Tardy Posting!

Yes, I know, I have been quite tardy in posting updates.  It is a struggle when there is so much going on in the world, and updates funnel through slowly.

Yet - while I might not have been busy on the blog, we have been very busy behind the scenes with a great new update on its way.  The Shop has finally arrived!  I have to say, I'm kind of excited!  Now there is a reason to want to Save up your Bacon!  Yep, you can now exchange your bacon for upgrades just for your pig!

Here is a sample of the artwork that has been developed along the way:

Now your pig can be as cool as you are - lol!

We'll see what happens here, but it does change the way the game feels, and I like that.  It gives it something a bit extra.

Oh...and then there is the "Golden Pig"...but more about him later.

The journey continues...

AG

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Ideas...ideas...funny how it works...

When working through things that might make a game more compelling, you can just see such a range of options - it becomes hard to know how to prioritise.  Everything costs time and money, and you can never be sure what the outcome is going to be once you have finished.

For example, currently, Save My Bacon (have you got your copy yet?) is a 5 min or less game for most people.  Some people can break the 5 min barrier, but it isn't easy.  I guess the question is then, do we need to add capability to allow the user to let the game go longer?

At what point does development stop?

For example, falling objects that slow the pig down, or something that doubles your force for every tap?  Are these things that make a game better?

I'd be interested in what people think!!

The journey continues...

AG

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Social Media - the smart way (automation!)

There are heaps of social media outlets for people to follow, tweet, post or publish, with comments, votes, +'s and many, many other variations.

How can I, just me, keep up with all of this?

To be perfectly honest - I don't.

But, yet, somehow, I must.

Wouldn't it be great to automatically Tweet every time you posted a blog - even it if was scheduled for late in the night?

What if you could also post to Facebook?

...the list goes on!

Enter IFTTT - "if this then that" - what a GREAT tool.  Free too, which is a surprise, it is something worth paying for.

So, the basic way it works is to allow you to set up "Recipes", or those more familiar with MS Outlook, "Rules".  But there are no fancy scripts, nothing difficult at all.  Just click on a bunch of buttons and you are done.

Trust me, this is as simple as it gets.  The people who put this together have really done a very good job.

Why not go now and give it a go http://ifttt.com/

It is easier than you think and a great way to make the Internet work for you (for once!)

And so...the journey continues!

AG

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Oooh...some more little tips that might help!

More tips after a good day investigating way to promote #savemybacon

Twitter

If you are an IndieDev, send a tweet to @AllGameBot - This bot will follow and RT.  Nice little tool actually.

Further, another tip if you have a blog like this one is to turn on Google+ comments.  It is under the Google+ item in the left menu and, if you also automatically post to Google+, you'll have a way of pulling together all your comments into one place!

Ok, so it is cheating a little, but it works.  In this strange game called Marketing, I'll take what I can get!!

The other thing worth noting is to tell people to RT.  If they don't they probably weren't going to anyway, but if they do, you might have just picked up a new RT that you might not have otherwise gotten.

That said, I have only found that this has limited success!! :)

REDDIT

The other interesting thing is Reddit.  This "subreddit" is an interesting way to join more with the online Indie community.  There are lots of good hints and tips here and I'll do what I can to test and share them!

http://www.reddit.com/r/IndieGaming/

One thing about reddit - you have have an account more than 1 week old or you cannot submit a new post.  You can comment to others, but not submit one of your own.

The journey continues...

AG

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An interesting Twitter tip I just learned!

Well, as I said, this blog is to track my marketing progress and it seems that there is a pretty good way to get RT (retweets).  I'm not sure about the audience just yet and whether they are valuable, or if it just more Twitter spam to enter the planet, but it is interesting nonetheless.

It seems that there are RT 'bots' out there, and if you find one that is in your sweet spot for marketing, you should use it.  For me, I have found that the following inclusion in your Tweet will get guaranteed RTs for your post.

#gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

There are a few bots out there that will take these messages and fire them out.

