Somewhat Disappointing Sales

TouchTiltGamesTouchTiltGames Member Posts: 1,162
edited November -1 in iPhone and Android Publishing
Ok well Rodent Rage has been out for a week +1 day and I've had almost 200 sales. For my first game, doing everything myself (with odd help from GS'ers) and it being on the iPad I guess that's alright. It's also got a few reviews on sites and game podcasts.

The sales are really dropping now though. Do I regret not going with a major Publisher instead when I had the chance? Nope, I think I really wanted to "own" this game because damnit, I put a lot of work into it and they wanted too much of the pie - perhaps next time.

I am kinda disappointed though that I don't think I'll see a return on my (time) investment on the iPad, so I'm hoping that the iPhone version does better. It made N&N in Action/Adventure but not in overall games, which really sucks as I had thought it would with that many sales and positive reviews.

All in all it's my first of many games and as soon as I'm done the iPhone version, I'll be starting the next game.

Comments

  • magic101himagic101hi Member Posts: 713
    your sales are better than mine 3 weeks 24 downloads
  • TouchTiltGamesTouchTiltGames Member Posts: 1,162
    Hey TSB thanks for the valued words.

    It's funny, just yesterday while standing in line at the grocery store, I said to my GF - "You know what, I'm not spending 3 months on a game anymore, I'm going to do 1 week for coding, 1 week for art/design, 1 week for marketing"...so 3-4 weeks as you just said :)

    And probably not iPad versions as an initial release.
  • DevilsDevils Member Posts: 561
    Thats great in one week considering it was on the iPad. I believe you iPhone version will do much better. I hope that I can make 1 game a month eventually.
  • RacetotheMoonRacetotheMoon Member Posts: 323
    I read this post a lot (not from you, but from various others).. and it starts to get me to wonder. What were your expectations?

    I think it's most prudent to work on a game until its done, or the best you can make it with the tools you have. That's not to say a game can't be made in a month, or less, but striving for quality, rather than a time frame, is the only way you can be sure you're giving people an experience you're proud of, and thus ultimately one that might 'catch fire'. Which is especially important as the app store is very much a word of mouth driven marketplace.

    The best part of the App store is that there is no inventory. A game doesn't have to sell right away or risk losing shelf space, and going away forever. Of course it helps to get off on the right foot, and there are plenty of forces working against you, such as market saturation, poor visibly, piracy, etc. but don't let a lack of quality be one.
  • ChaserChaser Member Posts: 1,453
    Think of it as an investment. Over time you will make back your time from it plus profit.
  • TouchTiltGamesTouchTiltGames Member Posts: 1,162
    AkioAkemi said:
    I read this post a lot (not from you, but from various others).. and it starts to get me to wonder. What were your expectations?

    I think it's most prudent to work on a game until its done, or the best you can make it with the tools you have. That's not to say a game can't be made in a month, or less, but striving for quality, rather than a time frame, is the only way you can be sure you're giving people an experience you're proud of, and thus ultimately one that might 'catch fire'. Which is especially important as the app store is very much a word of mouth driven marketplace.

    The best part of the App store is that there is no inventory. A game doesn't have to sell right away or risk losing shelf space, and going away forever. Of course it helps to get off on the right foot, and there are plenty of forces working against you, such as market saturation, poor visibly, piracy, etc. but don't let a lack of quality be one.

    Actually I had no expectations except one and did insure it was the utmost quality - it's what I've been doing for 10 years as a professional Graphic Designer working for/with high profile clients all over the world. So with the attitude going in that if I do my best work and spend the time, I expected to make back what I put into it, that's it. It doesn't have to happen right away however as Chaser just pointed out :)
  • TouchTiltGamesTouchTiltGames Member Posts: 1,162
    tshirtbooth said:
    Shizane, you should Always start with the iphone 4 RI its 960x640, this way you can easily make the ipad version when your done.

    Because the ipad is 1024x768 that is only 6% bigger then the iphone 4 so all your art will be just fine with the exception of your background and stuff that goes edge to edge. And those are easy to remake. Everything else is ready to go.

    What i do is this.

    Make a copy of the iphone 4 game and call it something else. Then open it up and change it to ipad size. It will say this can only be done once. say ok

    Now you have your game for iPad size. Delete All the scenes and hit make new scene.

    now go into each actor and group all the rules and save it into my behaviours and call it what ever the actors name is.

    once that is done delete all your actors, drag all your images back in to make the new actors and then go into my behaviours and drag that actors rules back in. Note: you will have to fix any rules that had a custom self attribute.

    Once all your actors are re built you can start making your scenes again.

    This will save you 3-4 days of work depending on your game size.

    Hope that helps.

    cheers

    Hey thanks for your help but this sounds a bit confusing lol.

    1. Ok so what you're saying is I don't have to rescale my actors because I started with the iPad version, just the Background images.

    A couple things you say here are a big confusing:

    2. Why would I make a copy and change it to ipad size when I need to do an iPhone 4 version?

    3. What does "save it into my behaviours" mean? Do you mean in each actor create a 1 group called My Behaviours"?

    4. Why would I delete all the actors at this stage, wouldn't that also delete the rules I just grouped?

    5. Why would I have to remake all the scenes when I could just copy the game project and adjust the position of all the actors in the scene?

    These are just off the top of my head - I obviously haven't done this yet so you would know better than me.

    -Shane
  • TouchTiltGamesTouchTiltGames Member Posts: 1,162
    Ah ok gotcha hehe.

    But what is this "my behaviours" thing you're referring to?
  • TouchTiltGamesTouchTiltGames Member Posts: 1,162
    LOL Just discovered "My behaviors" now after you mentioned it..never used it but will uh...be using it from now on lol.

    Thanks :)
  • SingleSparqSingleSparq Member Posts: 1,339
    Geez 200 in sales - I wish! Space Tech Defender been out for 2 months and haven't cracked 50. Will update it soon so it will run on older ipods maybe that will help. My next game will be less of a retro niche (think doodle jump style) and see how that does.
    Warning There was an error rendering this rich post.
  • TwistedMechTwistedMech Member Posts: 408
    I think it's worth having no expectations with iPhone game releases. It's a big Market now and if you get a new and noteworthy tag then you will make a few dollars but only the lucky ones will get rich. When I had a chat with quantumsheep the other week it was agreed that we should make games that we love to play ourselves. If you make money then that's good but for me it should be about the fun. I have made far more money on iPad releases than iPhone so I now only develop for that device but for me the iPad offers more screen and faster processor so games become more playable for the types I want to make.

    EA have now licensed unity 3.0 so looks like a promising platform
    To use.
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