Roll Turtle get this week's Google Play global featured!

kirafu

Hi, guys,
I'm very excited and cann't wait to tell you a good news...
Roll Turtle get this week's Google Play global featured!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can not believe it, but it really happened, I did a lot of google editors to request the adjustment, and then waited a long time, some features even gamesalad can not be reached, when I thought it(featured) would not happen, It happened!!
Thank you guys, thank you gs forums, thank you GS!!

I can only see my country google play store page, please let me know if you have seen it in your country Google Play Store, thank you! Love you guys

kirafu

Here is a reports about my story in my country, if you are interested, you can look at, hope to give some friends bring some courage and strength to do something
https://panx.asia/archives/54874

"The Journey of The Roll Turtle: Thanks to Pain, I Know What Is the Best Decision in My Life"

Like most people, Kira Fu is a game and comic lover. He now is a father of a two-year-old kid and also the developer of Roll Turtle. The story going to begin is about a salaryman without the experience in game industry but transfer to an independent developer.

Two years ago, before his baby kid was born, Kira was a steady office man who has watched the same scene out of the window for ten years. However, after the baby came to the world, he started to rethink the meaning of life. He recalled the video games that he once has devoted to since he was a child. “May the workload and the baby keep me further away from games? Maybe I can strike a balance between interest and work if I start developing games by myself.”

At that time, the movies Kira watched, the books he read and the songs he listened were all about realizing dreams, for example The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by Ben Stiller. Every coincidence in life told him—now is the time.

The Developer’s Journal Is The Proof of Patience
After leaving the corporation, he deeply knew that becoming an independent developer should put efforts much more than perfunctory. Therefore, he regulated himself to write a developer’s journal “Kira’s Game Note” on blog every week, sharing his experience with other developers.

Writings journals helped him trace back the thoughts. For instance, it reminded him that the Roll Turtle was inspired by the story The Tortoise and the Hare, and the character Baby Turtle in the game was inspired by his kid. The inspiration from the family made Roll Turtle a heartwarming game.

In addition, Kira also updated the game’s development process on the foreign forum GameSalad. “I want to know the opinions from other teams, so I use Google Translate to help me understand and start the discussion with them.” After about seven or eight months, the COO (Chief Operating Officer) of GameSalad left a comment on the discussion. He invited Kira to join Casual Connect, an assembly for independent developer held in Singapore.

“Though the App is made by myself independently, I bring my family to the exhibition with me. Even though it’s tired and also delays the development process, attending the exhibition with my family is the most beautiful experience in my life.” he said. On the exhibition, the players’ feedback and the recognition from the award both made him more confidence with Roll Turtle and his family.

He is a developer with much carefulness. There are plenty of details should be taken care of even then making an Universal App. Take UI for example, the settings on the iPhone and iPad should be different to fit in the action of palm and thumb. You need to change the direction of one arrow so it could be more convenient to the users. In Kira’s opinion, the non-independent developers often have to sacrifice the details to reach the high efficiency. “Because I’m a independent developer, I can fully focus on every detail and enjoy the process.” said Kira.

Nothing is More Important than Mental Construction
Roll Turtle is a single player and “pay once” game. The players take adventures in five different worlds and chapters. Kira emphasized that “Roll Turtle is not a Baby Game, even though it looks very cute. Some players say that Roll Turtle is a cute game with dark soul.” At first, Kira planned to spend half or a year to finish developing the game. However, he has already written 108 journals till the game was published on the App Store this May. Although the game had been revised for lots of times, he still suffered from insomnia before the game was formally published. He’s afraid that the game couldn’t meet the players’ expectation.

Things didn’t go well at first. Roll Turtle only sales well for a week. Kira was frustrated due to the result. “I focus much on the competitors flaws at that time. Why there are plenty of games can be on the chart even though they’re not on the list of “Apps We Love” in the App Store? Some games’ qualities and details are not so good as well. Is Roll Turtle failed?”

Frustration Makes Me Understand: It’s the Best Decision in My Life
After he started to pay attention to the positive comments from the players, he saw the light in the dark.

Roll Turtle became “Apps We Love” on App Store and The Best Game of the Month on GameSalad right after released. It also received foreign players’ and medias’ praise. To a game developer without any experience, that is a great recognition. Though Kira hasn’t gained the feedback from money, he confirmed his passion for game development. “Never did a work ever tore me down to such sadness. Therefore, I want to keep on.”

To Kira, deciding to become an independent developer was not an easy decision while he still had the burden of kid and mortgage. However, his wife’s words made him here. “Just do it.” she said to him. Every time when he looked at his working environment, a writing desk beside a dining table and the photo which is taken during the time that he and his family went to the Tokyo Game Show, he would remember the reason why he decided to become a independent developer.

“In the two-year journey of development, I take adventures with my family. The memories and love throughout the time are treasures beyond money and anything else. Perhaps, after five or ten years my kid begin to have internet in games, I hope the first game that captivates him is the one made by me. I then will proudly share with him my developing experience rather than how much money I make.

A job can occupy most of the time of one’s life. Kira’s dream is to make a living by creating games, and the Roll Turtle is his first step. Hope the story of independent game development can give you some courage to try your own.

“Do you like games? I sincerely like them. To all the developers on the road, when you are at loss, just don’t forget your initial passion.” said Kira.