There has been a minor increase in traffic to this blog as a result of it.  It clearly works as a means to get a RT...but whether it 'spreads the word' in real terms is yet to be determined.

The journey continues!

AG

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Chartboost Chart - Week 7

Here is this week's Chartboost dashboard.  It has been a busy week, with most of my focus (for this app) being on Tweeting.

The new version was released last week (finally!!) and the inclusion of Global High Scores is good as it gives a few options on targets to aim for.  It has reminded me, yet again, that the Play Store is a lot more responsive, with the new version coming out in a matter of hours, and the App Store, one week later, is still "Waiting for Review".

I realise that this has a bearing on the quality of the apps in the various stores, but, as a publisher of apps, the wait is a little frustrating.

So, a little progress, but nothing worth getting too excited over.  BTW - Does anyone know the difference between "Earned" and "Balance"?

Here are this week's stats from the Stores:

Play Store
Install count (this week): 27 / 56
Ratings: 4.55 / 11

App Store
Install count (as at this week): 291
Reviews: 1

Slowly heading up again, we'll see what the week brings...

The journey continues...

AG

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Finally - the new release!

Well, I have to say, I am excited.  After all the delays around the new iOS8 release, we finally have the next version out.  Remember, this is a part of a three stage controlled release strategy to make Save My Bacon a little more 'sticky'.

This was the least exciting update, but it was still very useful.  This was the integration of the scoring into the various global High Score lists.  Now you can log in and have your score recorded thereby making a target for others to compete with.

You can still play if you are not logged in, but then the score is Local, not Global.

The Android version is now live (click on the link in the header of this page for your version!)

The Apple version is currently "Waiting for Review" and should be out in the next day or so.

Finally we have been able to progress down the path of this release.  At this stage the scores are quite low - how do you think you'll go?  Think you're good enough to get a ranking?

The journey continues...

AG

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Chartboost Chart - Week 6 (hmm...missed week 5 this time!)

Here is this week's Chartboost dashboard.  I have found that while waiting for development to complete, it is hard to maintain a focus on posting!

Finally, the new release is imminent.  Let's see how it goes.  Tidies up a lot of niggling little things and adds some nice (and needed) functionality.

As the app was new, with little marketing (I didn't really want to!), it has started to die down.  Let's hope with this new release it will be a little more engaging.

Here are this week's stats from the Stores:

Play Store
Install count (this week): 25 / 54
Ratings: 4.55 / 11

App Store
Install count (as at this week): 262
Reviews: 1

Stats are down a little this period.  Let's see what the new version can do?

The journey continues...

AG

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Funny the things you don't realise!!

We were getting close to the next release, and I was going through it with the team when I realised...things were getting more complex...it was, all of a sudden, no longer simply a pig balancing game, but there was a little more to it, and a lot more to come!

We needed instructions!  In hindsight it was obvious.  In reality, it should have been one of the first mandatory parts of the game build. Doh!

So, working through it, we decided that we needed to launch HELP on first run and include a HELP button.  We needed to explain that, if you wanted to complete on the High Score table, that you needed to log in.  We needed to be able to switch accounts...we needed to help people understand that you had to tap the screen, not tilt the device.

It was all obvious to us...but not to many others!

It looks like a another small delay - but a critical one!

The journey continues...

AG

Chartboost Chart - Week 4 (sorry! I missed week 3)

Here is this week's Chartboost dashboard.  Sorry I missed last week...other "real world" stuff got in the road.

Still no new release, for reasons that you'll see in a future post.

We seem to have established a kind of heart beat now.  It isn't awesome, but the trend is kind of steady.

I think I'll also include stats in these posts too.  It will be useful to see what happens over time:

Play Store
Install count (this week): 30 / 51
Ratings: 4.55 / 11

App Store
Install count (as at this week): 241
Reviews: 1

The journey continues...

AG

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Using the App Store for monitoring Apps

Like I promised, here is the App store follow up on yesterday's post.  I guess, given the extensive nature of Apps on i-devices, I was pretty keen to see what this one had to offer.

I am still disappointed.

