What are the chances of making some money by publish unity games to android google play store?

I'm interested in programming and i've spent some time using unity and learning c# (I'm 17 years old). I can create some simple games like tic tac toe, snake, I've created a platformer too, similar to "red ball" game, but I can't say I master anything really.
I've been searching the net to find possible ways to make money with programming (my attitude isn't just to make money, but I've been learning coding for few years so I want to progress) and I found nothing but freelancing and making your own apps.
So if I made a simple game and uploaded it to google play store are there any chances I would get some money (using ads) perhaps even a dollar?

 

If you want to make money, get a desk job. Making money on Google Play is hard enough as ad revenue is nothing, games with price tags get buried, and microtransactions tend to make nothing unless they're designed around repeat customers. Mobile, as a market, had its bubble burst quite some time ago. You'd honestly have better luck making a PC game and selling it on itch.io than on Google Play, and even then you probably won't make more than a few bucks unless you make a hell of a game.

 

Alright

 

I created my first Android game and then installed Ads as a development experience above anything else.The game wasn't great and buggy at best and this is what has happened over about 4 months.

So if you have a good game that's well developed with some decent advertising you could make it. From what I understand though you will have to be one of the lucky 0.01% to make a decent amount. Stick to it being a side hobby for now and do it for fun.

 

Don't listen to much to the naysayers and dinosaurs around here. You are 17, that is incredibly young and there is no reason whatsoever you wouldn't be able to earn yourself an income coding games. But, it isn't easy.

At your age, I'd recommend trying as many different styles, techniques and skills as you can and then decide if you want to go forward coding and if you want to go forward coding games. Maybe you do, maybe you discover that you are better a game design or even discover that you are a kick-ass database designer and make your living there.

Where are you based? Europe? Asia? Americas? Are you following a study or such in the direction of game design?

 

I don't understand this remark. I didn't see anyone here telling the OP to give up or anything. @Murgilod's statement was spot on, in my opinion. Learning to program is a great skill that can help you even if you pick a different career path, but developer jobs generally pay very well. And the skills you learn for your job will help you realize your hobby/dream job of being a game developer.

@SamohtVII gave a real world example of Google Play ad income, as the OP asked. I think it's an important one to bring up, since many people familiar with mobile games but new to development seem to think that ads must be the best way to monetize games, since that's what all mobile games seem to do.

@MitjaHD I highly recommend pursuing web development as a career and doing as much game development stuff on the side as you possibly can. My day job pays me well so that I can pay all my bills without problem. I'm 34 and won't be working for a major game studio any time soon, or raking in big bucks for any of my games (if I finish them), but I find it fulfilling.

Additionally, once you get more familiar with Unity, you can consider making some plugins to sell there. Again, not gonna strike it rich there in all likelihood, but I've made about $1600 in the past 4 years, which is quite likely more than most here have seen from just making mobile games. Something worth considering.

 

Europe, Slovenia. I go to computer science high school but the best we do is coding console applications with c++ in cideblocks, one hour per week only, so basically nothing, I learn by myself at home instead. We started with databases thsi year too but we progress slow and it's mostly theory, but I admit it's quite hard even at this point, but the teacher isn't that serious so you can pass easily.

I know many people want to be game developers when they start out because they think it's same as playing games, I understand it's not like that at all, it's pretty darn hard, but so far this is the only thing I know to do practially. I can't make anything else that would be useful, websites created by me are pretty dull and and not something I could sell.

I'm not good at games either but at least it looks something more complete than console app that prints out all numbers divosable by 2.

 

The internet ate my nuance again. I meant it in a broader sense, no offense intended.

 

Yes.....the ad system work's on impression's...Even if you make a simple game...You can make money from these impressions by people who watches ad's that is being put into your game's..It's on how much impression's people get..how much money you earn!...So go ahead.....you'll be successful!...TIP(It doesn't matter that your making a small game...make it interesting)

 

The best way is to use Unity Ads. But still you are very unlikely to make any money.

There are two sides to why. The first is that in order to make money at a game, 50% of your effort needs to be on marketing. Nobody will find your game if you just upload it. It is no joke, spend a week learning how to market your game, then spend as much time marketing your game as you do developing it.

Then secondly your game has to be fun and not broken. You will need good ratings and positive reviews. If you build a broken game that isn't fun, then you market the hell out of it, the only thing that is going to happen is it will get rated poorly and disappear. The game has to be fun and bug-free before you launch, you will NEVER get a second opportunity to fix a game on the App store... the bad ratings will kill it instantly and permanently.

Finally, if you do the first two things correctly, spend a day learning how to correctly add Unity Ads to your game so you actually make decent money. You can't show ads too often, and it is best if you find a way to reward players who watch the whole ad. Unity has some good videos on how to do it correctly, take the time to watch them before you implement ads into your game.

 

What is your definition of successful?