Serious Porky - IOS Release

Android port is ready, you can try it here
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Hi, my first mobile game is now available on apple store. It took about 2 months to make it, used 2dtoolkit and a couple of prime31 plugins. It was a bit difficult at first to make it work on my 2nd gen ipod, i had to write some fake physics here and there but it seems ok now.

It has 5+1 free levels, i'd be happy if you test and rate it. Thank you.

Gameplay Video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwlmY-bQQUo
AppStore Link : http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/seriousporky/id519402486?l=tr&ls=1&mt=8
PlayStore Link : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lazybit.sporky

 

I can't play it without itools but it seems very funny and it's very nice !!!
Congratulations !

6R

 

I haven't tried it either but the gameplay looks fun and simple while still offering a challenge. Congrats on creating a cool little game!

-Dane

 

Congrats on creating a cool little game!

 

wow, first day so far so good!
200 downloads, 1 sale.

 

If you changed the bubbles style to match the cartoon style of the rest. The game would look at least 1.000.000 x better !
Such a shame to see the awesome stylized assets being destroyed by the cheap looking techno bubbles !
Please make awesome art more awesome

 

We have a small review here.

 

Looks very nice! Wish you good sales!

How about drawcalls in game? Any plans to release android version?

 

thanks.
the draw call count changes between 7-10 as far as i remember.
sales are awfull up to now, if it continues like this i won't touch this again.

 

Here is my first week stats: 837 downloads, 1 in-app sale.
I am very disappointed, yes this is my first ios game but i did expect better then this. I will think triple before making an ios game again.

 

The game is definitely solid - I played it for a while.

I think the problem here is your monetization choice. Your only revenue stream is based on people using the in-app purchase to buy the game. While this is a great start, the average top 100 application can expect around a 2-3% conversion rate, outside of the top 100 the rate drops. Your conversion rate appears to be around .12% which is pretty low, but there are things you can do to up that (a little out of the scope of a forum convo)

If I were you I would immediately put in advertisements, those 837 downloads probably generated around ~10k ad impressions that you missed out on. To put that in perspective that would be about $20-$60 depending on CPM and the ad network you choose. Now that doesn't seem like much, but as you gain users the amount can become more respectable. Or you can look at it as $19-$59 dollars more than you made in sales.

Those are just a few things you can do off the top of my head. You have a great game here and there is a ton of potential, don't give up!

If you want more info or need any help shoot me an e-mail at luke.houlihan@gmail.com

 

Dont feel sad, without a solid game, some reviews, or a publisher most games wont see a penny returned. My first game made a whopping $50 after I threw 2k at it. There is just a massive saturation on the market that is swamped with the biggest garbage out there. Your title, although really nicely done has 0 marketting behind it, has 1 obscure review. Its rough, but dont give up. I would polish it up to a level like "Cut the rope" and you will be better off.

My main suggestions:
1) Increase the scale so we can enjoy the characters. Quirky characters and personality is what attracts people off the bat. Think angry birds, you dont see the whole map, you see a nice shot of the characters. Only before hand and when you fire do you see the area youre aiming for.
2) Add some cosmetic things for sale

 

Got a few suggestions/comments that you can take with a grain of salt since I have absolutely no real experience with a released game yet, but I would like to give some suggestions as a player and from the perspective of what I would consider doing if it was my game.

First of all, I really like the gameplay. I've found myself playing Serious Porky quite a bit. With that being said, I did come across a few what I would call "flaws" with the controls(and my girlfriend said the same thing when I had her play it). I constantly find myself accidentally switching the seesaw when I'm trying to move it left and right and vice-versa. The issue in my mind is that there isn't a clearly defined area that says "tap here to switch the seesaw" and "tap here to move from side to side(other than the buttons obviously...but I seem to prefer sliding my finger across the screen to move)"....I know the how-to shows the different areas, but they run together in the game with nothing that clearly defines where you go from movement and switch to flipping the seesaw. The solution in my mind would be to make the ground take up a little more of the screen, and have the ground section be the movement area and then have everything above the ground be the switch/shoot area.

