Ok, now that we're past the ad network problems I'm going back to discussing my course experience on Udemy for reskinning the 2048 app for iOS and Android. I will post an update on the revenue of the new ad networks in a week or so.
So with Udemy, as I said in my previous post, shows you how to setup the accounts you need. Setting up a Google developer account costs $25, setting up an Apple Developer account costs $99. I'm starting to realize how much I've really spent on this investment.... it's freaking me out a little actually.
Anyway, I set all of my accounts up - ad networks were Revmob, Chartboost, and Admob and analytics were on Upsight.
The course was pretty straightforward and the instructor is good at explaining things. As I was saying, I don't own any apple machines, and I don't have a virtual machine setup yet. So I was just concentrating on the Android part of this course. After installing Unity and learning how to change settings and graphics within Unity, I got to almost the end of the course when I hit a brick wall. It was setting up a unique key where Unity stopped me.
I got an error saying that Unity couldn't find a JDK installation. This is the Java Development Kit. I have tried EVERYTHING I could find on Google. I uninstalled and reinstalled Unity and the Android SDK. I tried changing the PATH variable in the control panel to point to the JDK installation. I uninstalled and reinstalled the JDK. I uninstalled all the other Java installations on my computer and checked with the command prompt that it was reading the proper one - and it was. But it just wasn't working in Unity. That's where I'm at. That's where I stopped with the course. I still don't know what to do with it. It's frustrating.
Anyway, anyone now a fix for that... pls leave a comment. I would love to get passed this.
In my next post I'll tell you what I decided to do from here.
For now, Good night!!
Saturday, 13 September 2014
Thursday, 11 September 2014
Choosing An Ad Network For Your App...
Well, since my last post I've been cut-off from Admob...yes you heard me right. Cut-off completely. I like to play my games, I like to know how well they work, if there's any problems, and I like to promote them by posting my score up and challenging people. BUT a few times I accidentally clicked the ads that popped up. Complete accident. The ads were set in great places, and would pop up right where a start button was and the 'x' is small so it's easy to miss on the full screen ads. But after explaining myself to Google, they didn't allow me to setup admob again.
So I did some research on other ad networks. I decided to go with Revmob and Chartboost. I've heard good things about Chartboost. They only advertise other games, so they are directly speaking to your audience, and they only use interstitials (full screen ads) which apparently bring in way more revenue than banner ads.
So I will keep everyone updated on how well these ad networks work. Revmob does the banner ads, and I think they do interstitials as well.
So far it's been slow going, but it's only been a few days.
I'll post the ad network results in a week and we'll compare them to Google's Admob network...
So I did some research on other ad networks. I decided to go with Revmob and Chartboost. I've heard good things about Chartboost. They only advertise other games, so they are directly speaking to your audience, and they only use interstitials (full screen ads) which apparently bring in way more revenue than banner ads.
So I will keep everyone updated on how well these ad networks work. Revmob does the banner ads, and I think they do interstitials as well.
So far it's been slow going, but it's only been a few days.
I'll post the ad network results in a week and we'll compare them to Google's Admob network...
Wednesday, 3 September 2014
ASO - App Store Optimization Research
I wanted to jot this down before I forgot. I'm doing some research on App Store Optimization. Yesterday my apps brought in only half of what they brought in the 3 days before. Now, really I should've had a better marketing plan to begin with and started advertising them before launch. BUT, since I didn't, and I'm learning these things as I go, I'm figuring out other ways to attack this.
So App Store Optimization - like SEO but for apps, is using smart keywords and quality content so your app ranks higher in the app store.
Here are a couple good sites to checkout to get familiar with this concept: https://searchman.com/ lets you search your app and analyze it. It's free so it's worth checking out.
Also http://www.mobiledevhq.com/app_store_optimization/plans lets you track up to 3 apps for free and you can track keywords and competitors.
I also learned that apps are discovered purely in the app market 65% of the time so keywords are important. Placing keywords in titles and descriptions is important. But that other 35% is discovered elsewhere, whether it be word of mouth, on blogs, twitter or other social media sites.. so it still is important to post up links and promote your app elsewhere.
