Toothpick Crossbow

Discussion in 'Game Showcase' started by volcank, Jul 20, 2017.

  1. volcank

    volcank Serious Boxer

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  2. Snow

    Snow Boxer

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    I like how you keep up with the trends mate, good job!
    One question: I see that you have many games on the stores, and some even have over 100K downloads. What marketing strategies have you tried, and did you make any money from these games? I mean, 100K-500K downloads are quite a lot...
     
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  3. volcank

    volcank Serious Boxer

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    Hi thank you! Yes the thing is if you woukd like to makr some money there are ASO strategies that you should follow. I am still not good at ASO but make it work in some ways. Also expect to spend some money on advertising but not a lot. I had to spend like around 200 dollara at chartboost asvertising for my fidget spinner app to to get some decent downloada at google play then it took off from there. Now it is having the least downloads it all changes. Also try to get as many reviews as you can they affect your appstore presence. This one I learnt late: Never ever buy cheap installs like 0.01 something from companies. They are mostly bots which in return results in installs with unplayed games or never opened games. Both apple and google arw looking at this and this is bad for your appatore this can veen get you banned. If you can, buy genuine installs. Finally if you arw going indie without a oublisher don't expect ti make a game and get rich. Make a market research first find out what people.want then create an app or a game around that. Hope this helps. Your audiance should be ready once you published your game. Good Luck.
     
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  4. Snow

    Snow Boxer

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    Oh, that is quite a lot to digest at once!

    Thanks for the advice man, I will do my best once I start uploading my games. I am thinking of taking the publisher route, it's just I don't know if people actually make money, EVEN with publishers like nanovation or appsolute.

    Either way I will follow your advice, it's been clarifying, thank you!
     
  5. volcank

    volcank Serious Boxer

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    Yes publishing route is still the safest way so go on with that. I also still in the process of making a game for publishers and will send it when finished. It just takes time to polish so in between I make apps and games. You can make a lot of money seems with publishers. It is always better to be a part of a big pie rather than having a whole small one. Ketchapp seems the biggest one right now. I had to wait like 3 weeks until my fidget spinner got 50k downloads and even this was a first for me. And after Ketchapp published their fidget spinner game they had 50k in around 5 days. Figure that. Also with publishers u don't need to worry about your appstore accounts or admob accounts etc to be banned. you only get payments which is pretty cool i think. Good luck!
     
  6. Snow

    Snow Boxer

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    Weeeeelll, I dont mean to sound pessimistic here, but do people actually make money from publishers? I mean serious money, like at least $1000 per game? And I am not talking about ketchapp. Yes they are the biggest player out there right now, but do they even accept buildbox games? Has anyone from these forums managed to land a contract with them? (Imnot talking about the buildbox company itself)
    It just seems that ketchapp recycles old ideas (ballz was a freaking clone and we all know it, and so are many of their games) or they just make games based on trends to make money. And these small-medium publishers, nanovation, appsolute, do they even get you enough downloads? Do they actually invest in the game? Or do they wait to see if the game does well on its own? Because I could do that too on my own... I just dont know... I am looking at the download numbers of these companies games at play store and it doesnt look good....and we all heard the rumors that fortafy will release new games, and buildbox made ones..but where are they? Its been a long time...
    I just dont know, it seems like the casual mobile industry is dying.. again, I dont have any experience with publishers but I dont know if its really worth it..
     
  7. whitedogapp

    whitedogapp Avid Boxer

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    which ASO tool did u used??
     
  8. Tarsier Games

    Tarsier Games Avid Boxer

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    Hey @Snow I just saw your message and I think I can answer your questions. :)

    Ketchapp is accepting BuildBox games for sure, you just need to adapt your game to their style and to polish your game like crazy. It didn't happened to me yet, but there are a couple of BB developers who managed to do that. There was Bounce and Ball Jump, who made their game to fit the "Ketchapp" style. Also, we all know that @TreySmith and his team made many games with them, such as Phases, The Line Zen, The Pit, Sky, Blue Edge... All those games follow the style they like and they are polished to perfection or like Trey says, when you begin to hate your game, then you are close to finish the polishing. :)

    As for these small-medium publishers, Nanovation, Appsolute, Umbrella, they are having many downloads on the AppStore, not so much on Google Play, because they are more concentrated on Apple and getting featured on the AppStore. Also, they are in business for a long time and they now have a huge base of players, so they can cross promote their games and get organic downloads even without a feature (Ketchapp has much more players :) ). To get a deal with them you would also need to polish your game and analyse their style and trends they follow. If you do sign with them you can expect a revenue of $1000-$20000, which depends on how well your game will perform.

    Fortify still has Color Switch in the top 50 of the US AppStore and I don't think they will release a new game as long as Color Switch is doing so well with new updates.

