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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