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.....

Cut the chatter red two!

In my original design on paper I had pilot chatter (and a few other features) that never made it in to the original release.

However, with time spent working on audio - and with my release from hospital - I have been able to add some nice touches of pilot chatter with a range of voices providing random battle chatter in the background throughout the battle.

The battle is split into two phases in terms of audio - the opening and the battle. In the opening the chatter is more preparatory talk. In the battle it is pure battle chatter.

The idea behind the pilot chatter is not that it be understood, or heard easily - it is meant to be background noise that adds life and colour to the combat. And that it does.

I've also added sound effects (which I purchased way back in March or April). They play when the lasers and beams fire, when ships explode and when ships flyby the camera.  They are pseudo 3d audio in that they reduce in volume with distance from the camera. Being in space there is no sound but also there are no obstacles really so it may be non physically correct but it is fun- and that is what games and movies are - fun.

Oh...here's a short video of a clip of one of the spaceships flipping on its axis to fit through a gap.  You can't script this stuff - it just happens and looks fantastic when the camera catches it.

The game is coming along nicely however it is difficult to market it still - so many mobile games out there in a saturated market that it is difficult to get people to notice my game. Hopefully they will eventually.

Battle Replay

This was a battle  fought between a good friend of mine and myself.

Great fun.