    Casual mobile industry is definitely not dying, you can just open Top Free Games in the US AppStore and find at least 10 casual games in top 50 every week. Keep an eye on Voodoo who is killing it with their simple casual games. They have 3 of their games in top 10 as we speak. :)
     
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2017
  9. Snow

    Snow Boxer

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    @Tarsier Games , thanks for the response!
    Well man, let me analyze this. First of all, when I am talking about Buildbox makers landing a ketchapp contract, I am DEFINITELY NOT including the games made by Trey and the Buildbox company team. Buildbox is a company, it is WAAAY easier for them to approach ketchapp, and I am not even sure if they made a deal with ketchapp to let them publish their games. Maybe they let them keep most of the profits, maybe they gave them access to unlimited Buildbox software licences. MAYBE. However, I am 10000% certain that if "the line zen" wasn't created by the Buildbox company and was sent today to ketchapp by a single buildbox developer, Ketchapp wouldn't even take a second look at it. I may be wrong, but that is my guess. I would like your thoughts on that.
    And yeah, Florian managed to land a deal with ketchapp with "Ball jump". That was a loooong time ago and if he sent them this game today, out of the blue, they wouldn't accept it. It has nothing to do with the quality of the app, it's just that ketchapp has formed its circle of developers and studios and it is near impossible to get them to accept a new game, especially a buildbox one.
    Not to mention that you probably have to wait at least a year to get your game published, and in the end it might not even perform well.

    About medium publishers, I don't know for sure but I am just not accepting random numbers until someone verifies 100% that you can actually make as much as you say. If yes, then yeah, I am wrong and it is actually DEFINITELY WORTH IT, since it's far from impossible to get them to publish your game. But I have seen people from these forums publishing with a medium publishers and then publishing on their own, which tells me a different story. I am not 100% sure though and I hate speculations.

    Color switch, again, this was a good game but its success relies 99% on the heavy promotion/ social influencers. And until I know 100% that at least a second buildboxer has landed a contract with them, they are out of the question here.

    Now Voodoo, yeah. These guys sound cool. I even heard that a lot of buildboxers are in contact with them, so when I see that at least one buildbox game was released by voodoo, that will be exciting, and actual proof that buildbox games are far from dying. Until then I am waiting patiently.

    Thanks very much man for your answer. I would like to hear your thoughts about my point of view!
     
  10. Tarsier Games

    Tarsier Games Avid Boxer

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    Hey, here are my thoughts. :)

    First of all, you are true that Buildbox team has a much better connection with Ketchapp then any other developer on this forum, but that doesn't mean that it is easier for them to get their games approved and published by Ketchapp. The timing for sending "The Line Zen" to them was perfect, because they had released "The Line" one year before and had a huge success with it. "The Line Zen" was a much improved version of "The Line" and that is why Ketchapp accepted it then, but they wouldn't approve it now who ever send it, because that train is gone. :)

    When @Florian Porkert sent them "Ball Jump" it was an unique game back then with unique music and dynamic game play. The reason they would not accept a game like that today is because they need something fresh, something unique with a familiar mechanic. Just like Trey always says. MODEL & IMPROVE. I am 10000% sure that if you take "Ball Jump" and find a way to get inspired by it and improve it to make it better and to fit to today's style, Ketchapp would accept it. For example, make an AR version of it. :D (Maybe BB 3 would do that also :D )

    I can't disclose the exact amount of revenue I got from my 4 games I published with medium publishers, but I verify that it was in the range of 1000$-5000$ per game.

    Color Switch was heavily promoted by Fortify games on their social channels, but @Machine Rises made an awesome game and later updated it regularly (with the help of Fortify), which really helped that push from social media. And, you should be that second buildboxer that has landed a contract with them, don't wait for someone else. :D

    The same thing with Voodoo, why do you wait for someone else to contact them and get you your proof? Start analyzing their games and create your own to match with their style and contact them. Maybe you will be the one to give us that proof that BB games are not dying. :)

    Cheers
     
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  11. volcank

    volcank Serious Boxer

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    WOW what happened here LOL! @Tarsier Games thank you so much for talking so open about your experience and even your earnings. I was wondering you said between 1000-5000 that is per month right? I mean not the total amount you got from each game. I have a game which I am planning to send to publishers which is a platformer. I thought about medium sized publishers and thought appsolute games. I dont know if you worked with them but wondering how was your experience with your publisher. did they ask for many revisions or did they tell you to change a certain artwork etc? Just feeling a little alien to this subject even I read a lot. Actually the publsiher I have in my mind is noodlecake somehow they seem more warmer to me. but ofcouse this is business you never know.
     
  12. Tarsier Games

    Tarsier Games Avid Boxer

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    Hey, I've made a new thread related to publishing. :)

    https://www.buildbox.com/forum/index.php?threads/is-casual-mobile-industry-dying.11165/#post-59505
     

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