Insider Tips for Launching a Mobile Game

Whether you're a seasoned developer or just starting, this guide is here to help you turn your dream game into a reality. From coming up with an amazing concept to building it, testing it, and launching it on the app stores, this guide will be your companion on a fun and exciting journey. We’ll go into detail regarding what it takes to nail down a concept, tips to creating a unique and memorable experience, a variety of examples of indie games that changed the industry, how to build the perfect team, marketing tips, and a little bit of venting about getting in the app stores... 😅

So, get ready to unleash your creativity, sharpen your skills, and let's make some amazing games together!

Creating a Game Plan for your first Mobile Game

Developing a mobile game is not all fun and games (pun intended), it's also a lot of hard work, patience, and overcoming obstacles.

As an indie developer, you'll probably face a lot of difficulties and pitfalls along the way. But don't let that discourage you! These challenges are just part of the process,and they'll only make you stronger. From debugging and testing to dealing with (painstaking) rejection from the app stores, to marketingyour game...it's not all sunshine and rainbows. But don't worry! With this guide in hand, you'll be well-equipped to tackle any obstacle that comes your way. So, get ready to roll up your sleeves, because it's time to get down to business and make some amazing mobile games!

Conception

The first step to any project of any kind is conception. The concept drives the rest of your journey. Conceptualizing your mobile game as an indie developer is an exciting process,the possibilities are endless.As an indie developer, you'll likely have some restrictions in terms of budget, resources, and time, but don’t let that get inthe way of your creative flow. Let your ideas swirl around in your headand inspire yourself and your team.

It may be helpful to think about the scope of your game, the target audience, the game mechanics, and monetization strategies. It's also important to research what similar games are already on the market and how you can make yours stand out. By keeping these factors in mind, you can come up with a game idea that is both creative and feasible.

When our team started researchingto decide on the concept of our first game, our game devs studied loads of other mobile games. Each team member created a list of intriguing mobile games and their concepts.Then they broke down the most liked concepts from everyone’s lists and created a new list of ideas. From that, they continued to narrow down the most liked conceptsuntil they were able to create their own game concepts. The team worked together to create conceptartandpitch the gamesand through democracy,the concept of Junk Odyssey was born. Each team’s process will be different, maybe you already have an idea that just needs the magic of a brainstorming session with others to home in on the final concept and lore.

Conceptualizing your first mobile game as an indie developer is like a treasure hunt. You start with a map, a compass, and a dream, and you go out in search of that one idea that will make your game stand out. It's a journey filled with brainstorming sessions, doodles, and lots of caffeine. You'll be thinking about game mechanics, art style, and target audience. Don't be afraid to think outside the box! The best game ideas often come from unexpected places.

There have been many indie games that have seen great success with revolutionary game mechanics. Some examples include:

These are just a few examples of indie games that have seen great success with revolutionary game mechanics.You don’t always have to reinvent the wheel, take Five Nights at Freddy’sfor example; just the introduction of deep dark hidden lore and the public’s love for seeing influencers cower at jump scares can spark a cult following and skyrocket your game into being a household name.

Once you've found that perfect idea, it's time to roll up your sleeves and start working on it. It will be a fun and challenging process, but with the right mindset and a bit of determination, you'll be able to turn your game idea into a reality.

Planning and World Building

Planning and world-building for your indie mobile game is like building a castle in the sky. You start with a blank canvas and a vision, and you slowly but surely turn it into a magical place filled with characters, stories, and adventures. It's a process that requires creativity, attention to detail, and a bit of organization. You'll be making decisions on what platforms your game will be released on, whether it's iOS, Android, or both.

While both platforms have a large user base, the demographics and preferences of the players can vary greatly. Generally, iOS users tend to be more affluent and willing to spend more money on in-app purchases. They also tend to skew towards a slightly older age group. On the other hand, Android users tend to be more diverse in terms of age and income levels and are more likely to play games for free with ads or in-app purchases. Regarding game genres, iOS users tend to prefer puzzle and strategy games, while Android users tend to prefer action and arcade games. Understanding these differences can help you make informed decisions on which platform to target and how to tailor your game to the preferences of the players.

What feel and emotion do you want your game to evoke? Is there a deeper meaning or lesson, lore? The answer to these questions will determine the game's art style, soundtrack, and overall feel. As you build your game's world, you'll be creating a blueprint for the game's levels, characters, and features, like a master architect. You'll have a blast creating a world that will captivate players and make them want to explore every nook and cranny of your game. It’s one of the most exhilarating parts of game development.

