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How to earn £12,000 in one year from game development?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Arowx, Sep 10, 2011.

?

How much do you earn from games development

  1. $10,000 or Less - Just for Fun

    139 vote(s)
    64.7%
  2. $30,000 or Less it's still a hobby

    8 vote(s)
    3.7%
  3. $30,000 or More making a living from it

    68 vote(s)
    31.6%
  1. CharlieSamways

    CharlieSamways

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    slowly moving up in the french charts, 206-130, showing up in denmark and canada also :) been set as free for a day (today), Dont know if that will mess things up. lets wait and see
     
  2. Silence

    Silence

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    So what are the sales figures like? Post some graphs!
     
  3. CharlieSamways

    CharlieSamways

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    They confuze me, for instance, it said 14 downloads yesterady but there are over 50 leaderboard entries and we made it to 130 in france. so I find the actual figures quite pointless
     
  4. Starsman Games

    Starsman Games

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    Actually the leaderboard entries are the pointless ones.

    Remember everyone in a household may share an app store account but multiple users.

    Also, I gave the game a try and am confused as to how you handle the leaderboards. What happens if I enter a different name every time I play? (Highly recommend your first update incorporates Game Center, get Prime31's plugin to make integration quicker.)

    Another thing to keep in mind is your downloads will include promo codes and you must go into the details to see how many were sales and how many were promo codes.

    And finally, your leaderboard likely gathered entries from all night long until the minute you checked it (unless you have date filters) while the App Store numbers cut off at midnight (think they use Cupertino's time.)

    My first full day I sold only 2 copies (and they were me gifting them) and my second day I sold 4. It was not until I got featured Thursday in the New and Noteworthy under games that I got seen and sales picked up (not as much as I wish though.)
     
  5. Starsman Games

    Starsman Games

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    Btw, just checked your rankings in AppAnnie and seems France IS your strongest country with Canada in second. Consider localization in french on that first update (if you dont have it already.)

    I didnt rank ANYWHERE until I got into New Noteworthy, so, for what it's worth, you are doing way better than me already.
     
  6. CharlieSamways

    CharlieSamways

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    If you enter a new name on the global leaderboards it will appear as a new name, if you keep the same name and you get a higher score it overwrites your old score. I want to integrate gamecenter in an update but dont know how Rob wants to handle it. I think we sold 14 coppies yesterday and 2 promo codes. lets see what happens :)
     
  7. CharlieSamways

    CharlieSamways

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  8. ivkoni

    ivkoni

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    @Charlie,

    was this made with unity? If so how did you manage to get the app size to 2.6MB?
     
  9. vdek

    vdek

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    It was made in Cocos2D AFAIK.
     
  10. ivkoni

    ivkoni

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    I guess that makes sense :)
     
  11. CharlieSamways

    CharlieSamways

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    Just been told, 260 free downloads the other day, 14 purchased. go figure. haha
     
  12. Dabeh

    Dabeh

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    Decent ratio. Bad quantity.
     
  13. Arowx

    Arowx

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    Shadowgun is about that ;0)

    No a lot of games use pre-loaders now to reduce their initial download size e.g. Shadowgun.
     
  14. Silence

    Silence

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    Is ad-supported looking like a better choice?
     
  15. hippocoder

    hippocoder

    Digital Ape

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    It'll probably drop off the charts fast, no offense to what is a great little game, just the nature of the beast.
     
  16. TylerPerry

    TylerPerry

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    :( Dose any one know what happens to a app if it falls of the charts? do you get basicly no downloads?
     
  17. DanielQuick

    DanielQuick

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    Basically. The only people that download your game after its off the charts are those who search for it.
     
  18. CharlieSamways

    CharlieSamways

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    Mhm, I dont mind, was a nice little run. going to be broadcasting for a programmer very soon on my next app that im in the middle of the graphics for. going to try harder on marketting this time.
     
  19. hippocoder

    hippocoder

    Digital Ape

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    Its 100% possible to stage a comback, you just need updates and to keep generating buzz.
     
  20. CharlieSamways

    CharlieSamways

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    Updates are coming early january, planning on putting splash screens to my other apps in every game, so that should help aswell.
     
  21. mehware

    mehware

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    Making a game is one thing, marketing its another. I still believe a good game markets itself.
     
  22. CharlieSamways

    CharlieSamways

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    At this stage, I think marketting is EVERYTHING. Hardest thing ive had to do.
     
