
My Year as an Amateur Android Game Developer - wallflower
http://kerebus.com/2011/03/my-year-as-an-amateur-android-game-developer/
======
patio11
I have every wish for success of this and every other business, but in the
spirit of helping other impressionable developers, making a business is hard
enough without making video games.

How do I love games and hate games businesses, let me count the ways. User
expectations are pegged by AAA games, whose budgets you cannot possibly match.
Those AAA products set a price point at $DIRT_CHEAP. (Angry Birds costs
_what_?) Your core users are thieves. When you fail at marketing on day one,
which you will because everyone does, in any normal business you get
progressively better but in games the obsessive fetishization of the new means
your game is virtually sunk. It is virtually impossible to iterate based on
user feedback because your users are a) transients and b) not wonderful people
to deal with. Gamers are virtually immune to ads, don't search for anything
gaming-related, don't pay prices sufficient to justify CPc spends, and if by
some miracle they hear sbout you via word of mouth they will search for you on
PirateBay/etc first and Google second. Meanwhile, in addition to megacorps
staffed by people who have been doing this professionally for years, you are
also competing with a virtually inexhaustible supply of hobbyists, because
perhaps 3 out of every 4 CS majors got into computers to make video games and
the fourth one is lying.

Does any of this get better for mobile devs? No, it gets worse, unless you're
picked by the platform's kingmakers.

~~~
reitzensteinm
While most of your points are valid, they're nothing that can't be overcome
with persistance and the willingness to learn, and I fear that you've painted
too bleak of a picture of the industry.

I think the biggest problem is that making fun, engaging games is really,
really hard. A lot of people assume that because they can program, and they
enjoy playing games, making them should be relatively straight forward.

But it just isn't. It's a creative skill that needs practice just like
anything else. It's like making the jump from being a technically competent
guitarist to writing music. Nobody writes great music on their first try,
nobody writes clean code early in their career, and nobody writes hit games
out the gate, except for prodigies so rare it's not worth thinking about.

And I think what happens a lot of the time, is that someone who would
otherwise be making $100 an hour writing code decides to make a game for the
fun of it, ends up making 1-10 cents an hour on the time invested, and ends up
writing a blog post to that effect. So it becomes an entrenched view that
making games is a hobby that serious developers need to grow out of.

My first game actually did make under 10 cents per hour of development time.
But by my tenth, my best so far, it was up to $300+ (and counting). I still
have hits and misses, and perhaps I'd be making more putting my skills to use
in another industry, but money isn't everything. And I'm still not great at
game design, merely competent - there's a lot of room for improvement there.

Yes, you're right about the bad points of the industry, however, there's one
big positive - if you're prepared to stick with it, for years with little
reward, it's actually not that hard to reach a point where you're making great
money, creating products that people love and that you're passionate about.
And sometimes people in real life will notice your shirt and say 'oh, you play
that too!'.

Also, if done correctly, the path to making games is actually pretty safe -
make them as a hobby, after hours, and release them for free. When 100k+
people download one of them from word of mouth alone, then it's time to
consider whether you want to make a career out of it. If you can't make games
after hours effectively, you couldn't make them full time, either.

~~~
xiaoma
Awesome. You sound like exactly the kind of person I was hoping would jump
into the thread. Have you written a blog or anything about how you made those
improvements?

