Results so far

Consider this a short term report card of your performance as a result of marketing.

'Little Johnny has spent a great deal of time and effort in frantic activity to promote his work but all for very little effect.'

So far he has attempted the following methods to promote his game/app on google play.

• Over 300 emails sent to Youtubers, Reviewers, App Review Sites  (free)
• Advertised on multiple wargaming websites(4) with banner ads (paid)
• Advertised at Maccas in my local stores(2) on TV (paid)
• Handed out leaflets(1000) to letterboxes (paid)
• Handed out leaflets(200) in local board game stores in Melbourne (paid)
• Advertised on leadbolt mobile ad network (mobile ads) (paid) (1 million impressions)
• Advertised on facebook (promoted page) (paid) (190 likes)
• Advertised on twitter (pushed heavily) (free) 
• Advertised with google ads (on google play) (paid) (700k impressions)
• Ran a store at the local box hill tech market (paid)
• Had two tshirts made (paid)
• Placed videos on youtube  (free) (45+)
• Told friends and family and other contacts (free)
• Posted comments and links on forums (12+) (free)
• Left promotional material in locations like laundromats, cafes etc (paid)
• Written letters to ABC Good Game TV production (no response) (paid - stamp!)
• Posted thoughtful comments on blogs, discussions and youtube channels. (free)
• Subscribed to over 100 youtube channels to discuss his app. (free)
• Contacted every major and minor mobile app review site personally (free)
• Written to game news channels (free)

Overall result:

Increase from 2.7 installs per day to 3.5 installs per day (free app) over a 3 month period.
Averaging about 0.13 installs per day of the paid app. (Figures too low to detect a change)

'Little Johnny's performance is unsatisfactory this semester. He puts in a lot of effort and busy work but doesn't really achieve all that much.  I would like his grade to reflect the effort he has put in but the results are just too low to justify it. I think he would be better off focusing on a more productive endeavour - such as gardening. - F -.'

Own Comment:
Looking back over the past few months at my promotional methods, some of them were more effective than others.  The most effective of the various methods seems to have been the google ads and the leadbolt ads.  I don't like to suggest that the leadbolt ads were successful due to their price but they were comparatively speaking. Google ads were the most effective.  Pretty much everything else was a complete waste of time, money and effort if one is thinking of the results alone.  They were not a waste in the sense that I learned a lot from them.

User Acquisition and Retention

I worked out as I went to bed last night that there is a function that describes user acquisition and retention quite well. A model of sorts.

dU/dt = f(t) + g(t,m) - aU

where U = users at a particular day, t = time in days, f(t) = users gained through natural search methods, g(t,m) = users gained through paid methods where m = money spent and -aU where this represents the loss of users (uninstalls etc), a is approximately a constant.

What does it say though?

It means that your app or game will reach equilibrium in terms of current installs when the rate of increase equals the rate of decrease.  This will happen for a particular number of users for a given f and a.

Typically a can be considered a constant that ranges from 0 to 1.0 and the higher the quality of the app the lower the value, the shitter the app the higher the value.

In practice this works quite well.

For example, take my own app.

f(t) is  a constant of approximately about 4 users per day. Very low.

-aU is about 4 users per day as well. I have about 100 users so that puts a at about 0.04.  

That tells me that my app is of okay quality in my opinion.  If it were above 0.1 then I would be worried.  

The uninstall rate will lead to a exponential decay style curve.  Which makes sense. An app with a million users at day 0 will lose more users on day 1 than an app with one hundred users by virtue of the fact that there are more users who can uninstall it.

My goal, picked arbitrarily is to reach and settle at a value of about 1000 users at any time using the app.  

This would require I either drop a from 0.04 to 0.004 which is highly unlikely.  The idea of making my app at the very least 10x better quality is unrealistic.

Or...I can increase f(t) from 4 users per day to 40 users per day.  

Note this would mean that in a year's time I would have had 15,000 users install the app for a current install base of 1,000 users at any time.

g(t,m) relates to advertising and is not entirely independent of f(t). The two are related but for small values of m (such as in my budget) they can be considered independent.

If my f(t) remains at about 4, which is likely, and my a remains about 0.04 then if I suddenly spent a huge amount of advertising in a successful manner and g(t,m) spiked by say 100 users then most likely all I would see is a spike of users temporarily followed by an exponential decay back to my equilibrium value over a period of several months.

