The Magic Bullet

Insplisity

Hey guys, I'm in a bit of a dilemma. I talk to many custom app devs and game devs and only a few of them make real good money out of their apps. Most of them make less or somewhere the same amount as I make with Andromo made apps.

Mediocre game re-skins cost between 300-600 USD and those games bring between 5-30 USD per day. That's achievable with Andromo as well. If you can't get that amount with one app, then you make 3 apps and it's the same.

Everybody is saying "make games, make games, makes games", but if the game isn't really well polished and kept up to date (which costs a lot of money), I came to believe, that it will not bring more revenue, that an Andromo app would. I've talked recently to a woman, who is in a team of 3, and they are marketing, improving, and working in the app like crazy, but it doesn't bring any serious money at all. One of my Andromo apps on which I've spent 10-15 hours in total is making more.

So, what do you guys thinks? Does anyone plan to make games / re-skins? I have two games - one of my games is on 5th or 6th place in terms of revenue and my other game is at the bottom. Sometime I think I'm being brainwashed with "make games" advice, but in reality, like most stuff that you hear from "internet guru's", it's false.

tamworthheat

I have tried re-skinning Game Salad Games, you can buy a template for $10+  So I dont think its expensive but takes a lot of time (which is expensive).  It's cool to try out but you really need to stand out from the crowd.  For someone like me with near to no games xp it is very difficult, I am in my 6th month of money making with Andromo Apps and I can see as my portfolio grows so does my income, so for me Andromo is providing the best money making for my precious time.  

Just as a heads up, If you need a bit of a nudge with certain projects try UDEMY, online courses for all sorts of things, If you think it's expensive - just wait for a promotion.  I got a Game Salad course for $10 (£6.50) cheaps as chips and was really informative.  If only there was an Andromo for Games with templates coool...

Insplisity

@tamworthheat: Oh, I didn't know there were Game Salad games available for re-skins. I had in mind source codes that are available on sites like Chupamobile and such. I'll have a look at Game Salad sources.

I've heard of UDEMY and thanks for reminding me about it.

malembo

I have been planning on reskinning gamesalad games for a few months now, but at the moment they don't have proper monetization for android until they release their next stable build.

andromoappmaker

@hendrix I think you should tell them about the app store survey but that's just me. 

I also think that the truth is that it's hard to make money re-skinning games. I think that in general you will make about the same amount you do from your Andromo apps but with more effort. I think that the same holds true for many custom apps that you would write yourself. (and I speak from experience)

The ceiling for custom apps is the moon of course, but the average basement for a custom app is the exact same as it will be for an Andromo app, you'll just spend more time creating it. (and learning Android programming as well which is worth something) Custom apps also give you complete control (in-app purchases, other service, etc) so you might be able to make more using those as well. But the speed and ease at which your can create Andromo apps is worth a lot.

Insplisity

@lovedislike: where would you buy the GS project files? On their marketplace or is there any other source?

@mark: that's my experience also. Mediocore / simple games (except for those 1% of devs who make it to the top with Flappy Bird / Guess the Logo style games) don't have much bigger potential than an app made with Andromo. Also, I need to check my games all the time, because there are so many compatibility issues. I just found out that my latest game crashes on Android 4.4 (tested on a Nexus device) - so I need to contact the programmer again, pay him for the updates, etc. The same goes for my other game - you fix something here and then it's broken there. And every change costs lots of $$$.

Nevertheless, I'll do a Flappy / Clumsy Bird clone for about 500 USD just to see if one can cash in on trends. Should be interesting. If this fails, then no more games for me.

f1_fan

@hendrixs

I was thinking "make a game" as well but as I am not programmer I started with Andromo apps and since I joined , October 2013 my revenue is growing constantly. It is not mad money but more than I expected. So I am creating more apps similar to one gave me good revenue, I have some apps crated for customers with my Admob adds but there is no revenue with them,

I did one game with Andromo but the market for this game is very specific and again revenue is small however I am working on game atm which will be for everyone and I will see. As it long process I am not sure when and if I finish. On the plus side if Andromo would introduce IAP I think games would be a way to go.... 

Having said that I am not mad to make or paying for making games. I am sticking with Andromo apps.

@Mark, sorry I had no time to email you but I will do soon about IAP

Regards
F1_Fan

Insplisity

@f1_fan: how do you make your games?

malembo

One place is gshelper.com and you can probably get a flappy bird clone for way cheaper than $500. If your not interested in gamesalad you can probably use corona. Corona Flappy Bird Clone. 

Insplisity

Nice sites, thanks. I'll probably play a little with GS as it seems really cool.

malembo

No problem.

Insplisity

@lovedislike: GameSalad looks really cool and I love some of the games, but as you've said, it seems that you can't monetize the games for Android yet. Too bad. Did they announce anything when that will be possible?

@tamworthheat: Did you release that game? I have a feeling that a "test" portfolio of 5 games could be build up pretty quickly and for far less $$$ than with re-skinning native apps.

tamworthheat

i haven't officially released any games, it was more of a 'Try out' than anything else.

