how hard apple tries to bring back premium..
@kirafu
I will highly advice you to go freemium.
Something like first 50% are free than you have to pay. Always have a banner ticking at bot or top until the player buys the full game.
$2.99
Premium Mode
+50% of level
+Remove Ads
If you can contact someone that helped you with reviews or similar they could also write a second time about your game telling about the change.
My free game Creepy makes every day 1000 to 2000 Downloads on Android. (ofc they do not give me $2.99 each, they give me a cent)
I do have ads but now also will offer some bonus levels to increase the daily in-app sales. And simply get more from each player and increase the games ARPU.
(Average revenue per user)
Hope that helps had the same emotional break down my first two games where I spend 3-4 months each and got a total of 200 Downloads for both together. Learned a lot with every app I shipped.
well, RollTurtle will update with new feature, and new app icon design, original design feeling is a baby game.
Actually, Roll Turtle is a Hard Core platformer game.
I will use plan D with iOS update and Android version first release this month.
which one is your favorite?
and I consider carry "Roll Turtle" to the steam, but it's will need more work and more feature, and maybe change game engine.
anyway, at first, release Android this month, and keep going!
thank you guys!
Hi Kirafu, I bought Roll Turtle When if first came out for my kids and they love it!
It's a fantastic game, you can tell a lot of love has gone into creating it.
I would agree the majority of people and pick, stay with the original icon.
why not do a bit of A/B testing with the icons on Google Play and see how that goes?
Comments
Hi guys,
I know you want to know how is Roll Turtle going on,
As a indie developer, I have to say it is a really hard time.
Roll Turtle, which has IOS feature front page in 116 country,
just has only 2400 download in the first 2 month.
I have to say,
It is really hard time for me.
even Roll Turtle got apple Featured, gamesalad game of the month, some indie game award, I saw Touch Arcade reviewed "Rush Rally2" and "Pinball Breaker", I don't know why Touch Arcade skip "Roll Turtle".
I think if they play it, they will love "Roll Turtle" just like you guys
Media/press review or report is very important,
But Roll Turtle don't get any press review.
here is Roll Turtle downloaded chart,
left Small hill is apple featured, when featured is end, download is stop,
roll turtle release on 5/19, first week is 2000 downloads,
and now total downloads is 2400 downloads.
yes, first week, apple featured make 2000 downloads,
and when apple featured end, 2 month just 400 downloads,
No Apple Featured,No Media/Press report and review,
It means that no one can know Roll Turtle,
even it is a great game.
I feel depressed, low self-esteem, jealousy and fear.
Jealous will make people become cynical,
"Why they(other game) could have such good result?"
"Why they(other game) could have Touch Arcade review?"
This is a very bad state.
Roll Turtle is a bad game?
I ask myself this month every day,
Feeling like my heart was digging a hole, very painful.
But now I began to be understood and accepted.
Any creation all have the same nature,
Good game =/= Many people download.
good creation just basic.
and don't complain, just keep going.
player review support me stand up,
it's really touch my heart,
I read it, and rethink my life,
I love to do this,
even if the pain is accompanied
I still love to create games.
5/5 Star by app store player review.
"This is one of those excellent puzzle games that might fall under the radar unless it's featured. This is certainly not a baby's game. With similar mechanics to Roll in the Hole, there is a lot more challenge because you need to find a star in the level. You need to complete the level by a certain time. You get gold by doing either one of these. If you manage to accomplish to get all 3 eggs, get a star, and beat the time in the same run, you get a gold crown. These are perfect goals for completionists. A fun and well polished game for all ages with no IAPs."
byDonny K76 - May 20, 2016
"This game is actually really cool! At first I thought it would be easy to play, but after about five levels, I realized it would take a lot more skill. The graphics are great, with an excellent parallax background effect, but it's the intentionality behind the level design that really gets me excited. While not as important, the game's sound is quite unique, very modern yet it feels kind of old school too. I definitely recommend."
byrainmaker101
I read every reviews,
They soothe my heart.
thank you guys support,
I can come back to dev work now, and here is this week's work.
The localization of RollTurtle is in progress.
The iOS version will support multiple languages in next update.
and Android version will release this month.
Once again,Thank you guys with me, thank you gs forums.
*I write dev blog more detailed for this, but I'm sorry the blog is chinese, chinese is my native language, my english is basic, so if you want, you can read it.
http://kirafugames.blogspot.tw/2016/06/0109-roll-turtle.html
@kirafu thanks so much for sharing this information, it is incredibly kind of you. You made a fantastic game, it is unfortunate that the sales don't reflect that.
