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[James Coote]

This is as much me arranging the jumble of ideas around marketing in my head into something more coherent, but I'd very much appreciate any feedback on my marketing strategy

TL:DR summary is at the bottom.. of the second post  

Don't hold back with criticism (I know you won't anyway )

Product
"The best thing you can do to market your game is to have a great game"

Premise
The game is a managerial / business simulator set in space. Imagine Transport Tycoon had used the Homeworld engine. It is for Android only

Aspirational
Arguably, a game is a mass market, consumer product, so it can at best imitate the techniques used by aspirational branding

Art Style
The art style comprises of several parts

Minimalism
Clean, clinical, uncluttered, small colour palette. This taps into the vision of the future presented in science fiction. Minimalist architecture and interior design has an association with high-quality and affluent living. This style also helps the UI design

Financial Aesthetic
Graphs, numbers and figures of the stock market. An indication of a 'higher plane' of business where success is measured in millions and billions. Intricate geometric patterns, guilloches and shiny metal holograms on paper bank notes represent value and authority

Sound & Music
Non-frenetic, chilled, relaxed, cool and stylish. Musical style and sound effects should reflect the overall aesthetic. Electronica fits best, incorporating synthetic instruments often used or associated with science fiction and the future

User Interface
The user interface must not only look stylish and be functional, it must flow. The movement must look and feel as good as when static

It must work with and not against the platform, taking advantage of touchscreen capabilities of swipe and movement, whilst still considering the limitations (variable and small screen size)

Mechanics
The game mechanics are what keeps the player playing, so rightfully constitute the most important part of the game.

There should be a single core mechanic, that is intuitive to understand. It must be easy to learn, but hard to master.

Additionally, the mechanics must allow skillful players to advance, but maintain an element of luck

Core Mechanic
Programming spaceships' activities (Go here, buy this, go there, mine that)

Emergence and Exploration
The functions players can program into their spaceships are on the surface, simple enough, but have hidden complexities. When multiplied over many ships, they create a huge diversity of combinations leading to unexpected results

The game world is dynamic, reacting to players actions, and endlessly creating new challenges (skill)

The game world is sufficiently large, and mostly-procedurally generated; enough to allow players to explore many different locations and discover new phenomenon (luck)

Pacing
The game has no twitch reaction mechanics or those that rely on precise accuracy of movement. This fits with a more cerebral type of game that ties in with the aspirational image ("work smarter, not harder").

Variable speeds also allow players with limited time to 'skip forward' or slow down or even pause when conducting complex, time sensitive operations. The player can control how much pressure they wish to put themselves under, and "skip the boring bits"


Price
Give the player as many ways to pay as possible, but don't force them into one model. See also Monetisation

Premium
The product is a quality product, and should have a price that reflects that. At the same time, market rates for similar games must be considered. Current thinking is $5 - $10

There are two dangers however

Fans of the game may resent developers charging above market rates, knowing they will still pay.

Pirates may be particularly attracted to try and crack an 'expensive' game

Elasticity
Any sort of price drop seems to cause a temporary spike in sales. People like a bargain. Starting with a high price allows the price to fall and still be relatively high.

However, the idea of a 'bargain' does not fit with a premium, aspirational product. Those that buy into the original dream may feel their exclusive experience has been devalued. Typically price-cuts in isolation generate a spike in sales, rather than a long term trend, so should be used only as part of a wider, considered campaign

Freemium
Or a demo as I like to call it, allows the player to get a taster or sample of the game. This may lead some to decide they like the game enough to buy the premium version, but it acts more to reduce casual piracy

IAP Cap
Many players resent the way some F2P (Free-to-play) games feel like dressed up slot machines, designed to milk them of their money ad infinitum

A price cap will help alleviate that. In essence, once the player has spent the same amount on IAP (in-app-purchases) as they would have spent to buy the game at the premium price, all further content will be unlocked and they will be upgraded to a premium version of the game

The danger is that it destroys the ability for the 0.5% of fans for whom the game is basically their hobby (the so called "whales") to spend as much as they want (or can afford) on the game.

However, I personally believe this can be picked up in other ways/areas, whilst not frustrating the far larger number of players who aren't willing to "pay to win"


Distribution
Players can get the game through many different markets and websites. The aim is to make cost in time+effort to get it from pirates > time+effort+money to get it legitimately

Market Distortion and Volatility
The android market in particular, amongst app markets, has been subject to poor visibility/discoverability and product differentiation spiraling the average price to "Free". It has likewise suffered from frequent changes both to the platform, devices and the market app itself. Not to mention the pace of change in the wider tech and games industry. In short, it is not stable

Payment Systems
From a business perspective, the payment process is the most important experience to get right.