I'm working on game #3, still a sub 2.5 star game on Kong. I think I've only
made about $5 over the past six months, but I've learned a ton about
programming and artwork both!

~~~
reitzensteinm
I haven't written any blog posts about it (although I'm planning to after I
get some more time).

If you (or anyone else) has any questions, feel free to contact me at
michael@bigblockgames.com.

------
bnenning
Temporarily de-anonymizing myself because my Android experience is apparently
not typical. My main paid app
([https://market.android.com/details?id=com.dozingcatsoftware....](https://market.android.com/details?id=com.dozingcatsoftware.WireGoggles&feature=search_result))
is getting around 25 purchases per day, with no marketing effort whatsoever.
It was featured in a few blogs and podcasts, but they came to me. It's had
over 10k downloads in a year, and my original goal was 1000. Reasons I think
it's done better than average:

\- It's not a game. As patio11 notes the competition in that area is
incredibly intense. In the last few days I've picked up Angry Birds Rio for
free, Galcon for $1, and AirAttack for $3. If you aren't an experienced game
developer, you're not likely to produce something at that level.

\- But it is fun. It has unlimited "replay value" and lets users be creative
and show off what their phone can do.

\- The free version converts really well, paid downloads are around 20% of
free downloads. It does everything the full version does except for saving
pictures and videos. There are no ads, other than a Market link to the full
version.

\- I don't have to spend any time or money on custom artwork. Even the buttons
in the latest version I took from the camera app in AOSP.

So maybe I'm just lucky, but creating a quality app in a non-saturated field
has been enough to produce a decent side income, without having to deal with
business or marketing at all.

~~~
jallmann
10k paid downloads of an edge filter? Well played.

------
Stormbringer
Don't foret that Angry Birds was Rovio's 40th game. Stickability counts.

I think to succeed though you need to put out more than 1 per year. I also
think there is likely to be a network effect, if someone likes one of your
games they may try the rest... this is the equivalent of the McDonalds "you
want fries with that?" - that is they know they only get a certain number of
people through their door, so they need to extract as much value from each
customer as possible.

You will only get so many eyeballs, so if you have more than one game you may
get people who try one also trying the other - free marketing. :D

~~~
zacharycohn
52nd game.

------
keyle
Pretty sure a lot of developers would have got similar stories. It's just the
wild wild west and they couldn't find gold. In the meanwhile, whoever is
selling the pic axes, the app stores, are making money.

It's all a fad. Create value or sell pic axes.

~~~
cmurdock
It's spelled "pick", and it's all one word "pickaxe".

~~~
keyle
Sorry, french native here! thank you.

------
jonnycat
Gaming is a cruel mistress for developers. It's so hit-driven that it can be
hard to really predict what will do well and what won't. Something that is a
smashing success on one platform might just be completely overlooked on
another.

------
MatthewPhillips
Couple of things from someone who has been in a similar situation:

1) You don't have to be a good marketer to set up a twitter account and tweet
when you add new levels and new features. Retweet them from your personal
twitter account and it will at least hit your followers. Don't feel ashamed of
asking a few friends to also retweet to their followers. The effect might be
small, but it's a minimal effort.

2) Focusing on one app is a bad idea. It's like having a stock portfolio of 1
company. Make several games, even if they're smaller and less polished. You
might see that one is more successful and can then concentrate on making it
more polished.

3) Most important: do what you love. Don't make your platform, language, or
design decisions based on what your google analytics says will make you a few
bucks more. If you do that you might as well go back to working secure
corporate jobs.

~~~
dpcan
I've been in the android market for a year and have done over $100k in sales
of my games, and you hit the nail on the head. Create lots of games, and not
just for the money. You have to be having fun while creating or it becomes a
miserable job. I'm falling into that rut myself, and because I've spent so
much time working on my flagship game, I've gotten behind. Competition of that
game has increased, sales have slowed down, and I'm scrambling a little now to
get my other games polished and selling at a higher rate.

All the while, I'm sick that I'm not loving what I'm doing anymore as I chase
the dollar. I think it's time for me to reboot and spend my time on a game
I've always wanted to play and make. If I love doing this again, my success
will sustain itself.

~~~
karolist
How many games have you released in that year?

~~~
dpcan
I have launched 11 games in all since I started.

Only 2 have netted over $10k.