Something that wasn't a huge issue, but I think it shouldn't be too hard to adjust is when the game is paused while both are on the ground, the game will make you wait 3 seconds when you unpause it. I think the 3 seconds is great when unpausing directly into gameplay, but if the game isn't really being played, there's no reason to have that 3 second wait imo. I figure it would just be a matter of making states and if a porky is in the air, then have the 3 second wait, otherwise begin play immediately. Hope that makes sense.

And then, I would think giving an extra life power up randomly would be a big help to players....at least to me!

Art wise, I think the game looks nice. I'm not sure what Acumen means above about the bubbles style because I'm not an artist like him, but I found them to be find personally. Don't want to put him on the spot but maybe he could mock up a bubble or two to show what he means...I'll ask him if he can do a quick mock up to show what he means if you'd like...but no guarantees. On another art note, I found the icon to be a little confusing...I honestly couldn't tell what it was when I first saw it. As I said I'm no art person, but my suggestion would be to try and put a smaller version of the main menu Porky on the icon that shows the full porky. Maybe someone else could give their opinion on this subject as well. And then 1 last thing...the "You Failed!" and other text on the end game screen is quite hard to read as it is for me...Maybe make it a little larger or make it a solid color or something? Could be just me though.

For the achievements, it could have just been me missing it, but I didn't notice any in game notification when I achieved something. I think it adds to the experience when the user gets that feedback that they've accomplished something instead of them having to hunt for it.

Now for the big thing...Monetization. I found it quite confusing honestly. I think the biggest issue with your conversion rate is the fact that the only way you're upselling the game is through the main menu. This is your only way to make a little money off of your creation and peoples enjoyment of said creation. IMO, the store should be integrated as much as possible. For instance...make all the locked level icons bring up the store and say "Having fun?? Unlock all levels for only $.99" or whatever when they are tapped. Also, put a store button on the pause screen, and on the level complete/level failed screen. Especially after level 5! It took me quite a while to beat level 5 and then when I did, there was absolutely nothing that tried to convince me to buy the rest of the game. I knew I had to buy the game if I wanted more levels since I saw the game through this thread, but a normal user may just think it's a bug when they can't go to the next level and just quit playing since they've reached as far as they could go. However, if you put a "Congratulations...you've beat the 5 free levels! Buy the full game for only $.99" with a link to the store on the level complete screen, I have little doubt that you'd get a way better conversion rate. Bottom line, make it as easy as possible to buy the full game(without ruining the gameplay of course) or else they won't do it...the more steps you put between the gameplay and buying the full game, the less likely someone will buy it. Forcing them to return to the main menu and then to the store menu is just too far removed from the gameplay.

Another issue I have is what does the "Restore" button do on the store menu? My guess would be that it restores the game to the original state, but when I press it, it asks for my password and I'm not quite sure why it would need my password to restore the game to the original state...and when I cancel it says "Restore Transactions Failed". Is there anyway you could clarify this for me? If it does in fact restore the game, then why do I need to login to my account for it to do so? It almost seems as if it's a way to trick people into making a purchase...but I doubt you did that(or even could do that)...it could just come off that way to a user, and that's the last thing you want to happen.

Also, like someone already mentioned, I would consider placing ads in the game due to the way you monetize it. Since you're banking on upsales, giving the user another reason to purchase the full game never hurts. If you do put ads in, just don't make them too intrusive and make sure you take them out if the user purchases the full game(and make the user aware of the fact they can get rid of the ads by purchasing the full game).

Anyways, I hope at least something I said was useful, and last but not least...don't give up. You spent 2 months making this, and it's a pretty fun little game. Keep improving the game and make new games...if you build a brand and cross-promote well, things can only get better. Wish you the best of luck.

PS. Let me know if there's anything that didn't make any sense and I'll try to clarify it.

 

thank you for your comments(sort of review)

as this is our first game, we made some mistakes but honestly i have no more expectations from this game(based on numbers). also i have no more expectations from a mobile game as i witnessed that this market is not predictable and not good for indies. you need more than a good game here...

i accept that it was a big mistake not to direct users to the store and i will upload an update that solves some of the issues. but i doubt that putting ads on the game will pay off the ad-plugins cost.

finally that restore button is used for manually re-authorizing your game. after buying the game, you may have accidently deleted it or installed on another device. in such cases, you need to restore it. usually it happens automatically but sometimes not, so that button is there for it.

 

i have made an android version, you can try it here

 

making a game a success is a learning curve, good start