I can only imagine that this has to do with my personal experience in using it.  Using it after the Play store just feels a little chunky and clunky.  Nonetheless, let me continue!

The opening screen has just been updated by Apple, and I have to say, I preferred it the way it was...but anyway, this is what I get to see now:

I really only use the first two buttons here, "My Apps" and "Sales and Trends".

Clicking on My Apps brings up the list of apps that you have and you can then select the one you want to know more about.

Once you have navigated your way through to your app, you are presented with the following screen:

This seems to be the only place I can get access to Review data, but still no install counts.  Clicking on Reviews will show this:

I don't know if this gets any better...but this seems pretty ordinary!

So, looking for my install count takes me back to the high-level dashboard.  From here, I now select Sales and Trends and I am presented by the following window:

So this is pretty good.  The data is similar to the Play store data. Is it useful?  I think it probably is, but haven't been able to determine how to use it effectively.

Can anyone help?  Is this really as basic as it seems?

Certainly, the data is OK, but is it enough to be useful?

Well, for me, the jury is still out.  I dislike the fact that reporting is jumping all over place, and it takes sooo many clicks to do anything.

I am not impressed with being logged out if you have been idle for a while either.  I'm just glad I saved my password :)

So, from my perspective, the Play Store, while far from perfect, was the pick for either of these Stores.  That said, if you are selling an app, see what you have is in mind.  Perhaps, based on your needs, your conclusion is very different to me with my needs.

So there you have it.  I hope you found this helpful, and by all means, please comment below!

The Journey Continues.

AG

App and Play Store Stats - Are they helpful?

One thing I really do like is data.  Stats tell me a story, and they help me make decisions.

Sometimes stats can be a little misleading, sometimes, the data you have isn't the whole picture and that can mean the wrong decision can be made as the missing parts of the puzzle could change everything.

When releasing an app, I like to know how it is going.  How many installs? on what days? any reviews?

All of this data can help make decisions on the effectiveness of changes made to your app, or your marketing strategy. So for me, this is an important part of the App and Play Stores - and both let me down a bit.

Let have a quick look at each of them (the way I use them, anyway).  There might be some stuff that I have missed, and I always appreciate feedback if you have any!

I'll start with the Play Store as that is where I first launched Save My Bacon.

Play Store

When you first log into the Play Store and go to your app list, you get a screen like this:

If this is legible (or can be expanded) you'll see the summary line for apps.  Here I have had the game installed 46 times and quite a few people have uninstalled it.  It just isn't sticky...and I know that (we're getting there).  There are 11 ratings, with an average rating of 4.55. Not too bad.

One thing that I was a little disappointed about is that the Installs stats only seem to update once per day.  I realise this is probably fine for most people, but hey, this is my first game app...I'm impatient!

The good news is that the ratings seem to be visible once they are posted.  Now that I am happy with as it let's me respond quickly - and people like that.

Next, let's see what those ratings are.  A quick click on the Ratings, and we have the following (foul language warning ahead!):

From here you can see the detail of what has been rated and any comments the user chose to leave.

This is a powerful section as you can get some insight into why people are rating your app the way that they do.  Looks like someone HATES ads!  BTW - Anyone can comment and say pretty much anything...be prepared.

Finally, the summary stats.  These are mostly around devices, with some Android version stuff thrown in.  I don't find this particularly useful, but my app is simple...perhaps if it was more complex, this would be pure gold.

I find the Play Store pretty useful.  It would be nice if the Ratings were simply a pop-up instead of taking you away from the screen, and the navigation isn't quite smooth, but in reality, this is a pretty effective couple of screens that I use daily.

So far, a couple of weeks in, and limited marketing until the start of the "Sticky" releases, we have progressed.  I'm learning my way around the tools to see what each can do, and hopefully will be prepared to use what I have learned once we start to hit marketing in full swing.

You know, there is a part of me that wants to start NOW - "Get it out there" so to speak, but the other part of me says "you don't want people to write it off first time without giving it a chance".  So I am in a bit of a quandary.

Anyway, tomorrow I'll show you around the App Store interface as I know it.