So if a developer wants to be profitable they have to first of all ensure that their value of a is low - the app needs to be high quality, and the value of f(t) is high.  

Unless you can improve your f(t) to a nice high value then it will never be successful. For example, my app will remain at about 100 users currently using the app.

Note this doesn't even include the fact that of the 100 users only about 15% of them are actively engaged in using the app at any time.  The old stickiness DAU/MAU is useful too and makes then numbers look even worse.

I'd love to have access to the reports of some of the bigger games to get an idea of what their 'a' value is?  How much smaller or larger than 0.04 is it?  The uninstall rate is a good estimate of how high the quality of an app is.

Thanks,

Matt

Moddable Pilot Chatter

Pilot Chatter can now be modded in the game very easily.

I have included this, as a feature that was originally designed but not included, in the v1.30b release that was released today.

There are also some other adjustments to shaders but these are less important.

The Pilot Chatter mod ability can be activated by copying sequentially numbered .ogg files into the relevant subfolder in your music/stardancer folder on your device.

It should be fairly self explanatory how it works - there are two main sub folders beneath each faction, one is preparatory and the other is battle chatter. By putting numbered .ogg files in each the game will read them instead of the default audio.

This means I can create audio packs (potentially for sale or as a free download) which can be used with the game. It also means I can support other languages.

from Matt

The Benefit of Solid Design

The Benefit of Solid Design

Star Dancer was first conceived by myself in January of 2015.  I've talked a little about my inspiration and design process before but I thought I'd add some more.

When a game is developed, typically an indie game, features are often added and coded into shape as the game takes form over the course of its development.  Preliminary design work usually consists of no more than 'wouldn't it be cool too....' and is one of the reasons why many designs fail to make it to production.

I have hundreds of pages of hand written notes that have formed this game's design. But at the same time I've written games before.  

In 2008 I released a space combat shooter to a small audience (my work place) which was really just a hobby piece - not suitable for the general public to consume.  In 2004 or 2005 I wrote a space combat simulator which simply allowed the user to watch like a screensaver a space battle unfolding.

So as such I have knowledge of the techniques needed to make a space game.  I certainly don't believe I'm the best at this but I do have a background in mathematics, coding and science fiction which has stood me in good stead when developing Star Dancer.

When I look back at the original design work I did - which had details for the database backend, costs for commissioning artwork, screen interface details, flow of screen to screen there is a good amount which has been turfed.  However the core hasn't really deviated very much from my original design. It is very, very close to it in many ways. 

As such I am quite content to say that the game I have produced and am still enhancing is extremely close to the game I envisioned in January.  The concept that was in mind is extremely close to the finished product. And as such I am proud of my efforts.

I've said it before and will repeatedly say it.  If this game never sells more than a dozen copies I will still consider it a success, even if the cost of development was high - because I enjoy it.

The benefit of solid design work is that the direction the game takes during development is clear and as such results in a clear focus for the user when the game is released.  My game is good at what it does and it doesn't try to be all things to all people. Instead it focuses on what it is good at and sticks to its core values.

Something that can be a concern in the initial development stages is that you may think that someone else will copy your design. However that is a pointless concern because a) there are so many games and ideas out there that it is unlikely and b) no one can produce an exact replica of what you are making because they have different ideas about what to focus on.  

There are definitely better space games out there than mine on the market.  There are games with higher production values. There are games with a more well known game mechanic.  But there are still to my knowledge no games quite like my own. It is distinctive and of high quality - as the reviews have attested.

I hope you enjoy the game. If you've read this well done, you're one of a select few!

Promoting and Marketing A Mobile App (or any product)

Marketing and Promotions Part 2

As we approach the end of the year it is time for me to talk a little about marketing and promoting my game.

There has been a great deal said over the past few years about the difficulty in having one's app discovered on the mobile markets. In fact for independent developers it is difficult to have one's product noticed anywhere.

There are a number of solutions to this problem.  

The first is money.  If I had tens of millions of dollars to spend, plastering buses, billboards and television networks with advertising then people would know about my game. No question. This is what the major companies with a lot of finance do.

That is not a possibility.  However it would solve the problem quite easily though it would raise another which is whether the return on investment is positive or not. Generate enough hype and it possibly is (ala Star Wars or Fallout 4).  

