[iOS][Android] Gravity Shots - Release the shots and destroy the orbs!

Hey everyone,

I just released my latest game on the App Store and Google Play. I hope you all like it! Here's a video demonstrating the game play:

Apple App Store:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gravity-shots/id1330331503?ls=1&mt=8

Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.funonium.gravityshots

 

I've been playing this game the past 30 minutes. This my favorite take on the Ballz type of game yet. Very original idea. How did you think of it?

I feel like the balls need to move a little faster though. It's annoying pressing the faster button every time and it takes a while after you get farther.

 

I am glad you like it! I am a physics enthusiast and have always wanted to make a game that simulated gravity like this, but I never really knew what I wanted the game to be. I actually spent a few days brainstorming about what I could do with gravity, and this was the thought that came to mind. I was originally struggling in my head with how I was going to let the user curve the shot, but when I had shooting implemented as a straight out line being curved by the gravitational effect of all of the orbs, it was interesting and fun. So I rolled with it.

Thank you for the suggestions! I am trying to think of ideas for "upgrades" that I can implement without making this game "pay to win". So far, removing ads is a time saver, but not pay to win. A "warp speed" upgrade could be another great option. Making the "faster" button show up earlier could be another option. I would probably make these purchasable with the coins earned in game so you wouldn't necessarily have to pay for them.

Thanks a lot for commenting. I really appreciate the feedback.

 

Hi gtzpower,
I too downloaded the game- on an old iPhone4. The simple game play runs really smoothly and is very addictive.

You have created a most agreeable little game here.

 

How have the game's downloads been so far? I feel like the KetchApp versions got a ton of play.

After playing the game a bit more, I'd love it if you could throw the ball in a wider parabola. It's sometimes hard to get it where you need it to go with the narowness of it.

 

Hi @Doug_B I am glad you like it! I did most of my testing on older devices (first iPad Mini, Nexus 7) to make sure it wasn't using too many resources unnecessarily. Thanks for the feedback!

@DaveMApplegate, Downloads have been somewhat slow, but I have not promoted the game much. I have a SlideDB page for the game (http://www.slidedb.com/games/gravity-shots) and this thread. If you all have suggestions on where I could announce the game, I would love the feedback! I contacted a bunch of publishers to try and get the game promoted that way. Some of them downloaded it. but no one contacted me back. I pretty much just sat on the game for 3 months trying to get a publisher, and I got bored with that route. It was supposed to be a quick game that ended up taking 5 months to release.

Having said all of that, the game has been available since April 12, and has realized 194 iOS downloads and 9 Android downloads. It has made about $16 with 80% of that coming from iOS users. It has been very slow to gain users, admittedly, due to my lack of effort. But I can always promote it more. I am not a big believer that the release is the one and only shot.

The people that download the game seem to enjoy playing it. Though the downloads dropped off dramatically 2 weeks ago, it seems to be maintaining 20-30 daily active users. I think that is pretty promising!

 

Does the AppStore show you daily unique users then? I didn't realise that.

I have to say one of your daily users will be me. I have found it quite addictive.

 

I am using Unity Analytics to see the daily active users actually. Glad you like it!

 

Sorry about my crazy late reply. Having a $.078 average user value on a free game isn't bad. What ad platform are you using?

You should post it to TouchArcade and ProductHunt and be very responsive. I've seen a trend w/ games that blow up on TouchArcade getting featured.

 

I am using Unity Ads. By far the majority of revenue is coming from in-app purchases though, not advertising.

Thanks a lot for TouchArcade and ProductHunt suggestions. I will put something together for those on Friday so I can be most available during the weekend for responses.. I really appreciate the ideas!

 

Touch Arcade threads do a lot better if you find away to get some feedback / people commenting early... otherwise it will get buried quickly. I'd highly recommend doing a second post after the first one, asking for feedback / sharing reviews, etc. to make it enticing.

 

Nice game, I love the originality and use of gravity - especially bouncing off stuff! I might suggest for promotional postings GameDev.net, Moddb.com, and androidcentral for starters. I gathered a giant list of such forums for promotional purposes but crossed out iOS only sites since I'm only Android. But WOW, 190+ downloads for iOS and 9 for Android (as of that posting). I've heard iOS has a much higher audience and potential for downloads, so this is very interesting. If you are interested I will try to dig up that list, it will need QC'ing for dead links and no-promo sites and such. And agree with DaveMApplegate, go back and comment on your own posts when you make significant updates so as to keep getting up the list. And check periodically for others' comments so you can reply, etc. Good luck! Nice work.