It's important at this stage to decide what the overall goal of your game will be. Is it purely for monetization, a hobby project, or to get your name into the industry?

Down to the nitty gritty: Developing

While both indie games and AAA titles have their unique challenges, the development process for indie games is generally characterized by smaller teams, smaller budgets, shorter development cycles, and a different distribution and marketing approach. Meaning if don’t have a solid plan before the development phase you’ll be in for a rude awakening. One step that can help ease some tension through the development phase is role and responsibility clarification and a clear communication plan.

Don’t get too hung up on labels, in indie game development everyone wears multiple hats. One of our Game Devs, Dustin, says “[It’s important to remember] nobody in an indie game dev team wears one hat. You pretty much have to be good at, or at least work on a few roles. Sound design and music, UI design, game design, 2d and/or 3d art, programming, animation, writing, and developing concepts. In larger companies, each of these is handled by a team, but in indie dev, a small team has to handle all of them or try to cover a section with assets.” Finding like-minded team members is a great way to start your game development. Without the right team behind you, you’ll be fighting an already uphill battle.

Having a clear concept and a well-defined world allows developers to focus on the core elements of the game and prioritize features that are most important to the overall vision. This can help prevent feature and scope creep, which are common issues in development that can lead to delays, budget overruns, and ultimately the failure of the game. This is a common pitfall of any development project. Having the right tools is as important as having a game plan and thorough scope.

Indie game developers often face many challenges when programming their games, including those related to algorithms, logic, dynamics, and most importantly cost.

A few engines commonly used by indie developers are:

When it comes to art popular options are Blender for 3D art, or Gimp, Inkscape, or Aseprite for 2D art. Picking one that will fit your game’s style and the story is very important.

For our game Junk Odyssey, we went with Unity and Blender for our game development and assets. A lot of the time it's cost-effective for indies to use assets. Our team uses Unity since it's so versatile. The alternative, Unreal, is very 3D-focused and very nuanced. Since we had a relatively constrained timeline, Unity made more sense for our circumstances If you don't know what kind of game you're planning to create and what kind of style, at least you know that Unity can do it. It has a decent workflow for both 2D and 3D and has a ton of add-ons from Unity that are free that can improve workflow. Our team picked Blender because it's free while rivaling some of the top 3D modeling software out there. It's constantly updated with new features and like Unity is very versatile. Both game engines have asset stores making indie game development much easier. Itch.io also sells assets and, Textures.com is great for... well textures. Humble Bundle can be amazing for getting tons of assets at an affordable price. There are tons of resources out there perfect for indie developers, making their lives so much easier.

Some of the common challenges faced by indie game developers, include implementing consistent game mechanics, creating efficient algorithms, and working with limited resources. To overcome these hardships, indie developers can use a variety of tactics. Firstly, they can start by researching and understanding the game mechanics of successful games in their genre, and then adapt those mechanics to their game design. Secondly, they can focus on streamlining their code and algorithms to optimize performance and reduce the number of bugs. This can be achieved through the use of tools such as profilers and debuggers, as well as by seeking feedback from other developers. Finally, as mentioned above, there are a ton of free assets and engines available out there to leverage. They can also collaborate with other indie developers or artists to pool resources and share the workload and look for opportunities to cut costs without sacrificing the quality of their games.

Testing

Planning and world-building for your indie mobile game is like building a castle in the sky. You start with a blank canvas and a vision, and you slowly but surely turn it into a magical place filled with characters, stories, and adventures. It's a process that requires creativity, attention to detail, and a bit of organization. You'll be making decisions on what platforms your game will be released on, whether it's iOS, Android, or both.

While both platforms have a large user base, the demographics and preferences of the players can vary greatly. Generally, iOS users tend to be more affluent and willing to spend more money on in-app purchases. They also tend to skew towards a slightly older age group. On the other hand, Android users tend to be more diverse in terms of age and income levels and are more likely to play games for free with ads or in-app purchases. Regarding game genres, iOS users tend to prefer puzzle and strategy games, while Android users tend to prefer action and arcade games. Understanding these differences can help you make informed decisions on which platform to target and how to tailor your game to the preferences of the players.

