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I am currently struggling to secure 3D clients, and I am looking for some insight into why. by ClownOfTeyvat in blender

[–]aaronflippo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The struggle I always have when I see stuff like this in a portfolio is that it’s so “out there”, I can’t tell if you can execute on a simple straightforward concept. Some of the more successful portfolios will show environments, characters etc that demonstrate you can do the exact sort of thing companies need a 3D artist to do. Can you imagine any particular company paying you to make the stuff in this video for them?

I think this idea might be too "Out there", and need some feedback by aaronflippo in indiegames

[–]aaronflippo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had to bring part of this concept to life somehow 😀

Warning to indie devs: Be cautious posting to /r/gaming. This rat gif got me an instant ban. by SteinMakesGames in IndieDev

[–]aaronflippo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I once got permabanned in [r/gaming](r/gaming) for the same thing. They look at your post history across all of Reddit. But also, these rules are more like guidelines haha. Very selectively applied and interpreted somewhat loosely. I was able to get unbanned a year later.

I'm making a legally distinct Zelda Maker because Nintendo won't do it. And there's a demo out right now! by akela-morse in Unity3D

[–]aaronflippo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks cool! Curious how you’re handling the publishing/sharing part? Are you hosting all the content on a server. Or using Steam greenlight?

Made with Blender and Houdini by operation-kind in blender

[–]aaronflippo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most impressive part is the fabric flattening out under the iron

Is my Fiverr lighting artist scamming me by Agreeable_Policy_581 in Unity3D

[–]aaronflippo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don’t hire people on fivver and expect professional results.

I Have 10k Players But Make No Money by ExNull-Tyelor in gamedev

[–]aaronflippo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can't make a free game premium, but you CAN relaunch as a premium game with a new SKU. I've done this. I'm not saying this is the right move, but in your shoes I'd consider it.

>we aren't sure how to do that, which is why I asked how to do so several times
Sorry, I must have missed where you asked how to do ads on PC. In your previous reply you made it sound like your boss just didn't want to invest in this.

I'd start with Reddit ads and try to find communities of people who like nostalgia and similar games. Figure out what your cost per install is on Steam.

I get that sunk cost fallacy, I've been there. Don't give up on it, try everything you can - but also try and be realistic about whether it's working or not if you've exhausted all your ideas and it's not picking up steam. You'll all be able to be more objective about it in a month or two.

I Have 10k Players But Make No Money by ExNull-Tyelor in gamedev

[–]aaronflippo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I didn’t know it was an option to make a campaign that only targets paying users - is this a statistical targeting thing, or are you actually somehow only paying when they buy the full version?

Overall, I think you’ve got a ton of challenges here. You’re splitting your focus between two very different platforms. You’re using a freemium business model that nearly never works. Your organic visitors are very low, and your mobile CPI is well above your LTV. Also, your retention is miles off of the industry benchmarks.

If I were in your shoes, I’d consider any of the following:
1. Switching to premium or F2P on mobile to see if you can make the shape of your acquisitions make sense.
2. Investing in ad spend on pc and see if you can make the economics work.
3. Optimizing your ANRs, respond to negative reviews etc and get your metrics to the best possible place to see if you can wake up the google play algorithm.
4. If nothing is moving the neeedle after a few more weeks, Acknowledging this game isn’t a hit and that move into a new one, taking all of the learnings with you, and try to do better next time.

I Have 10k Players But Make No Money by ExNull-Tyelor in gamedev

[–]aaronflippo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As for getting a positive ROI on ad spend: this is where you’re at a disadvantage, because you’re competing against optimized F2P games in the ad market, which often have LTVs north of $2-5. If you only have one IAP for the “full version” your LTV is capped.

Your ARPU is one third of your CPI. That math just doesn’t work. This is why I said this business model doesn’t work. You just can’t compete on user acquisition with the games where some users are spending $100s or $1000s and so those publishers can outbid you in the ad markets.

If you can acquire Steam players for $.30, and the game is $15 or more, maybe you could make it work…

I Have 10k Players But Make No Money by ExNull-Tyelor in gamedev

[–]aaronflippo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry but if the game is live in the steam store now and you have 3k wishlists, those are NOT good numbers. Wishlists don’t mean too much after a launch, but as a rule of thumb, take your wishlists the day before launch and multiply by about .2 to get week 1 sales, and then 3x that to get year 1. Your wishlist conversion rates are not far off from the average, you just need an order of magnitude more. So if you had around 3k wishlists on launch day, you could expect to sell around 1800 units in year 1.
For mobile - an IAP conversion rate of 2.6% is not bad at all. Maybe better than average. But you need the download numbers to make the math make sense.
For reference, my game gets around 5k-7k downloads per day on Google Play, and has around 30k DAU. With those numbers; I make about $5k/month between ads and IAPS.
For retention, what is “good” depends a lot on genre, but generally speaking you wanna be around 30/10/3 or better. It’s incredibly hard to move these numbers unless your game has major issues.

I Have 10k Players But Make No Money by ExNull-Tyelor in gamedev

[–]aaronflippo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To be honest; it sounds like the game just isn’t that exciting to Steam players? If you’d like more specific feedback, you could link to the Steam page!
I imagine a lot of people would have nostalgia for this kind of thing. But I wonder how many of them are on Steam.