It is actually a very good game, but I think the only reason you didn't have tons of downloads is because of the pricing. Even though $3 is a good price for your game, not too many people buy games on the AppStore. People only download free games for the most part. For example, the only paid game I have bought from the AppStore in months is your game. This is the only reason in my eyes that your game didn't get a massive amount of downloads.
I actually bought this game and gave a good review 5 stars!! One thing bothering me was the loading time on iPhone. Besides that I can't think of one thing bad about this game. I am sorry to hear the result. If you think of "polish" your graphics are very polished, however maybe apple had the issue about the coding part for being not polished. Gamesalad needs instant change scene. It makes a game difference.
I want you to know that your game is great!
Don't feel bad about the downloads. Yes some paid games do well, but they are usually in a different genre. Most puzzle type games like yours on the app store are free so there is a lot of competition there.
My first game Jump Jack didn't get a feature. It did get some reviews but even then it still only sold enough for me to cover Gamesalad and Apple developer costs. However player loved it and left great feedback. About 6 months later a made the game free for a weekend and got a ton of downloads so you can always do that just to get the game out there and know that people are playing it, which to me is worth it!
Great job on Roll Turtle, I still enjoy it. Your experience with downloads is very common.
www.rossmanbrosgames.com
Interesting stats - thanks for posting!
It’s such a shame to see such a good game fail to make large sales numbers but unfortunately I think that’s just the state of the mobile market right now. I’ve been making games for 5 years now and things were definitely much easier when I started - but don’t give up hope yet!
Here’s what I would do if I were you:
1) Get the game out on Android as a premium priced game. I currently make more sales on Android (Google and Amazon combined) than I do on iOS.
2) After a month (once the game is no longer in the new releases charts on Android) release a free version of the game too.
It took me a long time to get used to the idea of releasing free versions and making income from advertising - but right now about 65% of my income is from ad revenue.
Use both banner ads and interstitials in the free version.
If possible build in iAP purchases, and you could always have a remove ads iAP too (though very few people seem to bother buying them!).
I find that people continue to buy the paid versions too even when there is also a free version on the stores.
Above all don’t give up, you’ve made a great game and you have a real talent.
Move on quickly and get started on your next project. Personally I try to spend no more than 3 months max on a project and so far the successes have outweighed the duds!
Good luck!
Roll Turtle is amazing game. You should be proud.
Excellent resume game. You could try and work for bigger developer company someday. Paid consultant?
Gamesalad paid developer?
You have a lot of skills.
Make smaller games quickly for some revenue?
Get part time job to help financial stress and keep making games?
Best of luck
As everyone else has said, your game is highly professional/fun and I can't find a single thing that would deter me as a player. Regardless of how it has done, your talent is undeniable.
No matter the path you choose, you have potential to do phenomenal things whether it be in animation/graphics or as some have mentioned, smaller scale projects.
Best of luck with everything, and don't give up!
POLAR ROLLOUT (New Line-Drawing Physics Puzzler!) - FREE Download
@kirafu
I feel you buddy. We put so much time into these games and do the most to optimize and perfect them, but we don't have the backup to promote/advertise like other companies so all our work gets unseen.
It is depressing sometimes like "what did I do wrong or how can I make this perfect game better?". But it's like making a song, video or any other entertainment item. You either have to promote intensely (aka have a large backing, spend a lot, or be pokemon), or get lucky and go viral like flappy bird somehow...
@kirafu You can always try to get in touch with some YouTubers to review your great game, do a promocode giveaway on AppPicker, create a page on itch.io or like @RossmanBrothersGames mentioned, make it free for a limited time to get more downloads and thus more exposure.
I'll have to chime in here with everyone else and echo that the game is great! Not only is it a good, fun game to play. You can tell it's made with care and crafted to perfection, as a developer and clearly a very good artist you have created something to be very very proud of.
Sadly the sate of the App Stores is that most paid games don't do well (financially) by default. People have been conditioned to expect their games, event top quality games, to be free. Which is sad and a shame. But DON'T let that fact reflect poorly on your work, the game is great, the quality is great and the attention and time you spent as a developer is something to aspire to.
http://jamie-cross.net/posts/ ✮ Udemy: Introduction to Mobile Games Development ✮ Learn Mobile Game Development in One Day Using Gamesalad ✮ My Patreon Page
Monetize your skills.
I agree 100% with @Gnarly
Roll Turtle is an incredible game, and even more impressive when you get to say that YOU made it all on your own. This should only be the beginning on what Roll Turtle does for your life. Take Roll Turtle and turn it into a showcase of your passion and skills. You would be a great asset to a games company, and Roll Turtle is living proof.
