4 ms·
Just to add my personal data point of experience... 6 years ago, I took a break from doing webdev freelancing and spent around 3 months developing a kids app.
by shimfish 9y ago
Just to add my personal data point of experience...
6 years ago, I took a break from doing webdev freelancing and spent around 3 months developing a kids app. At that point the money ran out so I released the app even though it wasn't entirely finished and quickly went back to doing web freelancing in order to be able to feed my family.
The app sold in small amounts but it was getting great feedback from the people who had tried it. In my spare time, I added to it and improved it and would pester bloggers to try it. Marketing beyond that isn't an option as the costs are too great and if you're lucky you make a dollar per app sold.
It was a depressing and disheartening thing to put something out there which you felt was good but almost nobody was buying but I realised it was a gamble up front. I didn't bet the farm on it. I bet three months wages and immediately went back to regular work as soon as I was in financial danger.
Even if your game is amazing, there's no way anyone is going to instantly and magically know about it. Are there really so many people spending every day looking at the Steam new releases ready to just buy anything that appears? At the Indie level, only word-of-mouth means anything and that can take a very long time to build.
As it happens, after 9 long months of very little sales, my app got a small write-up in the New York Times. The piece was by one of the bloggers I had pestered particularly hard to try it and later happened to have a one-off article published. Since then, somehow the word-of-mouth effect kicked in and I've been blessed to be able to work on the app full-time as my sole source of income.
TL;DR: Don't ever plan on anyone buying your indie-game on day 1 even if it's amazing.
- shimfish 9y agoP.S. https://itunes.apple.com/app/my-playhome/id439628153 https://itunes.apple.com/app/my-playhome/id439628153 in case anybody was wondering.
- duiker101 9y agoCompletely unrelated, but what's with all the characters having their arms open?
- shimfish 9y agoIt's essentially a doll house. The characters can hold things. Their arms are open so it's easy to put things into their hands.
- dagw 9y agoFor what it's worth my daughter has sunk countless hours into that game and its expansions, and loved every minute of it. Even though she now considers herself a bit 'too old' for them, she'll still occasionally fire them up and play.
- shimfish 9y agoThanks! It's so nice to get actual feedback from parents. I live in the middle of nowhere and very, very rarely actually get to witness the app being used in the wild.
- phaus 9y agoThis is one of my daughter's favorite iPad games. She's been playing it for years and occasionally I play it with her. Did you do the artwork yourself?
- shimfish 9y ago:) A friend of ours does the artwork using actual pen and paper. We scan it in and clean it up in Photoshop.
- phaus 9y agoI used to draw quite a bit and I'm thinking of trying to get into game development as a hobby. Most mobile games have generic or mediocre art, but your friend did a really good job here. You did a pretty great job too. Its a simple concept, but everything works really well and there are lots of little details that make it more interesting.
- mromanuk 9y agoGreat write up, I’m developing for iOS (solopreneur). Is your company UK based?
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- fred_is_fred 9y agoMy son loved this game. He's no "too old" but this was a game I got him to play on my mom's (his grandma's ipad). They really bonded over it.