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Publishing games in the Play Store / App store - Let's share what we learn

Guy de Incognito

Ensit Media
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Feb 7, 2015
Messages
59
Couple days ago I reached 100K downloads. Google didn't send me champagne or a plaque or anything, but I keep my hopes high about hookers when I reach the next milestone, 500K

Congrats! I celebrated my 100K (on my app, my game is at 25K now) by replying rudely to a rude review. Beats champagne and hookers any day.

But did you hear about RoboVM becoming defunct? Does that affect your plans of porting to iOS?
 

DavidBVal

4 Dimension Games
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Couple days ago I reached 100K downloads. Google didn't send me champagne or a plaque or anything, but I keep my hopes high about hookers when I reach the next milestone, 500K

Congrats! I celebrated my 100K (on my app, my game is at 25K now) by replying rudely to a rude review. Beats champagne and hookers any day.

But did you hear about RoboVM becoming defunct? Does that affect your plans of porting to iOS?

that idea is... tempting. You should see the kind of reviews I get (Even if they are rare, most people is very nice and I'm at a 4.4 stars).

RoboVM is a bummer for sure, and it affects my mid term plans but not the release of Exiled Kingdoms. I can still build and publish with it for a year, so unless something goes really wrong, I may not need to update except for maintenance; and the LibGDX Team is already migrating to Intel MultiOS. apparently it already works, performance wise, so I am pretty sure, in a year from now it will be ready for production.
 

DavidBVal

4 Dimension Games
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Couple days ago I reached 100K downloads. Google didn't send me champagne or a plaque or anything, but I keep my hopes high about hookers when I reach the next milestone, 500K

But did you hear about RoboVM becoming defunct? Does that affect your plans of porting to iOS?

some great news from LibGDX regarding the iOS issue:

http://www.badlogicgames.com/wordpress/?p=3934

long story short, they added two new iOS backends. One is Intel MultiOS, which will eventually support Apple bitcode and be a "pro" platform with lots of possibilities, but has the problem of being propietary and still not fully ready. But the other is a well developed fork from the last opensourced RoboVM, which is already prod-ready (Except no bitcode and still lacks "robopods" for certain stuff)

As roboVM license will keep working until April 2017, I think we all LibGDX developers will have solid iOS options by then.
 

Guy de Incognito

Ensit Media
Developer
Joined
Feb 7, 2015
Messages
59
some great news from LibGDX regarding the iOS issue:

I'm not that enthusiastic about iOS any more. I published the iOS version of my most popular Android app, and while downloads are okay for a new app, revenue per download is abysmal. So I'm down four months of work, $1600 for various Apple devices (why people buy them is beyond me), $100 a year on an App Store developer account, and I'm looking at a princely $20 a month for my trouble.

Anyway, let me share something I've learned about Google Play :
Don't change the name of your game unless you have to. If you do change it and you see the downloads drop, don't change it back like a chickenshit because you'll make it worse.

On June 10th I renamed my game to Occidental Heroes. Then I saw my downloads almost halved to around 500/day, so on June 15th I panicked and changed the name back, after which downloads dropped to around 100/day. Since then the downloads have bounced back somewhat but only to around 70% of what they were originally, and it doesn't look like they'll recover completely any time soon, if ever.

JCUPfk5.png
 
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DavidBVal

4 Dimension Games
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Well, once I have data for iOS I'll for certain share it here as well and I hope it's different. Borrowed a macbook from a good friend, purchased an ipad mini, so in the end no huge investment.

And OUCH. good tip about the name change; never even tried to do it, suspected it would be highly disruptive regarding downloads and now I know it is true; better to think over the next name very well.

As an update of my own situation with EK, downloads have finally "stabilized" to a rather decent daily downloads, i.e, no crazy ups and downs for the last 7 weeks.
 

Merlkir

Arcane
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Joined
Oct 12, 2008
Messages
1,216
So I decided to buy this on Android, rather than iOS, hoping it would work with the physical controls on my GPD tablet. And it does! Yay. Sort of. The analog stick works for movement, which is the more important really, but I guess I'll have to use a mapper app for mapping the attack button and skills to the physical buttons.
Looks like good fun so far!
 

Merlkir

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The game seems very grindy. With monsters respawning and the need to go sleep at an inn, it becomes tedious in the second area already. Potions help, sure, but it'd be nice if there was something like PoE's camping supplies, so I could sleep in the wilderness.
 
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You think I am kidding... Straight out of the top RPG category I have the honor to share with. they are a few positions above me, but if I work hard, I may one day surpass these masterpieces:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.woofie.pony.pregnancy

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.plum.foot.surgery

Whole list:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/category/GAME_ROLE_PLAYING/collection/topselling_free

Basically they're ad-traps for little girls. that's why adwords clicks are so useless and never sell shit, probably, and they're not worth your money once you're not using coupons.

Despite the dismal assortment of such horrors, it is still a marketplace with millions of "normal" people that have to dig through the shit.

