Influence of game icon on user attraction cost
Why fill your bumps when you can poke a finger and good-naturedly laugh at the mistakes of another? I offer simple and exciting entertainment: I show you two icons, talk about games, and you bet on the game, the cost of attracting a user to which is less. Interesting? Then go under the cat.
It's simple. At a certain point in time, I came to the conclusion that it was time to fulfill my dreams of making my own games. The idea is completely unoriginal, and I decided to start with the no less original genre "Quiz". The theme of the game was born after passing a survey on one of the news sites on knowledge of literature. After a simple googling in the upstate, I found the minimum number of games on the topic of books and authors, so it was decided to write a game.
The meaning of the game in guessing the author quotes from a famous book. Since the first game, I decided to limit the minimum functionality: the simplest design, analytics, advertising, gamecenter. The works took about two months, and by the end of September the game was ready.
')
My creation looked quite stylish, from the point of view of a botanist or a lady of Balzac age (one of the most extensive parts of my Central Asia):
Since everything was done without monetary expenses, then the icon should be done personally. It occurred to me (as I understand now) that it’s not a bad idea to put just a portrait of Pushkin on an icon.
After two months in the game, I decided that the idea as a whole could live and needed to be improved. To do this, I added content, made a player promotion map, changed the advertising provider, made a posting on facebook, added background music and sounds. And most importantly - made an application for Android. I also completely changed the design. Looking at the modern quiz, I made a similar “fun” design:
In the end I got to the icon. This time I decided to “trust the professional” and ordered from a freelancer. The icon turned out to match the game in the "fun style". Since I tried to add a story to the game (in the process of answering questions, the player goes through the map and as a result I have to become a real writer), then I wanted to place a boy or girl writing a book on the icon. It symbolizes the novice writer.
So, I propose to compare the icons and make a bet on the icon for which the users voted:
Advertising was made in thematic communities. For the game "Guess the author" two posts were ordered in Vkontakte groups for the sum of 1200 rubles. Link in posts only on AppStore. For the game “Become a Writer”, advertising was purchased in the Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki communities for the sum of 9000, while the links in the posts were both on the AppStore and on Google Play.
I planned to display ads immediately after the appearance of games in the stores. The goal is quite clear - to support the game, which appeared in the lists of new games, and raise them in the ratings of categories. In particular, in the category "Quiz".
Guess the author:
Become a writer:
Plus to the presented result, the game “Become a writer” has about 300 downloads for android. As a result, both applications received approximately the same total number of downloads - about 1000-1300 in the first month. The charts begin with the release of games in stores. The first bursts in the pictures are the action of advertising and the “new game” factor.
Guess the author:
Become a writer:
Already from these pictures comes the feeling that the advertising campaign in the second case was not very successful, since the game did not reach the maximum place of the category in the first days of release. At the same time, the maximum place that the second game could reach in the category of Quizzes for the iPhone in the appStore is 62, the first game could reach 23.
So, my dear friends are design and marketing experts, the right answer. I think you already guessed everything. The cost of attraction for the game "Guess the author" - 7.5 rubles per install, for "Become a writer" - 53 rubles.
Immediately, I’ll make a reservation that I calculated the amount of 7.5 rubles from subsequent advertising posts of this game, when I already understood the average number of downloads per day, and from the bursts of installations I could estimate the number of advertising. Since the game "Become a writer" did not reach the strong top, the majority of installations in the first days here came from advertising.
Congratulations to those who have guessed it, and now let's talk a little about why this happened. It seems that everything is better and more beautiful, and so much effort has been invested, and the result is almost zero. At the same time comparing the session time and the number of returned users, I understand that the updated game is better and more interesting for the user. The answer in such an expensive attraction is pretty obvious - I did not guess with the icon. Keywords were left the same, the description of the game is also not much changed. But the icon turned out to be too childish, as I already understood from the feedback from the players. When such an icon is visible in public (an advertising banner is drawn in the likeness of an icon), people do not look at it, suggesting that the game is for children. But the game is just designed for category 17+. The first icon may be simpler, but it conveys the essence of the game more clearly and more clearly makes it clear to Central Asia what the game is about.
Summing up, I can say that it would be optimal to make a software launch in one country and there already compare the reaction to icons and other controversial points instead of investing in a controversial design. It would be very interesting to hear your opinion in the comments. Good luck in developing and monetizing games, and do not repeat the mistakes of others!
Guess the author's game has already been removed from the store, it has a paid version, which is characterized by the lack of advertising. With this post, I in no way call for the purchase of this game!
The game Become a writer is free, planned for recycling and restarting. In no case do not call for downloading the game, an idea about the subject of the post can be obtained from the screenshots.
All material posted on the post to demonstrate possible errors in the development of games.