So App Store Optimization - like SEO but for apps, is using smart keywords and quality content so your app ranks higher in the app store.
Here are a couple good sites to checkout to get familiar with this concept: https://searchman.com/ lets you search your app and analyze it. It's free so it's worth checking out.
Also http://www.mobiledevhq.com/app_store_optimization/plans lets you track up to 3 apps for free and you can track keywords and competitors.
I also learned that apps are discovered purely in the app market 65% of the time so keywords are important. Placing keywords in titles and descriptions is important. But that other 35% is discovered elsewhere, whether it be word of mouth, on blogs, twitter or other social media sites.. so it still is important to post up links and promote your app elsewhere.
Tuesday, 2 September 2014
Step 2 - Breaking It Down
So I left off just before getting into details about the Udemy course. Before taking the course, I mentioned in my first post that I did a lot of reading and researching about app re-skinning (and there's not much out there yet..) and from what I've learned, the biggest money maker is in ad placement. This really isn't surprising if you think about it. For those of you who are new to how this works and how this monetizes your game, you get paid every time someone clicks your ad. This is a great way to make money. Instead of depending on the users to pay for your app or buy in-app purchases, you make money off of a multi-billion dollar industry (who feels bad about that?!).
While I think in-app purchases are still a nice thing to offer and it is additional revenue, your money will come from advertising. At least, this is what I have learned in my research.
I've also learned, it's best to stick with games if you want to make money from this. Games are fun and the gaming industry is also another giant industry. So where you place your ads in your games needs to be strategic. You can read a lot about this online and as apps are becoming a bigger and bigger industry, more resources will be available.
The full screen ads are the best ones... and I've read this somewhere too. But even playing my own apps, I accidentally click the full screen ads sometimes because they just pop up and when you're about to hit a button you hit the ad instead, or you miss the 'x' button and hit the ad. Keep that in mind. I don't think I've ever clicked on a top or bottom ad but it's good to include them as well. The more advertising you have, the better chance you have of making money.
Anyway, the Udemy course will show you how to make your own accounts for these ads. The big one right now is Admob, but there is Chartboost, Revmob, and some others. Currently right now, the only one I am using is Admob. I have three games (as you know) and it is slow going right now. I am trying to organically promote these games without paid advertising for now to see where this takes me, and I hope you follow along with me and learn from my experience! So far my games have been in the App Market for almost 4 days and I'm looking at about $15 they've made back... so it's going to be a long haul. But this is a process, and as I go along I will keep posting about what is working and what is not.
Right now, I want to try for a month to promote the games myself. If I feel that is not working, then I will take my earnings at the end of the month and put them into paid advertising to see if it speeds up the process.
Anyway that's all for today! Again, links to my games below, try to beat my score on the leaderboard...actually my fiance is doing much better than me.. so try to beat him! The games are not easy.. and strangely addictive :)
Jumping Joust Run: For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jumping-joust-run/id911373148?ls=1&mt=8
For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsmithdesigns.jumpingjoustrun&hl=en
Go-Kart Head On Action: For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/go-kart-head-on-action/id911167955?ls=1&mt=8
For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsmithdesigns.gokart&hl=en
Sugar Monster Chopping Quest: For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sugar-monster-chopping-quest/id911199546?ls=1&mt=8
For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsmithdesigns.choppingquest&hl=en
While I think in-app purchases are still a nice thing to offer and it is additional revenue, your money will come from advertising. At least, this is what I have learned in my research.
I've also learned, it's best to stick with games if you want to make money from this. Games are fun and the gaming industry is also another giant industry. So where you place your ads in your games needs to be strategic. You can read a lot about this online and as apps are becoming a bigger and bigger industry, more resources will be available.
The full screen ads are the best ones... and I've read this somewhere too. But even playing my own apps, I accidentally click the full screen ads sometimes because they just pop up and when you're about to hit a button you hit the ad instead, or you miss the 'x' button and hit the ad. Keep that in mind. I don't think I've ever clicked on a top or bottom ad but it's good to include them as well. The more advertising you have, the better chance you have of making money.
