Its tough being home garage dev.

[bluebug01]

I live at my parent's and make game, mobile games.

I have made a few free games.
Free games I made had very high downloads (though most of them deleted soon after and gave me lower score) .

The impression I got was that "oh, if I make game then post it, then somebody downloads it"

So I somehow made this misguided assumption that it is somewhat "not too difficult" to sell paid app games.

I made my game, posted it on app store with home made video of play through, screenshots, and carefully written description.

Well it doesn't work. Not a single person buys my game.
I spent three weeks of making this game.

Yet no one... Not a single person.

This breaks my heart.
So, after, I have uploaded free version of my game and link to find it on app store on newgrounds as well.

Still zero dollar profit made.

It's not about money but I feel like my work is not even a dollar worth.

It's depressing and hurts my feelings.

I know I shouldn't expect to be "rich" at first shot. I told myself; of course I make no money and totally fail, because it is my first "paid app game". I need to try again and make new game and keep trying. But my spirit is sorta burned to ashes.

I thought maybe trying to be "indie game dev" is not the right option at the moment for me. But I don't want to give up. I want to keep making games.

I am trying to bring out what I have inside me. I opened my idea book and started to draw and write things. Plan weekly goal progress, test ideas by making prototype.

I know I am not going to give up trying to be a game dev. But right now, I am sad. Maybe it will take me a long time to actually be able to make living out of being indie game dev. But I really don't want to give up.

[bluebug01]

not three weeks, three month, I don't know how to edit the post. Where is the edit button?

[Asandir]

At 8/24/14 05:08 PM, bluebug01 wrote: not three weeks, three month, I don't know how to edit the post. Where is the edit button?

There isn't one. Welcome to Newgrounds forums ^^

As for the post, I suppose it's tough to keep staying motivated. Sounds cliche but you must stick with it. I read a bit of the blog from Edmund McMillen, in a nutshell he says that basically no one will make great, especially profitable games from the very start. He recommends having a normal job and doing game making in the rest of your time, so that you don't have to rely on success. Your free games are a good start to get some feedback on what people want to see in (mobile) games, so try to take something positive even from the most negative replies.

[Rad]

Heya Bluebug, sorry to hear indie game development isn't going too well for you, is Bluedoor the only game you've put out so far?

We don't have an edit button on the BBS sadly, it's not a big deal but it would be nice to have some kind of edit function. I wish I could give you some better advice to help you but I got nothing as far as game dev goes.

Also there is probably a better board for this post but eh, it's nice having constructive-ish posts on General.

[bluebug01]

Hey ty for introducing me to blog of awesome indie dev.
Ty man. Though my head keep tells me that me not being able to make the next flappy bird is absolutely normal. It's tough to accept it when it comes to my heart. But hearing from not only from myself, but others like you help me a lot, to calm myself down and accept it. Ty :]

At 8/24/14 05:17 PM, Asandir wrote:

At 8/24/14 05:08 PM, bluebug01 wrote: not three weeks, three month, I don't know how to edit the post. Where is the edit button?

There isn't one. Welcome to Newgrounds forums ^^

As for the post, I suppose it's tough to keep staying motivated. Sounds cliche but you must stick with it. I read a bit of the blog from Edmund McMillen, in a nutshell he says that basically no one will make great, especially profitable games from the very start. He recommends having a normal job and doing game making in the rest of your time, so that you don't have to rely on success. Your free games are a good start to get some feedback on what people want to see in (mobile) games, so try to take something positive even from the most negative replies.

[bluebug01]

Ty man. Bluedoor is currently the only game I put on "newgrounds".
I made a few app games and posted on app store.
But BlueDoor is my first paid game. (though it's free on computer, as I posted on newgrounds)

At 8/24/14 05:21 PM, Rad wrote: Heya Bluebug, sorry to hear indie game development isn't going too well for you, is Bluedoor the only game you've put out so far?

We don't have an edit button on the BBS sadly, it's not a big deal but it would be nice to have some kind of edit function. I wish I could give you some better advice to help you but I got nothing as far as game dev goes.

Also there is probably a better board for this post but eh, it's nice having constructive-ish posts on General.

[NeonSpider]

Personally I wouldn't bother with the mobile games market, but that's me. Those kinds of "gamers" wouldn't know a good game if it bit them on the butt.

Make games that you would actually want to play. Don't just make games because you think it could make money.

Unless you have a lot of money, just stick with desktop computer games and in-browser games. You could either release free versions with fewer levels or make a "pay-to-win" type online game (where it's free to play but if you pay money it helps a lot) or similar. Or go a paid subscription route but I think that's unlikely to get any takers.

Game console development is really a nice ultimate goal but you need a lot of money upfront to even begin, so scratch that one for now.

Try to make good games and not just the kinds of games other developers are putting out these days, if you can. If it's too similar to something that's already out there, is it really any better? And why would they want to play your game when they could play the other one? So you need to differentiate somehow.

[CiviLies]

I don't know if this video can be of any help to you, but it might be. It's 12-13 minutes of your time, but provides an interesting perspective on mobile app development.

[larrynachos]

Yup, that's kinda how this lifestyle works. :/

[FinaLee]

Being a pro means making a ton of mistakes and learning from them until you've perfected your craft. Getting scathing reviews and comments is part of the process of growing.