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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. Adam-Buckner

    Adam-Buckner

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    Invulse: Can you post us a link to your games? I am sure we would very much like to see what you've done, and maybe add our 99¢ to the pile.
     
  2. invulse

    invulse

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    My profitable 2nd game, Deadlock: Online:

    http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/deadlock-online/id439931031?mt=8


    Just a note for this. Realtime P2P MP gaming on the iOS is a real bitch...rage-quitting, random disconnects, high latency, random and unfixable unity networking bugs make this a tough thing to do.


    My profitable but not on any real successful scale 1st game, Ninja Penguin Rampage (Made with Cocos2D not unity):
    http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ninja-penguin-rampage/id400687288?mt=8
     
  3. invulse

    invulse

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    I also do this in my spare time, not full time. I would like to get a job in the game development world, if I can find one making equal or greater to my current salary, however doing this full-time on my own would really only be an option if I could make a VERY successful game. I have what I think is a great freemium game I'm planning out but I don't see this becoming a full time solo gig unless I make $300k+ on a single game.
     
  4. Adam-Buckner

    Adam-Buckner

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    Yes, that's what I've noticed.

    -edit-

    With networking in general, and Unity in specific.
     
    Last edited: Sep 29, 2011
  5. Arowx

    Arowx

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    Just a quick thank you to everyone for their feedback and support, Project A is underway and making slow but gradual progress!
     
  6. Adam-Buckner

    Adam-Buckner

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    Ooh! Yay! Do you have a GDD yet? We wanna see we wanna see!
     
  7. mt4

    mt4

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    Sep 15, 2011
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  8. Kellyrayj

    Kellyrayj

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    I gotta say, this thread is choke full of advice! Arowx, good luck on your quest!
     
  9. BlueRadius

    BlueRadius

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    Nov 14, 2010
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    Dude I know, your game is simply amazing and its gay how so many ppl rage quit on your game, thats so retarted and messes things up big time. I find rage quitting to be the most annoying of the above.
     
  10. bug5532

    bug5532

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    Hey Arowx, I commented earlier in your thread that I was trying to achieve a similar goal to you. Well I just released my first game on the android ("GnarBike Trials") decided to go for the freemium model, will keep you updated on how things go if you want :)
     
  11. g00niebird

    g00niebird

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    Yes, please do. The more information like this we share, the better off the whole community is. :)
     
  12. vdek

    vdek

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    Yeah definitely, I'll post some of my own stats when I get my stuff onto the app store :D
     
  13. SimonAlkemade

    SimonAlkemade

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    What do I vote if I make a living of it but earn less then 20000 euro's?
     
  14. Arowx

    Arowx

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    Technically as it's an or statement and your just having fun making a living then all 3!

    +1 Yes and a link to your blog about how you did it and a post-mortem, please! ;o)
     
  15. bug5532

    bug5532

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    Dont have a blog yet, been too busy developing :)
    A few stats for ya, Its been out for almost 3 days now, currently has ~2000 installs, ranked 223 in Top New Free Games, ranked 12 in Top New Free Racing Games, has over 400 high scores for level 1 on OF.
    Will probably start a blog soon :)
     
  16. Adam-Buckner

    Adam-Buckner

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    You can skip the blog! Just tell us here how you made it, how hard you marketed it, and how much you are making.
     
  17. g00niebird

    g00niebird

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    Blogs are for people who want to spend more time talking about how they intend to make progress than actually making progress.

    ;)
     
  18. vdek

    vdek

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    Not necessarily, they're a way to connect with your audience and to get your customers invested into your business/progress.
     
  19. reissgrant

    reissgrant

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    There is some great information in this thread, wow. Thanks to the contributors. It should be a sticky!
     
  20. Arowx

    Arowx

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    Do a good post-mortem and put it up on Gamasutra, GameDev ect free publicity!
     
  21. haggis

    haggis

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    I stumbled across this thread just a few days ago so it’s taken a while to catch up. So much advice, I bet Arowx did not expect to be loaded with this much feedback.

    Unfortunately I’m not qualified to dish out advice but I do have a story to share which probably goes against most of the advice given so far.

    Less than two years ago I was happily working away as a supply chain manager when life took one of those nasty U turns! My wife became very ill and as a result I had to leave work to care for her - a situation that’s not going to improve. So what was I to do?
    That’s right..... build an iPhone game and make a fortune.

