How can I promote my game? Any help is appreciated!

annahid

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Hey guys,

A while ago I made a game for android and published it on Google Play, followed by a series of paid advertisements and posts in this forum and reddit and other places. But to my greatest surprise, the game just doesn't go on! Every day it gets 1 hit and that's all. In some case people uninstall and the active installs drops. Some uninstalls are normal, but new installs must compensate those, which don't. I am really really frustrated.

You can find the link to the game below in my signature. I am wondering, is the game so awful?! I have seen games much worse than this that get extremely high hits. If anyone can help, please tell me what's wrong here and what can I do?

https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...nnahid.games.hungryslimes.demo&token=ExmKTeB0
 
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Tidey_

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Re: How can I promote my game? Any help is appreciated.

I'm just downloading it now, I'll let you know how I get on!

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Tidey_

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Re: How can I promote my game? Any help is appreciated.

Wow, it's a really cool game. I got screwed over by the Eating Slime Balls though haha! I think this would be one of the best places to promote it as it's such a wide community. It's runs absolutely fine on my Nexus 7 but ill download it on my HTC Desire S in a bit and see how it gets on. Also how long did it take you to make the game, I tried app development about a year ago and i couldn't download all the files properly and just got stuck before I could even do anything :(

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annahid

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Re: How can I promote my game? Any help is appreciated.

Thank you! The first release took me about a month (not constant work of course). But I have been working on it eversince its release. And the results are just frustrating. Actually I put some post here about the game. But nobody gave any feedback and probably they didn't download. Maybe I'm a terrible advertiser then and need some tips on how to advertise and what terms to use. Thanks for your interest though. Do you have any idea what the problem might be?

And I can help you out if you want to start again to develop :)
 

Devinator

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Re: How can I promote my game? Any help is appreciated.

Downloading now to check it out.

Don't really have any advice for you other than promoting it on this and other forums. Sorry.
 

badbrad17

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Re: How can I promote my game? Any help is appreciated.

I didn't see a link to the game. What's it called?

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anon(847090)

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Re: How can I promote my game? Any help is appreciated.

you are promoting now aren't you?? Try to get some Android central website review your app. maybe if possible
 

annahid

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Re: How can I promote my game? Any help is appreciated.

@Va1ha11a and still1
I have tried. let's see how successful I will be :)

@badbrad17
Devinator is right. It is below in my signature.

I think the android market (not only Google Play) is extremely unfair for independent developers.
 

Devinator

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Re: How can I promote my game? Any help is appreciated.

Couldn't hurt to put the play link into your sig. People might be more likely to check it out if its a link, rather than having to type it into play themselves.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Android Central Forums
 

annahid

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Re: How can I promote my game? Any help is appreciated.

Couldn't hurt to put the play link into your sig. People might be more likely to check it out if its a link, rather than having to type it into play themselves.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Android Central Forums

My sig is linked to the Play page anyway. But I just did. So, have you tried the game? Is it bad or not worthy? I just want to know if it is the game itself or something related to my presentation of it on the web and in the store.
 

Devinator

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Re: How can I promote my game? Any help is appreciated.

Just played it for a couple of minutes. I thought it was fun so I don't think its anything you are doing wrong. Market is probably just saturated and its tough to get noticed/distinguished.

I will keep the game on my phone though, so, it passed my test. If I'm going to uninstall a game, generally do so very quickly or I end up playing it through.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Android Central Forums
 

Shygar

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Re: How can I promote my game? Any help is appreciated.

I like the game, but I think you need just a tad bit more polishing. Coming into the game, it looks nice. Although I notice when I lock my screen the sound stops playing (good), but when I press my power button to start unlocking the screen, it plays the music before I unlock it (minor detail).

Going into the game I didn't understand what the 3 circles were at the bottom until I clicked on them (achievements, shop, high score). I would label those a little better. Sometimes the 'How to play' boxes didn't pop up when going into the next step. I'm on Android 2.3.3 (stock Thunderbolt). Also the how to play didn't make too much sense until after I started playing. I would play a little animation or describe each step with words.

In the gameplay, it's good but it needs some refining. I didn't know you could bounce off the bottom of the screen until I didn't know what else to do. That made it easier (in fact, I found myself almost always bouncing off the bottom so that it would bounce at the right spot. Also, I don't like how it automatically releases after pulling my finger back too far. It should only release after I let go. Also I did not understand why sometimes it pushed the slimes but other times it killed them. It would be nice if I could click while it was in midair to make it pop, rather than having to wait for it to pop.

The only real problem I had is sometimes the ball I shoot and the balls on the screen would freeze. I could still hit the pause/play buttons but those don't do anything. After some time it unfroze without me doing anything, and I know it's not the speed of my phone.

Overall, very nice. I would get some other feedback about the gameplay and it will do well.
 

Devinator

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Re: How can I promote my game? Any help is appreciated.

The less you pull back, the slower it goes/less farther it goes, eliminating the need to bounce off the bottom like you mentioned. I found the game pretty self explanatory once I started playing, but, I do agree the explanation of the gameplay and buttons could be better.

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annahid

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Re: How can I promote my game? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks Devinator! I am happy you like it.

@Shygar
About the how to play not making much sense: You pointed out exactly what was bothering me recently. So now that somebody else pointed it out, I will fix it in this weekend's update. The how-to-play only happens once when you start the game. This is not to annoy the user. But do you think it should always appear? Because I usually saw people just skipping over that without looking. So I was discouraged me to even think about any amendments.
About the three icons, I tried to make them as descriptive as possible, not needing any text. And clicking on them won't really hurt. But I will think of a way to amend it.
If you find the auto-release too annoying, I will have to think. Because this was basically a design choice! So maybe I need to revert back from this choice. It actually makes my code smaller!
Kick-backs happen if you are not close enough to the slimes to destroy them.
The physics engine is not designed by me, and probably I'm misusing it. So if you can provide exact scenarios when it happened (what happened right before it froze), I could resolve these issues. To be honest, it happened a long time ago, and at that time I found a glitch in the code and fixed it. This happening again means there is something else fishy here, and I should definitely investigate that.

But overall, you all agree that this game is not below average, right?
 

Shygar

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Re: How can I promote my game? Any help is appreciated.

@annahid

I think it's a great game and you should definitely continue with it! So far I haven't been able to reproduce but it has happened twice, usually when one slime is close to the bottom bar and I was trying to bounce off the bottom of the screen. I will keep taking a look but I think it's definitely above average and you should continue getting ideas/experiences from others who play it.

@Devinator

Yea I figured that out too, but on my screen I could only pull back a very little amount (like 1cm or even 0.5cm) on my screen before it seemed to be at 'max' power.
 

Devinator

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Re: How can I promote my game? Any help is appreciated.

Yea. I agree.

As for the instructions, you can always include a checkbox so after the first time, the player can chose to not see them again.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Android Central Forums
 

Shygar

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Re: How can I promote my game? Any help is appreciated.

On an unrelated note, I see your profile says you're in Maynooth, Ireland. I visited Ireland for a couple weeks and loved it! I think I drove past Maynooth when I drove from Galway to Dublin (I live in the States). I can't wait to take another trip there, such a beautiful place.
 

annahid

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Re: How can I promote my game? Any help is appreciated.

Yea I am living in Maynooth and it is in the way between Galway and Dublin. I agree Ireland is quite nice. If you come back here, you should drop by for a cup of tea :)
 

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