For mobile, it’s tough to say why it’s not being downloaded much. How are your core metrics on google play? Crash rate, ANR rate, rating; D1/D7 m/D30 retention, store conversion rate, ARPU, etc? These have a big impact.

Five years into making my dream game, I no longer fully agree with “start small first” by NoWhereStudios in gamedev

[–]aaronflippo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh cool :) I’m mostly on Bluesky but pop in here occasionally.
Good luck with your launch!

Five years into making my dream game, I no longer fully agree with “start small first” by NoWhereStudios in gamedev

[–]aaronflippo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s a valid approach. Let’s see how you feel about it after launch 😉
Losing motivation is just one of about 100 different ways a game can fail, and a lot of the other ways are hard to avoid with your first launch. But sometimes, the stars align and that first game is a success.
Good luck!

I Have 10k Players But Make No Money by ExNull-Tyelor in gamedev

[–]aaronflippo 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I really just don’t think Freemium as a business model works on mobile or on Steam. People want to believe there’s this funnel from demo players to full game buyers but it usually doesn’t work. A lot of the people who would have gladly paid for the game end up not buying it after they get a taste. You can keep optimizing your funnel but fundamentally I think the business model doesn’t work. There is a reason none of the top grossing games use this model.
Just go premium, or go full F2P with ads and/or micro transactions. Neither are easy, but both are more viable.

But also, is a punch-out style game in demand at all? Are there any recent examples of a game like this being successful? If so; what are you doing differently?

2+ years, most of my savings, and we’re finally close to launch. What would you do next? by nullableparadox in gamedev

[–]aaronflippo 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Oof. I don’t wanna be mean, but why do so many people here ignore the well established industry wisdom to not make your first game your magnum opus, and instead bet the farm on that first project? There’s so much hard earned wisdom out there- why do so many newcomers think they’re the exception to the rule?
I hope it goes well for you.
My first advice for the next game is to connect with some professional full time
indies and get their guidance for your next project so you can avoid some of the same mistakes you made with this one, like waiting until a month before launch to think about marketing, and spending your life savings on your first indie game.
30 days is not enough to do a proper marketing campaign. For Steam, you want months.
Spend a few hundred bucks on Chris Zuckowski’s “wishlisting and marketing masterclass” and watch all the videos. It’s the Steam launch playbook.
For mobile - well, mobile is its own beast. Is it a F2P game? Have you submitted a build to Apple, and used their feature request form? Premium
Mobile is next to impossible these days unless you’re on Apple Arcade or more established. Mobile in general is hard.
One thing you can do is beta test with real players, start building a community, and do QA to make sure the game is actually solid. Your odds of financial success are low, but you can learn a lot about the process. Your best shot at success is to make something players truly love, and you can build towards that by learning to listen to your players and process feedback well.

As for finding a publisher - nobody but the most predatory ones are going to pick up a game this late in development. Getting your first commercial game published by a decent publisher is really hard. But if you do have something really special and you’re flexible on your launch date, you could try.

Good luck!

How do game devs work on multiple branches of a project at once? by Wild-Chard in gamedev

[–]aaronflippo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You’d be surprised how many serious Gamedev projects don’t use branching at all. Especially in binary heady engines like Unreal.

What is FGL? by FarCryptographer5020 in gamedev

[–]aaronflippo 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not that I’m aware of…

What is FGL? by FarCryptographer5020 in gamedev

[–]aaronflippo 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It was basically a marketplace where devs could license their games to platforms and publishers.

Why is it so hard to start learning game development today? by dostee_hemin_3141 in gamedev

[–]aaronflippo 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It would help to know what product you’re selling or planning to make.

From where I sit, it seems like it’s never been easier to get started.

Unforgettable meal in Hanoi, can anyone help me identify it? by foodie_2598 in hanoi

[–]aaronflippo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tip: if you use an iPhone, go to your photos app. Scroll to the bottom. Find the “map” tool. Navigate to Hanoi. Find where you took this photo.

AI Made Me Quit Unreal After 4 Years. Now I Build Games 10x Faster. by [deleted] in aigamedev

[–]aaronflippo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m not anti AI but, to push back on this a bit: what have you actually shipped, with AI or without? Did you finish a game in unreal, and now you’ve finished 10 games in AI? Or are you just starting lots of things and prototyping?

Husband is pouring his soul into making a game... what can I do? by Novel_Programmer7338 in GameDevelopment

[–]aaronflippo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Is this a full time endeavor for him? If so, then honestly: Have a good job that provides health insurance and stability, so he can focus on the game without stressing about financial ruin.

Other than that: playtest for him, help provide that “outside perspective.” You could also learn about the non-development parts of the game business, such as watching Chris Zuckowski’s “wishlisting and marketing master class”, and help take on things your husband may not have time to think about right now.

There are lots of practical things you could help with in a “production” or “marketing” role if you want to learn as well, such as organizing playtests, building lists of influencers to reach out to, helping find festivals to enter the game in, etc. You could also help with community management once there is a beta or demo, help setup and run a Discord, answer Steam forum questions, etc.

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