4gency Blog post and Me

I do not tend to write whole articles about someone elses blog, Usually I simply mention them here and there and supply links. In this case though I feel I should do a bit more, as it is incredibly relevant to my current development.

Here is their Blog post I am referring too
4gency’s First Year Pt. 1: A Look at Armored Drive

It is a truly great read that is well laid out and slightly worrying. Though if I can get 6000 hours of my game played, maybe I will be happy enough.

So what's the Worry all about?

The article is about using IAP and within an Arcade style game to earn money. they also mention free to play vs paid app. As it happens I am working on an Arcade style game that has IAP in it, and I was thinking of going Free to play.. though now I am not so sure. The final similarity is the fact that they added Advertising in, though late. whereas I will be adding that in much earlier (I learned that lesson already with 'Hot Chicks'.

With all these similarities I am a bit worried that I will not be able to make back the budget I have for artwork. This is disconcerting, as making money is a dream for these games, however donating money so people can play my game is not something I want to do. I would love to at least break even for each title I release.

So what's the plan? This article has pointed me in the direction of a Paid App, and then doing Free to grab weekends to boost user awareness and downloads. As I will be going with Ads in the game anyway, it looks like I might be able to make some money their. Though I am not certain what Targeted Ads are over normal Ads. I have my Ads setup in a non invasive way and they are also click through (I have a page that appears every so often between levels). Of course my Ads are removed for people who have paid for the game.. though right now I am wondering if I should do that, or simply reduce the amount that are shown. The Ads were added when I was thinking of going Free to Play.

Hmm, well I am a long way off publishing this game, but I am worried about how much money I will allow myself to spend on the artwork for it.

Laters
Da Voodoochief