    Now at this point the odds were stacked against me:

    1. I didn’t play games.
    2. I had never tried to create a game before.
    3. No idea about coding or game engines.

    However it wasn’t all doom and gloom. From previous hobbies, I did know my way round photoshop and 3d animation tools. I started my research and discovered Unity. This was a very familiar interface for me and loved it from the beginning. I bought Unity iPhone basic license and got started on a catapult game (before that birdie game appeared btw). It had to be in 3d because that was the environment I was familiar with.

    It took about six months to build my first (free) game. Huge learning curves involved and focus was a bit scattered to say the least. However I finally made it with the help of these forums and to my surprise it was approved by Apple first time. It appeared on the app store late Thursday with 300+ downloads. I couldn’t believe it. Friday 11,000, Saturday, 102,000 and Sunday 267,000 downloads. Within a week over 1 million downloads. The thing is though, this was a free game with no ads therefore no revenue - not my brightest moment :( I updated a few times fairly quickly to fix a few bugs and add iAds. The downloads started to drop away and I thought I had missed the boat but with no intervention from myself the downloads kept taking a surge every so often and still fairly consistent.

    Over the year, my first game Prison Escape has had over 3 million downloads and over $40,000 in iAds revenue. It’s not enough to make a living at my age but it’s not a bad first year and I have learnt so much.

    I think I got lucky the first time. If you look at the facts, they don’t look so good - More like a list of what not to do:

    1. No polish or menu options.
    2. Graphics are a bit iffy.
    3. Gameplay glitchy.
    4. Little update activity.
    5. Only one level (that really upset the critics).
    6. It crashed for a lot of people on iTouches.
    7. No marketing whatsoever!
    8. Poor reviews and ratings.

    Despite this I believed in the game and thought there was potential to make it a good game so a much improved version two will be out later this month - with levels!

    Earlier this year I did a collaboration project with someone I met on these forums. He lives and breaths code so we got on well and in 6 months released Zombie Bumper Cars. Technically a much better, bigger and polished game with a fair amount of marketing behind it but so far it’s lost in the crowd with littles sales / downloads to speak of. It’s early days and an update to Prison Escape with links to new games will hopefully help push it through this very crowded market - that’s what I’m hoping for anyway.

    The advice I’ve read in this thread and the rest of the forum is fantastic. If you want to turn a hobby into a business you have to start thinking like a business. Making £12,000 or $40,000 in one year is not making a living or running a business - making a profit year on year is.

    Good luck Arowx. My story doesn’t tell you how to succeed but hopefully proves that there is plenty potential out there for those who are determined, think smart and work hard :)

    I’m surprised no one has pointed to the asset store. So many resources at reasonable prices to use and learn from.
     
  22. lordaddament

    lordaddament

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    Hippocoder is my type of guy :p
     
  23. Gigiwoo

    Gigiwoo

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    Since this thread is still active, thought I'd chime back in. My Unity product just went live on the App Store last night!!! HORRAY ME! Here's the link in the Showcase forum.

    Please consider this a real-life example. This product took exactly 9 weeks, from first conception to full release. And this is my 2nd job, not my primary job. I have no idea how it will do, but I got a product out there. So... it can be done!

    Gigiwoo

    PS - Show some love and shout out in the showcase thread! Or better, give me a review on the App Store (PM me for if you need a promo code).
     
  24. ant001

    ant001

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    Dec 15, 2010
    Posts:
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    agree with hippocoder, go ios its the most stable platform at the moment, and start making your game idea.
    tbh if your even still reading this topic your not getting on with it, delete all social stuff and start typing.
     
  25. Eva Maria

    Eva Maria

    Joined:
    Dec 21, 2010
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    Really great thread, thanks for the great advices (e.g. Hippocoder, JustinLloyed ). Please keep it up!
    @gigiwo: please let us know your progress on the appstore....
     
  26. hippocoder

    hippocoder

    Digital Ape

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    Hows progress arrow? you have gone quiet so something must be cooking!
     
  27. ArtR

    ArtR

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    Hey hippocoder,

    I've been reading through this post and I just wanted to say how much I respect pragmatic types like yourself who give straight to the point advice without BS or sugar coating, with just the right amount of positive support.

    praises aside, I'd also like to point out that I share many of your views, specially the attitude of putting your fantasy "game of my dreams" project aside for a while until you have learned enough from a few hands on projects that you take to completion. Those could always be pet projects on the side when you need a break from your bread and butter.

