StackFall
Indie Casual Android Game
I find it quite challenging for an indie developer to develop, design and market his app/game/website all at the same time. In my personal experience I found great pleasure in programming and designing parts of the project. Especially this one. However, the marketing side of the project kept me anxious.
In an attempt to follow advices given by more succesful developers in my area I tried to answer the following question:
- Who is my user?
The answer was quite simple at the time: Casual Players.
The next question is where do I find them?
I tried to advertise my game by publishing articles on reddit and facebook in gaming groups. The user acqusition rate was not promising: 8-10 install per day maximum ( 4 installs average) during those days.
In the following days I was asking friends and family members to try the game out and give an honest review. Well, that didn't work out as well. I needed (and still do) honest reviews to help me understand what are the problems and how I can improve Stack Fall. Nevertheless, all I got from most of them is that the game is good and they enjoyed it. That's not helpful. But I am glad they liked it (or at least they told me so).
So how did I increase my revenue twice? It was easy actually. Last week I earned 1 euro and this week it is 2 euro.
Today StackFall has acquired fifty players! If this isn't the reason to celebrate and drink glass of fine milk; I don't know what is. Cheers!
Next goal: Tree Fiddy!
This is quite an achievement! Some say it is not even one cent! I say it is a great beginning!
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Hah, excellent! Even more celebrations when you reach your first Euro? :D
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Congrats! I know that feeling.
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Thank you :)
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Haha congratz man! I had the same feeling when earned my first cent :P (especially cause I got it while sleeping through advertising / downloads which is way cooler than getting money through a normal mission as freelancer :p).
The game is StackFall (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.oneunit.stackfall). The idea is quite simple:
- Stack the boxes (I know, many wow! so clever! much doge!)
- Variety of boxes with unique characteristics
- Upgrade system
- Compete with other players (Leadership board)
Looking forward to hearing from you and your reviews on Google Play.
Best Regards, Kyuroako (One Unit team leader, lead programmer and best janitor two years in a row).
Hey there!
Found this website on reddit and already love it! Is it a love from first sight?! Oh boi....
Hi reader! Don't you go anywhere! It is rude. Let me introduce myself first:
My name is Abbas Akhundov (a.k.a. kyuroako). I still can remeber the day I was born. It was a cold winter day. Some dude, all in white, was holding me like a bowling keg and said to me: "Welcome to the world chosen one!". And then he proceeded to beat me so I would cry!!! Can you imagine? I will never forget his sadistic face.
I don't remember anything since that event till around 14 years old, so let's just assume I was like super cool and had like super haircut. Moving on...
As I was growing up I started to feel different. Everyone kept telling me it is just puberty. You will be fine. However, I knew better! I was definitely developing superpowers!
It all started with me (accidentally, as it was obviously my destiny) opening a command controller and finding my new home.
Later on I developed other superpowers:
- Ability to say "Hello World" in 20 languages!
- Finding a bug by just looking at the code
- Wearing cool glasses that help me code (it is high tech)
- And did I mention coding?
- Depression (I am really proud of this one)
Now that you know me, you have to introduce yourself. Come on. Don't be rude.
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Welcome to IH. Nice to know you. :)
My info is on profile page ihkr.ml/shree-
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Thank you!
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6 Comments
This is funny. But, I also find it funny that your location of Hamburg Germany is spelled out in Russian. We have a comedian here.
It must have automatically wrote it that way. I will change it later manually. Thank you for pointing it out!
"The answer was quite simple at the time: Casual Players."
Your market is too broad here. Will a 40 year old woman that likes Candy Crush (i.e. a casual player) like this game? Or will 12 year old kid that loves one-tap games like your game? You need to find out your specific demographic (age, interests, etc) and target them specifically.
Family and friends will always tell you your game is good. If you want to validate it properly you need metrics in your app to test average daily usage per user, day1, day30 retention rates, etc.
Good luck with it!
Thank you very much!
I will think about your advice and try to apply it.
Haha, very good!
Thank you for your reply! :)