I suggest may be since you earned a bit try spending on advertisement, may be on facebook as I see lot of mobile apps and games shows on facebook mobile, or try to advertise but keep the budget limited for each campaign so you learn where to invest on advertisement for future game and let us know
, but do not skip this as I see you did not spend on advertising, you know if your game is great try advertising it in various ways and I am sure u will get great feedback, my other suggestion will try to learn from your experience, and try modifying the same game with different characters (may it mature like a solder on battlefield !! and world and try changing bit logic if you can, in this way you can recycle your work - you do not have to recreate whole game again!!
Current Projects I am working on: Stupid Duck, Zango's Shark Adventure, AoD: Age of Dragons, Rocket Jump: The Pixel Invaders
Facebook: https://facebook.com/reflectivebytegamestudios
Web: reflectivebyte.com
Your game is awesome but now you may want to switch gear with Marketing/Advertising and also doing a Freemium version with IAP Features.
However, I don't agree with others by doing a small project to put out a quick game to make a buck. Your game is very well polish and ppl can see that. Don't give up hope and focus on the monetizing your game. I believe your patience and hard work will pay off once you figure that out.
twitter.com/RoShamBoFighter
facebook.com/RoshamboFighter
another sign for me that premium is dead.
Even with apple feature the download amount is small ( for the amount of exposure)
I know how hard apple tries to bring back premium..
@kirafu
I will highly advice you to go freemium.
Something like first 50% are free than you have to pay. Always have a banner ticking at bot or top until the player buys the full game.
$2.99
Premium Mode
+50% of level
+Remove Ads
If you can contact someone that helped you with reviews or similar they could also write a second time about your game telling about the change.
My free game Creepy makes every day 1000 to 2000 Downloads on Android. (ofc they do not give me $2.99 each, they give me a cent)
I do have ads but now also will offer some bonus levels to increase the daily in-app sales. And simply get more from each player and increase the games ARPU.
(Average revenue per user)
Hope that helps had the same emotional break down my first two games where I spend 3-4 months each and got a total of 200 Downloads for both together. Learned a lot with every app I shipped.
My Apps
https://itunes.apple.com/de/artist/david-zobrist/id733552276
https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=David+Zobrist&hl=de
BigDave knows it best
@BazookaTime @YeezyHypeBeast @Clock @RossmanBrothersGames @DigiChain @Gnarly @supafly129 @NNterprises @UncloudedStudio @jamie_c @Adrenaline @Nabbo (ReflectiveByte) @phamtastic @BigDave @YeezyHypeBeast
Thank you guys replay
I read every comment, thanks for your suggestions, is really helpful, I'll step by step try something, and keep going.
well, RollTurtle will update with new feature, and new app icon design, original design feeling is a baby game.
Actually, Roll Turtle is a Hard Core platformer game.
I will use plan D with iOS update and Android version first release this month.
which one is your favorite?
and I consider carry "Roll Turtle" to the steam, but it's will need more work and more feature, and maybe change game engine.
anyway, at first, release Android this month, and keep going!
thank you guys!
screenshotsaturday
I like your original icon but I also like C.
I like C aswell
Original icon is great.
Original icon for me!
My GameSalad Academy Courses! ◦ Check out my quality templates! ◦ Add me on Skype: braydon_sfx
A vote for original here.
http://jamie-cross.net/posts/ ✮ Udemy: Introduction to Mobile Games Development ✮ Learn Mobile Game Development in One Day Using Gamesalad ✮ My Patreon Page
Another vote for original version of the icon too...
D.. I like D.. it shows its for serious gamers also!!
Current Projects I am working on: Stupid Duck, Zango's Shark Adventure, AoD: Age of Dragons, Rocket Jump: The Pixel Invaders
Facebook: https://facebook.com/reflectivebytegamestudios
Web: reflectivebyte.com
A is nice , hero vs villain and the baby turtle looks nice
C
Follow us: Twitter - Website
orignal
My Apps
https://itunes.apple.com/de/artist/david-zobrist/id733552276
https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=David+Zobrist&hl=de
Hi Kirafu, I bought Roll Turtle When if first came out for my kids and they love it!
It's a fantastic game, you can tell a lot of love has gone into creating it.
I would agree the majority of people and pick, stay with the original icon.
why not do a bit of A/B testing with the icons on Google Play and see how that goes?
My Website: http://bit.ly/2c0ohmM
My Apps on Google Play: http://bit.ly/2cccMIy
My Apps on Apple App Store: http://apple.co/2bUSd0i
Original, I think it's the little touch of red I like.