I would improve the graphics overall so it looks more enticing.
I also like the idea of doing some simple pick-up/power-ups.
Besides that I would do some marketing (with-in reason/budget) and hope for the best.
Your gameplay have nothing to do why this game is not doing well. Your problem is with your listing.
3 things why i DIDN’T want to download your game:
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It’s not free.
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Your icon is ugly (you can tell that it was made by a programmer, not a designer)
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Your screenshots are boring, they are only screenshots of the game…
Sorry if it sounds rude, but this is the first impression that I had when I saw your store listing.
Geometry Dash is $1.99 and has a garbage icon, and it’s 5th on the Paid list. Been up there for as long as I can remember. Ballz is free but also has a bad icon and only screenshots of game play, yet it’s the top listed Free game.
You need some kind of marketing to get the word out there, but if it’s not super fun and nobody wants to tell their friends about it, it’s not going to be super successful.
Seriously?
Don’t get confused, Ed asked for real comments. I’m not beating Ed nor the game. I’m telling “harsh” comments on the store listing. He wants to know and get an idea why his game doesn’t get downloaded.
So ok then, let’s pretend everything is fine with this game then.
Have a nice one.
Common man!
Geometry Dash was featured by Apple, and the game even as a Wikipedia article. Ballz was published by Ketchapp…
Are you sure you know what you’re talking about?
Seriously dude… What the OP wanted was positive criticism, something that would help him!
Quote “Your icon is ugly (you can tell that it was made by a programmer, not a designer)” where was anything in your statement other than being rude? Whilst there maybe some truth in your comments… Did you offer any help, any wise words, any design ideas that could help?
Perhaps you could share your game listings so we could all learn?
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You guys all rock.
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No need to worry about my feelings here. I asked and am getting answers. I am not in any way bruised and fully admit, my art (especially for this game) sucks!
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Marketing - This has been brought up quite a lot and you guys are right. Marketing is key.
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Art again - I know I just said this, but man does this puppy need an overhaul.
Thanks again to each of you for your inputs. I’m going to re-read all of these threads when I get out from under my current pile and start working on this again.
Cheers,
Ed
Ok then, let me rephrase : “I don’t know and don’t have any idea why you don’t get any download. Everything looks fine!”
Happy Sphere Game guy? 
Note to myself: Don’t comment other peoples game on Corona forum even if people are asking to… :wacko:
No _"_game listings so we could all learn?" thought so…
Of course not big guy!
I’m a troll you now that!
I was seriously hoping the snipping at each other would not continue and I wouldn’t need to post this reminder.
Corona Labs is a great community and we need to keep it that way. Please keep things professional.
Thank you
Rob
[quote name=“davemikesell” post=“355184” timestamp=“1492024223”]Geometry Dash is $1.99 and has a garbage icon, and it’s 5th on the Paid list. Been up there for as long as I can remember. Ballz is free but also has a bad icon and only screenshots of game play, yet it’s the top listed Free game. You need some kind of marketing to get the word out there, but if it’s not super fun and nobody wants to tell their friends about it, it’s not going to be super successful. [/quote] Geometry dash icon isn’t garbage and has attractive screenshots. Ballz is published by a huge publisher and also has a decent icon
Was Geometry Dash featured before its first download? Why would they feature a game with a bad icon and that cost $1.99?
Apple never features an app before it’s first download, they feature apps that make money so they can get the 30% cut. Same thing for Google Play
On of my apps is actually a dumb clone of a once popular game. I actually bought a template. It has reached the top 50 of a few countries and even the top 10 in a couple. It hovers in the 200s in a bunch of countries.
It has been featured a few times by Apple (not in the US). My app is free and doesn’t have any in-app purchases. Apple doesn’t make a penny on my app, except for the < $2.00 that I spend on search ads a month. I am not sure that being unique or making money for Apple is a requirement for Apple to feature you.
Unless you are Nintendo
I’ve taken a few looks at the game. I seems pretty good, with simple gameplay, and it almost looks like a throwback to Asteroids. My advice: two things,
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Make it FREE! On average, about 0.2% of paid apps make it to 50,000+ downloads. On the contrary, up to 20% of free apps make it to the same number of downloads. Super popular games with millions of downloads like Clash Royale, Bullet Force, (even The Battle Cats) are free. If you want to charge something, charge with IAPs, make the experience free, and let the user decide if they want to spend money.
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Marketing: I know it has already been mentioned, but it is very important. I have a question: When did you begin promoting your app?
If you haven’t, before you revamp the game, make a bunch of announcements.
Best of Luck!
Hey Ed, I’ve just downloaded it from dropbox ( I also purchased it as it’s the least I can do for all you’ve done for the community ) and here is my feedback:
First Impressions
- The icon doesn’t really grab me, however, I am completely useless at icon design so sadly I don’t know how helpful this particular piece of feedback is.
- I don’t think the first screenshot in the store should be the title, I can only assume a lot of people don’t look much further than that first screenshot when browsing so it should be something from the game itself. Put your best foot forward and all that.
- A short video showing the game, for the store, might be a good idea.
- I think you should be dropped into the game sooner, this might be just me but I’m not a huge fan of tutorial/how to screens. If you can get the player into the game straight away, and then have some text in-game at appropriate points to teach them such as “TOUCH LEFT/RIGHT TO STEER” then “STEERING SPEEDS YOU UP”, followed by “AVOID THE RED” etc that way they get in, playing, and hooked straight away. Then when they quit the current game, take them to the main menu where they can fiddle with options, difficulty, etc as well as seeing info about the game.
Gameplay
- Make a song and dance of when the player reaches a new level. Even just a little thing like “New Level” being displayed at the top with some of the particles you get when you hit a red square. Gives the player a sense of achievement.
- Have some particle effects like the explosion when hitting a green square, maybe they could be green.
- I really like the speed up you get when you do a doughnut, could there be some way of having to use that like a slingshot? i.e. maybe at some point there are some green squares that are aligned, and move, in such a way that you have to have some serious speed to collect all of them. So it forces the player to do a slingshot move to get all of them.
- Maybe add some kind of special Gold Stars or something that are optional to collect. Gives some replayability for a perfect score. You can then put them in tricky places that forces the player to say, get a load of green, then dart over to the right to get the star and be quick enough to come back to the left again to get the next green.
- Maybe more ship types with slightly differing speeds/turn rates that could be played as.
- Or, have little Upgrade pickups that the player can collect if they want to. They only upgrade the ship during the current game. Basically little Speed / Turning + 1 pickups. Not sure if this would be a good idea or not but basically what I’m getting at is a little bit of variety / player choice.
- Maybe add some additional Reds, like flat lines or closing gates etc. Maybe these are added later on though already and I just haven’t got that far yet
- I feel like I should be able to keep my finger on the screen all the time ( assuming I want to steer ) and simply slide it to the left/right etc to adjust steering. Kind of like an analogue stick stuck on the X axis. However, I realise this would change it to a single-touch rather than two-touch game so feel free to ignore this, or all other feedback, if you want it to stay two-touch.
- Could add leaderboards/achievements and social sharing, that sort of stuff.
Overall I don’t think there is anything wrong per se with the game, the core mechanic is sound and a lot of fun. It works well and has a good learning curve. I just think there needs to be some more on top of that to provide some more variety.
I hope some of this helps but as I say, please simply ignore any of this feedback if you want. It’s just my opinion and a lot of these things might do more damage than good by taking away the simplicity of the core game.