Anyway, the Udemy course will show you how to make your own accounts for these ads. The big one right now is Admob, but there is Chartboost, Revmob, and some others. Currently right now, the only one I am using is Admob. I have three games (as you know) and it is slow going right now. I am trying to organically promote these games without paid advertising for now to see where this takes me, and I hope you follow along with me and learn from my experience! So far my games have been in the App Market for almost 4 days and I'm looking at about $15 they've made back... so it's going to be a long haul. But this is a process, and as I go along I will keep posting about what is working and what is not.
Right now, I want to try for a month to promote the games myself. If I feel that is not working, then I will take my earnings at the end of the month and put them into paid advertising to see if it speeds up the process.
Anyway that's all for today! Again, links to my games below, try to beat my score on the leaderboard...actually my fiance is doing much better than me.. so try to beat him! The games are not easy.. and strangely addictive :)
Jumping Joust Run: For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jumping-joust-run/id911373148?ls=1&mt=8
For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsmithdesigns.jumpingjoustrun&hl=en
Go-Kart Head On Action: For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/go-kart-head-on-action/id911167955?ls=1&mt=8
For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsmithdesigns.gokart&hl=en
Sugar Monster Chopping Quest: For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sugar-monster-chopping-quest/id911199546?ls=1&mt=8
For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsmithdesigns.choppingquest&hl=en
Monday, 1 September 2014
Step 1 1/2 - Figuring Out What I'm Doing
Okay, so I left off on hitting a brick wall with the Udemy course and finding other options. Let me start with explaining why I decided to try the course. As I was saying, it was $149 at the time (I think it's cheaper now... that always happens to me after I purchase something) and you get the source code and an unlimited license.
Now, I was not expecting to make any money on this. 2048 was at the top of the charts. It's already been there, done that. You can only change the graphics so much but seeing as there were hundreds of other people taking this course, I could see that the app market would be full of this same game with different graphics.
The reason I took this course was because I wanted to learn how to re-skin a game properly. Turns out, re-skinning apps is harder than it seems. Easy as changing out sounds and graphics? Nope. Essentially that is what you are doing, plus a few other details.
The course uses Unity 3D as the game engine to switch out graphics and set the game up properly. The first problem I had was that I didn't own any apple products to make the iOS version of this game. I could setup a VM (virtual machine) but I figured I would skip that for now and focus on Android. I guess I should mention, from everything that I was reading and learned up to that point, nobody really focused on Android for making money off of re-skinning apps. There were too many different app markets for Android, while iTunes only had one, which made it very simple. And stats showed that more money was spent on iTunes then in the Android markets. Of course, this has been changing. And I saw this, so I didn't give up hope on only creating the Android version.
Anyways, there are a lot of little details I want to discuss before diving into my experience with the course. I will discuss this in my next post so stay tuned!
Again, links to my games if you haven't tried them yet (and they're hard, I'm terrible at my own apps!) See my score on the leaderboard and try to beat me.. and if you do please tell me your tricks!
Jumping Joust Run: For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jumping-joust-run/id911373148?ls=1&mt=8
For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsmithdesigns.jumpingjoustrun&hl=en
Go-Kart Head On Action: For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/go-kart-head-on-action/id911167955?ls=1&mt=8
For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsmithdesigns.gokart&hl=en
Sugar Monster Chopping Quest: For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sugar-monster-chopping-quest/id911199546?ls=1&mt=8
For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsmithdesigns.choppingquest&hl=en
Now, I was not expecting to make any money on this. 2048 was at the top of the charts. It's already been there, done that. You can only change the graphics so much but seeing as there were hundreds of other people taking this course, I could see that the app market would be full of this same game with different graphics.
The reason I took this course was because I wanted to learn how to re-skin a game properly. Turns out, re-skinning apps is harder than it seems. Easy as changing out sounds and graphics? Nope. Essentially that is what you are doing, plus a few other details.
The course uses Unity 3D as the game engine to switch out graphics and set the game up properly. The first problem I had was that I didn't own any apple products to make the iOS version of this game. I could setup a VM (virtual machine) but I figured I would skip that for now and focus on Android. I guess I should mention, from everything that I was reading and learned up to that point, nobody really focused on Android for making money off of re-skinning apps. There were too many different app markets for Android, while iTunes only had one, which made it very simple. And stats showed that more money was spent on iTunes then in the Android markets. Of course, this has been changing. And I saw this, so I didn't give up hope on only creating the Android version.
