Why does my game suck?

YouKnowMe · September 2011

Hi everyone,

I recently re-released my game: Hungry piranha. I get plenty of 4/5 star reviews from around the world, But the sales seriously suck (ranging from 0 to 4 per day). Could you please point out the obvious: does the icon/screenshots/description suck? what keeps you from buying the game?

itunes link:

Please be critical.. I can take it

thanks for your time,
Yannic

RedlerTech · September 2011

Check out my site -

In the next few hours I'll post a blog on constructing a successful game, I've talked to several successful devs & I'm going to mash up all the tips they've given me and post about it

lildragn · October 2011

NextGen, I just wanted to commend you on your efforts so far on your website and such, I can only hope when my son reaches your age he has some of the same tenacity you've shown so far. Keep going

And btw, have you really left GS for Corona?

~t

RedlerTech · October 2011

@lildragn
Thank you, I definitely appreciate it. I will keep going, it's going extremely well so far

About Corona, I am developing my games there. As easy as drag & drop is, I love code, and once you get the hang of it, it's not quite hard.

I'm still here for all the members that need help.
If you ever need anything, you on here you can just contact me off my site.

@YouKnowMe
Sorry I have not yet put up the blog post, I found some errors that I am fixing now & then it's off to publishing

Matt

LeonardDeveloper · October 2011

What is it priced at?
I do not think that if it was priced at for example 99c that people would buy it,
i think you should make a pro and lite version or a version with ads in it,
By the way who did your promo video (its brilliant) ?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Glad to help,
If you ever need more help or help on this issue;
Contact me on thermoapps@gmail.com

RedlerTech · October 2011

Just posted

VGX · October 2011

@youknowme, that trailer you made looks GREAT! how did you do it? what program you use?

tenrdrmer · October 2011

Next Gen, stop spamming our forum with links to your site. Oh and please edit your Blog to reflect that members of the GameSalad community built that list of marketing contacts and then posted the link on our forum for our members to use. Its pretty misleading to to say that you "found" this magical list without giving credit to the creators.

RedlerTech · October 2011

tenrdrmer said:
Next Gen, stop spamming our forum with links to your site.

I think I've posted my link maybe three times on this forum. I didn't realize it was spam, especially as it was 100% relevant to this post.

tenrdrmer said:
...giving credit to the creators...

I'd love to give credits to the creators of that list. I just don't know who it is. Could you point it out? I've put in my blog that I did not create that list and I have no idea who to credit it too. That link has been bookmarked in my marketing folder for quite some time now.

tenrdrmer · October 2011

Well there are 7 ppl with access to edit the spread sheet. But only 3 of us have a username listed and I'm not giving out their emails of the others. Thats why I say. Give credit to the GameSalad Community. Its all GS users who contributed, it was created for GS users, and its link is available in a sticky on the GS forums. Thats where the credit is deserved.

RedlerTech · October 2011

Ah okay

RedlerTech · October 2011

Credit given -

azimpact · October 2011

NextGen,

Do you have some links to any of your games you could post?

Interested to see your style of game design.

RedlerTech · October 2011

Actually, I'm finishing one tonight

I'll post a La Cucaracha video in the next few hours.

RedlerTech · October 2011

I'm going to have to delay the video. If you're interested you can beta test here

YouKnowMe · October 2011

@uptimistik
Thanks for the feedback!
I think your right, it looks like a general eat dodge game, but I tried to mix it up a little bit. In the game you need to collect gold to unlock extra fish species, so maybe I need to show that part of the game in the trailer and advertise it differently.

@NextGen
Great article! thanks

@LeonardDeveloper
Yep its a 99cent game, maybe I should make it free with adds. thanks, I made the trailer using after effects and imovie

LeonardDeveloper · October 2011

Thanks for the info on the vid,
not a free one with just ads make the game shorter and not the full one like a free trial otherwise ppl won't upgrade!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Happy to help, If you ever need more help contact me on thermoapps@gmail.com

3d10 · October 2011

Actually poor sales is all we get in the app store it is very common to have 1-2 downloads every day.
A bit luck i would say I got 200 downloads last month.
But average you get 2-4.

quantumsheep · October 2011

You might find some of the stats and 'info' here of interest:

QS

YouKnowMe · October 2011

@3d10
Yes I know, but the painful part is the game had about 15 months of development time. It's a fun game with a lot of depth, the itunes reviews the game receives reflect that, but Hungry Piranha doesn't get any attention. Well I guess I should just move on with a bigger and better project

RedlerTech · October 2011

YouKnowMe said:
@NextGen
Great article! thanks

No problem man, the article got well over 350 views yesterday so I'm glad I wrote it

I'm looking for some topics to post about, so if you have any ideas just contact me through my site, I'll be sure to give you credit in the article

quantumsheep · October 2011

YouKnowMe said:
@3d10
Yes I know, but the painful part is the game had about 15 months of development time. It's a fun game with a lot of depth, the itunes reviews the game receives reflect that, but Hungry Piranha doesn't get any attention. Well I guess I should just move on with a bigger and better project

Alternatively, you could make it free once IAP are available, and make it so that you can't use the gold you've accrued to buy other species until you've bought the 'pro' version.

Or something like that

QS

RedlerTech · October 2011

@QS thats a great idea! Why don't you add a store, people can purchase items with the coins they get, or just purchase

YouKnowMe · October 2011

@Quantumsheep
Thanks QS! that idea is full of win =D. Now the waiting game begins.....

beefy_clyro · October 2011

NextGen said:
Actually, I'm finishing one tonight

I'll post a La Cucaracha video in the next few hours.

http://t.co/5mzW1XQz

Have you had many beta testers? Surely people would like to see a video or at least a selection of screenshots.

YouKnowMe · October 2011

But wait, the customers who already bought the game would also have to buy the IAP purchase for the game they already bought! Can this be solved with this: release an update with an attribute set to true. and when the IAP releases set that attribute to false in a new update?

quantumsheep · October 2011

YouKnowMe said:
But wait, the customers who already bought the game would also have to buy the IAP purchase for the game they already bought! Can this be solved with this: release an update with an attribute set to true. and when the IAP releases set that attribute to false in a new update?

You would make two different versions.

The current one would be the 'full' version.

The Free one would be the, er, 'Free' version. *That* would have the unlock via IAP.

Hope that helps!

QS

RedlerTech · October 2011

No!!!! Use time to recognize the firs time the player opens the app, from there figure out if they have to use IAP or not

@beefy I have somewhere around 20 testers. The art is really drawing them in. They all have (well most of em) have the beta one installe on there device. They will all get beta 2 tonight.

Matt

YouKnowMe · October 2011

Woops, forgot about the new time feature. Thanks Nextgen

quantumsheep · October 2011

YouKnowMe said:
Woops, forgot about the new time feature. Thanks Nextgen

As the good Doctor says, 'Time can be rewritten'.

(as in, all I have to do to get the IAP for free would be to change the date on my phone. Right?).

Also, having two versions of a game would get you double the exposure as it would essentially be a 'new' release.

It's why some companies don't do universal apps. Having one for iPhone and one for iPad is more useful from a marketing point of view (not so much from a consumer one!).

QS

Why does my game suck?

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