    Anyways, I just felt compelled to reply to this thread because it struck home with me in so many ways.

    I am currently a senior artist in a well known AAA game company with technical aptitudes that made me look for fulfillment in the indie scene, and struck gold when I found Unity.

    Thanks for all the advice!
     
  28. Gruhm

    Gruhm

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    Just want to chime in with my thanks for all the great advice. After 20 years as a programmer, I'm finally getting around to doing what got me into computers in the first place. I have no idea how I'll do, but I'm sure the advice gleaned from this thread will help me along the path. Massive thanks to Hippo and Justin.
     
  29. justinlloyd

    justinlloyd

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    I feel slighted. It's just because he is a lovable hippo that can bite through thick steel, isn't it?
     
  30. DavidByers

    DavidByers

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    I just wanted to give a quick thank you to this thread, and especially hippocoder and JustinLloyd for their great advice. This thread was the direct inspiration for me to really focus and to get something out there. What I ended up with is a game called Haunted Hallway, which I just released on the App Store. My thread on the showcase forum is here, and you can check out my game on the App Store here.
     
  31. Adam-Buckner

    Adam-Buckner

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    Uncade: Bought! Keep us updated on how well you do, and what post-release marketing and support you do!
     
  32. CharlieSamways

    CharlieSamways

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    Uncade: I love the look of your game :) will buy it once a transaction to my bank is done ^_^ best of luck man!
     
  33. DavidByers

    DavidByers

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    Thanks, I hope you both like the game!

    I'll definitely keep you updated, right now I'm working on Game Center integration. My marketing focus at this point is to keep updating the game with new features to try and bring in a steady stream of attention.
     
  34. ArtR

    ArtR

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    Justin of course I meant you as well :)

    I specially love the "right arm in the air" story.

    You guys rock.. I'll keep checking this thread for more goodies

    Cheers!
     
  35. SundriedSpacemonkey

    SundriedSpacemonkey

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    Just wanted to chime in and say this thread is golden.

    We took all of your advice on board and sucked up your stories and experience like a pair of natural sponges. We started doing instead of just watching, procrastinating and browsing forums.

    As a result Sundried Spacemonkeys first iPhone game MiBalls is now available to buy in the apple app store.
    It is a very simple but surprisingly addictive and fun game which my brother and I have been working on over a 6 week period.

    The masterpieces are coming in the future and they will be graphically grand and mindblowing spectacles!
    We are extremely happy with our first product though (the reviews have all been really good so far) and think it could do pretty well. We are in the process of adding gamecenter for v1.1 as well as a host of other goodies.

    Here is a link to the game: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/miballs/id475331530?mt=8 and here is a promo video we knocked up for Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRGm7pZ48QM&feature=channel_video_title

    The game is 2D and it wasn't made with Unity. I am working on something in Unity though and it will be fantastic but all great things take time (especially quality 3D assets) so it will be a while before you see it.

    I do have another username BTW but forgot the password. Does anyone know how to reset it or send a reminder?

    Thanks for all the advice and I wish ArrowX and all of you the best of luck with your games.
     
  36. Adam-Buckner

    Adam-Buckner

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    SundriedS... I'm sure resetting your password is simply trying to login, failing, and asking for a new password to be sent to your registered address.

    Can you give us a post-mortem? Keep us up-to-date with your sales?

    How long did it take to make? What were your biggest challenges? What have you done for marketing? How well are sales?
     
  37. ptdnet

    ptdnet

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    Good lord... you should be able to get 3 times that doing the lowest jobs at a game studio, even QA testing. Unless you are dead-set on being "indy." But yes, as the last guy posted just make a WoW clone. That's what Gameloft did.
     
  38. Rush-Rage-Games

    Rush-Rage-Games

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    @SundriedSpacemonkey Look good, best of luck!
     
  39. SundriedSpacemonkey

    SundriedSpacemonkey

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    @ Little Angel: Oh, I didn't realize it would do that.
    I got scared after it said 3 of 5 attempts remaining. I thought the world would blow up when it got to zero. ;)

    I guess this login name will be more appropriate though as it is the name we are going to be using for all game stuff going forward.
    I will do a post-mortem soon and keep you up to date on sales figures. The game only went live yesterday evening.