But using UDEMY for a crash course really helped and using FIVERR to get custom backgrounds / character graphics etc was so easy it is definitely something i will consider for future.  As mentioned, no real support for Android but that will soon change as Playstore is now bigger than Appstore, game devs are seeing it as less saturated than Appstore and will get better exposure in the year ahead.  It's just a case of 'Learning something new' which is all good but i need to get the timing right - i could easily waste a lot of valuable time messing about with new stuff.  I can't ever imagine replacing Andromo with anything tho' it's too valuable 

Insplisity

Yeah, I totally understand you. It's good to learn something new, but you really need to be aware, how much time you're wasting doing stuff that has potential vs. doing stuff, which you know that brings money. This is always a challenge for me.

holyoak.com

What do you consider "real good money" to be, anyway? Enough to quit your day job, enough to retire in a couple years, or just enough to have some extra money on the side?

I've felt like I've been doing fairly well, but it's just money on the side - not quite enough to pay the mortgage yet. But I've been able to do some things I wasn't able to when I didn't have the money.

And it does make me wonder how many more apps I'd need to create in order to pay the mortgage. And then how much time it would take to keep that much money coming in long term.

tamworthheat

It's a good point @tholyoak - It's money on the side for me (I work full time and spend only a few hours a week on Andromo.  I've only been using ads for 4 months now and while it doesnt pay the rent, i think i will be halfway there by the end of the year or so.  But like you say, it's the difference it makes each month buying / doing stuff i didnt before, things that i pay for monthly is how i think about it, my new mobile phone contract, my HDTV subscription, my fibre broadband is all paid for with andromo (and thats just after 4 months), which i am more than happy with but if i did this full time instead of working I'm not sure it would pay the same as a wage although i see profiles on GP with tens and tens of apps and wonder how much they make each month, it's got to be over a grand.  One of the best things about andromo is that it is rock solid, you know you can make money, like @hendrixs says you could be wasting a lot of time / money doing other stuff.  I would like to continue to build a profile of quality apps and feel confident that their value will continue to increase.  Here's to good times ahead.

vyperapps

This is only our (my gf and I) 3rd month using Andromo/having apps published. The first 2 months we were in the $30-40 range and this month we finally broke $100. It's not a huge amount but I also have not been paid by amazon yet (sitting at about $140 earned but that's before their cut) so things have been steadily getting better. I'd love to know how some of your game endeavors go. It seems like a great second possibility to andromo. Are all you guys using exclusively andromo or do you work with any other frameworks? I'm looking at expanding to some more options as well. I love andromo and it's dead easy/fast! But expanding my portfolio is also a major concern!

Insplisity

@tholyoak: Enough to comfortably quit your day job, yes.

@vyperapps: That's a great success! I needed more time than you to achieve similar results. I use only Andromo and plan to stick with it, but GameSalad looks like a great platform for building games. I'll be waiting on the sidelines for them to introduce monetizing options for Android markets.

lorne

Google beginning to ban 'Flappy Bird' clones from the Play Store

malembo

@hendrixs Yea they have some ad networks in testing, so it shouldn't be to long. Hopefully like at the most another month.

Insplisity

Good find, @lorne, thanks. I saw a similar article on 15th or 16th, but it was about Apple Appstore, and they've mentioned, that GP will also probably start banning apps with "Flappy" in the title. As it seems, it's official now. I've stopped the project today (I would not use "flappy" or "clumsy" in the title anyway), because it's getting ridiculous, how many clones are popping up.

@lovedislike: Super excited to hear that! I'll keep them on my radar.

vyperapps

@Hendrix Thanks a lot! I didn't know if that was considered good or average. It's been a lot of work and we are up to 8 or 9 apps I believe. I'm waiting for monetization options as well, but I'd love to hear about anyone else's experiences with gamesalad or similar. I was looking at starting to get in to a game development with a platform but it's a daunting task! I think I will stick with andromo until I really get ambitious XD.

malembo

Yea start small and scale up... once you get a good income coming in from andromo then you can afford to put time into bigger projects. Since its not always fun to spend weeks on something and having it not pan out. Apps and games can be hit or miss at times if you don't do your research beforehand.

Insplisity

@vyperapps: Here is a great comparison of all game dev tools: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PeGbMvpz4M. If I'll do games on my own, I'll definitely start with GS. I've seen some of their games and I love them. I don't plan to go beyond of whats possible to do with GS.

@lovedislike: Yeah, sometimes even if I do my best to research something, it doesn't work out. But usually, it helps a lot to properly research things.

vyperapps

Gamesalad looks great! But expensive!! $299 wow!

I wonder if it ever goes on sale...

pixelpower

Games are hit or miss just like apps are. The only difference is games have a better shot of being lucky. I know most of you have seen flappybird making 50,000 a day in AD revenue. Pure luck and to honest with you if I could make that game myself I would have dropped a clone out there. I haven't been practicing programming for a while but the only games I can make are pop quiz games , simple card matching games , minesweeper . The most complex game I made involved timers and being able to tap the enemy onscreen to destroy him. I haven't got lucky yet but who knows what the future holds.
I would look into the game salad forums before buying game salad. There are a lot of issues that you don't have to deal with in Andromo that you will have in gamesalad. After my break I have to decide whether I will stick to learning more HTML or start learning java and XML to make straight native android apps and games.

vyperapps

Hi Pixel, I did a lot of research before hand as well, To be honest I would lean towards learning HTML 5 since it will work on an android device and you can make games and even physics in it!

holyoak.com

There is a huge learning curve in doing Android development from scratch, and I'm saying that as someone that's been doing programming professionally for nearly 20 years. I'm actually getting into that now in my "day" job, and it's *really* making me appreciate what Andromo does for us!