...the journey continues!

AG

Making it Sticky - Part 3

It has been an interesting week.  A lot of what I have shared about making our app more sticky has been history that occurred prior to today.  I was very happy with where we were at, and I was just waiting for the next version to be completed.

But then, after speaking with the team I was asked, "what achievements do you want?"

Achievements? Oh, here is me thinking our 3 great new initiatives would be perfect and now we are talking about achievements?

Well, of course, on reflection, it was obvious - we needed some Achievements...

So, just what are achievements?  In app game play, this is where you earn a 'badge' or a label that is related to an achievement, and in this instance, it was all about scores.  Get so many points in a single game, or so many cumulative points, etc. and you get a certain achievement.

Again, it is off to the brain's trust - the kids - to come up with a great ideas.  It wasn't long until we had everything from the "Amateur Chef" through to the "Big Bacon Theory"!  There are a heap of score based Achievements now ready to roll.

Soon, we'll start other Achievements based on events, like having 3 pigs at once, but for now, they are limited to score based only.

One thing that I noticed was that I was starting to generate documents all over the place.  I really needed to start to put some decent processes in place.  I created a spreadsheet with a few tabs - one for the Shop, one for Achievements...and I am guessing there will be more coming soon...

I think, if we do it right, we are on the right track to make this app considerably more sticky than it is right now - and then the marketing will start in earnest.  I'm still just trying to construct the right approach to it.  When we do start, I want to make sure the product has a great chance to succeed.

I hope you like where we are headed with this!

...as usual, any suggestions, please feel free to comment.

The journey continues!

AG

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Bugger...the Impact of Changes

One of the ongoing challenges with any kind of development is always the changes...whether they are changes that you request, or changes that are forced on you, the only thing constant is change.

I have described a number of changes that we are looking to introduce, but this time, this one was thrust on us.

We use the Unity3D engine for coding.  With the new release of iOS8, Unity was also upgraded.  This has caused some issues with our current code base.

Oh well...need to work through them - Unity is easily the best platform we use to develop in and making the tweaks required is a small price to pay for such an awesome development tool.

Despite the bumps along the way...

...the journey continues...

AG

Chartboost Chart - Week 2

Here is this week's Chartboost dashboard.  I have to confess, I am still not complete sure how to read it, but I am learning - any tips are always appreciated!

Still no new release, but some interesting movement on the charts.  The spike came after following the 'pig' people.  The trouble is, I know they didn't retweet or favourite for me, so that didn't make a lost of sense.

Interestingly, looking into it a little more, it seems that I got lucky(?) and Chartboost served up some well paying ads.  I don't really understand the trigger for it just yet.

So, stead progress, a little worse that Week 1, and a definitely downward spiral.  That said, we did get one more '5' rating on the Play Store.

The journey continues...

AG

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Making it Sticky - Part 2

You know, I was proud of the fact that we had come up with the Shop and Hose concepts.  I have to say, the High Score thing was still a bit of a surprise to me...I kinda thought that it would be easy - and it isn't that it is hard, but it is more time consuming than I expected.

The decision on the High Scores was to integrate with what the App Store and Play Store already had.  It wasn't ideal, but it was useful and I am expecting it to work pretty well - that one is sorted.

But the Shop and Hose were a great idea, just for our little pig.

The Shop - we figured in that original brainstorming, that it would allow you to do things like:

• Change the colour of the pig
• Maybe wear a Hat
• Maybe even a mustache

And that was about as far as we had gotten.

Now that we are thinking about actually coding it...well, that is a different thing.  Now we need 'real' ideas!

I called the kids together ('the brains trust') and we came up with a bunch of stuff, everything from polka-dot pigs to pigs in those googley-eyed glasses.  There was a pretty cool range of stuff that we came up with.  Thinking about it now, there is probably not enough, but we'll see what it is like when it pops out the other side!

Then the Hose.  This was a little different.  The idea is that you can buy a pack of 5 Hoses with real money, or you can save up your bacon and buy them one at a time.  The Hose will douse those deadly BBQs for a couple of seconds and let your pig survive a little longer.  Not too sure how this will play out, but I like it in concept.