Another solution is to find a distributor and let them wear the cost of marketing and promotions. A number of people I know through another forum distribute their desktop games through various indie publishers.  This works for them as they are mostly building casual games of the main types (hidden object, match 3 or card/solitaire games).  

There are no distributors of mobile games however. I think there is a very good reason for that - there is just too much noise on the mobile market.

Something to remember is that games are not essential products. They are in a sense a luxury item.  A game is something that people can go without and will happily do so.  A steak or a loaf of bread is not. People have to eat. People do not have to play my/your game.  

When it comes to mobile marketing there really is only a handful of ways to be successful.  

What it seems to come down to is whether or not you can gain traction with organic installs. Installs through searching the play store or app store.  

I have tried the following methods so far, although I am fully aware that no matter what method I try - with the budget available to me - it is going to fall short of the target.

Methods:

Writing to app reviewers and youtube bloggers. I've written to over one hundred or more of these over the past few months. Minimal response.  It has resulted in perhaps a handful of extra downloads of maybe one out of twenty reviewers taking a look, but the majority deal with desktop programs only.

Advertising with banner ads on websites that target my demographic (male, wargamer, nerd/geek).  I have had perhaps a handful of downloads from these as well. Certainly not enough to justify the price of advertising.

Advertising on google ads or mobile ad networks of various types.  This is a tricky one to categorise. I do get results from these. However the result is linear in terms of what I spend.  If I spend double the money I get double the installs. However the advertising is limited to poor countries where English is not the main language.  In order to advertise to English speaking countries I need to raise my budget, which is not going to be possible.  So in one sense it works but in another sense it doesn't reach the people I wish to reach.  Budget is the big constraining factor here.

Twitter and Facebook posts have a limited effect - again, one or two downloads every few days as a result of a post on one of these is usual.

I am going to try advertising at my local fast food outlet with a small tv ad on an advertising platform I built part of earlier in the year for my day job.  My expectation is that it will result in an increase of downloads by a marginal amount - although I'm happy to be surprised.

Another attempt is to advertise at a local computer swap meet. I believe this will be more successful however I am not entirely sure just how much. I expect I will be able to convince many people to try the game out but I am limited by my own personal reach - I can only reach people I speak to. I expect on the 27th December I may acquire ten to twenty downloads of the free app - if I am successful. 

That is not many.

I have had tshirts printed, promotional letter box drops, made a game to attract people to the main game, posted on forums, and tried numerous different things.  However none of these - even if they were as successful as they possibly could be would have a major effect.

Success will come from one area. And that is to be 'featured' by google.  If in some way my app were to be 'featured' by google this would result in numerous, uncountable, downloads.  It happens to apps from time to time. But to get this needs organic installs, which only come by being high in the table of results, which only comes by having a lot of organic installs. So, it is a merry go round that cannot be gotten on once it has started. You will notice the same games shown on the 'merry go round' day after day - because they are successful they remain successful. It is that simple.

So, what does this all mean?

Well the main thing to consider is that I am not likely to be featured by google. If I hold a realistic view then I have to accept that my downloads, installs and players of the game will only come through the channels I work on.  At this stage the chance of a random sudden upsurge in installs is highly unlikely.  If it did happen it would continue. But it won't happen like that.

What I need to consider is this.

I have a good product. It is a solid, stable, high quality product.  It is fun and great to look at and listen to.  

I don't need to believe in my product - I know my product is good because there is nothing quite like it out there in the marketplace yet. Eventually there will be, but for now there is not.

The difficulty is going to be in getting the word out.  

Perhaps I need to accept that the game will never see hundreds of users downloading it in a single day?

It is unfortunate, if that is the case.

But is that the case?

I have tried so many options, so many methods and am still trying each one.  Most of them result in negligible success if any at all.  

It may be worth getting a reality check in terms of how successful desktop pc games are that are sold in stores through a distributor.  I imagine the smaller ones are not very successful at all.  

Hmm.....I look forward to my day of marketing at the local computer swap meet although I am not sure it is going to do much beyond that day. I may get ten or twenty downloads but I have a good idea that that will be all. Unfortunately.  If I get more than two or three paid downloads I will call it a success though not a financial success. Just a success in terms of acquiring some users.  

Single Player Campaign

Star Dancer has a single player campaign in addition to the quick battle mode.

