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Mack
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Post subject: Congratulations, Your First Indie Game is a Flop  Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 2:21 pm |
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Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2007 4:21 pm
Posts: 1032
Location: Canada
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Matej Jan writes an article for Gamasutra reflecting on how he spent too much time and effort trying to make a failure into a success, shares his experiences about going from iOS to PC and Mac, and why being first out of the gate doesn't substitute for having a truly compelling game. Quote: Seven. I log into IndieCity again and check the total sales number to see if, by some miracle, the figure went into double digits. It didn't. Total units of Monkey Labour for Windows sold: seven. And that's not thousands. Quote: By the end of first month we already reached the miserably low long tail with about 10 apps sold per week. Total first month sales: 790. With about two thirds of the $1.99 price coming into our pockets, you can imagine we weren't jumping up and down in excitement. It was before the above-mentioned earnings survey was published, and we were finding out the results the hard way. Quote: Plan your marketing as much as you plan your game. Everyone understands this as soon as they're faced with the task of sending out a review email. If you have no idea why this game of yours is so special as to waste the time of a journalist, you'll end up feeling very bad after doing a day of PR. You'll make sure you'll have interesting stuff to send out when it's time to talk about your next game. Quote: There's something more I can add to the above numbers, and it's the story of not giving up. It all starts with the game's initial appearance on the App Store, when no more than your friends and random strangers shuffling through new releases buy your app.
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taddmencer
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Post subject: Re: Congratulations, Your First Indie Game is a Flop Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 7:13 am |
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Joined: Mon Jul 30, 2012 6:48 am
Posts: 17
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
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I can feel the pain on this one. I was the lead developer for an iPad/iPhone game called Circus Big Pop. We (the company I work for) spent three months developing and designing and recording audio - all that jazz. Put it in the Apple store with the price tag of FREE. Ad supported, Our first week we got 429 downloads. Not a bad start. But, after 13 weeks, we're at a grand total of 1177 downloads. $7 in revenue. Not exactly exciting numbers. We pushed it to all the review sites we could find, I write an article about it on my personal blog. We have a page for it on our company site. Announced it to all our Facebook friends - but sadly, the numbers never picked up. Part of the problem I believe is that we had no buzz going into this outside of our office. There was no hype to get people interested, and when we released the first iteration it was for iPad only so it didn't show up on any iPhone "New Releases" list to push the numbers. Going forward - next game we start working on (if the CEO allows it) I'll push for more PR right out the gate. Dev blogs, screen shots, etc. That way we can keep people interested - get as much organic traffic we can .. all that jazz. There is no substitute for building a powerful buzz around your product. If you can't get people talking, no one will download/purchase. If anyone is interested in the game, you can download it (for free, of course) here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/circus-big-pop-lite/id521759035_________________ I am Tadd. ------------- http://www.taddmencer.comhttp://cubelabmedia.com------------- Christian. Husband. Father. Designer. Developer. Dreamer
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blendenzo
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Post subject: Re: Congratulations, Your First Indie Game is a Flop Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 10:45 am |
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| SpeedGame 2012: Best of Show Dev |
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Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:52 pm
Posts: 124
Location: Michigan
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taddmencer: You just got one more download  Gotta help a gander out. You'll notice from the iOS sales study quoted in that article that the average sales per game tends to go up with the quantity of games a company releases. I think it probably helps a lot to advertise your other games in your existing and new game. Push notifications of your new game to existing Circus Big Pop players. When you release another iDevice game, put a popup in it after an hour of play or so that says something like "Play Circus Big Pop for Free!" People will think "I enjoy this game... I might also like their other games." And not many people argue with free. Also, if you end up with a highly popular free title on your hands, it is an opportunity to come out with a paid sequel (as in the case of "Tap the Frog 2").
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taddmencer
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Post subject: Re: Congratulations, Your First Indie Game is a Flop Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 5:52 pm |
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Joined: Mon Jul 30, 2012 6:48 am
Posts: 17
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
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blendenzo wrote: taddmencer: You just got one more download Gotta help a gander out. You'll notice from the iOS sales study quoted in that article that the average sales per game tends to go up with the quantity of games a company releases. I think it probably helps a lot to advertise your other games in your existing and new game. Push notifications of your new game to existing Circus Big Pop players. When you release another iDevice game, put a popup in it after an hour of play or so that says something like "Play Circus Big Pop for Free!" People will think "I enjoy this game... I might also like their other games." And not many people argue with free. Also, if you end up with a highly popular free title on your hands, it is an opportunity to come out with a paid sequel (as in the case of "Tap the Frog 2"). Hey thanks for the d-load! Much appreciated! AND thanks for the advice! I agree - we need more titles. Otherwise, the ocean of games and such .. well, we just drown. I've tried to convince the bossman of this but, sadly, it really hasn't sunk in yet. I guess it doesn't help that I was hired as a web designer, not a game developer. But, when you have lots of interests it's hard to pick just one! HAH Again, thanks for the advice and download. I really do appreciate that. _________________ I am Tadd. ------------- http://www.taddmencer.comhttp://cubelabmedia.com------------- Christian. Husband. Father. Designer. Developer. Dreamer
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brownboot
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Post subject: Re: Congratulations, Your First Indie Game is a Flop Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 5:59 pm |
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Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2010 5:39 am
Posts: 316
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@tadd; If you're convinced the core gameplay is solid or close to it itterate, reskin (maybe to something more appealing like penguins in santa hats for christmas or whatever), and relaunch with a new title.
The App Store is one of the worst store fronts ever created, sometimes success or failure is completely a matter of timing.
_________________ -- 
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Henrik
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Post subject: Re: Congratulations, Your First Indie Game is a Flop Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 6:50 pm |
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Joined: Mon Jul 30, 2012 2:25 pm
Posts: 20
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That's a very good point too.
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