So - now you know what is going to be in v2.0 (High Scores),  2.1 (Shop) and 2.2 (Hose).  I think it will help to increase the stickiness of the game.  It will give you something to strive for.

I hope you like where we are headed with this!

The journey continues!

AG

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Making it 'Sticky' - Part 1

The first release of "Save My Bacon" (you can get it by clicking on a link at the top of the page!) was there for a few reasons:

1. To test the process of releasing the app
2. To start to get some traction on 'age'
3. Because I didn't really know what to expect or what to do, so I wanted a chance to learn (hence this blog...)
4. And I didn't really want to spend too much money at the start - I wanted to see if we could create what we had envisaged

I think, from my perspective, we have achieved (1) and (4).  I think (2) just happens over the course of time.

As for (3), it is fair to say, that is a daily learning. This is even further reinforced by the fact that this is a very part time effort for me at this stage.

I am happy with the game play so far, but I know it isn't sticky.  What is the reason people want to keep playing?  What is the driver that makes you think about starting it up and having a bit of fun?

At this stage, it is a great way to waste 1 - 5 mins.  Beyond that, not even I have that much of a reason to play.

Hmm...we guessed this might be the case.  v2 is definitely in order.

At the time of working through the app, the kids had determined that there should be something to 'spend' your bacon on.  Useless but fun upgrades.  We marked out a few of these as possible options. We also marked out a couple of little 'tools' to help the game play.

And of course, we need a proper high score table!!

So, v2 scoping was pretty high level, but it was a start.  There is something to this...as a result, development is currently underway to get these mods introduced into the app.  I'm thinking that we should be able to release the High Scores version this week.  It will be v2.0.

This will be followed by v2.1 (the shop) and v2.2 (the hose).  These mods will definitely help...but will they be enough?  I don't know.  But it will be a start.

What do you think?  What else is needed to make a simple game addictive?

The journey continues...

AG

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Setting up the Stores - App Store and Play Store

Setting up your 'presence' online is one of the key things that you need to do so you can start to get a consistent 'branding' into the market.  It kind of becomes the persona you want to create.  For me, it was Anasoft Gaming.  We have had the Anasoft Consulting company for some time now, and this would be a brand extension to what we have done in the past.  We are an extremely small company, but we are (just) keeping our head above water.

In other words we have almost no money for marketing!

Setting accounts on the Play and App Stores are not free once you want to submit an App.  At the time of writing of this blog entry, September 2014, the prices were:

• App Store: USD$99 per year
• Play Store: USD$25

 As a general comment, for a noob, setting up these stores is like chalk and cheese.  They are so very different it was quite amazing.

Setting up the Play Store is a dream.  You have your account, you set up the store, pay your money and you are good to go.

The interface is pretty clean, and the data is OK.  It seems that (once your app is live) that the Install count is only updated once a day, but the ratings are live and easy to access and respond to.

Google have done a good job here, and with many tens of millions more Android device in the market, I was definitely undecided about whether I needed to even both with the App Store.  There are less i-Devices out there, so perhaps...maybe Android will be enough.

Still, it was then that I listened to the voice of reason.  My graphic artist insisted that we do both. As he is an artist, I thought it was just his leaning towards the Apple advantage here, but, as you will see, this was good advice.

Setting up the App Store is a pain in the butt. Given how elegant most Apple things are, this was a surprise / shock and was actually very frustrating. Again, I had considerable reservations about whether I would even both with the process.

You know, Apple get money from us adding apps to their store, and the continued development for this platform is grea for Apple...so why make it so hard?

I didn't know what iTunes Connect was, I only knew of iTunes and the App Store (yes, I don't have an Apple device myself!), but for a budding developer, most of the Apple things are a distraction.  http://itunesconnect.apple.com is the site you need to know about.  Don't worry about any existing Apple profile you might have, go here, set up an account and you are on your way.

