Author Topic: App sales were better than expected  (Read 7870 times)

Her

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App sales were better than expected
« on: February 09, 2016, 02:20:48 PM »
I made a mobile game for Android a couple years ago. Recently, after dragging my feet for entirely too long, I decided to port it to iOS as well. Now, Android's financial reports and estimated sales are very straightforward and easy to interpret. Apple's, not so much. Based on the sales numbers from December, I estimated my iOS sales for January to be about $250. Turns out that was way off. Today they sent me the official sales numbers, and I made $580!

I'm going to have to wait a while to see where sales actually level out to be, but that was a very nice message to wake up to.

JPinDC

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #1 on: February 09, 2016, 02:44:23 PM »
That's awesome! Did you do any promotion for it? Is there a cost to download, or free but with in-app purchases? Would love to hear more if you're willing to share!

Crazydude

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2016, 03:33:00 PM »
Awesome! I'm almost done with a budgeting app for iOS. And I've got some ideas for puzzle-style games I'd like to work on this year. Only problem is I'm still relatively new to programming and especially iOS, so I'm not 100% sure how to implement my ideas.

But if you'd be interested in collaborating on something let me know. I'm willing to share my ideas if the opportunity seems right.
« Last Edit: February 09, 2016, 03:36:19 PM by Crazydude »

Roboturner

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2016, 04:28:19 PM »
That's awesome! Did you do any promotion for it? Is there a cost to download, or free but with in-app purchases? Would love to hear more if you're willing to share!

+1

Her

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2016, 05:45:11 PM »
That's awesome! Did you do any promotion for it? Is there a cost to download, or free but with in-app purchases? Would love to hear more if you're willing to share!

It actually started as an online Flash game that got unexpectedly popular, so I had a bit of a built in audience. The only promotion I did was a post on the same website that hosts the online game letting people know the app version was available. I'm also thinking of adding links to the apps within the Flash games itself, because I feel like that would reach more eyes. But honestly I don't consider myself very good at promotion. I have no idea how I would promote it outside the single announcement I already did.

It costs $0.99. I made it a paid app because the interface is very dense, and I didn't want ads taking up precious room on smaller devices. I figured the purchase price was a good compromise on that front. There are no in-app purchases right now, but I'm considering contracting an artist to help me make some new content as purchasable add-ons. Reviews for the app are very good, but the one thing that keeps popping up is that people would like more content.

Awesome! I'm almost done with a budgeting app for iOS. And I've got some ideas for puzzle-style games I'd like to work on this year. Only problem is I'm still relatively new to programming and especially iOS, so I'm not 100% sure how to implement my ideas.

But if you'd be interested in collaborating on something let me know. I'm willing to share my ideas if the opportunity seems right.

I actually made the online game, and the app itself, just because I love programming and at the time wasn't doing it in my job, so I got my fix in the evenings by working on the game. The only collaboration I've done so far is hiring artists to help me with content since I can't draw, but if you're looking for some help programming I'm always looking for more opportunities to do that. ;)

earthshine

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #5 on: February 16, 2016, 08:31:21 PM »
So what's the game? Curious, if it can be shared here, will try it out for fun

Adventine

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #6 on: February 17, 2016, 12:27:25 AM »
Congrats! I would also love to try the game. What's it called?

Sonos

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #7 on: February 17, 2016, 01:51:29 AM »
Congrats!

I'm making a game myself. I'm doing it because I love creating, but I also think it would be so cool to actually have some sales (even just one sale!). It's great to hear stories of others that have succeeded.

Please share your game name/link. I'd love to see it!

Rosy

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #8 on: February 17, 2016, 07:08:53 AM »
Congrats on the app sale figures - sweet!:) Just goes to show if you love what you do there is always a payoff.

Go ahead and post your game, exposure is always good for any business.

Her

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #9 on: February 17, 2016, 10:01:45 AM »
It's a character creator game aimed at 4-10yo girls (though also popular with teenage boys) where you can create a custom pony character. These kinds of games are actually very common, but I went to a lot of effort to give mine many more options than are usually available. Still, not the kind of thing with the broadest appeal. I mostly did it to try and push the boundaries on what these kind of creator games can actually do, and I'm very proud of what I came up with.

Here is it on Google Play
And here's iTunes

One funny note is that since the Flash game version has been around for about five years at this point, I occasionally get people contacting me to tell me they saw art from my game on cheap knockoff My Little Pony products. So far I've seen it on pins, towels, and some kind of child's inflatable chair.