  23. mehware

    mehware

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    well if your doing marketing make sure its free, unless you have disposable income, paid marketing doesn't really work out unless your product is top notch.
     
  24. mehware

    mehware

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    charliesamways,

    Also, to the point of the leader boards having multiple names and the downloads don't match up. Piracy potentially. All my paid apps have been pirated. I don't know if that's a sign that I made it in the game dev world.

    consider game center (use the prime31 plugin). You can have achievements and leader boards in your game in no time.

    Any who I would recommend doing ad assisted version. That's what I am doing with my next game submission (when apple gets back).

    People love free S***, and based on the screenshot's if I saw your game I may download it if it was free. If its paid I look it over.

    Ad iAds or admob or both. Give the user an in app purchase option to remove ads who like your game (another revenue source). If an iAd doesn't show up, then have a nag ad or house ad to remove ads OR cross promote other games.

    You could potentially make more money on a user with ads enabled than $0.70 USD your take from apple on a $0.99 USD paid game. Then if they remove the ads you make an additional $.

    Best of all no piracy. Lets see those pirates hack a game that's free, or apple's IAP system :p.

    -Matt
     
  25. CharlieSamways

    CharlieSamways

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    All of this was decided by the programmer, kept getting told that info. Id love to start programming myself.
     
  26. justinlloyd

    justinlloyd

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    Second dumbest statement I've read on these forums since I joined.**

    ** Which is quite the achievement when you consider that the collaboration forum exists.
     
  27. mehware

    mehware

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    um.... k.
     
  28. Acumen

    Acumen

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    Charles, check out http://bulletproofoutlaws.com/ - his site is so filled up with awesome information on his development ride. I once took an entire day to just browse to each and every information on his journey to the first release.
    He didn't make millions, but has a very good and cosntructive judgement on pretty much everything and makes hyperawesome art on top !

    He took a business course before he took the plunge as an indie, went on setting up his blog and described almost every little step, so if you're really interested go an grab it.
    The latest articles covered betatesting as well as marketing. Super huge articles but awesome information included.
    Can't recommend enough to dive into his adventures !

    If your eyes and ears have room for more I can send you a little marketing linklist I collected.
    It adds up on allllll the tips that were posted here. But don't go crazy on this. You'll always find stuff left and right and have to decide on something.
    But like I tried to told you on twitter. Marketing is not everything, but you did pretty much nothing apart advertizing in a forum that isn't even your game's engine ;)
     
  29. hippocoder

    hippocoder

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    That depends much on actually getting it in the hands of influential people, bloggers etc. If it gets into the hands of a gamer, the spread is too slow to create critical mass on the store and get you in top 10. The highest mine have been are 4 for barnyard and 3 for physynth, so I have some idea of how to generate critical mass. And that is marketing :)
     
  30. GiusCo

    GiusCo

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    Also open your own app-review website and start selling ads package to the horde of deluded devs asking for a review :D
     
  31. CharlieSamways

    CharlieSamways

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    Thanks ill check it out :) and hey! I submitted emails to over 40 reveiw sites, posted in TouchArcade, Fanzize got on the front page of gamasutra and gamepress, got tweeted by indiegamemag and goalmedia :D dont think I did a 'bad' job. pahah
     
  32. Acumen

    Acumen

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    Yeh submitting e-mails is just one thing :)
    Like I said, I could discuss this with you all day. Let's just blurst the next game. Little bet. I bet that you'll release your next game before any of the projects I worked on, gets released. I will win your first million when I'm right ;)
     
  33. justinlloyd

    justinlloyd

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    Hey....

    :)
     
  34. Acumen

    Acumen

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    I wasn't including you, you got a trackrecord already :D
    Only the projects that I'm sharing pictures of !
     
  35. CharlieSamways

    CharlieSamways

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    To be fair, I probably will release my next game before you :L doesnt mean it will be better, or make as much money. In my mind set you are much more likely to make money on droppin' bombs than any of my upcoming ideas. And I think that mainly because engaging games has a much better social persona than CJSapps, but I guess time will tell.
     
  36. CharlieSamways

    CharlieSamways

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    Why did I make a new twitter account when I can just change my name on @charliesamways -.-; /facepalm. least I can keep the followers then
     
  37. Sunrift

    Sunrift

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    My eyes and ears have room for more! I'll pm you..
     