The vast majority of people that play games on play store are kids who don't know what a real RPG is and should be. They are used to free play games with IAP. That's why I'm saying is a great thing you offer the free version with the possibility of buying the full product at a very good price. I myself payed for the full version and opted for beta since I found it to be one of the few games that are worth playing on mobile and I want to be involved giving feedback and spreading awareness. I also think that there should be an option for the enemies to respawn since right now it's kind of frustrating. Also the leveling up is very slow. The game with it's isometric graphics that I personally love (I only play this types of games) reminds me heavily of Arcanum. Arcanum had level up system a lot faster and the world was almost as big as Exiled Kingdoms. Keep up the great work and I'm sure that a lot of people will pay for this game, even if they don't struggle for completion they will be curious to see what's next.
I hope to see more serious games for the mobile platform. I for one love to play games on touchscreen and I find it way more relaxing since I'm already and Android nerd. How cool it would be to play Underrail on mobile? I already tested Arcanum with ExaGear. But Exiled Kingdoms it works just wonderful on any device and the developer comes up with very nice updates and features.
 

DavidBVal

4 Dimension Games
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Google giveth and Google taketh away. I didn't even change anything this time, it's a mystery.

H6C6jG8.png


That's the same I've experienced a few times now, I wouldn't worry too much. Google works in "cycles" in which they add your game to groups of users in their "recommended for you" section. Then you get a sudden boost to downloads that erodes away until the cycle ends.

Look at my history, it's been crazy peaks and valleys. Not recommended career for the faint of heart.

TAxEKed.png


So... be patient. Downloads will be back.
 

Guy de Incognito

Ensit Media
Developer
Joined
Feb 7, 2015
Messages
59
So... be patient. Downloads will be back.

Yup, back to ~600 as of Thursday. But those dips must be much worse for you because it affects your income. Of course upswings must be so much better for you as well. :)

I guess a solution would be to have the game available on iTunes or Steam or both.
I don't see Exiled Kingdoms on iTunes, didn't you publish it already? Or did you delay it because of their rules against publishing incomplete apps?
I plan to upload my app as complete, and any content that's added to be treated as expanded/episodic content. My guess is they have this rule to keep the perception of the high overall quality of iOS apps, so I'm hoping if the game looks complete they won't bitch too much about it.
 

DavidBVal

4 Dimension Games
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So... be patient. Downloads will be back.

Yup, back to ~600 as of Thursday. But those dips must be much worse for you because it affects your income. Of course upswings must be so much better for you as well. :)

Yeah, and the average is quite nice for these first months. The first 3 week-long "down" was a bit nerve-wrecking, but I'm used to it by now.

I'm glad your dl's are up again!

I don't see Exiled Kingdoms on iTunes, didn't you publish it already? Or did you delay it because of their rules against publishing incomplete apps?.

Didn't publish yet, much like you are doing I am working towards a build in which there is no "coming soon" content anywhere near the first areas of gameplay. It should be ready soon, maybe in 3 weeks. Still it will be technically incomplete, but I doubt I'll have problems, as the game has a lot of content as it is.

Steam will be a bit more work as I have to rework all the UI.
 
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DavidBVal

4 Dimension Games
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It is very good news for android/java developers hoping to have a reliable way to deploy on iOS for free. Now it won't go down the toilet because of corporative/political choices in the foreseable future (as Microsoft did with RoboVM)
So when is the next patch coming ? :D

I think in about a week (for people signed up as tester) and about two for normies. But no promises, writing dialogues is very hard to estimate and this one has lots of new content.
 
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It is very good news for android/java developers hoping to have a reliable way to deploy on iOS for free. Now it won't go down the toilet because of corporative/political choices in the foreseable future (as Microsoft did with RoboVM)
So when is the next patch coming ? :D

I think in about a week (for people signed up as tester) and about two for normies. But no promises, writing dialogues is very hard to estimate and this one has lots of new content.
Thank you! Yes I am a tester so only about 1 week. I really like Exiled Kingdoms and I do think it's one of the fewest real RPG's for mobile. Will this update make the game content complete or will there still be blocked areas? Never mind. Found the answer in the forum ;) Good luck !
 

DavidBVal

4 Dimension Games
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If anyone here has an iOS device and want to give it a try, I need more Beta Testers for the apple release. Requires ios 8.1, iPhone 5s or better, iPad from 2013 or newer. The Beta has access to the whole game for free, as purchases in beta versions are not charged. The game works perfectly on iOS already except for some minor things, so it won't be a crashfest. Only things not working are connections to google play services and exporting saves.

To become a tester PM me, I need an email address to add you to Testflight. If anyone has iOS 10 Beta, that'd be great, as I still have no testers for it.
 

DavidBVal

4 Dimension Games
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Submitted to App Store yesterday, let's see how it goes; now it's time to wait for their review and, hopefully, approval.

