The last nine months as an indie dev

General (non-technical) Marketing and Monetization
#1

Hi guys,

I hope this is the right forum for this. I just published a rather long blog-post about my last nine months as an indie dev with corona.

It contains infos on my strategy on how I became more or less successful as well as some interesting sales figures.

Please check it out here and tell every dev you know about it:
http://www.eiswuxe.de/looking-back-my-recent-nine-months-as-an-indie-developer/

A big thank you to ansca for making this possible! [import]uid: 24497 topic_id: 20220 reply_id: 320220[/import]

#2

Nice article, and congrats on your success! [import]uid: 58885 topic_id: 20220 reply_id: 78953[/import]

#3

Hi there, nice work and insightful level of detail, many thanks for that. Best of luck for 2012! [import]uid: 67641 topic_id: 20220 reply_id: 78955[/import]

#4

wow, thats a success, great job) [import]uid: 16142 topic_id: 20220 reply_id: 78958[/import]

#5

And I say to you: a big thank you for sharing hopes with Indies like me. :slight_smile:

Happy 2012!

Wish you better than it is already for you!
Cheers,
Rodrigo. [import]uid: 89165 topic_id: 20220 reply_id: 78960[/import]

#6

thanks for sharing and congrats! [import]uid: 90610 topic_id: 20220 reply_id: 79117[/import]

#7

nice job! [import]uid: 116663 topic_id: 20220 reply_id: 79120[/import]

#8

Thanks for the congratulations!

If you read the article you surely noticed that I only released sales for december. The sales before were not even close. I’ve always wanted to share my numbers with everyone, but for the first months there was simply nothing to share :stuck_out_tongue:

But on the other side this means that I picked up steam and went from 0 to 100 in about 6 weeks! (you can count the half year before as some sort of preparatory work ;))

I spent most of the development-time with doing graphics. Writing code took just about 10% - 20% of the time. But it still took me only about 2 weeks for each app to finish it. So the faster you release apps, the more often you got the chance to get your foot in the door. Needless to say that this was only possible due to corona =)

If you got any questions regarding my strategy or technical aspects of my apps, feel free to write in this forum, drop me an email or visit the corona IRC channel. I hang out there on a daily schedule =) [import]uid: 24497 topic_id: 20220 reply_id: 79124[/import]

#9

Great post, thanks for sharing :slight_smile: [import]uid: 84637 topic_id: 20220 reply_id: 79182[/import]

#10

congrats on the success! not many game devs can make that amount without any marketing. Hats off to you! [import]uid: 97745 topic_id: 20220 reply_id: 79237[/import]

#11

Nice work and thanks for sharing! I started making kids apps too and have not had nearly as much sucess as yours though. I just got a pro liscense and am trying to get in on the Android Market and was wondering if you could give me some advice. How did you get your app seen in the Android Market? Mine doesn’t even come up when searching parts of the title? 2) how did it work putting ads in your kids apps? Won’t the kids just click on them And the parents get mad? Lastly, how did you display your adds in your apps?

Thanks,
Scott [import]uid: 79834 topic_id: 20220 reply_id: 80520[/import]

#12

I’s also like to say thanks for sharing your experience.

Here’s another good article with lots of good data about app sales.

http://thegamebakers.com/money-and-the-app-store-a-few-figures-that-might-help-an-indie-developer.html

shortened version of same link.

http://bit.ly/y1YaHU [import]uid: 67839 topic_id: 20220 reply_id: 80528[/import]

#13

Thanks for sharing Jorg.

I will personally vouch for him as he helped me with some game logic a few months ago. Really nice guy and very helpful. I will support you with every app you release.

So how about Bloo Kid 2?? A full side scrolling platformer?! Glad this is working out for you! [import]uid: 31262 topic_id: 20220 reply_id: 80845[/import]

#14

@matthias3 - Thanks for writing the article and sharing with everybody. Happy for you and wish you continued success. [import]uid: 84539 topic_id: 20220 reply_id: 80858[/import]

#15

This is a brilliant insight, you must be so thrilled it worked out. When I began reading and you wrote you quit your job with a baby on the way I did think you might have made a mistake. To make it work is a massive achievement - well done!

Chris
[import]uid: 33866 topic_id: 20220 reply_id: 81477[/import]

#16

Congratulations on your success. I read your blog and I hope that you continue to post updates on it.

I have a few questions. Which software are you using to create graphics or what tips can you offer about creating graphics (the images for your apps). I don’t know if your apps have music but where do you get the music?

Also, any tips or suggestions on how non-programmers can go from 0 to 100 in order to learn to code LUA?

Thanks. [import]uid: 130175 topic_id: 20220 reply_id: 89613[/import]

#17

thanx for sharing :slight_smile:
i had also an idea to make a “farm sound” app for kids, seems it’s a good way to earn some coins and have the money to develop apps you want to do. [import]uid: 44010 topic_id: 20220 reply_id: 89618[/import]

#18

Congratulations and thank you for sharing! :slight_smile: [import]uid: 44127 topic_id: 20220 reply_id: 91505[/import]

#19

For all of you interested in how my story continues: I have created a separate website for my monthly reports:
www.my-indie-story.com

I also wrote an e-book that contains all I know about making money with apps. You can grab your copy here:
http://www.indie-story.com/ebook/ [import]uid: 24497 topic_id: 20220 reply_id: 106568[/import]

#20

This is great! [import]uid: 75258 topic_id: 20220 reply_id: 113602[/import]