Got This From A Publisher

Discussion in 'Buildbox General Discussion' started by eyal, Dec 19, 2016.

  1. brakewind723

    brakewind723 Serious Boxer

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    The minimal geometric shape look most buildbox games are known for are being recognized less now. I do put most of the time though because puzzle and paid minimal games still do very well. But you can see there has been a shift in style and the artwork plays a bigger role. Gameplay of course should still be the prime focus, and if your game is really good then as long as it's polished art shouldn't matter much. The 3D aestheic look is being favored a lot these days with minimal games rather than the 2D.

    @Christoph What I found is that endless alone might not be enough for your game. Color Switch is still succesfull because they are constantly able to build upon it and keep user interest. When I develop now I develop with the intention of adding more content with the games release or later on with updates if it blows up :). Plus I prefer challenge modes and levels over endless any day. That's why Leap Day is my all time favorite and go to game when bored:p
     
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  2. Andy

    Andy Miniboss Boxer

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    These "minimal" "casual" games have been around for 30 years. I played them all on my Atari 2600. I agree with pretty much everything Kevin said. Trends come and go.
     
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  3. Christoph

    Christoph Miniboss Boxer

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    Yeah, Color Switch is everything but endless one year after its release. And yes, they use heavy advertising on facebook. One of those videos can cost up to 5000 dollars. But all this wouldn't work if the game's ARPU isn't high enough. And that's where all the game modes come in.

    This I heard directly from a publisher as well. The games of 2017 will be all those crossy road looking games. And in fact they already are taking over the appstore in recent months. It's definitely interesting when you observe the market we are in. It's crazy fast moving and I still haven't really got used to what's hip in 2016 and 2017 is already around the corner. :)
     
  4. brakewind723

    brakewind723 Serious Boxer

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    For sure everything always comes back eventually you can see the same trend in music and clothes.
     
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  5. brakewind723

    brakewind723 Serious Boxer

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    Not saying you guys should give up using minimal art, Color Switch probably wouldn't have never worked with any other art style. Just observe the market like Christoph said and analyze Trey's video about publishers. Review the section in the video where you see what the publisher has recently been pushing, if your game has a similar style to that then you have a better chance at getting that deal.
     
  6. Gregory Storm

    Gregory Storm Avid Boxer

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    Minimal is not dead. Endless is not dead. Buildbox is not dead. The only thing that is dead are games that have horrible retention and don't monetize well.
     
  7. eyal

    eyal Serious Boxer

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    NO :)
    Regardless I have sent you an email and didn't get an answer
     
  8. Jaky1

    Jaky1 Serious Boxer

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    Well I don't know what is going on. But I also think that the people are now losing their interest in casual one tap games and opt for more in depth, level style games, mostly puzzle.

    I guess we will have to work on what we could bring other tham one tap. But its a little limited in BB.. I guess waiting till BB 3 see what it brings
     
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  9. Christoph

    Christoph Miniboss Boxer

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    So... Could you explain your opinion a little? What makes a game in your point of view viable?
     
  10. Gregory Storm

    Gregory Storm Avid Boxer

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    Whoops. Sorry about that. The general gmail.com inbox gets a ton of e-mail and some take a while to get read. Next time, you can e-mail me directly by using my first name at my company domain name. Those get read quickly.
     
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  11. Gregory Storm

    Gregory Storm Avid Boxer

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    I've written a long answer about that before. It's somewhere on the forum. You can probably find it by search @Kevin W and @Simon Crack together because I mention both of them in the post.
     
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  12. Gregory Storm

    Gregory Storm Avid Boxer

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  13. AppNasty

    AppNasty Miniboss Boxer

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    The answer is simple. Do what i do. If your gameplay types arent getting attention, use BB to make 'Information Apps'. How to do this....How to do that....or...'Every router admin login ever'...how to draw....a list of every X.....Informational apps seem to get more hits. Years ago i had a How To Mod Minecraft app and was making about 1000 bucks every month off it. Ended up getting my account banned, thats another story lol. But today my How To Draw Cars app shows up in like, top list when you search how to draw. I did zero marketing. zero sharing. Just made it and uploaded it. Within a week it had 1000 downloads. Today it has almost 50,000. Makes about $180 to $200 a month. so far. So, go find some useful info....use BB to app it....upload. It naturally will get attention based off what you name it. as people use google play to search how to do things.
     
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  14. eyal

    eyal Serious Boxer

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    Thank you for that - just sent you :)
     
  15. Christoph

    Christoph Miniboss Boxer

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    Thanks for the reply but to be honest this is only pure bla bla bla. We all know that you need superb quality in your games to make it retention wise. But the problem is that even then most casual games do not succeed. Even with a publisher because they can't invest money in it because of the bad ARPU. If it is at 0.05 you simply have no way of getting even. Void Jumping had it all and has been a failure. Kika has been a huge failure. Swipe Land has been a huge failure.
    Swipe Land has what? 2k? 3k downloads? And you put a 5 figure in it to promote? I can't even believe that. Sorry. If you did, the failure would grow from huge to majestic. But that's not the point. The point is that all these games are high quality and should do pretty good... but they didn't. And there's nothing we can do because we are independent and the publishers pretty much too. And this means we have not enough money to make them appear at the top.

    So this brings me to my original question: can you explain (if you want based on your own game Swipe Land) why casual minimal endless games are not dead? Or what exactly you think should be done to avoid these disasters? (I know you always can have bad luck, but to make a business out of this we can't build it on top of just luck). So let's be honest please with each others and not use empty marketing speeches like you just did. That doesn't help anybody here.
     
  16. Jaky1

    Jaky1 Serious Boxer

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    I agree with @Christoph today huge companies like supercell, zynga etc doesn't even leave a chance for Indie Dev, the days are gone when indie dev made a game and it made success, now you need huge money to invest and insane marketing skills, or else. Notl matter how good your game is, if people don't see it.. Boom failure.
     
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  17. blad300

    blad300 Serious Boxer

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    Even... Play store or App store, don't give you a chance.
    When i want to download and play a game, in both stores ,first i need to see all Ketchapp games, another 5-6 fucking bottle challange, and few another games .
    I saw in Play Store, they have in mind to create a new section "Indie Games" with most popular,most downloaded and what people like indie games.

    PS : no matter what i search in Play Store i must see eternal Color Switch
     
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  18. blad300

    blad300 Serious Boxer

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    And another things is, how you want to make a fun game , with so many lack resources .
    There are now many "game creator engines" what offer to developer chance to create more funny games.
    We must have some more features in BB .
     
  19. Jaky1

    Jaky1 Serious Boxer

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  20. AppNasty

    AppNasty Miniboss Boxer

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    Remember, people love clones too. After beating color switch a person wants more of the same game type, just different. So similar games can be successful as well. The route im currently taking is building my army FIRST. Then market. For example, my FB i get around 10-30 million views on the content i post per month. Alot of that becomes new followers and friends etc. Now my chances of a games success is much higher than the average joe who uploads and hopes for the best. I use my FB and Twitter to pitch my BoxHead character. Hes entertaining. People follow. Then the day will come where i will showcase my games. I occasionally post the links but i dont put much effort into promoting them yet. Not till i feel its all ready. Using this method to build your audience and fan base FIRST will increase your chances. Versus cold uploading.
     
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