Apple submission is a lot of work, because everything must be done their way; a small example would be the video. In Android Play Store, you just link to a youtube video. Here you have to upload a video that meets a long list of specs, including things like audio encoding bitrate, sample rate, FPS, resolution, very short duration, etc. Of course you must submit separate screenshot/videos for separate device resolutions in their store. Yeah, they're like that. Every little thing you do ends up taking a long time.

Development-wise, it has been a bit of a hell to integrate the Google APIs (analytics, games services) into an iOS game that strives away from "official" Apple development. APIs are well documented for Objective-C and Swift developers, but obviously not at all for crazy people developing in Java and then using RoboVM to compile it into Objective C. In particular cloud saving has given me a lot of trouble, but now it works fine. You can even move your game between android and ios. But aside from those small things that have taken 10-12 days to take care of, LibGDX + RoboVM have lived up to their promise of seamless cross-platform development and deploy.

Now if you excuse me, I have a lot of F5 to do...
 
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Submitted to App Store yesterday, let's see how it goes; now it's time to wait for their review and, hopefully, approval.

Apple submission is a lot of work, because everything must be done their way; a small example would be the video. In Android Play Store, you just link to a youtube video. Here you have to upload a video that meets a long list of specs, including things like audio encoding bitrate, sample rate, FPS, resolution, very short duration, etc. Of course you must submit separate screenshot/videos for separate device resolutions in their store. Yeah, they're like that. Every little thing you do ends up taking a long time.

Development-wise, it has been a bit of a hell to integrate the Google APIs (analytics, games services) into an iOS game that strives away from "official" Apple development. APIs are well documented for Objective-C and Swift developers, but obviously not at all for crazy people developing in Java and then using RoboVM to compile it into Objective C. In particular cloud saving has given me a lot of trouble, but now it works fine. You can even move your game between android and ios. But aside from those small things that have taken 10-12 days to take care of, LibGDX + RoboVM have lived up to their promise of seamless cross-platform development and deploy.

Now if you excuse me, I have a lot of F5 to do...

How would you describe the development for Android vs IOS? Best of luck! I really like you game, having a cleric at level 8 now.
 

DavidBVal

4 Dimension Games
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How would you describe the development for Android vs IOS? Best of luck!

thanks. I can't really tell because I never did iOS native development, and while I have developed specifically for Android in the past, EK isn't an Android project either. I use LibGDX.

Exiled Kingdoms is a pure Java project, which runs fine on a PC. LibGDX provides bindings to do platform-specific stuff, like handling screen changes, accessing the file system, http calls, etc.

Then you create barebones projects for each platform that simply call your main project game class and little else (handling pause-resume, etc).

Of course, there are exceptions. Like I said above, using 3rd party APIs from Google, is handled differently and must be done separately on each platform project. The same with payments and other stuff. Your main project calls a Resolver class that is implemented differently on each platform. So there's a .01% of the project that is platform-specific, but all the rest is shared in the core java project.
 

Guy de Incognito

Ensit Media
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Joined
Feb 7, 2015
Messages
59
How would you describe the development for Android vs IOS?

If you're making games, you probably won't be doing native iOS development. As for iOS vs Android, even with my hatred of Apple I have to say Xcode and Swift are just somehow more... civilized than Android Studio and Java. Swift in particular is very nice to work with. It took me around 8 months to learn Android development (I already knew Java) and make my app in Java, but then it took me around 15 days to learn Swift and 2.5 months to do that same app for iOS.


Development-wise, it has been a bit of a hell to integrate the Google APIs (analytics, games services) into an iOS game that strives away from "official" Apple development. APIs are well documented for Objective-C and Swift developers, but obviously not at all for crazy people developing in Java and then using RoboVM to compile it into Objective C. In particular cloud saving has given me a lot of trouble, but now it works fine. You can even move your game between android and ios. But aside from those small things that have taken 10-12 days to take care of, LibGDX + RoboVM have lived up to their promise of seamless cross-platform development and deploy.

This was a nightmare for me, trying to get RoboVM Mobidevelop fork to work and then trying to get AdMob to work. But in the end it's working and when I port my RPG it will go faster I hope.

Good luck with your game, hope you at least double your profits. :)
 
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DavidBVal

4 Dimension Games
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Finally I got my approval. My experience with App Review Team has been... okay, let's skip that part, as developer agreements say I can't say anything about it. :shittydog:

EK has been live in the App Store since yesterday. The first day was unbelievably good, now it seems to be deflating. Apple gives you a big boost the first days to allow people to discover your game; it lasts much less than Google 30 days in the "new" category, but it certainly is much more noticeable!

For some weird reason, the video previews that took me so much effort to prepare and upload, are not included. Must have been somehow removed from the metadata during one of the rejections, no idea why. Oh well, I'll add them on next update.
 

Siveon

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Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Congratulations! I had a really fun time testing (more like demoing :P) the game out and I'm glad to see it on the App Store. You can expect a purchase from me, at least.
 

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