Finding players on Android
Monkey Archive Forums/Digital Discussion/Finding players on Android
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| What resources are you all using to get players to download your Android games? 9 Iron Ninja is out for free, but it's number of downloads is only creeping higher by the day. I'm wondering where you are submitting your apps. I'm on Google Play and Amazon right now. My only idea right now is to get the Flash version out there with links in the game to get it on iPhone, Android and Windows phone. |
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| make a small demos on Mochi and Kongregate with link to your Android version. I am sure that will help to promote it quite a bit and also make you a bit of cash. |
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| Are you saying you'd advertise in other apps with Mochi, and have a Flash version on Kongregate? Or run Mochi ads on Kongregate? |
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| I have the same problem. Actually I have the most downloads at Barnes&Noble (NOOK) followed by Amazon and then Google Play. All in all it's: Nook > Amazon > iPhone > Google > Windows Phone Having a flash version at Big Fish Games didn't help at all. Sometimes it just need some time. My free version of Blotty Pots was downloaded about 5-10 per day in the beginning and is now at 100+ per day. |
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| that's not what I do but a lot of programmers do. I always run into games in Mochi and in Kongregate that has links to games that are in the android store and in iTunes. |
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| Time is a factor, yes. In early 2010, it was much easier to get the ball rolling. I would have 100K downloads of my Lite versions within a month. 9 Iron Ninja is only growing by about 20 downloads a day on Google Play right now, and I'm advertising it through my other games pretty heavily. Maybe it's just the game itself and its presentation, I'm not sure. Amazon isn't doing much better for me right now. Really not sure how to do better there. Tried to submit an update, and I have no idea if it took either. It should go live on Windows Phone today, but they took so long to get it this far, it already needs an update :( I REALLY want to get some downloads on Android however. I am getting AMAZING reviews from those who did download, so I know I've got something people will like, I just don't know how or where to get the eyeballs. |
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| Do you know this Adware that is installed with other useful software? Last day i istalled CCleaner (it delete temp data on windows)... and what do you think was the name of the Adware that i could optionally install? Angry Birds! And this is the key: you MUST pay, if you want more download... Do not ask me how... here are some download services that can help you to increase number of downloads. You pay say 100$ - and you get 50K downloads (but no user base). Same trick like Facebook-Friends, you know...? Or you are a marketing genius Or you had a awesome game idea and create a must have game The problem is that all app stores are over-flooded with shit-apps. I readed that 95% of all apps never generate 5000$. Only a very small number of apps generate big money. If i look at the app-store, i can find X clones of angry bird, X clones of this, and X clones of that... Most games are SHIT... Most games are STUPIED. If i look at your game: *the idea is OK, but nothing awesome or must have *graphics are OK, a bit too simple for me... *website is OK, and also a bit simple for me... pros: +many stores/devices +trailer +press kit in all: Standard but... you should ask you: -how can someone find your game (or website) -how can someone pick your game from over-flooded market? and the answer is: i do not know how... nobody can find your game... except he already know your game Example of a awesome game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp3sNMwuK8o&feature=player_embedded it was created by 10 developers... for many many months... it is original, not easy to clone... and this is the key... on other side this game without marketing is NOTHING!!! you must have both I feel the trend go away from simple games to more complex games (like above). The time to create this games is very high - or you need more dev's. |
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| The cool thing about games is that there are probably as many people who play Sudaku as there are people who play Call of Duty. There's room for all shapes and sizes of games. Now that the market is saturated, what are those marketing moves we need to make? How do we cut apart from the fray for just long enough to get in front of some eyeballs so they can make the decision whether or not to download our games? I got reviewed on a website today for Android games, and I think that's a start. I need to find more review sites. Submitting to them is difficult though. It's hard to know how to approach the reviewer, and how to word your description to get them to play. In regards to your comment about making more complex games: I don't necessarily think simple games are going away for a long while. There are just too many people, like myself, who never play games that take more than a few minutes. The closest thing I've played to a complex game in years is Minecraft, and I can still play that game for 2 minutes, or 2 hours, so I guess even it is a casual game. |