There are a bunch of contracts that you will have to approve, and these are updated from time to time and need continued approval.

If you are planning on having an App that costs money, or if you use in-Game purchases, or even if you use iAd (Apple's internal Ad network) then you also need to supply company details.  Here in Australia, that means you need an ABN.  The good news is, if you don't set your business up, it doesn't stop your app being listed, but it does mean that you cannot get access to your money from Apple!!

Once you have jumped through all of these hoops, you are ready to go with both Stores.

Maybe my Apple experience was unique...but all I know is, it was painful.

How did you go with setting up the different stores?  Any tips you want to share?

The journey continues...

AG

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Using Twitter - How can I make this work for me?

I had hoped to have all of these posts in chronological order, but as I started it a little late, I'm thinking that it simply won't be possible.  It is more important to me that they represent a history of what I did and when I did it.

OK, so this leads me to this post.

I have used Twitter before and I know how hard it can be to get followers.  I also realise the difference between follower quantity and follower quality.  Lots of people following me that are just following me so they can get their own count up really doesn't help me that much...but it does help a bit.  If you have a lot of followers, your account looks better...and let's face it, it is possible to get lucky from a random follower.

And of course, if you have more followers than people that you follow, your account looks like something people want to listen to.

Looking to see how to get my count up, I joined a thing called Twiends, but that is a topic for another post.

Today, with a grand total of 39 followers, I decided to do something a little different.  I searched for the term #pigs.  Wow, there are a lot of people that don't like the police on Twitter!  That said, they are obviously not my target audience.  I was looking for people that liked pigs so much they included it as a #hashtag.

I have even included a few that like to cook pigs...just to see if they liked them enough to play a game about them!! lol

Out of that brief search, I have found 12 new people to follow.  Not many, I know, but I just want to see if those few will make a difference.  Unfortunately, not many of them have many followers.  This could well be a failed experiment, but I am not going to give up just yet.

Have you used Twitter successfully before?  What techniques do you use?

Over the course of today, I will be tweeting a single tweet in their direction along with my normal tweeting.  in 8 hours, I'll do this again to get people on the other side of the planet :)

The journey continues...

AG

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Chartboost Chart - 1 week in

OK, as promised, here is the Chartboost chart for this week.  As you can see, not a lot of movement.

So far, this is v1, really just gameplay.  Marketing has been spent on this blog, Twitter and Facebook only, and only a bit of time on both - posting to my feed.

Will be ramping up marketing once High Scores and Achievements are enabled, with a greater push once the Shop is online.

The journey continues!

AG

In Game Advertising - Yes or No?

Before I go into detail about those two stores, Play Store and App Store, there is an important question that really needs to be asked.

Do we have in-App advertising?

In today's very consumer driven world, there is little value that is applied to innovation or investment when it comes to the mass driven app gaming market.  People have an expectation of high quality and low (free!) cost to them.  No longer do people think they should be paying for applications, everything should be free!  Well..shouldn't it?

A truly successful app can be given away for free, and the developers will still make plenty of money via a variety of mechanisms, including:

• in-App product placement advertising for other products
• in-App purchases to help progress in the game
• Website traffic advertising
• Sponsorship
• etc.

But let's face it, unless your name is Mojang or SuperCell or one of the big boys, the opportunity for revenue from these mechanisms isn't great.  If you don't have traffic, you won't make money.  If you charge for your app, there is a strong probability that you won't get much traffic.  The trouble is that you have just spent either lots of your own time or lots of your own money in order to get the app to market.

Somehow, this has to make good Commercial sense.  If it doesn't, it is an investment in time or money as a labour of love for the marketplace.  This is noble, but unless you have some money hidden somewhere, at some point this is not sustainable.

Enter in-App advertising.  This was a concept that didn't even exist only a few short years ago.  By simply showing ads to hundreds if not thousands of pair of eyes it has all of a sudden channeled an entirely new opportunity for income.

This means you can release an App for FREE and still MAKE MONEY!  Wow.  This is a model that could make everyone happy!  Awesome!