    Marketing has been Twitter @MiBalls (lots of Twitter) and Facebook which is the same as my Twitter name. I also have a semi-related interview coming up in a UK based national newspaper which should hopefully bring some attention to the game.
    It should go to press on the 17th of this month and focuses on parents working from home and making a living from it.

    @ Rush-Rage-Games: Thank you. I am glad you like MiBalls. ;)
     
  40. justinlloyd

    justinlloyd

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    Here's a useful tip. Keep the name your personal name on the forums separate from the company's name on the forums. When you want to post something off topic or inflammatory, use your personal account. When you want to make an announcement about your game, use your company name on the forum.

    People may well argue about presenting a unified front under one account, but don't do it. Keep your identities separate, you will learn why over many years of experience. :)

    Please excuse my typing, using an iPad so I may sound like an imbecile.**

    ** more so than normal.
     
    Last edited: Nov 10, 2011
  41. flim

    flim

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    I feel if you are doing a 2D game you would success.
     
  42. Arowx

    Arowx

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    Quick Update went for a very simple game idea: Zombies Shooter!



    Zombie Gnome Attack, a very simple survival mode shooter!

    On Kongregate: http://www.kongregate.com/games/Arowx/zombie-gnome-attack

    It's a bit chunky at 11 Mb compressed (I'm going to try and trim the webplayer version down a bit today!)

    But it's also on SALE on Android Market: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.Arowx.ZGA

    Will it make money, probably not, but I've had fun making it and because it was a much smaller project I completed it!

    If you would like to comment on the game please use this thread: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/110671-Zombie-Gnomes-Attack!

    If you would like to comment on how to make $12k from it comment here!
     
  43. Starsman Games

    Starsman Games

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    WOW, just finished eating through this thread. Amazing stuff, but so many questions still in the air, especially in the marketing side of things.

    I’ll cover our experience, then touch on our questions.

    Our first game (Misu Misu Kaboom! [link]) "just" got into the app store on November 1st. So far it has been moving slower than expected, despite managing to get mentioned on Touch Arcade's Podcast for Friday 4th.

    So far we have submitted 2 updates, the second still waiting for approval and adding Game Center and iPad support, plus some GUI streamlining.

    My week in the "New Games" section went through and sales were on the slow side. Had not seen this thread yet, now I can agree, I did it wrong (the marketing thing.)

    Feedback has been nearly universally good from the few that have provided me with any. Only nearly universal complaint was addressed in the first update within a week of release.

    I am now hard at work getting budget ad placement.

    Not a postmortem but I think I can say the biggest mistake we committed was over-reliance on English. We have noticed an incredibly large international market (relatively speaking) with Germany being particularly high on the list. Part of the last update's GUI streamlining is precisely to make it as language independent as possible. Coming next update the game will have also Russian and German descriptions in iTunes. We have some one here that speaks those languages and should have leveraged that on day one. Hopefully that will make the title move better in those two markets, where it already seems to have some soft but visible momentum.

    I have no business contacts, and other than the Touch Arcade podcast coverage, or the App Store New Game section, I have not seen any third party exposure. I sent launch press releases via prMac, but they didn’t seem to get me any exposure.

    I just purchased banner ads in some websites, some in German markets, over Buysellads.com. We have seen barely any click through, but we already see a sales boost, especially on the German market. The spike in our sale rate was too big to dim it to pure coincidence, and I know I myself never click on ads for games that catch my attention. I am much more likely to pick the phone and open the App Store and search for the game. So not sure how useful click through statistics are in the iOS market.

    Despite the boost, movement is still slow. Our next move is to release a Free edition of the game, not a cut down version but a re-skin of the game, with just 15 redesigned levels and a Christmas theme. Part of the goal is that players will feel a reason to have both versions installed, instead of looking at the free version as a “demo.” Hopefully this will get submitted by the end of the day and approved sometime next week. With any luck the Christmas theme may get it featured sometimes during the holidays. Worst case scenario the new assets still can be reused for other projects or expansions.

    Once the universal version gets out we will attempt being a bit more aggressive at sending out direct emails to review websites. Unless Apple takes extra time to test Universal updates, it should be approved between today and tomorrow.

    Without inside contacts, I am not sure how successful this will be.

    Two particular pieces of information I am trying to do research on are indie friendly north-east coast gaming conventions and other potential advertising venues (Buysellads.com catalog seems to be rather limited, and Google’s feels just too broad.)

