[Q] Marketing tips for 2014 (for small indie teams with tiny budgets) - General Marketing & SEO

Hi! I've recently been to Pocket Gamer Connects conference in London and asked around about (a marketing failure of) my indie game. I got some great insight and advice that I'd like to share with you. Hopefully it helps someone.
http://indeed.adamiak.net/promoting-indie-games-marketing-tips-for-2014/
TL;DR: Don't mimic what big publishers and studios do or you will loose. There are advantages being an indie - use them. Watch Marketing sucks.
What do you think? What would you add to that?

Related

Soccer Software Idea. Programmers Interested.

Hello.
I am a soccer fan, as many of other people. From a long time ago, I play the Sensible World of Soccer, wich was an amazing old Game.
I was looking to find someone interested in developing a game, based on ZIO Soft, Inc. FIFA 2002, with the abilities of Sensible World of Soccer.
Anyone around here finds this Idea Interesting?
Thank you, and I hope I didnt put this in the wrong place.

Android4Autism (Big Announcement)

Hey everyone. I wanted to cleanup this post a bit in order to make a pretty big announcement. Here is an expcert from my blog post late last night. The whole post can be read here.
To read more about Android4Autism
"Tonight, I so very pleased to announce that Intellijoy will be donating FULL versions of ALL their children’s apps to Android4Autism to be distributed on all the devices that we will be putting into the hands of Autistic children from around the US. I’m very excited about this because I truly believe this WILL make a difference in the lives of many Autistic children and their families. I don’t make it a habit of promoting companies on this blog because that’s not the purpose of Lost and Tired. However, Intellijoy is a company that is working to help our children learn through engaging and entertaining apps. My children benefit from the use of these applications and I know many more could as well. As special needs parents and members of the Autism community we should support companies like, Intellijoy, as they are providing low cost software that can turn your Android powered smartphone into a learning tool for your child.
So on behalf of Android4Autism and lostandtired.com, I want to THANK Intellijoy for helping to improve the lives our Autistic children and their families. If you have an Android powered smart phone and I KNOW many of you do, check out these apps on the Market. Help spread the word that these apps and others like it can be found on the Android Market. As a community we need to support the companies that are providing resources for our kids….. More to come soon…"
In the mean time get all the latest Android4Autism updates by following us on twitter: @Android4Autism or “Like us on Facebook.
reserved....
Good luck on this.
Sounds like a great work you are doing.
So what exactly does the phone do? My son is autistic and believe it or not I let him play speedx on my evo but there aren't many apps on the market (if any) that are geared towards autistic people which is why he has his own ipad2. Some more specifics would be nice instead of saying that you are taking old android phones and stripping them down. What else is done to them software wise that makes them more autistic friendly and enriching.
lovethyEVO said:
So what exactly does the phone do? My son is autistic and believe it or not I let him play speedx on my evo but there aren't many apps on the market (if any) that are geared towards autistic people which is why he has his own ipad2. Some more specifics would be nice instead of saying that you are taking old android phones and stripping them down. What else is done to them software wise that makes them more autistic friendly and enriching.
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The point is that many people can't afford the iPad and yes the apple has better apps and more of them at the moment. However, there are still simple apps that can help kids to communicate, Voice4u is an example. There are other apps the help with fine motor like Kids Shape Puzzles, Kids Numbers and Math and Kids Colors. I'm not sure where your child falls on the spectrum but many kids like my youngest struggle with language and communication. While maybe some kids won't benefit from these apps as much as others it's something for someone who has nothing. The apps don't have to be geared towards Autistic kids. They just have to serve a purpose. My son who was thought to be non-verbal is now using words (although still very limited). When he solves these puzzles and the voice says the name, he now repeats it. He is also able to identify the shapes by the outlines now.
Is it as good as an iPad probably not. But as a father to 3 Autistic boys and someone that can't afford an iPad, this has really helped to build some much needed basic skills. These apps while simple are engaging and entertaining for the kids. Again, many people can't shell out $500-$800 for an iPad and this would give them something. Sometimes seemingly the small things can make the biggest impact.
I realize you don't know me but I have a very popular Autism blog and if you look around the Epic forums you will see Autism Awareness running rampant.
I'm not trying to change the world here. Just trying to make life better for those that I can.
Best of luck to you and your family.
newblacksociety said:
Best of luck to you and your family.
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You have my final "thanks" for today.
ptfdmedic said:
The point is that many people can't afford the iPad and yes the apple has better apps and more of them at the moment. However, there are still simple apps that can help kids to communicate, Voice4u is an example. There are other apps the help with fine motor like Kids Shape Puzzles, Kids Numbers and Math and Kids Colors. I'm not sure where your child falls on the spectrum but many kids like my youngest struggle with language and communication. While maybe some kids won't benefit from these apps as much as others it's something for someone who has nothing. The apps don't have to be geared towards Autistic kids. They just have to serve a purpose. My son who was thought to be non-verbal is now using words (although still very limited). When he solves these puzzles and the voice says the name, he now repeats it. He is also able to identify the shapes by the outlines now.
