"Shuffle 5" Now Available on Google Play - with Developer Story (including COSTS & LESSONS LEARNED)
dugistheking
Member Posts: 83
Hi All,
After 9 months of part time work, scrambling my free time and coordinating with artists,coders and testers "Shuffle 5" is now available on Google Play! Here is the info plus DEVELOPER story (including costs) - I hope by sharing my story you can all learn something . Feedback very welcome.
CLICK below go to the google play page
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jaxelstudios.shuffle5&feature=search_result
Description:
Welcome to Shuffle 5! The Ultimate word game to keep you thinking on your feet!
Features:
★Over 45,000 Words
★Beautiful HD graphics
★High quality sound effects
★High score tracking
★2 game modes:
★Survival - Solve each word in under 20 seconds!
★Countdown - Solve as many times as you can in 3 minutes!
Shuffle 5 is playable in 7 languages:
★English
★German
★Italian
★French
★Danish
★Swedish
★Norwegian
Shuffle 5 is a game of speed - the quicker you get the answer the more points you achieve! Hours of fun with friends and family
***START ENTERTAINING YOUR BRAIN NOW!!!***
Screenshots
DEVELOPER STORY
Shuffle 5 is based on the excellent value for money template by @tshirtbooth at @gshelper . The key concepts are the same 2 game modes and using 5 letters. I just wanted to take a great concept of tshirtbooth and then rebrand it as my own game and extend the features to several languages. I think the end result is really good.
template is here:
http://gshelper.com/?p=579
ARTWORK
This was straight forward enough - All the purchased templates art was watermarked so I had to create my own. I wanted to do this anyway to make it look slightly different and give the game my own feel. Art total cost I am pleased to say was 100 USD. This was for all artwork, free touchup requests and finishing off some art on an additional project
ADDITIONAL LANGUAGES
This is what took most of my time. Finding dictionaries in excel or csv format proved difficult. Lucky I managed to get in contact with someone who managed to provide for me csv files for each language ( 7 in total). I am still working on an additional free. For this game to work the words must be in csv format, and each letter seperated in its own field. To do this manually would of taken far too long. I managed to get hold of a friend via work who was very nifty in excel. He created a macro and formula which :
1)collated all csv files into one
2) stripped out all words which were only 5 letters
3) automatically generated csv files for each language with the words seperated by each letter
This took around 3 months to get it right as gamesalad had issues with non standard letters like for example Æ Å Ø.
To solve this was a challenge but simple enough once we agreed a method.
He created a script so each non standard letter was replaced with a number. eg. Æ = 1 Ø = 2 Å =3 . Then we just coded game salad when the table has a "1" show the artwork for "Æ" - Very good and stable results.
TOTAL COST for all languages 100 USD
CODING
I hired a coder who gave me a price after we exchanged details. He ran into some issues with tables in gamesalad. Currently we have a stable game and no lag when playing , all under 10 mbs. Each language is in its own CSV file . The only issue is after you import ANY table - if you open it up again and then play - The data in the table is lost. This is fine for us. It just if we make a revision to one table, we must import all of them again. CODING TOTAL COST 100 USD
TOTAL COST of app development 300 USD.
ADVERTISING
The game launched only recently. I just created my first admob campaign to run over 3 days with a daily budget of 10 USD.
CHALLENGES
On Android the game is the lowest cost - this is because we cannot currently implement IAP on Android. BUT the game comes out on IOS soon (pending approval) - That version is FREE with a popup. then tier one to stop the pop up.
PROFESIONAL DEVELOPMENT PRICES
I have reached out to around 8 developers in India to get this profesional developed. Average price .... 8000 USD! And that with me supplying all artwork and csv files! I think I have achieved an amazing result with a small budget. I think the average user would be very happy with the quality and gameplay of the app
SALES
I have all my language templates still (both with 5 letter words and both with ALL words ) in 7 languages. I have thought about selling these if anyone is interested.
FINAL COMMENTS
This has been my biggest app so far and was worth the wait for me personally. I hope you agree and please take the time to give feedback and hopefully have the heart to purchase on the Android Store. I hope you have enjoyed my very honest feedback. Special thanks again to @tshirtbooth for the template.
CLICK below go to the google play page
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jaxelstudios.shuffle5&feature=search_result
Kind regards
Doug James
Director
Jaxel Studios
www.jaxelstudios.com
www.facebook.com/jaxelstudios
twitter - @jaxelstudios
After 9 months of part time work, scrambling my free time and coordinating with artists,coders and testers "Shuffle 5" is now available on Google Play! Here is the info plus DEVELOPER story (including costs) - I hope by sharing my story you can all learn something . Feedback very welcome.
CLICK below go to the google play page
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jaxelstudios.shuffle5&feature=search_result
Description:
Welcome to Shuffle 5! The Ultimate word game to keep you thinking on your feet!
Features:
★Over 45,000 Words
★Beautiful HD graphics
★High quality sound effects
★High score tracking
★2 game modes:
★Survival - Solve each word in under 20 seconds!
★Countdown - Solve as many times as you can in 3 minutes!
