Hey everyone! Boppity Boo is now on the Apple Appstore! This game is a Flappy Bird style game with a twist (model and improve right?). I've made it fairly easy to get through the first 10 scenes in the game, and if you make it past the golden coffins you'll understand why ! With this release I set out to test a few concepts I've been toying with. To my delight Apple approved the game as is. Those of you who download it will quickly see (and be wondering why) that I've added something to the interface that I'm hoping will contribute to a viral distribution of the game and become a social sharing tool for games in general! Yeah, you'll have to download it to see what I'm talking about! (for less than the cost of a coffee, it's worth it!) The game itself isn't going to rock your world by any stretch, but it's definitely not a bad game either, it's worth the $0.99 you'll pay for it. Now comes the next phase of this project! You guys are the privileged few who are getting advanced notice of my plans, and hopefully will be my first supporters (If I can succeed, that means you can too!). I'll be launching a youtube video campaign that explains some of this, but basically I'm turning Boppity Boo into a social movement! You see, what most people don't know about me is that, I love making mobile games, and more so my mobile game business, but I also have a life outside gaming. I have a few inventions, on paper, that once prototyped, could disrupt their respective industries. I'm a highly creative person and I tend to look at things from a different angle than most. The problem with inventions though, is money! you need money to prototype, you need money for independent testing, you need money for patents, you need money for marketing, production, and distribution. Typically, this is done through investors. But the problem with the investor approach is the loss of control, and the expectation of short term profitability. So how does a simple game like Boppity Boo change this fact?? Boppity Boo is being sold on the appstore for $0.99 (less than a cost of a coffee, it's the equivalent today of that quarter I used to spend for 1 play of a game at the arcade). If I can convince 10 million people to have faith in me, that I will turn any profits I make with Boppity Boo into meaningful inventions that have the potential to change their life for the better, isn't it worth $1?? Even if I were to fail miserably, they still get a game worth $1. What do you have to loose? Anyhow, I won't write a novel here, but I hope you guys can help support me, and download Boppity Boo, either for the game itself, or for what it might mean in the long term! I'll let you all know when the video goes live on Youtube! Remember! Share the game but keep the secret! (you'll know what that means after you play the game) Alain Grignon zHeroez Founder
With all due respect, why don't you create a kickstarter to fund your invention ideas? Using a paid app is not the way to go. Trying to get "a social movement" ( whatever that really is ) is extremely unrealistic at best. For a small scoop of tough love, you're never gonna achieve anything like those numbers, and I mean anything - I think you'd be lucky to get double figure downloads be to fair. This is just the way the market is - Most people won't download an app even though it's free, and of course, they have to find it first. Again, I deliberately haven't looked at your app yet so please don't think it's a personal attack on your product, but even with the best app in the universe you'll struggle. @dan_counsell recently posted an awesome post-mortem of his last game that was featured worldwide by Apple and garnered a ton of press. I'd recommend finding it on these forums and reading that, it may well change your plans. Please take this in the spirit it is intended - I truly and honestly wish you the very best of luck and would love to be proved wrong Looking forward to seeing the youtube video.
I wish you the best of luck, I DL'd it...glad to help! Hope you can share information on the results too!
I agree with Kevin. I don't think you can achieve a game getting viral by making secrets. You need the end user to see what is so special about and what can be done. This will wake the interest and then the user eventually will download and play. If the game is great and the surprise goes beyond what you promise then he/she will invest in your campaign and help make it viral. As a bonus, you then have the chance to get the user aware of your further interests and projects which (if intertwined in an original way) can lead to the wanted investment. I suggest you re-think the campaign strategy because you mostly will not get any downloads. Also, the screenshots of the game do not look very promising and either does the game seem to have a lot of creativity as you say. This makes it even harder. Buildbox has a great community and I would suggest to discuss it the next time with other users here or in private. It can make the campaign grow into something more substantial. As Kevin says, I really hope to be proven wrong and wish you also the best of luck. It's good to have new ideas around.
So I found your game: https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/id1048620959?mt=8 I agree with @Christoph the screenshots doesn't look very promising. I didn't download it so I can't say whether I like the game or not. We're here to help you. Good luck!
Hey guys, Thanks so much for the responses, I really enjoy reading what all of you have to say. Let me start with @Kevin W. You've pretty much nailed what the current mobile game market is like. If I were to promote Boppity Boo as is, using the regular channels, like trying to get a game review spot, or getting everyone I know and their brother to review my game, I'd be lucky to make $100. I should also put a small disclaimer out there, when it comes to game design and game business, I'm fully aware that I'm on the steep climb of mount stupid! lol Basically I have alot to learn, and I've already learned alot with my first game (which has been properly pulled from the app store). Since my first game fail, I've taken what I've learned and have poured myself into developing a game that is publisher ready (still in progress) which I think is probably the only way to make any amount of money in today's market. Yes, that game is a better representation of my creative abilities, while also reflects my lack of artistic talent! For now I have to work with what I've got... All that said, I still have ideas and concepts in marketing, interface, keywords, that I want to test but am not willing to risk on a game I've put months of work into. This is where Boppity Boo comes in. I put a total of 15 hours into building it (yes, the art reflects this glaringly ) but it's purpose wasn't to demonstrate my artistic prowess (or lack there off) or even game design abilities, it was meant to test the market with a number of different ideas. Also test whether Apple would accept some of my more "out there" ideas. Like I said above, I was surprised that they actually approved it as is, which holds promise for some of the ideas I'm testing. One of those ideas is directly part of the interface, and it's a social component that is meant to facilitate the sharing of the app with friends without having to search for the app in the appstore. Is the game worth $1? That is entirely your call. But the social experiment I'm attempting is another concept I want to test. It has nothing really to do with the quality of the game, it has to do with applying a social campaign designed for another purpose to a game that would otherwise not do so well on its own, and see if this "movement, experiment, challenge" will make a significant difference. Yes, I do intend to share whatever metrics I get from this with anyone who is interested! The basic principle remains the same though, I do intend to reinvest ALL profits into all my future endeavours (more, and better games, inventions, etc...). For the inventions, I have considered kickstarter, but again, it's an investor relationship, with some investors having the expectation that if they give more, they get more. I'm trying to use the game as a means of having everyone equally important in making this a success (again, this goes against conventional wisdom, I know, but I'm just testing to see if it can be done). Besides, before I could use Kickstarter I would need a working prototype and the patents to go with it. That's a minimum of $50k investment before I even think of touching the keyboard! Am I a fool for trying? Some might say yes, but honestly, I really have nothing to loose with Boppity Boo, and in my humble opinion if you never take risks, you'll never find out if something is possible or not. There's a french expression I use with my kids all the time that roughly translates to "Risking is Having". In this case, attempting this social experiment will either work a little or alot, either way, it won't be detrimental to the success of the game. I've already made 5x more money with Boppity Boo in 2 days than I did with my first game, so I figure, I'm already ahead! I'll leave it at that for now, but I'll come back to other comments later... most of all, I really do appreciate your comments, and never be afraid to provide me with any amount of "tough love", you guys are the best, and I'm still on the learning curve. Alain Grignon zHeroez Founder
