The first experience in game development. Errors and conclusions
After reading one of the articles on Habré, I decided to start developing games for mobile platforms. It was decided to make a game for android, because I do not like the Window Store, and registration in the Appstore costs $ 100.
After 10 minutes, I came up with a mechanic that I have not seen in any game. As planned, the camera was located on top (Top-down), enemies came from different sides of the character, he automatically shot at them. The player was only required to move the character across the screen so that his enemies would not touch him. The essence of the game is to score as many points as possible.
Zombies were chosen for the role of enemies, the main character was a Mexican in a sombrero, and all the action took place in the desert. I decided to make the graphics and sounds in 8-bit style.
Unity3D was chosen as the engine, because it is multi-platform and I have already worked with it quite a lot.
Development took a week. For advertising, I used AdMob. For drawing Photoshop.
He named the game Macho Muchacho and posted it on Google Play.
Wrote about the game in various forums. Participated in GameJam2014. Renamed the game to Macho: Birds in Danger, so that the game can be found at the request of "Birds". To do this, pre-added birds to the game. Improved graphics. Added a system of buying weapons and improvements that fell out of killed zombies and bosses. But all my efforts were in vain. For 4 months the game was downloaded 26 times and I earned $ 1.39 on it.
Those few who played it liked the game. Most likely the problem is in the schedule.
However, it was a very rewarding experience.
I decided to make the next game using a rather popular Internet meme.
In it, Poland Ball (Poland Ball) flies on a rocket, collects cans of fuel (fuel, by the way, is made from Polish apples) and dodges space stations, earns points.
The basic mechanics were taken from the Flappy Bird game. From myself added fuel that is running out. If you do not pick up canisters, then the rocket falls to the Earth, and also when you receive a certain amount of points, some Countryball opens. The bet was that this meme and the game would be picked up by the fans. I also promised that as soon as this game gained 10,000 installations, I would add more page balls.
For drawing this time decided to use Gimp.
I made the game in a couple of days. He wrote about it on android forums (Xda, Android Pit, androidforums.com etc) and in several thematic groups on Facebook.
In principle, it turned out as I intended, the number of installations is growing steadily, albeit slowly.
325 total. 115-active
Ads (AdMob interstitial) are shown with a 50% chance of losing.
Average income $ 1, the maximum was $ 5. For the three months that the game lies there, it was downloaded 325 times and it brought me $ 50.
I decided to make the third game with nice cute graphics and some nice character. I thought for a long time who to choose and in the end I decided to choose a lollipop. He came up with simple mechanics. Candy monsters move from top to bottom in three rows. Below the protective wall are three guns and when you click on them they shoot at the monsters with colorful candies. If a player misses three times, then the guns stop shooting. During the game, the speed of monsters increases. After three hits on the wall, the monsters break out, eat guns and run to the waffle castle. It all looks very good.
In this game, the bet was placed on “mercy” and “nesity”.
To entice the player longer in the game, I made a store where you can buy hats, glasses and other things.
Drew all this in CorelDraw. It is very convenient, and I will probably continue to draw in it.
After a couple of weeks, the game was ready. I named it Lollipop Castle Defense and uploaded it to GooglePlay. And I decided to try to prepare additional materials: a couple of wallpapers and a card, which was then often used on various resources.
As usual, he wrote about the game in all the forums that + reddit / androidapps could reach.
For the week that the game rests on GooglePlay, it scattered quite well on the Internet, I have already seen three years of play on YouTube (for the previous two I have not found a single one). She was also placed on a much larger number of resources than previous "ugly" games.
It’s too early to talk about income. But in terms of the number of impressions and clicks on ads, it already surpasses the previous game. Including the pace of installations. And she keeps the player longer. The average session is about 5 minutes, against 3 minutes from the last game. So I have more plans for this game, in the future I will supplement it with caps and other things.
AdMob plugin (shows banners and interstitial ads): forum.unity3d.com/threads/admob-unity-plug-in-use-google-play-services-support-interstitial.236156
Google Analytics Plugin (there’s a video instruction on how to install it): www.formation-facile.fr/unity-analytics-integration.php
After 10 minutes, I came up with a mechanic that I have not seen in any game. As planned, the camera was located on top (Top-down), enemies came from different sides of the character, he automatically shot at them. The player was only required to move the character across the screen so that his enemies would not touch him. The essence of the game is to score as many points as possible.