Start: Guess the Author
It's simple. At a certain point in time, I came to the conclusion that it was time to fulfill my dreams of making my own games. The idea is completely unoriginal, and I decided to start with the no less original genre "Quiz". The theme of the game was born after passing a survey on one of the news sites on knowledge of literature. After a simple googling in the upstate, I found the minimum number of games on the topic of books and authors, so it was decided to write a game.
The meaning of the game in guessing the author quotes from a famous book. Since the first game, I decided to limit the minimum functionality: the simplest design, analytics, advertising, gamecenter. The works took about two months, and by the end of September the game was ready.
')
My creation looked quite stylish, from the point of view of a botanist or a lady of Balzac age (one of the most extensive parts of my Central Asia):
Since everything was done without monetary expenses, then the icon should be done personally. It occurred to me (as I understand now) that it’s not a bad idea to put just a portrait of Pushkin on an icon.
Reincarnation: Become a Writer
After two months in the game, I decided that the idea as a whole could live and needed to be improved. To do this, I added content, made a player promotion map, changed the advertising provider, made a posting on facebook, added background music and sounds. And most importantly - made an application for Android. I also completely changed the design. Looking at the modern quiz, I made a similar “fun” design:
In the end I got to the icon. This time I decided to “trust the professional” and ordered from a freelancer. The icon turned out to match the game in the "fun style". Since I tried to add a story to the game (in the process of answering questions, the player goes through the map and as a result I have to become a real writer), then I wanted to place a boy or girl writing a book on the icon. It symbolizes the novice writer.
So, I propose to compare the icons and make a bet on the icon for which the users voted:
Guess the author / Become a writer
How to identify the winner?
Advertising was made in thematic communities. For the game "Guess the author" two posts were ordered in Vkontakte groups for the sum of 1200 rubles. Link in posts only on AppStore. For the game “Become a Writer”, advertising was purchased in the Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki communities for the sum of 9000, while the links in the posts were both on the AppStore and on Google Play.
I planned to display ads immediately after the appearance of games in the stores. The goal is quite clear - to support the game, which appeared in the lists of new games, and raise them in the ratings of categories. In particular, in the category "Quiz".
Intermediate result 1. Downloads in the first month.
Guess the author:
Become a writer:
Plus to the presented result, the game “Become a writer” has about 300 downloads for android. As a result, both applications received approximately the same total number of downloads - about 1000-1300 in the first month. The charts begin with the release of games in stores. The first bursts in the pictures are the action of advertising and the “new game” factor.
Intermediate result 2. Top category "Quiz" for the AppStore
Guess the author:
Become a writer:
Already from these pictures comes the feeling that the advertising campaign in the second case was not very successful, since the game did not reach the maximum place of the category in the first days of release. At the same time, the maximum place that the second game could reach in the category of Quizzes for the iPhone in the appStore is 62, the first game could reach 23.
Ta-dam
So, my dear friends are design and marketing experts, the right answer. I think you already guessed everything. The cost of attraction for the game "Guess the author" - 7.5 rubles per install, for "Become a writer" - 53 rubles.
Immediately, I’ll make a reservation that I calculated the amount of 7.5 rubles from subsequent advertising posts of this game, when I already understood the average number of downloads per day, and from the bursts of installations I could estimate the number of advertising. Since the game "Become a writer" did not reach the strong top, the majority of installations in the first days here came from advertising.
Congratulations to those who have guessed it, and now let's talk a little about why this happened. It seems that everything is better and more beautiful, and so much effort has been invested, and the result is almost zero. At the same time comparing the session time and the number of returned users, I understand that the updated game is better and more interesting for the user. The answer in such an expensive attraction is pretty obvious - I did not guess with the icon. Keywords were left the same, the description of the game is also not much changed. But the icon turned out to be too childish, as I already understood from the feedback from the players. When such an icon is visible in public (an advertising banner is drawn in the likeness of an icon), people do not look at it, suggesting that the game is for children. But the game is just designed for category 17+. The first icon may be simpler, but it conveys the essence of the game more clearly and more clearly makes it clear to Central Asia what the game is about.
Summing up, I can say that it would be optimal to make a software launch in one country and there already compare the reaction to icons and other controversial points instead of investing in a controversial design. It would be very interesting to hear your opinion in the comments. Good luck in developing and monetizing games, and do not repeat the mistakes of others!
Disclaimer
Guess the author's game has already been removed from the store, it has a paid version, which is characterized by the lack of advertising. With this post, I in no way call for the purchase of this game!
The game Become a writer is free, planned for recycling and restarting. In no case do not call for downloading the game, an idea about the subject of the post can be obtained from the screenshots.
All material posted on the post to demonstrate possible errors in the development of games.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/303526/
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