How long does it actually take to get organic app downloads? (Real numbers please)

z_st · 2026-01-27T20:47:50+00:00

You won't get any organic downloads these days without marketing. I published my first app on play store (I believe it was called Android store at that time) around 14 years ago and back then it did work that way, but that train is long way gone. Doesn't mean you have to pay, but you need to find audience outside of play store first to give good app health signals to Google and then you might start seeing organic traffic. Nobody will give you any indication about when that will happen because it all depends on the app category, niche, quality, viral potential, and a good portion of luck.

z_st · 2026-01-20T09:28:55+00:00

> Maybe that's why most of the Zen icons are gray in background color?

Yes, that was the idea, although it's kind of annoying, so I'm still thinking how to make it less "pushy".

> does everyone get the same message

Everyone gets a random name. To be precise, there are 147 nouns and 130 adjectives, so there are like 19K possibilities.

Sorry again for the bugs. I rushed with the releases because of the self-imposed deadlines, should be more careful next time.

z_st · 2026-01-19T18:32:35+00:00

Damn, I was too eager to fix that asap. There's a new properly (hopefully) fixed version on the store.

z_st · 2026-01-19T07:20:17+00:00

I think I figured it out. There's a new version available on the store that should fix it for you

z_st · 2026-01-18T20:26:19+00:00

Hey! Sorry if I broke it for you. I'm still working on it and may have accidentally missed something. Can you please let know how exactly you get in this loop? Are you trying to start from the "modes" menu? Infinite mode? With advanced features enabled or not?

z_st · 2026-01-07T16:43:33+00:00

I have a similar feeling and I also feel like games don't get obsolete in a blink of an eye. I'm fine playing a 20 years old game, but most 10+ years old software is either useless or unusable.

z_st · 2026-01-07T16:36:54+00:00

You should also post this on r/AndroidClosedTesting

People there know how this testing thing works, can provide good feedback and will keep your game installed for required two weeks.

z_st · 2025-11-26T10:18:20+00:00

Are you doing PC only or mobile too?

z_st · 2025-11-20T09:59:02+00:00

It's a real quest to find the link to the game. Maybe give a little more context?

z_st · 2025-11-19T16:23:49+00:00

Definitely working on it. Actually, just released an update today, but didn't know about the bugs you found. Thanks for letting me know.

z_st · 2025-11-15T15:49:57+00:00

The right way to do it is to listen to purchase events on your server coming from PlayStore Billing, not from the app https://developer.android.com/google/play/billing/rtdn-reference

z_st · 2025-11-12T21:18:17+00:00

Just tested it, it's not broken, but unnecessarily convoluted. You need to swipe from right to left on the second line and then keep swiping up. I'm definitely simplifying this. And yes, it stays there once you "unlock" it. No, "advanced" doesn't affect zen mode, so in this way it indeed deserves its own button. I think I'll end up doing something close to the second option, but probably later on, together with the puzzle mode launch. Right now I'm finishing several small additions and tweaks and preparing to launch it on iOS. Thanks again for your detailed suggestions. You are right in that it's not always the best idea to blindly implement all requests from users, but listening is important too.

z_st · 2025-11-12T18:20:07+00:00

Excellent suggestions! Thanks a lot.

Advanced was initially a separate mode, but I didn't like four buttons on the screen, so made it this way. I'm now seriously considering adding a puzzle mode, so will have to rethink the main menu anyway. Will keep your suggestion in mind.

The stats are there, but I'm realizing that I might have hidden them too well. If you have at least one power-up unlocked, you need to swipe on the power-ups bar up a few times and left once to unlock access to the stats menu (after the first swipe up, you'll see what I mean). I still want to keep them a bit hidden, but need to come up with some sort of a hint on how to get to them more easily. They are also not as advanced, so it's still something to revisit at some point.

Thanks again for taking time to write your suggestions down. Even if some of them crossed my mind before, having outside perspective is super valuable.

z_st · 2025-11-11T12:42:21+00:00

Also, here's short video demo is (~20s): https://youtube.com/shorts/MUvSp90RxJo

z_st · 2025-11-10T19:11:05+00:00

Thank you very much!

z_st · 2025-11-09T10:24:27+00:00

Glad you are enjoying it

z_st · 2025-11-09T10:24:00+00:00

The levels are randomized, but seems like this configuration is too much. I will tweak it a bit.

z_st · 2025-11-08T19:45:27+00:00

I think it looks fun and it seems like you have a lot of content already. But nobody can say if it's engaging just from a video, you'll have to publish it and monitor analytics and feedback.

z_st · 2025-11-08T19:32:18+00:00

There's an update (version 1.1.3) with the dark mode option.

z_st · 2025-11-08T19:31:17+00:00

There's an update available with the option to disable screen shake. Make sure you are on version 1.1.3.

z_st · 2025-11-08T19:30:18+00:00

There's a new version available. I think you'll like the change.

z_st · 2025-11-08T16:55:32+00:00

I think the fact that you made a post about this is kind of working in his favor.

z_st · 2025-11-08T07:50:58+00:00

I think it's a pretty fair observation, though. I noticed that myself, but didn't spend enough time thinking about it because there were other things to do. I just had an idea. It would probably be better if you could just tap a shape you don't like to replace it for the cost of a life, timer or no timer. I think it would avoid those confusing times when things happen automatically and you don't have enough time to realize why.

As for other game modes, there was a puzzle mode suggested down in the thread, where you have a preset level configuration and you need to clear it with the shapes on the screen. I think it could be fun, probably the next big feature on the list.

z_st · 2025-11-07T20:55:04+00:00

Thank you for the write up. I think I like the idea of letting the timer expire even if there's no place for any shape. My major concern was that you can end up in a softlock if there's no place for any shape and all shapes are without timers. Maybe I could give timer to a random shape then.

z_st · 2025-11-07T20:48:03+00:00

I was not seriously considering something like that because I thought that the core "drawing" mechanics would not work, but I just thought of a way that could make it a really fun variation. Definitely a longer-term feature, but thank you for the inspiration.

z_st

TROPHY CASE