Shuffle 5 is playable in 7 languages:
★English
★German
★Italian
★French
★Danish
★Swedish
★Norwegian
Shuffle 5 is a game of speed - the quicker you get the answer the more points you achieve! Hours of fun with friends and family
***START ENTERTAINING YOUR BRAIN NOW!!!***
Screenshots
DEVELOPER STORY
Shuffle 5 is based on the excellent value for money template by @tshirtbooth at @gshelper . The key concepts are the same 2 game modes and using 5 letters. I just wanted to take a great concept of tshirtbooth and then rebrand it as my own game and extend the features to several languages. I think the end result is really good.
template is here:
http://gshelper.com/?p=579
ARTWORK
This was straight forward enough - All the purchased templates art was watermarked so I had to create my own. I wanted to do this anyway to make it look slightly different and give the game my own feel. Art total cost I am pleased to say was 100 USD. This was for all artwork, free touchup requests and finishing off some art on an additional project
ADDITIONAL LANGUAGES
This is what took most of my time. Finding dictionaries in excel or csv format proved difficult. Lucky I managed to get in contact with someone who managed to provide for me csv files for each language ( 7 in total). I am still working on an additional free. For this game to work the words must be in csv format, and each letter seperated in its own field. To do this manually would of taken far too long. I managed to get hold of a friend via work who was very nifty in excel. He created a macro and formula which :
1)collated all csv files into one
2) stripped out all words which were only 5 letters
3) automatically generated csv files for each language with the words seperated by each letter
This took around 3 months to get it right as gamesalad had issues with non standard letters like for example Æ Å Ø.
To solve this was a challenge but simple enough once we agreed a method.
He created a script so each non standard letter was replaced with a number. eg. Æ = 1 Ø = 2 Å =3 . Then we just coded game salad when the table has a "1" show the artwork for "Æ" - Very good and stable results.
TOTAL COST for all languages 100 USD
CODING
I hired a coder who gave me a price after we exchanged details. He ran into some issues with tables in gamesalad. Currently we have a stable game and no lag when playing , all under 10 mbs. Each language is in its own CSV file . The only issue is after you import ANY table - if you open it up again and then play - The data in the table is lost. This is fine for us. It just if we make a revision to one table, we must import all of them again. CODING TOTAL COST 100 USD
TOTAL COST of app development 300 USD.
ADVERTISING
The game launched only recently. I just created my first admob campaign to run over 3 days with a daily budget of 10 USD.
CHALLENGES
On Android the game is the lowest cost - this is because we cannot currently implement IAP on Android. BUT the game comes out on IOS soon (pending approval) - That version is FREE with a popup. then tier one to stop the pop up.
PROFESIONAL DEVELOPMENT PRICES
I have reached out to around 8 developers in India to get this profesional developed. Average price .... 8000 USD! And that with me supplying all artwork and csv files! I think I have achieved an amazing result with a small budget. I think the average user would be very happy with the quality and gameplay of the app
SALES
I have all my language templates still (both with 5 letter words and both with ALL words ) in 7 languages. I have thought about selling these if anyone is interested.
FINAL COMMENTS
This has been my biggest app so far and was worth the wait for me personally. I hope you agree and please take the time to give feedback and hopefully have the heart to purchase on the Android Store. I hope you have enjoyed my very honest feedback. Special thanks again to @tshirtbooth for the template.
CLICK below go to the google play page
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jaxelstudios.shuffle5&feature=search_result
Kind regards
Doug James
Director
Jaxel Studios
www.jaxelstudios.com
www.facebook.com/jaxelstudios
twitter - @jaxelstudios
Comments
I'll be checking this out later on.
My GameSalad Academy Courses! ◦ Check out my quality templates! ◦ Add me on Skype: braydon_sfx
I gather you paid someone to create the art for you? Wow when I convert that to my currency (Php) that's already a lot for what you have in-game. Apart from being a traditional game designer, I've also been a graphics designer for quite a long time now and I must say you're really generous with costing.. that, or labor is cheap here. I might just offer my services here in the near future
Back to your game: I love this! Everything feels clean and definitely looks like a fun and addictive game to fiddle with every now and then. I'm planning on getting an Android tablet for the holidays, will definitely get this one
Guru Video Channel | Lost Oasis Games | FRYING BACON STUDIOS
$100 is next-to-nothing for graphic design. It's peanuts. As a professional designer, working in design for over twenty years, it actually makes me very irritable indeed to hear time after time someone suggest that any professional's time is worth so little.
It's pocket money, and if you are working on a full game's graphics for $100 - you are not a graphic designer. Nobody is paying rent and feeding a family on rates like that.
Rant over! Sorry everyone, move along, nothing to see here, etc.
@dugistheking Best of luck with your game, mate.
impressions 59,091 - Clicks 246. My question is this - where do I see how many people paid for the app (if any!) from the ad? Is that under "app conversion tracking" ? Thats empty at the moment so maybe it takes time to update. If anyone has tips on admob experience please let me know. Or is it better to spend money on a video review?
http://www.appannie.com/app/android/com.jaxelstudios.shuffle5/
Shadows Peak is an atmospheric psychological horror that explores the dark side of a player.
Great publicity for GameSalad also.
I am glad it's just 'pocket money' to you - consider yourself lucky... In the majority of countries it would be a good pay for a job well done. Maybe you can try and think outside your box before running down others living in different (less fortunate) circumstances.
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Benjamin