 

Thanks @DaveMApplegate, I will do that and try my best to get some sort of conversation going. Will report back about how it goes.

@LifeStampGames, If you have the list handy, I would love a copy! Thanks for the offer. If not, no big deal. Also, thanks for the site recommendations. Re: iOS vs Android downloads, all of the titles I have worked on have performed orders of magnitude better on iOS. The most popular one (had TV advertising for a while) has about a 3:1 iOS vs Android download ratio. But I suspect this app was targeting more of an Android crowd (completely speculation, but it was a hunting game advertised on a hunting channel for about a year). Typically, the download ratio seems to be closer to 10:1 on average for my games with no advertising, and earnings seem to fall in line with that ratio as well. I keep thinking about porting my most successful game (Letters of Marque, see signature) to Android, but I am having a hard time justifying it until it gains more traction on iOS. It would be a fairly easy transition, but I think my time is better spent promoting it at this point.

 

Make sure to let us know how the forum posting works! I'm super interested in seeing the effectiveness of it : )

 

Good take on the game. Imo the feathered circle in the center is killing the general aesthetic vibe. I understand why you want to make it different, this just doesn't seem fitting.

 

Thanks for the feedback. So it was originally a hard edge. I was trying to make it look more like a neutron star with atmosphere, so I gave it the feathering, and you might notice that it changes a little over time to give it a feeling of flow. Drag also gets more intense in the feathered area like the shots are hitting some matter in the star. I have been thinking about making some of the glowing gas to trail for a bit after a ball hits the atmosphere of the star.

But I am with you, it does break the aesthetic a bit. I could probably find other ways to give that star feeling while being more in-line with the overall aesthetic, like multiple translucent circles that give hard lines of fade rather than the feathering. Maybe with some subtle animations to make them look alive like I do with the feathered version.

I may mock that up and see what you all think. Thanks for the feedback. Really got me thinking about this one!

 

Yeah I hear you, details like these are so tricky to get right.

Looking forward to seeing the iterations you come up with, if you decide to go for it.

Edit : By the way, outstanding job on the logo design.

 

I made a post on TouchArcade Friday. Saw no noticeable bump in downloads and no responses, though the posting had a lot of views. Just submitted a follow up comment today asking what people think of the game as suggested. Hopefully I can get some conversation going. May start a challenge/competition for an Amazon gift card or something.

Here's the thread:
http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?p=4099388#post4099388

 

Very cool game, very well done. How much time do you spend to made it?
I'm a new developer I have just finish my first game , What do you think about it?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Giovincello.gioco

 

Hello again, I was able to dig out my list and grabbed a bunch of ios only game and/or youtube sites. Here 'ya go, hope it helps.

http://www.148apps.com/
http://appaddict.net
http://appadvice.com/reviews/
http://www.apppicker.com/
http://www.appsafari.com/
http://www.apptv.se/
http://www.appunwrapper.com/
http://artoftheiphone.com/
http://ifanzine.com/
http://www.ilounge.com/
http://www.imore.com/
http://ipadinsight.com/
http://www.ipaddisti.it/
http://iphoneapplicationlist.com/
http://ifonereviews.blogspot.no/
http://iphonesoft.fr/
http://iphonetiny.com/
http://www.iplayapps.de/
http://isource.com/
http://www.maclife.com/tags/iphone_games
http://www.macnotes.de/
http://www.mactalk.com.au/
http://mundipad.com/apple/juegos-ipad/
http://www.pookybox.com/
http://iphone.qualityindex.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/apps4week/about
https://www.youtube.com/user/AppStoreReviewer/about

 

Thanks a lot for the links @LifeStampGames! I am going to try pursuing the youtube channels first just to see if I can get them to pick it up.

Just to follow up on the TouchArcade posting, it didn't get a lot of traction or downloads. I'll keep trying at it though. I estimate, from AppAnnie reported downloads around the time of the posting, that I got about 6 downloads from it. I am still planning on doing a competition someday that I can post on there to see if that gets more downloads. I will keep you all posted as I try things.

 

Dude don't hijack someone else post, make your own.

 

thanks for sharing this nice information. read the our pc guide's at gurubuilds .