Is it as good as an iPad probably not. But as a father to 3 Autistic boys and someone that can't afford an iPad, this has really helped to build some much needed basic skills. These apps while simple are engaging and entertaining for the kids. Again, many people can't shell out $500-$800 for an iPad and this would give them something. Sometimes seemingly the small things can make the biggest impact.
I realize you don't know me but I have a very popular Autism blog and if you look around the Epic forums you will see Autism Awareness running rampant.
I'm not trying to change the world here. Just trying to make life better for those that I can.
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I wasn't trying to downplay your effort...it is a good cause. My son's autism affects his communication development the most and his ipad has helped along with his services he gets at school as well as his extra services like aba.
I did not buy his ipad so please throw out that notion that I can "shell out 500 bucks" for it. On the contrary, his ipad is his and his alone and was acquired as a learning aid through a program that his school set up. He qualified for the free ipad because his doctors re-evaluated him for the program application and concluded that he is still delayed in his development. As long as I show that his ipad is being used solely for his purposes and no unapproved apps are installed for the next two years, it's his to keep.
I'm straying off topic a bit and I apologize. I understand your cause to get these devices to families that can't afford them but it would also help to include some really great software for the autistic person as well as support for that software. These are just things to help your noble project along, not railroad it. It should be stripped of the ability to make calls or texts to try to prevent it being used by other persons for example.
lovethyEVO said:
I wasn't trying to downplay your effort...it is a good cause. My son's autism affects his communication development the most and his ipad has helped along with his services he gets at school as well as his extra services like aba.
I did not buy his ipad so please throw out that notion that I can "shell out 500 bucks" for it. On the contrary, his ipad is his and his alone and was acquired as a learning aid through a program that his school set up. He qualified for the free ipad because his doctors re-evaluated him for the program application and concluded that he is still delayed in his development. As long as I show that his ipad is being used solely for his purposes and no unapproved apps are installed for the next two years, it's his to keep.
I'm straying off topic a bit and I apologize. I understand your cause to get these devices to families that can't afford them but it would also help to include some really great software for the autistic person as well as support for that software. These are just things to help your noble project along, not railroad it. It should be stripped of the ability to make calls or texts to try to prevent it being used by other persons for example.
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No offense taken. Sorry if I came off harsh. I didn't mean to insinuate anything about you financial status in my comment. I was trying to explain my point. I would load a custom ROM, removing everything I can so that it serves it's intended purpose. I would disable to the radio and attempt to leave the WiFi and blue tooth in tact for connectivity to the market and headphones. I get offers all the time to review software on my blog geared for this purpose. I'm working on securing software donations as well. You have some great ideas. I appreciate your feedback. Again sorry if I came across wrong. We are both on the same journey. Best of luck.
ptfdmedic said:
No offense taken. Sorry if I came off harsh. I didn't mean to insinuate anything about you financial status in my comment. I was trying to explain my point. I would load a custom ROM, removing everything I can so that it serves it's intended purpose. I would disable to the radio and attempt to leave the WiFi and blue tooth in tact for connectivity to the market and headphones. I get offers all the time to review software on my blog geared for this purpose. I'm working on securing software donations as well. You have some great ideas. I appreciate your feedback. Again sorry if I came across wrong. We are both on the same journey. Best of luck.
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We are on the same journey yes, but you have alot more to handle and my hat goes off to you. I too apologize if I came off wrong in my first post.
I will be keeping my eye on your efforts for others that I know in our situation. The school year is almost over but I think this is something they might be interested in. Best of luck to your endeavors.
lovethyEVO said:
We are on the same journey yes, but you have alot more to handle and my hat goes off to you. I too apologize if I came off wrong in my first post.
I will be keeping my eye on your efforts for others that I know in our situation. The school year is almost over but I think this is something they might be interested in. Best of luck to your endeavors.
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Always nice to meet other special needs parents. It was a pleasure meeting you. Thanks again.