In the lite version it is more a fore taste of the gameplay.  The real action is to be found in the full game.

Because of the nature of the game computer opponents dont launch  attacks against the player and so it can be played at your own pace against the computer.

I have played numerous campaigns now and even now i sometimes cannot easily conquer the galaxy.

As time progresses in the campaign your opponents become tougher with improved research and ai settings.  As such i often find the final couple of factions tough to defeat.

Also, some factions match up better against each other and i have always found Mars Colony a tough nut to crack regardless of whom I take.

Below are some screenshots from battles against the computer this morning as i enjoyed several cups of tea and coffee at my local cafe.

I hope that people get to experience my game as it was meant to be played and are not put off by the fairly low price equivalent to the cost of a cup of coffee.  Mobile games are typically free with purchases made once in the game.  Instead i have a fixed fee to play and own the game forever.

I also hope players enjoy watching the spa e battles and tweaking their AI settings to defeat their opponent.

I've said it before and will say it again.  Even if the game is not widely received or known I love playing it and can spend hours on it.

Faction Differences

Faction Differences

There are five factions in Star Dancer each with their own collection of fighters, bombers, cruisers and capital ship classes.

The five factions all share the same base characteristics for flight and defense however their weaponry is quite different from faction to faction - this is what separates the different factions from one another.

Each of the factions has different advantages and disadvantages based on their weaponry. I will detail these below.

Fighters

Of the fighters, Mars Colony has the most powerful fighters in the game.  Their fighters carry easily the heaviest weapon for a small ship and often prove the most difficult enemy to take down late in the campaign.  You will often find if you are struggling to defeat Mars Colony that it is their fighters that are proving the most challenging to defeat. 

By contrast the Outlander fighter is the weakest of the fighters in the game. It sports a tiny pea shooter that does very little damage, however it does have an extremely high rate of fire and low power drain.  

The other fighters vary in their effectiveness only marginally. The AioSenti fighter is very damaging at short range and less so at long range.  EarthHope's fighter is the default 'average' kind of fighter, it will be outclassed by Mars Colony but hold its own against most of the other fighters. 

Bombers

Once again, Mars Colony has the most powerful bombers in the game, They carry both an anti capital weapon in the form of a powerful set of rockets and a heavy Plasma Cannon for taking down enemy ships.  They are a much upgraded version of the Mars Colony fighter and apart from their lack of speed are once again the enemy that will prove the most difficult during the campaign usually.

The Outlander Bomber is also the weakest of the bombers although it does carry a rear mounted weapon which is a nasty surprise for ships that pursue it.  It is really no more than a heavier Outlander Fighter class ship - its weaponry is almost identical to the Figher but is simply supported by a heavier chassis.  

The other bombers vary only a little in effectiveness.  The Hushami Corp fighters and bombers each carry a series of burst rockets for long range duels with limited ammunition.  Typically however they are of similar if not slightly greater effectiveness than the other factions AioSenti and EarthHope.

Cruisers

The Mars Colony cruisers are some of the most ineffective cruisers in the game. They carry very heavy weaponry, a mix of short and long range but with extremely low rate of fire really find it difficult to hold their own against enemy vessels of similar size.  

The Outlander cruisers are the most deadly cruisers in the game. They carry two long EMP Cannons which are capable of dealing death to both small and large vessels alike.  These cruisers can defend themselves against smaller vessels quite well and can take down enemy vessels quite quickly if they can bring their guns to bear.

The Earth Hope cruiser carries the best beam weapon for a smaller capital ship in the game.  It does however lack any firepower against smaller vessels so is only of use in a fight against other capital ships - at which it excels at.  

AioSenti cruisers carry one of the weakest beam weapons in the game - but at least they have one. Otherwise they have a set of short range forward facing weapons which are very damaging to anything that gets close.  Their mix of weapons makes them a general all purpose larger vessel capable of taking on both large and small vessels although they are outclassed by Earth Hope and Outlander Cruisers in a firefight.

Hushami Corp cruisers carry a very weak beam weapon although they also carry a very powerful limited ammunition cannon.  They do however have the ability to limit the enemy's firepower with their experimental energy draining weapons.

Capitals

The Mars Colony capital is the most ineffective capital ship in the game. It carries a mix of weaponry, likes its smaller cruiser brother but its weapons are too low rate of fire to be of much use against most other enemy capital ships. Should it hit a smaller target the target will be vapourised but with such a low rate of fire is highly unlikely to do so.