I think 2 others could do as well if I just get back in there and do some nice
updates.

~~~
karolist
11 games in a year?! That sounds amazing. You do it full time?

------
statictype
Great article. Hits close to home because I'm also in the same boat - writing
an iOS game on the side for fun as someone with no prior gamedev experience.

------
saidulislam
I forgot to gave you some of my marketing ideas. I am executing these for my
iPhone app but you can apply the same for your Android app too. Review the
list part 1 and 2. Let me know what you think

App marketing part 2: <http://tukulogics.com/blog/?p=63> App marketing part 1:
<http://tukulogics.com/blog/?p=50>

------
TheRevoltingX
In a year of Android development I made my own MMORPG for it. However, the
technology part was the 'easy' part. But the real adventure is in looking for
good artists. Coming up with solid concepts, and turning those concepts into
game art and stories.

I'm knee deep in the middle of that. It's almost as fun as programming. Screw
the money, I'm doing it for the fun of it.

------
misio
I love this guys writing style, it reminds me of David Thorne from
27bslash6.com a little.

------
palguay
Here is my experience with the app store , I created a website for toddlers
<http://microangels.in> , Someone suggested that I make an app, since I had
the HTML and Javascript ready I used the android webbview and Jquery mobile to
create the Toddler books app
<https://market.android.com/details?id=in.microangels> . The app was released
on February 10, As of today there have been 7951 installs with 68% active. I
have integrated the app with admob and it has made $45 so far, I don't know if
this is because kids tend to click on advertisements or its because the list
scrolls below the screen and the clicks are accidental

My other app Taekwondo forms
<https://market.android.com/details?id=form.TaekwondoForm> is webview based
and released on Feb 25 , it has 532 downloads with 68% active installs and has
made .83 cents so far.

------
Bvalmont
This needs a lot more polish. Why not contact some (student) animators or
illustrators who are willing to work for a small percentage of the profit ?

~~~
sachinag
Braid wouldn't be Braid without the art. Dirt cheap illustrators won't help
him; he needs someone _good_.

~~~
sbisker
That's why you hire a student - students who are really good will often take
on a project just because it, say, hones a skill they're looking to improve,
or because it fits in nicely with a class assignment they need to do anyway.
Or maybe your game project is part of how they'll get that full-time job
they're seeking out at Blizzard?

They say in tech recruiting that "the best people will almost never be looking
for jobs" - it's true in creative fields too. In terms of trading off cost and
talent, I can't think of a resource as undertapped as art and design students.

------
metageek
I really need to add sound to my Android game. [1] It's a board game, which
means elaborate sound isn't a normal part of the experience; but it could at
least click as you move the stones around. I suspect, as the author says, that
most people would turn it off; but it'll contribute to the appearance of a
polished game.

I released the paid version last November, for 99¢; so far I've had 8 sales. A
month or two ago I released an ad-supported version; it's up to 123 downloads,
and has earned 5¢ in ad revenue--most of it in the first day, which makes me
think advertisers were experimenting to see if my users would click through.

I never expected vast success--it's a traditional Malagasy game, not a flashy
video game--but it'd be nice to get enough to pay back my $25 Market
membership. :-)

[1] <http://fanorona.thibault.org/>

~~~
rhizome
I would encourage you to implement haptic feedback wherever possible. People
still like to know the right thing is happening even if they turn the sound
off.

~~~
metageek
Oh, yeah, that would be good. Thanks!

------
neebz
I think the next most obvious step should be to go for Amazon Appstore. They
are serious and if your app gets selected for a free app of the day ..I am
sure you'll be flying.

~~~
ashbrahma
Do you have any stats on what a featuring on Amazon Appstore does for an app?

~~~
MatthewPhillips
The appstore was launched a few days ago...

------
MrVitaliy
If the game has been around on the web (under various names), why did he have
to get a license from iPhone developer? It's not like iPhone developer
"invented" the game.

