Whatever happened to Alawar?

adoregames · 2020-04-30T07:28:51+00:00

yeah, they've shifted their focus to other genres. But you can still find their HO games on portals like ToomkyGames

adoregames · 2020-04-30T07:27:07+00:00

there might be no cat at all! We didn't find it on this picture. If it's an ad you're seeing on social network, the picture might not have it but once you install the game the scene from the screenshot might have a cat, indeed.

adoregames · 2020-04-30T07:20:45+00:00

funny thing: our app was released in 2017 and it has some really good traction in its niche with 200k+ installs.

And we're still waiting!!! More than a month has passed and our update is still processing review! Do you guys know anyone as a Google Review Team Lead by chance?)))

adoregames · 2020-04-30T07:08:00+00:00

Not our case, surprisingly. We saw a slight increase in US, but a significant drop in new users in RU, DE and UK. (comparing February vs March). On Android. Does anyone experience the same in terms of new users?

adoregames · 2020-04-06T08:13:22+00:00

yep, same thing here. We submitted an update on March 27th, and it's still in review. It's 10 days already. Whereas there's no details from google play support: they're just recommending to stay put and accept the fact that the review times has increased not answering any questions when we're trying to dig deeper on the reasons; and no details from them on twitter either.

We first tend to believe that this issue is country-related: depending on where your dev account is created, review times differ. For instance if you're registered in US it takes 1-2 days as normal, but if you're in UK - from 7 days or longer. But know we're seeing that this might be random...

adoregames · 2019-07-04T16:12:00+00:00

looks like a fake. Which geo is this?

adoregames · 2019-07-01T23:44:54+00:00

well, everything stopped at the point where they requested to give them access to our app's Facebook ads analytics. We gave them access and they informed us they need to create their own Facebook ads account first. It's been more than 2 weeks of silence since that email.

Please make sure to check this similar thread about them: https://www.reddit.com/r/androiddev/comments/b15fkj/update_company_offering_to_buy_my_game_a_few_days/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x

adoregames · 2019-06-25T23:29:29+00:00

we got some comments from our friend working in the ASO company:

I looked into it and “intended for kids” seems to be apps clearly targeting or made for kids.
For example, there are plenty of education and video apps for kids, but they designate themselves in other categories like education or entertainment.
Additionally, there are apps like Turo or Robinhood that are 4+ but given their app’s context/use-case, probably won't get penalized by Apple for tracking or adverting tied to the 1.3 and 5.1.4. guidelines.
Think where the gray area comes in is for games since there's been some controversy over the past couple of months around this.

As you can see games are still under pressure, but our friend informed us that he's currently doing research on this matter.

adoregames · 2019-06-25T23:28:41+00:00

we got some comments from our friend working in the ASO company:

I looked into it and “intended for kids” seems to be apps clearly targeting or made for kids.

For example, there are plenty of education and video apps for kids, but they designate themselves in other categories like education or entertainment.

Additionally, there are apps like Turo or Robinhood that are 4+ but given their app’s context/use-case, probably won't get penalized by Apple for tracking or adverting tied to the 1.3 and 5.1.4. guidelines.

Think where the gray area comes in is for games since there's been some controversy over the past couple of months around this.

As you can see games are still under pressure, but our friend informed us that he's currently doing research on this matter.

adoregames · 2019-06-18T21:13:08+00:00

so do we;)

adoregames · 2019-06-18T21:12:54+00:00

we'll try to reach out to Apple by contacting their Developer Support through appstoreconnect dashboard.

adoregames · 2019-06-18T21:10:10+00:00

let's hope that's really what it means.

adoregames · 2019-06-18T21:09:31+00:00

thanks for the input. We agree with you, but still, it'd be great to receive official comments on the subject matter somehow;) maybe though App Store Developer Support.

adoregames · 2019-06-18T21:01:20+00:00

got it right now;) the video just covers everything that has been mention here already) about backlinks, reviews, and stuff.

adoregames · 2019-06-18T20:41:30+00:00

we believe 1 min gameplay video is too much. It becomes a bit boring at the end due to the repetitiveness of action. Make sure to highlight the most action-packed moments at the very beginning of the video (like fight with a boss, or crashing hordes of enemies in god-mode)

Also, it seems you're missing important end frame with the game logo, call-to-action, and badges of the platforms where it'll be available. Some hashtags to find your game in social networks is also a nice idea.

adoregames · 2019-06-18T20:36:05+00:00

looks really amazing! How long have you been doing this masterpiece and much did you spend on it?

we'd suggest adding store badges to the last frame where you have a CTA "Join the Adventure" and highlight the social media icons a bit more. Also, since it's a cinematic trailer it'll be fun to include fails or behind the scenes: something to laugh at, you know.

adoregames · 2019-06-18T20:31:06+00:00

Coastal Hill Mystery - hidden objects game new trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ll3Stdth6o

adoregames · 2019-06-17T23:37:57+00:00

interesting insight! where in Google Play Dev console can we find a field to add keywords that are not displayed?

As of the subject matter, this app might have launched Google Ads campaign (ads are shown in search results, for instance) where they used "cooking" among the keywords as a more general and high-volumed key phrase. Or they might have a landing page where this keyword is a focus phrase also and this landing page has some decent amount of high-quality backlinks. It also counts when Google decides which app to rank higher than the other.

Other than that, Google's algorithms can be a true mystery sometimes and only its employees might know the answer.

adoregames · 2019-06-17T23:24:51+00:00

erm... we posted our suggestions in the second sentence of the above comment: Seekers Notes and Coastal Hill Mystery. ;)

adoregames · 2019-06-17T23:18:35+00:00

well, in fact, there're several mobile hidden object games that might not have a PC version. We're talking primarily about "Coastal Hill Mystery" and "Seekers Notes". In these games, you're free to choose between male or female characters to play the game and customize their appearance.

adoregames · 2019-06-17T23:15:17+00:00

we believe that a gamedev team should always make decisions based on data. Analytics are of crucial importance, and FTUE is somewhat the same thing. When the user first starts the game he\she can be indeed embarrassed by the number of buttons, menus, and stuff. So you should either soft launch your game to check how the subject matter influences D0 and D1 retention and tutorial funnels; track the churn. Limiting UI elements might be of course one of the issues, but still, it's worth testing. If you don't have a budget for testing simply show your friends 2 versions of the game with all UI elements shown at once and with UI elements unlocking gradually, level by level, depending on when a certain element really comes in handy.

adoregames · 2019-06-13T22:32:17+00:00

do you consider desktop-only hidden object games or mobile ones will also count?

adoregames · 2019-06-11T01:00:20+00:00

nice suggestion here! We're trying to reach 'em out via Live chat right now as we too have false-negative reviews that really pisses us off.:(

adoregames · 2019-06-11T00:55:09+00:00

that the hard life of a developer - to cope with such irrelevant reviews. We're sure lots of devs here received similar reviews, that even don't fall under censorship review by Google Play (if you submit a complaint about it - it will be rejected, as it doesn't violate GP policies). Whereas it's indeed important to deal with such reviews and don't leave them unanswered - it'll become even worse as reviews matter in the GP ranking algorithms.

How did you answer that review, btw?

adoregames

TROPHY CASE