For those of you who don't know ptfdmedic, with all that he has to deal with his children, has over the months taken the time to develop and provide support for some of the best ROMs on the Epic. He is one of the few people who is a truly selfless person. I mean we over on the Epic forums have a bunch of people that just go around and complain about everything. Rob (ptfdmedic) has a heart of gold and has put up with a bunch of crap from a lot of whining users and does it with kindness and class. He even goes as far as releasing multiple versions of the same ROM to accommodate the minority of us who wanted journal on to provide stability and a journal off version for those who see a ever so slight performance increase. I came over here because I am considering getting an Evo 3D and wanted to read what people were posting now that the CEO confirmed it won't be boot locked. As soon as I saw ptfdmedic's thread, I knew it was for a worthy cause. He is the real deal. This isn't some guy trying to hustle anyone. His heart is 100% into raising Autism Awareness and helping in any way he can. If my finances permit me to upgrade to the Evo 3D, I know where my Epic is going now. If you are in the position to do likewise, I can assure you Rob will do what he intends to do. What a worthy cause.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App
ptfdmedic said:
Hey fellow Android users and Autism supporters. I have been quietly working on something for a little while now and decided I would officially announce it. I wanted to announce it here because of all the Autism support generated by this community. So I would like to introduce "Android 4 Autism. What Android 4 Autism will be doing is taking used (donated) Android devices, preferably Epic or EVO (due to the larger screen) and turning them into communication and learning tools for Autistic children. I'm working on securing software donations as well for pre-installation purposes.
Once received, the devices will be wiped and stripped down. Once completed, these devices will be donated to special needs families who couldn't otherwise afford this technology for their child.
The reason I'm announcing this now is because we are about to hit a device turn over with the release of the Nexus S 4G and the pending EVO 3D and Galaxy S 2 releases.. We are a community that lives on the bleeding edge. I'm asking that if and when you upgrade your phone that you consider Android 4 Autism when deciding what to do with your old device. Bad ESN's don't matter as WiFi/Bluetooth would be the only needed connections. PLEASE consider this if and when you decide to upgrade. I'll have more information available when I go live. I just wanted to plant the bug in your ear. Your old phone could change someone's life.
Thanks everyone....
Below is an example of what Autistic children can do and learn with these phones.
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You're doing a very noble thing ptf. It's amazing to see somebody take initiative in such a prolific cause. I don't know you personally, but you seem very genuine and i'm sure your family is blessed to have you supporting them.
You have my full support and I will gladly donate my EVO and Asus TF when I purchase new devices to replace them. I think that a lot of us on these forums are typically more fortunate than a lot of people and the least we can do is donate our old devices for a just cause.
p.s It seems that you are very serious about this, you should try to get the mods to sticky your threads. Also, are you going to be accepting donations from other devices like the droid x?
Best of luck to you. If you need any help spreading the word or anything shoot me a pm.
I know the HTC Flyer has the option to place the phone under "Kid Mode."
Maybe for those parents who may have a smartphone, it would be good to create a custom rom with that feature. That way they can use the phone as they normally would. Under this mode, the calls would be forwarded to a home phone line or another phone.
It seems like a lot of work and highly unlikely that parents will know how to flash a custom rom but it's an idea that came to me.
I'll get in contact with the Coordinator of Student Activities at my school and ask if I can host some sort of drive to have students donate their phones when they upgrade.
(I'll get back to you after she lets me know if I can)
Bumping this for the cause. I hope at least people read this or visit his website. Especially for those that are going to get an Evo 3D and not trade in their current phone. Hopefully I am one of them
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App
as an Uncle to a nephew with Autism, I commend you. I wish I had a spare device but I don't but if you could post some of the actual names of apps that you have used with your sons it would be greatly appreciated.
I want to help my sister get some good apps so her son can learn to communicate. He is pretty much mute and only barely communicates through signing. He is on the more severe end of the spectrum and like most families doesn't have the amount of money it takes to purchase the more expensive autism teaching tools.
On a side note besides grants and some education funding, getting assistance for autistic children is incredibly and overly expensive. With the immense amount of kids being diagnosed more and more I can't believe the price has not come down for some of these things.
That's pretty awesome. My son's a high functioning on the autistic spectrum and he loves to use my Evo and my Transformer pad. Seeing that video reminded me a lot of my son. It does really help and I really hope your cause takes off. Really commendable..
I actually wrote a piece for my website on my son using another technology: Kinect.
http://www.gamingnexus.com/FullNews...est-24150-I-spent-on-a-console/Item20369.aspx
Absolutely fantastic idea! I'll be sure to share this.
My nephew is autistic and I'm about to retire my Evo...I'd love to load your ROM when it's ready and give him my device.
I'm subscribing to this thread, because I want to follow everything you're doing with this cause.
God Bless You, dude. We need more people like you in this world, let alone this community...
as a father with a son who is autistic this is a GREAT idea ! /respect