~~~
dagw
He got a license from the guy who invented the game originally, not the guy
who wrote the iPhone app. I'm not sure if he really needed that as such, but
it sure seems like a nice gesture.

~~~
statictype
I think he wanted to use the same name. So probably he had to get some sort of
blessing from the original author.

He also ended up using all the levels - 79 of them - which would have been a
huge time saver.

------
saidulislam
very good post. enjoyed reading about your experience. I also think you should
write more on 1) learning Android development (maybe tutorials for the novice)
& 2) more on marketing. Like you, I am new to mobile app development/business.
Learned Android development first but then got into iOS. For now, sticking
mostly with iPhone. It’s way different but the idea is “fish where the fishes
are”. I like Android but to me at this point, it’s good for consumer but kind
of harsh for developers. People ask for refunds on Android apps and they can
continue to use the app moving it to the SD card. Glad you are trying out
different things on marketing. I am doing the same and my first app is no out
yet :-) Apple still reviewing it. You are correct on graphics. I think that is
mighty important. I am sharing my journey of app development, marketing and
overall experience through my blog too. Check it and share your thought. Good
luck!

------
leon_
> I knew I had a marketing problem but instead I preferred to refractor my
> code

Heh, I know this too well. I suck HUGE at marketing. I've got 4 games in the
iPhone app store and made since October 2010 whooping $780 ...

Actually I would be very happy if I got 20 sales a day :)

I guess my adventure in indie gamedev will end by the end of this year when my
funds are used up and I'll have to get an office coding job _blehrgs_

~~~
ymir
It is nice to know that we are not alone in this, so let me tell you our
story.

Background: we are following the HN community for good 4 years now and it
inspired us even more to start our own business. We are loving it and it is a
dream come true.

To the topic: yesterday we launched our first own product, iOS game Tap4Two.
That made us very proud - we shipped! But what would make our day is - if it
sold.

You can see the screenshots here:
<http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tap4two/id424411131?mt=8>

Landing page: <http://www.tap4two.com/>

We found a niche - there are very few games for 2 players to play on one
device. Real gaming has always been about few friends coming over to play on a
console/pc. And that's exactly what we were missing on the App Store. We made
a game, in which two players compete simultaneously in a series of challenges
- who will be first to spot the right solution. If you get it right - you get
+1 point, if you tap your button when the wrong solution is shown - you lose 1
point.

We hired an art student to draw a nice logo for Tap4Two, but we have drawn and
polished the graphics and the landing page ourselves. We are happy with them.
When the first version was ready to ship - we launched the landing page,
pitched it everywhere we could, made a gameplay video (homemade tripod for
iPhone 4 - great fun, take a look: <http://tumblr.com/x1a1pmizw9>), submitted
the app to review. Then it went a bit downhill: we set the availability date
to 24th March, but the game has gone "Ready for Sale" on 21st. As it seems,
this "feature" of App Store has not been changed, even though lots of people
are saying otherwise - game has gone live on 24th with the release date of
21st, which made it debut on the new releases at 81st position in puzzle
category. Not a very good start. As expected - it has not been found by almost
anyone - it was bought by all of our friends and just a few real customers. It
made 30. position on the Polish App Store (as it's our home country) - but
Poles are not buying much. Actually the only review we've got comes from a
real customer, and it's very heartlifting.

We've pitched the reviewers, posted on forums, facebook, twitter, everywhere -
without luck so far.

Any suggestions guys? Do you think the graphics could be more polished? Any
tips with marketing strategies?

Today: zero sales so far.

TL;DR: Made, pitched, shipped, did not sell all that well.

Here are some promo codes, if you would like to try it out: Y4YK743NXXNX
YXH3X7FXARF4 4JYKM7AKWWHR APK74H36NETW YNYPAFJ66HXA

~~~
TillE
> We found a niche

OK. But who's your target market? How do you envision people using your game?
In a game that is strictly multiplayer, I think you really have to understand
the social context.

While I quite enjoy playing board games like Carcassonne or Arkham Horror with
friends, or even stuff like air hockey on the iPad, I don't really see much
lasting appeal in a game like this which is quite simple and so directly
competitive.

In short, I think you need more interesting game modes.