Zombies were chosen for the role of enemies, the main character was a Mexican in a sombrero, and all the action took place in the desert. I decided to make the graphics and sounds in 8-bit style.
Unity3D was chosen as the engine, because it is multi-platform and I have already worked with it quite a lot.
Development took a week. For advertising, I used AdMob. For drawing Photoshop.
He named the game Macho Muchacho and posted it on Google Play.
Images
Wrote about the game in various forums. Participated in GameJam2014. Renamed the game to Macho: Birds in Danger, so that the game can be found at the request of "Birds". To do this, pre-added birds to the game. Improved graphics. Added a system of buying weapons and improvements that fell out of killed zombies and bosses. But all my efforts were in vain. For 4 months the game was downloaded 26 times and I earned $ 1.39 on it.
Those few who played it liked the game. Most likely the problem is in the schedule.
However, it was a very rewarding experience.
Poland can into space!
Images
I decided to make the next game using a rather popular Internet meme.
In it, Poland Ball (Poland Ball) flies on a rocket, collects cans of fuel (fuel, by the way, is made from Polish apples) and dodges space stations, earns points.
The basic mechanics were taken from the Flappy Bird game. From myself added fuel that is running out. If you do not pick up canisters, then the rocket falls to the Earth, and also when you receive a certain amount of points, some Countryball opens. The bet was that this meme and the game would be picked up by the fans. I also promised that as soon as this game gained 10,000 installations, I would add more page balls.
For drawing this time decided to use Gimp.
I made the game in a couple of days. He wrote about it on android forums (Xda, Android Pit, androidforums.com etc) and in several thematic groups on Facebook.
In principle, it turned out as I intended, the number of installations is growing steadily, albeit slowly.
325 total. 115-active
Ads (AdMob interstitial) are shown with a 50% chance of losing.
Average income $ 1, the maximum was $ 5. For the three months that the game lies there, it was downloaded 325 times and it brought me $ 50.
Lollipop castle defense
I decided to make the third game with nice cute graphics and some nice character. I thought for a long time who to choose and in the end I decided to choose a lollipop. He came up with simple mechanics. Candy monsters move from top to bottom in three rows. Below the protective wall are three guns and when you click on them they shoot at the monsters with colorful candies. If a player misses three times, then the guns stop shooting. During the game, the speed of monsters increases. After three hits on the wall, the monsters break out, eat guns and run to the waffle castle. It all looks very good.
In this game, the bet was placed on “mercy” and “nesity”.
Images
To entice the player longer in the game, I made a store where you can buy hats, glasses and other things.
Drew all this in CorelDraw. It is very convenient, and I will probably continue to draw in it.
After a couple of weeks, the game was ready. I named it Lollipop Castle Defense and uploaded it to GooglePlay. And I decided to try to prepare additional materials: a couple of wallpapers and a card, which was then often used on various resources.
Images
A pair of wallpapers (1920x1080):
Card:
Card:
As usual, he wrote about the game in all the forums that + reddit / androidapps could reach.
For the week that the game rests on GooglePlay, it scattered quite well on the Internet, I have already seen three years of play on YouTube (for the previous two I have not found a single one). She was also placed on a much larger number of resources than previous "ugly" games.
It’s too early to talk about income. But in terms of the number of impressions and clicks on ads, it already surpasses the previous game. Including the pace of installations. And she keeps the player longer. The average session is about 5 minutes, against 3 minutes from the last game. So I have more plans for this game, in the future I will supplement it with caps and other things.
conclusions
- Before you start making a game, you need to find a good artist (if you do not know how to draw);
- With music and sounds, too, everything is not as simple as it seems (free sounds can be found on freesound.org, for example);
- Before the release of the game, it must be shown to as many people as possible, sometimes advice helps a lot;
- Of the forums that have brought at least some tangible benefit, these are w3bsit3-dns.com and XDA;
- The cost of advertising per click varies greatly. I had from $ 0.01 to $ 0.44 (these are interstitial ads from AdMob);
- The description of the game must be translated into all major languages;
- For twitter, the most useful tags are #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday. A tweet with these tags is immediately picked up by several robots and the tweet is shown in popular ones.
References:
AdMob plugin (shows banners and interstitial ads): forum.unity3d.com/threads/admob-unity-plug-in-use-google-play-services-support-interstitial.236156
Google Analytics Plugin (there’s a video instruction on how to install it): www.formation-facile.fr/unity-analytics-integration.php