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| The FLY'N game looks pretty to me, but boring. I'd never play it. It's just a dressed-up platformer (seemingly, from the marketing). So, the BIG problem is, how to get your Android game noticed. Google it, and you come up with something like this: http://gamasutra.com/blogs/ErnestWoo/20120404/168026/Android_Marketing_for_Indies.php |
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| There is one line in that article that stands out to me: "Money I had been putting money aside for a while to develop ErnCon and when graphics and sound came in under budget, I realized I had enough to hire an actual professional to work on PR." Also, I don't have a huge multi-player space game to market. I have a golf game for people who tend to like Crosswords and want a game to play on the john :) But I have to believe there are still lots of people who want to play my game (or a game like it), but huge review sites aren't going to be interested. So what now? I'm not being cynical, but sincere. I think this is an interesting discussion, because there is a MASSIVE number of people who enjoy these little games, but there is no way for them to learn about their existence as these big games take up most of the front-pages out there. |
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| Hi benmc, Having seen the downloads on some of your other games, I think you're doing really well, and it's just a matter of time before 9 iron ninja takes off. One thing to consider is using some of the other Android market places. I've found Slideme to be pretty good. We have been seeing most downloads on Amazon, then Slideme, then Google Play. I've heard of others having success with Appia, but we've had little luck there. Here is the ten-week view of downloads on our zombie runner game -  |
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| @silentshark Thank you for the list of other sites, that's definitely one thing I've been thinking of doing. I'm only on Google Play and Amazon at the moment, but would like it everywhere. Interesting how many downloads SlideMe gets, I hadn't even heard of it. On Amazon I'm only getting around 5 downloads a day. My other games did get a lot of downloads, but they had the luxury of being some of the early games on the Android Market (before Google Play). It's much harder to find anyone to download your game now. I relied on the Just In category back in the day, and that would actually get the ball rolling really well. Now, new apps just get put into the barrel with the rest. |
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| another thing I have played with is the IDRTG twitter group - see http://www.innovatty.com/twitter/IDRTG/index.php In my experience it does drive some extra downloads, though not as many as you'd think or hope :-) |
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| I looked at SlideMe, but I'm a bit hesitant of putting my app up there. I have checked out the IDRTG, but I think most people see them as spam posts to Twitter now, but I have still considered it. I have been working on introducing myself on some forums, and posting to the New game forums and such. Maybe that will help a bit. |
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| Here are my 2 week download stats for Santa's workshop Slideme: 1431 Amazon: 389 Google Play: 65 The above speaks for it's self, I might not even bother with Google play for my next game. |
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| So how does that work with SlideMe. If you have a paid app you have to add some tokens to your inventory? How's that supposed to work and what do I have to select there? Generate stock tokens or? Thanks! |
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| The Slideme TOS is what scared me off. For a free app, it would be great to see those downloads, but it makes me uneasy. Is anyone on GetJAR? |
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| Yes. With two free apps. Together ~500 downloads in 6 months. I get three times more on SlideMe. Can't prove it. I don't see as much admob views as suggested by the downloads in SlideMe. 830 downloads for one app but just 980 impressions in admob. |
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| I think a good way to get up on Google Play is to offer Premium Content, if the user rate your game he will unlock new maps, skind or whatever. I tried this with my app Roccos Block Land. First I only had 5-10 downloads per day. After some ratings it increased to 40-50 downloads a day. This isnīt the sum I hoped, but my game had a lot of bugs and crashes. So thatīs why some people rate it bad. |
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| My ratings have been great on Google Play, and it's increasing by about 50 downloads a day at the moment. I don't offer any in app purchases because I haven't figured that out yet, and it's not built into Monkey. Did you have to code your own IAP module for Android? |
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| I dont use In-App Purchases at the moment. I only mean to offer premium content, which can be unlocked if the player click on a button like "rate the game and unlock 5 new maps". On this way I try to motivate the player to rate the game. |
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