Jack

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #10 on: February 17, 2016, 10:11:59 AM »
I'd like to hijack the thread slightly to mention that my wife is a graphic artist with experience creating assets for casual 2d games. If the OP or anybody else is interested in hiring her, feel free to PM me for a link to her portfolio (which I'm not posting publicly only because it would reveal my real name).

arebelspy

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #11 on: February 18, 2016, 03:33:36 AM »
Congrats!
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

aFrugalFather

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #12 on: February 18, 2016, 03:38:49 AM »
Thats cool.  How many hours do you think you spent on it?  I often hear iOS is more profitable to develop on than Android, has that been the case for you too?  Where did you find your artist?

Her

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #13 on: February 18, 2016, 01:50:01 PM »
Thats cool.  How many hours do you think you spent on it?  I often hear iOS is more profitable to develop on than Android, has that been the case for you too?  Where did you find your artist?

1. I don't know the exact numbers, but it was a lot. I worked on the game (in its various iterations) on and off for over two years. There'd be months where I forgot about it entirely, and months where I spent 15-20 hours a week outside my normal job working on it. The vast majority of this was done before I decided to monetize it at all, because I'm the kind of masochist who finds coding 60 hours a week great fun. In terms of profit made vs. hours worked, my hourly profit is still very low, but at this point it's almost entire passive and has been maintaining a steady sales rate with minimum additional work for two and a half years. (About 80% of the time I spent was on the very tedious process of testing and tweaking every available piece of art, of which there are hundreds, to work with every modification option and with each other. I will admit that I hated that part of the whole thing.)

2. I've heard that too, but I don't have enough sales information yet to be able to judge. I figure it'll take at least six months to get a good idea of how things are playing out.

3. The artists actually came to me. I released a beta of the online game with most of the final functionality but limited art. The beta got way more popular than I ever expected, and I had lots of people contacting me specifically to ask me to put their designs in the game or offering to help in other ways. I also started a blog after releasing the beta documenting my progress on the final version of the game, and made some good contacts there. Over time I became friends with some artists who were fans of the game, and when I needed new art they became my go-to resource.

This all sounds like a very complicated process for a game about making ponies, but as it turns out people really like making ponies!

webguy

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #14 on: February 19, 2016, 09:54:54 AM »
This all sounds like a very complicated process for a game about making ponies, but as it turns out people really like making ponies!
+1

Heckler

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #15 on: February 27, 2016, 10:05:19 PM »
It's $1.39 CAD.  What a drag.

couponvan

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #16 on: March 03, 2016, 04:14:42 AM »
It's a character creator game aimed at 4-10yo girls (though also popular with teenage boys) where you can create a custom pony character. These kinds of games are actually very common, but I went to a lot of effort to give mine many more options than are usually available. Still, not the kind of thing with the broadest appeal. I mostly did it to try and push the boundaries on what these kind of creator games can actually do, and I'm very proud of what I came up with.

Here is it on Google Play
And here's iTunes

One funny note is that since the Flash game version has been around for about five years at this point, I occasionally get people contacting me to tell me they saw art from my game on cheap knockoff My Little Pony products. So far I've seen it on pins, towels, and some kind of child's inflatable chair.
Those teenage boys watching Ponies crack me up..."Bronies" is the term my DS uses - he totally sits there with his little sister watching!!!

arebelspy

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #17 on: March 03, 2016, 04:35:48 AM »
It's a character creator game aimed at 4-10yo girls (though also popular with teenage boys) where you can create a custom pony character. These kinds of games are actually very common, but I went to a lot of effort to give mine many more options than are usually available. Still, not the kind of thing with the broadest appeal. I mostly did it to try and push the boundaries on what these kind of creator games can actually do, and I'm very proud of what I came up with.

Here is it on Google Play
And here's iTunes

One funny note is that since the Flash game version has been around for about five years at this point, I occasionally get people contacting me to tell me they saw art from my game on cheap knockoff My Little Pony products. So far I've seen it on pins, towels, and some kind of child's inflatable chair.
Those teenage boys watching Ponies crack me up..."Bronies" is the term my DS uses - he totally sits there with his little sister watching!!!

I thought it was weird, grown men watching My Little Pony.  Thought it was a joke for a long time.