Anyways, there are a lot of little details I want to discuss before diving into my experience with the course. I will discuss this in my next post so stay tuned!
Again, links to my games if you haven't tried them yet (and they're hard, I'm terrible at my own apps!) See my score on the leaderboard and try to beat me.. and if you do please tell me your tricks!
Jumping Joust Run: For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jumping-joust-run/id911373148?ls=1&mt=8
For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsmithdesigns.jumpingjoustrun&hl=en
Go-Kart Head On Action: For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/go-kart-head-on-action/id911167955?ls=1&mt=8
For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsmithdesigns.gokart&hl=en
Sugar Monster Chopping Quest: For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sugar-monster-chopping-quest/id911199546?ls=1&mt=8
For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsmithdesigns.choppingquest&hl=en
Sunday, 31 August 2014
Entering the App Market - Step 1 - What is App Reskinning and Where Do I Begin.....???
Interested in the App Market? Want to make a living on apps? So do I... I don't know how to program an app. I wouldn't even know where to begin. Being a web developer... I was thinking, why isn't there some framework that builds apps... like what content-management systems do for websites. Using WordPress, or ZenCart, or Drupal.. or something super simple like Wix. Anyone and their dog can build a website now ( :( sad face for us developers...) So doing some research on this I stumbled upon something called re-skinning apps. I became interested in this. Re-skinning involves purchasing source code and adding new sounds and graphics.. essentially making it a different game with the same dynamics. But the beauty of this is you can reach different target audiences by your background, colour, and character choices... and it costs a FRACTION of what you would pay a developer to make a completely new game for you. EXCITING!! Anyway so I read about a few people who have become quite successful from this. I signed up for the blogs, read some e-books... and when I was finished I still had no clue what I was doing.
Then I stumbled upon Udemy's course - Reskinning 2048 app for Android and ios. Interesting... it was $149 at the time but you get the source code and an unlimited license, meaning you can re-skin the game as many times as you want. I am still in the process of going through this course. I hit a brick wall... so I will explain more about this in another post. Long story short... my first 3 games are in the app markets and I did not re-skin them myself... I will go into details about this in one of my next few posts.
Right now, the whole point of this is to record my process of entering the App Market, and knowing absolutely nothing. So I will record all of my frustrations and freakouts.. and hopefully the glorious moments as well...
Here are my first 3 games, check 'em out! They're free :)
Jumping Joust Run: For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jumping-joust-run/id911373148?ls=1&mt=8
For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsmithdesigns.jumpingjoustrun&hl=en
Go-Kart Head On Action: For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/go-kart-head-on-action/id911167955?ls=1&mt=8
For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsmithdesigns.gokart&hl=en
Sugar Monster Chopping Quest: For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sugar-monster-chopping-quest/id911199546?ls=1&mt=8
For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsmithdesigns.choppingquest&hl=en
Then I stumbled upon Udemy's course - Reskinning 2048 app for Android and ios. Interesting... it was $149 at the time but you get the source code and an unlimited license, meaning you can re-skin the game as many times as you want. I am still in the process of going through this course. I hit a brick wall... so I will explain more about this in another post. Long story short... my first 3 games are in the app markets and I did not re-skin them myself... I will go into details about this in one of my next few posts.
Right now, the whole point of this is to record my process of entering the App Market, and knowing absolutely nothing. So I will record all of my frustrations and freakouts.. and hopefully the glorious moments as well...
Here are my first 3 games, check 'em out! They're free :)
Jumping Joust Run: For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jumping-joust-run/id911373148?ls=1&mt=8
For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsmithdesigns.jumpingjoustrun&hl=en
Go-Kart Head On Action: For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/go-kart-head-on-action/id911167955?ls=1&mt=8
For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsmithdesigns.gokart&hl=en
Sugar Monster Chopping Quest: For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sugar-monster-chopping-quest/id911199546?ls=1&mt=8
For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsmithdesigns.choppingquest&hl=en
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