It seems like a real win-win, the best of both worlds.  The consumer literally gets something for nothing and the developer can still make it viable for them to create these free apps.

...and this mostly works well.

Unfortunately, there are still some people who will whinge and complain about seeing an ad.  They see it as invasive and "Why should I have to see ads?" and "I expect to get stuff for free".  This kind of selfish attitude really is a disappointing but very real part of the world we currently live in.

Because of these selfish people, if you choose to run ads, expect to get some 1 star ratings.  It is simply a fact of life unfortunately.

For Save My Bacon, we have decided to run a simple ad that is to appear briefly at the end of the game.  It is certainly a struggle to generate much cash in these early days, but there are some semi-promising signs.

We have decided to go with Chartboost.  It has simple integration, seems to pay OK and has a nice dashboard.  I'll be posting pics of progress, for a while at least, every week as we progress along this marketing journey.

And to start that off, here is my dashboard after 7 days.  The only marketing so far has been some simply Tweeting which I'll talk about soon.

It will improve, because it must!

Please leave me a comment on whether you agree with in-App advertising and your reasons?

Also, what advertising network do you use?

The journey continues...

AG

How the Game was Born - Starting to create an App

You know, these things start off in the most unexpected ways sometimes.  "Save My Bacon" was a concept that was brainstormed with my kids.  It was to be a simple game where you didn't have to think too much, but instead you could just turn off your brain and waste some time.

Initially we weren't even interested in the skill level, but as the game development progressed, the skill level, although pretty simple, became an important part of the game.

Now, I have been developing or managing the development of software for many years, but the focus has always been on business applications.  We have developed some pretty handy stuff over the years, but this was our first attempt at a game.

Fortunately for me, during these years of development, I have been able to identify and form a good team, and my first action was to shoot a note off to my graphic artist to have a chat and get his feedback.  He seemed pretty enthused, so I pulled together a product specification outline.

It wasn't long before the first images started to appear and the game started to come to life!  This is possibly one of the most exciting parts of these projects.

Check this out as some of the early artwork.  It kinda makes you a little ill with him jumping up and down like that!!

However, it was at this time that I knew we would proceed.  The game looked good, the gameplay was nice and simple.

Next...advertising.  We wanted the game to be free, but we wanted some way of recovering our outlays.  When you consider Flappybirds...well that was one of those amazing benchmarks.  Apparently, at its peak, Flappybirds as raking in $50,000 per day.  Seriously.  Have you seen Flappybirds?

Some people must have found it amazingly addictive!

Well, there are lots of Ad networks you can plug into your App.  We have landed on Chartboost. This is a useful plugin that pays reasonably well for ads.  I'll let you know how we track, as this is a first for us.  I just hope we have chosen well.

Please let me know in the Comments as to whether you have used Chartboost and/or others and what you think of them!

OK, Artwork, Ad partner and into development in earnest.  A few weeks and a fair bit of testing later, we had v1 of Save My Bacon ready for release!

Um...so now what?

Well, we wanted to sell at the Android Play store and the Apple App Store.  Time to set up some accounts.

Unfortunately, this is not as simple as you might think...and I'll think I'll make that the topic of the next post.

And so the journey continues...

AG

Welcome to my Journey

Hi,

If you have found this blog, I'm guessing you have found yourself in a similar position to the position I am currently in. You have an app and you want to know how to tell the world!

With SEO, Twitter, Facebook, Redit and other Social Networking options, there is just so much work through.  These systems are massive with user counts in the hundreds of millions!  Now how can you possibly tap into those kinds of numbers?  (BTW - if you know, please leave me a comment below!).

This blog is to document my own journey into this strange new world.

Today marks the one week anniversary of my first app being released in the Play Store, and even the difference between the Play and App Stores is an interesting journey...so, this is my first post of (hopefully) many.  I'll record my searches, my successes and my failures.  Feel free to comment freely, I like open discussion - I think we both can learn.

So - that being said, wish me luck, and I wish you all the best of luck also.  I hope my journey can help others learn and grow too!

The journey continues...

AG