More discussion here, where Mustache Brony gives a good explanation of the draw, for him, about 15 posts in:
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/off-topic/friendship-is-magic/
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

Her

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #18 on: March 03, 2016, 01:39:11 PM »
It's a character creator game aimed at 4-10yo girls (though also popular with teenage boys) where you can create a custom pony character. These kinds of games are actually very common, but I went to a lot of effort to give mine many more options than are usually available. Still, not the kind of thing with the broadest appeal. I mostly did it to try and push the boundaries on what these kind of creator games can actually do, and I'm very proud of what I came up with.

Here is it on Google Play
And here's iTunes

One funny note is that since the Flash game version has been around for about five years at this point, I occasionally get people contacting me to tell me they saw art from my game on cheap knockoff My Little Pony products. So far I've seen it on pins, towels, and some kind of child's inflatable chair.
Those teenage boys watching Ponies crack me up..."Bronies" is the term my DS uses - he totally sits there with his little sister watching!!!

I thought it was weird, grown men watching My Little Pony.  Thought it was a joke for a long time.

More discussion here, where Mustache Brony gives a good explanation of the draw, for him, about 15 posts in:
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/off-topic/friendship-is-magic/

Mustache Brony's avatar was made in my game! It definitely never would have gotten as big as it did without that fanbase, so I'm very grateful to them. I have actually had male fans message me and ask if there's a free version of the game because they're not yet old enough to buy apps without their parents permission, but are afraid to reveal they like a "girly" thing. Which is more just sad to me than anything.

arebelspy

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #19 on: March 03, 2016, 02:06:02 PM »
Mustache Brony's avatar was made in my game!

That's hilarious.

I have actually had male fans message me and ask if there's a free version of the game because they're not yet old enough to buy apps without their parents permission, but are afraid to reveal they like a "girly" thing. Which is more just sad to me than anything.

That's sad.  But I totally get why they feel that way.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

couponvan

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #20 on: March 03, 2016, 02:20:04 PM »
It's a character creator game aimed at 4-10yo girls (though also popular with teenage boys) where you can create a custom pony character. These kinds of games are actually very common, but I went to a lot of effort to give mine many more options than are usually available. Still, not the kind of thing with the broadest appeal. I mostly did it to try and push the boundaries on what these kind of creator games can actually do, and I'm very proud of what I came up with.

Here is it on Google Play
And here's iTunes

One funny note is that since the Flash game version has been around for about five years at this point, I occasionally get people contacting me to tell me they saw art from my game on cheap knockoff My Little Pony products. So far I've seen it on pins, towels, and some kind of child's inflatable chair.
Those teenage boys watching Ponies crack me up..."Bronies" is the term my DS uses - he totally sits there with his little sister watching!!!

I thought it was weird, grown men watching My Little Pony.  Thought it was a joke for a long time.

More discussion here, where Mustache Brony gives a good explanation of the draw, for him, about 15 posts in:
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/off-topic/friendship-is-magic/
At least he is not alone! I never thought about the plot lines, though....No one would argue if a girl liked watching military video games, right? 

Inaya

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #21 on: March 03, 2016, 02:49:38 PM »
At least he is not alone! I never thought about the plot lines, though....No one would argue if a girl liked watching military video games, right?
You'd be surprised. There's quite a bit of hostility toward girls who game--and it comes from both genders. It's extremely toxic and pretty much sums up to, "girls who play video games aren't REAL gamers--they're all just sluts who pretend to enjoy games to get attention from gamer boys who aren't popular enough to hook up with real girls." Hostility and unwanted advances are not at all uncommon.

OP, that's so cool. I'm interested in mobile app development but I have limited background in coding (HTML, baby!), and a limited amount of creativity (i.e., no good ideas for apps that haven't already been done 10000 times). Congrats on being able to monetize your hobby!

munchabunch

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Re: App sales were better than expected
« Reply #22 on: March 03, 2016, 04:33:00 PM »
It's a character creator game aimed at 4-10yo girls (though also popular with teenage boys) where you can create a custom pony character.

Whoa, no way, you're General Zoi?!  It's like a mini celeb :).

I knew a TON of people into ponies, and I made custom plush commissions during the year I was unemployed.  I can't tell you how many people commissioned plush based on saved images from your pony creator.  Can't believe you're on this forum; that's way cool!  At that rate, I'm surprised you only earned $500.