The Outlander Capital ship is the supreme capital ship in the game. It carries the second most powerful beam cannon in the game that also drains enemy power. It also carries a series of EMP Cannons which can take out small and large vessels.  The Outlander's capital class ships and cruisers make up for the fact that their fighters and bombers are so outclassed. All their technological efforts have gone into their larger ship classes.

The AioSenti Capital carries the most powerful beam cannon in the game.  It has no other weapons however and will struggle against a host of smaller vessels.  The beam cannon will tear through enemy capitals in very short order.  

The EarthHope Capital is a general all purpose capital class ship. It carries flak cannons along its length that help it deal with enemy fighters and bombers but it also unfortunately has the distinction of carrying the weakest beam weapon in the game.  The EarthHope beam cannon is unlikely to cause any kills but it will help keep enemy cruisers honest.  EarthHope relies on its combined arms efforts to win battles and needs its smaller vessels to support its cruisers and capital to defeat an opponent.

Hushami Corp's Capital class cruiser is a bit of an unusual beast. It carries a fairly low effectiveness beam cannon but has the ability to disrupt enemy power generation which offsets the low power of the beam itself.  Hushami Corp relies also on a combined arms approach with all ships needing to contribute to find itself victorious.

Overall

My own personal preference in the game  (as designer) is to play as the Outlanders. I don't mind the fact that the fighters and bombers are low effectiveness because their capital and cruiser class ships more than make up for this. If I had to pick a second team I'd probably pick AioSenti since I simply love the ship designs but they are also a tough one to win battles with against certain opponents depending on the stage of the game.  I haven't played enough battles as Mars Colony to have an opinion on them but their low effectiveness capital ships don't really fit my play style.

Progress

Star Dancer is slowly progressing in terms of downloads and exposure.

It is actually quite tricky as an independent, very low budget, developer to gain exposure in a way that is appropriate and effective.

Every rating and review counts and apart from one rather unusual one they've all been extremely positive and I'm thankful to the users who've left these reviews. They've also been very constructive and have made suggestions that in many cases I've implemented with a few days of their comments.

I find it important to take my users seriously since they are the ones who I want to enjoy the game.

I am mainly concerned with providing a fun experience that is highly polished and good quality.  So far I believe I've provided that.  I do have metrics and reports that help me work out where players are getting stuck or what they seem to be missing from the game when they play - these are very helpful to me.

Recently I've made an addition that was suggested to me to include engine flare/thrusters showing as a visual by a youtube follower.  This was in the end a fairly easy addition and looks quite effective. So - I'm glad that user suggested it,since I was able to then add it in easily enough.

In terms of usage - I've noticed that the game gets a decent amount of usage by players outside the first few days of install - which is great. I was a little worried that maybe the game was being downloaded, played once, and never played again. This does happen but it is not as big a problem as I first thought.

The hard thing is that advertising costs money - at least effective advertising does.  If I want to reach a large number of people I need to advertise. Also I've noticed that most online advertising, at my budget, reaches populations who don't speak English and may struggle with the game content as a result.  It is very expensive to promote the game in native English speaking countries.

As such I believe that my game will gradually gain traction in terms of installs rather than be an overnight success.

I'm hoping that by June I will have several thousand users of the free app - that would be nice, and is not outside the realms of possibility when i look a the quality of apps on google play.  There is a lot of low quality products on that store which do make it hard to find the gems (like mine!).

Here is a picture of the new thruster additions:

Machine Learning

The AI or computer opponents in Star Dancer are tough especially in the full version.

There are two modes of AI player in the game.  Offline and online.

Offline is used in quick  battles.  Online is used in the campaign.

Offline uses a system where it randomises its settings based on whether it wins or loses.  If it loses it makes major changes.  If it wins it makes minor changes.

Online picks the best human player in the campaign and uses a modified version of those settings before altering them and revising every ten minutes.

Online also changes its research  settings every 10 minutes to stay at the forefront of cutting edge tech.

This means it is very hard to beat the AI in the full version.  Right now I'm in tbe middle of a campaign against 4 other computer opponents with 10 planets.  I started with 2. Gained 1.  Im struggling to capture another because the computer is so tough.

Eventually I will overcome the ai but then it will improve as well.....