5 ms·

Mika Mobile on selling Battleheart on iOS and Android

56 points by raptrex 15y ago

spaghetti 15y ago
Thanks for sharing this. As an iOS developer considering moving to Android I found the recount of your Android experience interesting.
- ashbrahma 15y ago
  You should look into Tapjoy. They are offering money for developers porting from Android to iPhone
arn 15y ago
I find the tone of this article very strange. It starts off as a very positive "Hey, Android's worth doing". But by the end, you feel like he's being driven mad due to the added frustrations. :)
- Steko 15y ago
  I dunno what's strange about it: "yes but needs improvement at a/b/c" is a pretty common result. I'd seen the game before but had passed on it. I liked the developer's attitude and openness and so I just bought it.
  - arn 15y ago
    It wasn't subtle. "There are days where I just want to pull the plug on the whole thing because I'm sick of 12 year olds (or people with comparable communication skills) trying to convince me they've been wronged and I should give them their 3 dollars back. ...I shouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water. It is a loud, obnoxious baby though."
    - moe 15y ago
      a loud, obnoxious baby Which is, btw, one of the best characterizations of the Android ecosystem that I have read in a while. I hope it will be taught some manners in the coming years.
- 2muchcoffeeman 15y ago
  I too find it strange. He says it was worth his time porting to Android but never says how long it took. I have this game on iOS and it came out quite a while ago. What we really need to know is (profit)/(development time). And you'd have to match this on Android (or maybe surpass it given his frustration). Even if this took a reasonable time to port, it might be possible that had he worked on his next iOS game, he would have made even more money for his time.
  - aerique 15y ago
    He wrote that since they use Unity porting the game took him about a day and he also wrote the Android version is a meaningful source of revenue.
  - darklajid 15y ago
    > Actually porting the game only took about a day. It says how long it took, right there in the article. He says that he had to fight some trouble down the road, but 'porting' was done after a day, due to Unity magic.
    - 2muchcoffeeman 15y ago
      Ah, totally missed that. So part of the moral is Unity is worth it.
      - JabavuAdams 15y ago
        Unity for Android is an extra $400 license once you've bought Unity for iPhone Pro. https://store.unity3d.com/shop/ https://store.unity3d.com/shop/
  - berntb 15y ago
    >> What we really need to know is (profit)/(development time). Don't forget the extra support time he had on Android. I don't know about you, but I want a high hourly pay to do that.
    - 15y ago
Maascamp 15y ago
Honestly, this was pretty all over the place and seems more like a stream of consciousness than any sort of proper comparison between the two markets. Sounds like he's been getting annoyed by support requests lately and decided to write a rant ("comparison") about his Android market experience.
athst 15y ago
The most surprising fact was that Android is 80% of iOS revenue - that's a LOT better than I would have expected and had previously thought about the android market.
- hallmark 15y ago
  Unless you compare launch months, in which case the Android revenue was 5% of iOS.
  - jsnell 15y ago
    But then again his third caveat on those numbers is that the iOS version was heavily promoted during and after launch, while the Android version wasn't.

56 points by raptrex 15y ago

Thanks for sharing this. As an iOS developer considering moving to Android I found the recount of your Android experience interesting.

ashbrahma 15y ago
You should look into Tapjoy. They are offering money for developers porting from Android to iPhone

arn 15y ago

I find the tone of this article very strange. It starts off as a very positive "Hey, Android's worth doing". But by the end, you feel like he's being driven mad due to the added frustrations. :)

Steko 15y ago
I dunno what's strange about it: "yes but needs improvement at a/b/c" is a pretty common result. I'd seen the game before but had passed on it. I liked the developer's attitude and openness and so I just bought it.
- arn 15y ago
  It wasn't subtle. "There are days where I just want to pull the plug on the whole thing because I'm sick of 12 year olds (or people with comparable communication skills) trying to convince me they've been wronged and I should give them their 3 dollars back. ...I shouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water. It is a loud, obnoxious baby though."
  - moe 15y ago
    a loud, obnoxious baby Which is, btw, one of the best characterizations of the Android ecosystem that I have read in a while. I hope it will be taught some manners in the coming years.
2muchcoffeeman 15y ago
I too find it strange. He says it was worth his time porting to Android but never says how long it took. I have this game on iOS and it came out quite a while ago. What we really need to know is (profit)/(development time). And you'd have to match this on Android (or maybe surpass it given his frustration). Even if this took a reasonable time to port, it might be possible that had he worked on his next iOS game, he would have made even more money for his time.
- aerique 15y ago
  He wrote that since they use Unity porting the game took him about a day and he also wrote the Android version is a meaningful source of revenue.
- darklajid 15y ago
  > Actually porting the game only took about a day. It says how long it took, right there in the article. He says that he had to fight some trouble down the road, but 'porting' was done after a day, due to Unity magic.
  - 2muchcoffeeman 15y ago
    Ah, totally missed that. So part of the moral is Unity is worth it.
    - JabavuAdams 15y ago
      Unity for Android is an extra $400 license once you've bought Unity for iPhone Pro. https://store.unity3d.com/shop/ https://store.unity3d.com/shop/
- berntb 15y ago
  >> What we really need to know is (profit)/(development time). Don't forget the extra support time he had on Android. I don't know about you, but I want a high hourly pay to do that.
  - 15y ago

Maascamp 15y ago

Honestly, this was pretty all over the place and seems more like a stream of consciousness than any sort of proper comparison between the two markets. Sounds like he's been getting annoyed by support requests lately and decided to write a rant ("comparison") about his Android market experience.

athst 15y ago

The most surprising fact was that Android is 80% of iOS revenue - that's a LOT better than I would have expected and had previously thought about the android market.

hallmark 15y ago
Unless you compare launch months, in which case the Android revenue was 5% of iOS.
- jsnell 15y ago
  But then again his third caveat on those numbers is that the iOS version was heavily promoted during and after launch, while the Android version wasn't.