[Q] Collecting Android games sales data ideas

Hi, this is my first post on this forum, so hello everybody. :d
I'm currently working on my bachelor thesis titled "Which Android game is most profitable?". I split Android games in two groups, easy to learn and play action or logic games (A-type), and harder to learn managers, tycoons and such (B-type). In the first group, I distinguished Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Where's my Water?, Granny Smith, Fruit Ninja and Ski Safari. In the second, Star Traders Elite, Templar Assault RPG Elite, Cyber Knights Elite, New Star Soccer and Rebuild.
The point of the paper is to compare the sales data (two first months) to see how the popularity and income shaped. The problem is with colecting the acctual data. Contacting with developers succeded with two games, but brought no result with other. I tried to estimate the sales using wayback machine, but the results were very limited. I also tried to use Google Trends to show the popularity, but B-type games were mostly not indexed.
So here's my question to you: do you have any ideas where I could get the achived data of popularity/ income of the games mentioned? Or maybe you developed a game that matches the description and would share the sales data from 2 first months? I'd be very grateful for any help, as the core of my paper is the data I don't seem to be able to get.

[Q] Looking for Android App Devs,ROM Devs and also Manufacturing Designers

Greetings to all in XDA,
We are a new mobile startup brand that is looking for nerds like us to join our team of designers and engineers to work along side us to pave the way of new models of smartphones to hit the market which we all know is increasingly saturated with the same ol` same ol` . We are here because we believe in the need out there to come out with something that redefines smartphones.
If you are interested in being the part of this journey please let us know as we are looking for passionate individuals looking to show their talents and be recognized for it.
Kind Regards and i look forward to hearing from you :cyclops:

[Q] The effects of hacking on mobile games monetization

Hi all,
new here, but doing an anonymous research piece on security in games for my client - I am looking for information on mobile games hacking;
- why people do it
- how they do it
- the implications for the games developers
- the effects it has on retention rates for non hacking gamers
- how devs are fighting it
- how much effort is actually worth putting in fighting the hackers etc.
If anyone has any information or could point me in the right direction I would be truly grateful.
cheers

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