Toque

It's a great story. For new Gamesalad users you should get Roll Turtle. It's a fun game and take the time to study it as it's a great example of game design.

A very goood inspiration to help out of the bad days making your game. Keep you motivated.

BazookaTime

Congrats, you are very talented and deserve all of the success you are receiving.

Hopscotch

Really great and inspiring @kirafu

It has been a long road for you. Really happy for you!

jamie_c

Great story and game. Can't wait to see what you do next!

mhedges

Roll, @kirafu , roll!!!!

RowdyPants

@kirafu I'm so happy for you This is awesome news. It's a great game and clearly has a ton of love poured into it. All your hard work is paying off. Your whole family should be proud of you!!

Braydon_SFX

That's fantastic! Congrats!

neoman

Nice one! Love it ... Thanks for sharing ....

unbeatenpixel

@kirafu said:

At that time, the movies Kira watched, the books he read and the songs he listened were all about realizing dreams, for example The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by Ben Stiller. Every coincidence in life told him—now is the time.

Congrats! I love that film too.

Ground Control to Major Tom!

Btw, there is a rule for being feature on Googleplay,

• You should be ready to integrate Google Play Game Services + Player Analytics/ App Licensing.

How did you achieve it with Gamesalad?

kirafu

@Toque @BazookaTime @Hopscotch @jamie_c @RowdyPants @Braydon_SFX @neoman Thank you guys, you guys and GS forums like my family, I always thank and look forward to seeing your comment.

@mhedges The Flash is my favorite album, every week I will be fixed to watch, and I really like to hear D.r Wilson said "Run Barry Run"

@unbeatenpixel This song is one of my favorite songs!
And your question is really very good!!
Please forgive my English is very basic, but I will try to describe it.
This is also the Roll Turtle to get featured, I have been very worried about the problem.
Everyone knows Gamesalad can't support Google Play Game Services, and Roll Turtle does not support Google Play Game Services, I thought Roll Turtle could not get Google Play featured, I do not know gamesalad produced the game has not been google play featured, Perhaps Roll Turtle is the first, I spent a lot of time communicating with the google play editor team, and here are some experiences to share with you guys.

This info is google play editor team reply to me and ask me to adjust the work,
I try to meet every requirement, but there is something I can not reach, like "- After minimizing the game, either via Home, Recent Apps, and/or locking the device, gameplay is not paused upon returning to the game. On screens where a Pause button is selectable, the player must return to the game in the Pause menu when navigating back to the game." It made me hate the gamesalad, this is must resolve before feature consideration, Google Play Services is Optional suggestions, Roll Turtle has not reached these two, But they love Roll Turtle, They made a case for Roll Turtle, I can not believe it, but it really happened, they told me that once the gamesalad update support these function, Roll Turtle must also be updated immediately.

I. Must resolve before feature consideration:

• The app is using visual elements from older platforms in some areas (for example Gingerbread or Holo visual elements on Android 5.0+ devices). On Android 5.0+, all activities must inherit Theme.AppCompat, Theme.Material, or one of their descendants. All UI elements must use styles from the Material/AppCompat palette (e.g. Widget.Material…, Widget.AppCompat... or ?android:attr/...). Please refer the attached screenshot for more details.
  For more info:
  http://developer.android.com/design/material/index.html

  • The high-res icon being used for the app launcher and/or Google Play listing appears to be carrying over design tropes from non-Android platforms (e.g. very rounded corners). Consider using a distinct shape when designing icons for Android.
    For more info:
    http://www.google.com/design/spec/style/icons.html#icons-product-icons
    Consider using this icon generator as a starting point: http://goo.gl/14DrRi (Github)

• After minimizing the game, either via Home, Recent Apps, and/or locking the device, gameplay is not paused upon returning to the game. On screens where a Pause button is selectable, the player must return to the game in the Pause menu when navigating back to the game.

• To maintain a consistent user experience, the Android Back button must:
  • Have the same functionality as any on-screen back or close button
  • Dismiss all dialog windows
  For more info:
  https://developer.android.com/distribute/essentials/quality/core.html#ux
  https://developer.android.com/design/patterns/navigation.html

II. Optional suggestions and other feedback:

• Consider implementing Play Games services into your game. Adding features like achievements, leaderboards, and saved games can lead to increased user retention and engagement. Play Games services can encourage users to compete with friends or approach gameplay in new and interesting ways. To get started, please see the following:
  http://developer.android.com/google/play-services/games.html

  • Let players compare scores with friends using leaderboards and see how they rank against other players worldwide. Google Play game services automatically maintains daily, weekly, and all-time high scores.
    For more info:
    https://developers.google.com/games/services/common/concepts/leaderboards
    

These info are publicly available on the Internet and can be easily queried. this is not a secret, but I really hope that gamesalad can be updated as soon as possible.
Even if the Roll Turtle was featured, it still needs these features in order to get a better player experience and better position.
If Roll Turtle want to do "editor choice", these features must be necessary!
Hope that info helpful to everyone, thank you.

unbeatenpixel

Thank you for the explanation.

If they meet these requirements, this is a win-win situation for us and gamesalad. They get some attention from more customers/developers than ever with featured games. @ForumNinja

pinkio75

This is a great game and story of a indie developer.