    Now as far as the game development process goes: this game took between 8-9 months to develop. Most of it was actually learning what works and what doesn’t. We also were set back over 3 months after realizing most of what worked on the Mac and PC did not work on mobile platforms. We had a horrible misconception that once the game was ready, we would just then pay for Unity and have an easy time porting everything. If I recommend one thing here, I guess it would be to start testing in mobile as soon as possible. Although most here likely have more experience than us and find that too obvious to mention (we had zero game development experience.)
     
  44. Gigiwoo

    Gigiwoo

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    Heya,

    Why would you buy ads? I think you need more research. First things on the list? Figure out how much people REALLY LIKE your game! If you give your game to 100 people at the mall... would they like it? Can they 'get it' in 5 minutes?

    My suggestion? 1) Do some more testing, 2) continue to make your game better, 3) Definitely do the free XMAS release! Keep making your product better, make a valentines version for free also! Keep improving it. Once you are sure you have gold, then go for broke and advertise.

    What's this called? 'Bullet's then Cannonballs' - it's an idea I stole from 'Great by Choice' by Jim Collins.

    Good luck!
    Gigi.
     
  45. Starsman Games

    Starsman Games

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    The ad purchase was an experiment in advertisement and an attempt to get more visibility. It was not the first thing on the list, first thing was to change the icon with the first update (and sales did see a big relative boost with that icon change, wish I had done it earlier or market tested the icon art before launch.)

    For now I am keeping my ad budget very low, low enough that I still see some returns from the game (so, for now, a monthly budget thats much lower than my weekly earnings.)

    I have not shown it to 100 people personally, but my analytics shows that at about 20% - 25% of players are playing the game on a daily basis. There seem to be a place where most stall, and am already changing some game mechanics accordingly on the second update (the one that goes universal.) A larger percentage actually returned to play the game a second day (cant tell the number since I'm not paying for those reports, just approximate guess based on copies sold vz total users playing over the days.) Thats more than much more than 100 players that did come back for seconds. If thats all it takes to certify the game good, then I think It's good (I know thats not what you said with your 100 example.)

    I have a very short run through marketing studies from back in my college years as part of my art degree, and at least one thing I gout out o it: you must get the word out because people don't really go out searching for you. I just never practiced in the field, and... well, back then newspaper, magazines and radio were the way to get the message out. I know the human psychology is still the same, its just the medium that has changed.

    I am attempting to find if there is anything else like Buysellads.com so I can poke about between other networks that I can easily cherry pick placements based on costs and site demographics.

    Mind you I am not just looking to buy more ads (unless I find something I find is a bargain) but also want to find out about conventions so I can do some leg-work. I did some googling but have not had any luck finding up to date information.
     
  46. Rush-Rage-Games

    Rush-Rage-Games

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    Looks good, don't forget to update your website on your progress!
     
  47. hippocoder

    hippocoder

    Digital Ape

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    Stuff I don't like
    * Really, really annoying how I ran out of ammo, couldn't reload and so on.

    * Also annoying you can't click anywhere along the reload text. People expect to. And the text covers the ammo clip, so what do you expect?

    * Colours are too primary: there's too much green, its too dark and so on.

    * There's not enough atmosphere like wisps of fog moving along.

    * There's no variety.

    Stuff I like
    *I like the anims and general vibe.

    * I think it potentially could be fun if it was scrolling or moving sometimes, like operation wolf.


    I think you'll potentially get 2k or something from it. I think if you had any sense you'd release it as - is for 69p and get as much as you can from it, or make it ad sponsored and release that. However ad sponsored won't make a great deal of money without some form of progression to keep people playing it long enough.
     
  48. Arowx

    Arowx

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    Cheers Hippocoder,

    Upgraded the Kongregate Version, should be more fun now!

    I'll see what I can do with the other points.

    Not sure how I can add variety easily any suggestions?

    It's out on Android and the plan is to take it to iOS soon!

    The aim was just a simple game and get it out there!
     
  49. UnknownProfile

    UnknownProfile

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    Shooting the ammo crates doesn't seem to be doing anything. I still run out of ammo after two shots.
     
  50. Arowx

    Arowx

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    Not all the crates are ammo, only the green ones, watch out for your magazine clip counter.

    I'll see about adding a last mag audio prompt.