What feel and emotion do you want your game to evoke? Is there a deeper meaning or lesson, lore? The answer to these questions will determine the game's art style, soundtrack, and overall feel. As you build your game's world, you'll be creating a blueprint for the game's levels, characters, and features, like a master architect. You'll have a blast creating a world that will captivate players and make them want to explore every nook and cranny of your game. It’s one of the most exhilarating parts of game development.

It's important at this stage to decide what the overall goal of your game will be. Is it purely for monetization, a hobby project, or to get your name into the industry?

Marketing

A way indie developers can differentiate themselves when marketing is by focusing on the unique aspects of their game, such as story, gameplay mechanics, or art style. Create trailers, screenshots, and other promotional materials that highlight these features and make the game stand out.

Another approach is to build a strong community around the game. Indie game developers should use social media and online forums to connect with players and build a fan base. They can also participate in game festivals and conventions, which can be a great way to get the game in front of potential players and the press.

Guerrilla marketing is an unconventional approach that leverages creativity and the element of surprise to reach target audiences in unexpected ways, making it more impactful and cost-efficient than traditional marketing methods.

Our team will be attending South by Southwest this year to network and promote our game, Junk Odyssey. Take a look at our blog, Nexrage's SXSW Survival Guide, to get a better understanding of how you can utilize the event for marketing. Indie developers should leverage online platforms such as Steam, itch.io, and mobile app stores to reach their target audience. Building a strong relationship with influencers, streamers, and reviewers can be a great way for indie developers to gain exposure and reach a larger audience. These platforms allow indie developers to promote their games, reach new players, and sell their games.

Overall, indie game developers need to be inventive and unique in their marketing approach to stand out in the crowded market. They need to leverage their limited resources and be creative to connect with their target audience and build a community around their game.

The Final Boss: Getting Accepted into the App Stores

Getting an app or game approved by both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store can be a challenging process, as several requirements must be met before the app can be made available to users.

A major challenge is meeting the technical requirements of the app stores. Both stores have strict guidelines for app development, including requirements for performance, security, and user experience. Ensuring that the app follows the app stores' policies, both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store have strict guidelines for content, including rules against hate speech, offensive material, and illegal activities. Failure to comply with these policies can result in the app being rejected or removed from the store. Something we learned along the way was that Apple doesn’t allow “beta’s” on their app store.

Additionally, there are requirements for the app's design and functionality, both stores have guidelines that need to be followed, such as the app icon, screenshots and videos, and the overall UI/UX of the app.

Overall, getting an app or game approved by both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store is a challenging process, requiring developers to meet many technical and policy-related requirements, and navigate the submission process. A good practice is to start the process two weeks in advance to allow enough time for changes if anything needs to be tweaked.

Launch!

Launching an indie mobile game is such an exciting process! Before launching, it's important to ensure that the game is fully functional, bug-free, and optimized for the target platform or both stores. This includes testing the game on multiple devices and making sure it performs well on different hardware and software configurations. Game teams need to make sure that the game is stable, and that all the features are working as intended.

Once the game is ready, developers need to decide on the launch date and plan the marketing and promotion of the game. This includes creating trailers, screenshots, and other promotional materials, as well as reaching out to influencers, streamers, and press to build buzz around the launch.

It's also important to have a plan for post-launch support, this includes updating the game with new content, bug fixes, and features, as well as engaging with the community and addressing any issues that arise. Stay tuned for an extended article on the post-launch of a game.

Conclusion

Luka, our Creative Game Director leaves you with this “If you have the creative mind to make something amazing, find the right tools and learn the skills necessary to make your dream come true. If you can't, find someone who can. Take them on your journey with you. If you hit a bump in the road that neither of you can tackle, find someone else who can. Add them to the team. However, many people you need on the journey to reach that dream and overcome all those bumps and obstacles in your way. And those people? Those are the people who you want to share your success with. Those are the people who stuck with you on this journey and made something amazing.

So I'd say, of course, my own opinion here, focus on the partnership aspect of finding like-minded individuals who want to go on this journey with you to make that dream a reality. That is the true heart of creating a game.”

Don’t be discouraged, some of the best games out there today are indie games. With a unique concept and art, your game can win the hearts of many players. While our first mobile game isn’t fully released yet. We are well on our way to launching our puzzle game with an environmentally friendly twist. Stay on the lookout for more information regarding Junk Odyssey, and the projects we have coming up next.

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