Indie game for Android in numbers

Hello,

Today, I want to tell you about the launch of my latest project - “Shooting club 3”, to share a lot of various statistics about incomes, budgets, downloads, in general, everything that I myself would be interested to hear about other games. Of course, I wanted this topic to be an “success story”, but let's be frank until it is so. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the game is still quite new and in time it will “accelerate”. At least we hope so!

A game

I initially had quite high expectations from this game. We decided to take the previous part, which showed itself very well on Google Play (over 6,000,000 downloads), make a better and more interesting wrapper, new levels, new weapons, more thoughtful monetization and add zombies (of course!) As opponents . Thus was born the "Shooting Club 3: Zombies' Attack!"

The game is a fairly common genre on mobile platforms - “shooting range”. But there is a zest, it lies in the fact that this is not just a shooting gallery, this is a real sniper simulator with ballistics and realistic weapons. When aiming, you need to take corrections for distance and wind, and also take into account the individual characteristics of each of the rifles. To make it more realistic, we deliberately abandoned the wind indicator, its direction can be determined by natural signs, carefully examining the terrain. Another, more casual element, on which the accuracy of the shot depends is the pulse indicator. On the trigger you need to press in the moment between heartbeats, when the marker is in the middle. With a little practice, you can learn to do this solely by the sound of the heartbeat.
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A separate reason for pride is a multitude of opponents, from “walking” entry-level players who can be hunted even with the simplest rifle to armored mutants — one of the heavy sniper rifles in the game is more suitable for them.



In this case, we do not force the player to build firepower, you can choose the path of the game through skill: the headshot is guaranteed to destroy the target, regardless of the weapon used (bringing additional experience points - in-game currency).

However, something I got carried away, let's move finally to the numbers!

Monetization

Using the example of this game, we have a great opportunity to compare as many as three approaches to monetization:

• Classic Banner Advertising (AdMob)
• Views / Action Advertising (Tapjoy)
• In-game sales

Despite the fact that micro transactions are a trend in the modern world of mobile applications, in our game they go almost on par with AdMob advertising. Perhaps with the growth of the audience, the picture should change, but now we have what we have. Here is the distribution in relative terms:

And in the absolute (do not laugh):

The number of purchases by country, in general, without surprises, with the exception of Russia in second place. In the TOP-5 in the first place the United States (expected), then the United Kingdom, Brazil, Korea.



Interestingly, the most expensive product turned out to be the most profitable - EXP ULTIMATE PACK for $ 4.99. I'm already starting to think that we have lowered the prices in the game.



Sales dynamics:



Dynamics of income in AdMob (for the last 10 days):

Promotion and downloads

Here I will not be able to reveal any secrets, everything is known: we post reviews in all forums we can reach, write letters to Android blog editors (lists of such resources can be easily found on the web, including here on Habré). We also actively use cross-promotion - “house ads” in AdMob, “more (games)” buttons in all games and even sending small “press releases” to those users who sent feedback on the previous part. And:

• YouTube video with a mandatory link to the game
• Search-optimized description (especially, you need to pay attention to the title)
• Translation of the description into other languages
• Attractive icon, by itself
• Sharing achievements and please vote inside the game

Separately, I want to say about the distribution of promotional codes. This time, we used the service from indieyard.com - very convenient, simple integration, chips, such as synchronization of activated coupons between devices. Restrictions of the free tariff plan: no more than 2 active companies, 50 coupons each, simultaneously. Under the companies here refers to the types of promotional codes. For example, in the Shooting club 3, we distribute coupons for various types of weapons.

At the moment, the dynamics of downloads by day looks quite optimistic:



In installations for the day by country, again, in the first place the United States, but Thailand and Brazil at 2-3 places - a mystery to me. Of course, I didn’t undertake any efforts to advance in these countries.

Budget and Costs

The budget, traditionally for indie development, is very modest. The main cost, of course, is your own free time. However, I will list:

• The musical theme (sounds in the promo video and menu of the game) - $ 40. He wrote the same composer as for the previous part, he is on Habré (hello!). If you listen, you can hear that there are general notes in the melodies.
• Promotional video - $ 120. Another person I’m working with is not the first time. Perhaps the video is easier than the top games, but in the pros democratic prices and the shortest possible time!
• Publishing news on the main w3bsit3-dns.com.ru - 5 000 rubles. Yes, I know about the “project of support of our developers”, but the guys also want to monetize, they cannot be blamed for that. Thanks to the news, we were able to get into "Gaining popularity", but, unfortunately, for a short time.

That's all the expenses. At this let me finish (like I did not forget anything). I will be glad to answer questions in the comments!