  38. Sunrift

    Sunrift

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    I posted a similar question in the Android forum, but since there seems to be some marketing gurus present...

    Is a beta version on the Android market a good, bad or awful way to build hype for an upcoming game? Maybe it doesn't matter?
    Some games do it, I don't know if it is more for testing reasons, or just a marketing strategy.
     
  39. Starsman Games

    Starsman Games

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    I would never release a beta product to any market. You only have one chance to make a first impression (darn how hard has faith plaster that in my face recently) and once people remember you a way, they wont bother giving you a second look. Bugs, unpolished mechanics and graphics... unless you are secretly working on Quake 4, no, there wont be any hype built up with a public beta.

    I think hype is not something that is easy to build up. Some very loud groups must take a look at your product and get excited by what they see. They have to see enough to catch their interest and start talking to others and sharing links, but at the same time they have to not see little enough to still crave more and be willing to pay once it comes out.

    A beta is an open door to the garbage disposal room. Unless you working on the next big Triple A title, it may hurt more than help.

    More than hype you may want to focus on somehow getting seen when the thing is out there. Try to get podcast mentions (my biggest sale day ever was the day after I got mentioned in the Touch Arcade Podcast.) Reviews will help but are hard to secure, unless you know some one somewhere popular.

    I am not sure how good banner ad works for people. I feel it has helped me sustain some sales, but cant tell for sure. I been considering a bigger gamble soon before moving on to my next "big" project.

    Once the product is final, releasing a free version, with ads, and limited features (5% of the levels perhaps?) with requests to buy the full version once the user experiences enough of the "demo" has been the strategy I hear most people find works best. It has not worked for me, though, and ironically my free edition in iOS is downloaded way less than the paid edition (but Apple never featured it anywhere.) So I am stuck being forced to market the free edition, something I admit I have not given much effort.

    On the mac, my free edition became extremely popular, broke the top 10 free games, but didn't seem to have an impact on the sales of the paid version. I guess the two markets behave very different. I mention this because there may be a difference in how the Android community treats the free/paid editions deal.
     
  40. Aiursrage2k

    Aiursrage2k

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    Interesting did you have any in app purchases? How many downloads did you get for the free version? You can read all about freeium at the blog below they say up to 3% of users buy IAP, the deeper you go the more items cost and the more invested the player has become.


    http://blog.flurry.com/?Tag=Freemium
     
    Last edited: Dec 28, 2011
  41. GiusCo

    GiusCo

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    Interested but a bit worried here. Does freemium model involve some sort of encryption, which makes submission a bit difficult (compliance declaration... what it is and how does it work is a mystery to me) for devs outside of the US?
     
  42. Sunrift

    Sunrift

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    That reminds me of another question I have been wanting to ask: Is it better to have a different market listing for the free and the paid app, or to have an in-app purchase system that unlocks the rest of the content?
    Option one is going to give you more exposure for sales, ect. (I think)
    Option two has the advantage of only needing to market one app.
     
  43. Aiursrage2k

    Aiursrage2k

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    I would release my paid app with IAP first. See if you can entice them with your icon (to even look at the damn app) and then your screenshots to sell it.If that didnt work you might as well go with plan B releasing it for free with ads (at least you will get some ad money -- the longer they play the more you make), have an IAP to remove the ads (1% would do that) . If your game was a "winner" wait a bit until it dips and release a free demo version of the game.
     
  44. Starsman Games

    Starsman Games

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    No IAP.

    I dont feel confortable stating unit movement, but I can say the free mac is downloaded 341 times for each 1 paid version i get to sell.

    The iOS free version gets downloaded 2.3 times for every one paid sold copy. (was wrong by saying it downloaded less, that was based of the first few weeks of activity, old memory.)

    I may consider a second version later where the free edition may be able to unlock the full game from within the app itself, but for now I want to avoid stagnating for too long on this title. I will do a final marketing push on it and then complete my second game (thats almost ready.) The next game will be ad based and may consider IAP to disable ads and maybe unlock additional features.
     
  45. Starsman Games

    Starsman Games

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    I am going to experiment with both. My next title is going to have two versions, a free version with ads you can remove with IAP and a fully paid version.

    I'll see if it ends working out for me.
     
  46. flim

    flim

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    Which hosting is recommend for hosting a website for games, blog, forum?
     
  47. rik338

    rik338

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    +1
    I made like 10 billion dollars with it!