The player must trust (and feel comfortable with) the payment method/system. At the same time, the systems must be streamlined to stop players being lost (i.e. as few steps as possible between player deciding to pay and transaction being completed).

The solution is be to provide as many quality options as possible. Large established companies (paypal, amazon, google, telcos) have trust by their brand and understand streamlining payment

Intelligent awareness of context can also help (e.g. identifying the phone sim carrier and not displaying payment options for other carriers)

Platform Holders
Visibility / discoverability is poor on most app stores. Appealing to the platform holder's own interests may increase the chance of a coveted 'feature slot'

i.e. Make a game for the players, market it at Google or Amazon or Samsung or whoever has an android app market

The danger of doing this more than once or twice is the loss of exclusivity that cheapens the aspirational image of the game

Hard to Pirate
Forcing paying players to register may put some off playing or resent the extra effort paying customers are put through compared to their freemium-using counterparts.

Requiring an internet connection (to authenticate) adds an extra permission to the list required (and displayed in the app store). Equally, getting the device's unique ID adds some permissions that are not instantly obvious why they are needed, and may discourage players from making a purchase

Finally, there is an overhead cost to running authentication servers, as well as extra development time to implement said servers as well as obfuscate code

Giving Soft Pirates a Way Out
The game should give players who are detected as pirates an easy way out, so as to soften the feeling of being cheated out of the full game (e.g. still letting them play the freemium parts of the game)

Importantly, the game should be up-front with the would-be pirate, and encouraging them to play rather than chastise them and have them throw the whole thing in.

Localisation
It takes a lot of effort to play a game in a language that isn't your native tongue. Providing a legitimate localised version removes an incentive many pirates have for cracking the game

The downside here is the cost, which is significant, plus the multitude of languages in the world, and finally the expectation that a localised game will provide localised support


Pre-Launch

Private Beta
This overlaps the latter half of development. It allows some marketing activities to happen whilst allowing useful feedback for developers

It reduces risk by identifying features or aspects of the game that may be mistakes and hurt sales. It helps improve existing features, ensuring they are of the highest quality

Some beta testers will gain a feeling of exclusivity (being specially selected) in participating in the private beta, which should mean some become eventual evangelists for the game.

It also allows the start of a fan base to grow that can be built on as the game progresses

Social Media Marketing
This is when there is something substantial to the game to show off, far enough away from launch that it allows some time for hype to build, but not so far that fans lose interest in the meantime

Blog
This adds an intellectual level to the game development, helping flesh out some of the ideas around the game's art style, back story, development history and mechanics that may otherwise constitute data overload elsewhere

It helps give a sense that the game is part of a greater community and world beyond (when blogging on events and trends in the industry and wider world)

It also adds to the human touch and gives players a feeling of having exclusive knowledge of the game "straight from the horses mouth"

Facebook/Twitter
These are for evening out the peaks and troughs in excitement generated by blogs and new screenshots/trailers/info on the game being released

It adds to the human touch and also can link into other networks of people to spread the game's marketing messages (though this is very much hit and miss and shouldn't be relied on).

Community Outreach
A horrible way to say using existing online communities to find additional customers. In reality, posting on forums here and there and plugging the game in signatures or in 'announcement' sections of forums is a waste of time. The exchange must be mutual, and developers must contribute to a community in meaningful ways to be a part of it, rather than just talking to it

The danger is getting the balance right. Too much helping and it starts to suck up time for not so much benefit (and makes people more suspicious. "Why is this person trying overly hard to be helpful?")

Equally, too little and communities see through it as a cynical attempt to get a foot in the door and sell you something (which can turn whole groups of people against you! Far worse than having done nothing at all).

Commitment and sincerity is the big healer here. Don't pick communities where developers and marketeers don't really have a personal interest as they will lose enthusiasm and it will become an ineffectual a waste of time

Kickstarter
This acts as a sort of 'practice' for the actual launch, and will be a useful way of measuring whether marketing messages are effective or not

It will solve some of the problems with financing the game (particularly the art side, as I can only afford so much per month to pay artists. I can do the coding myself on my free time). It also gives a nice way to give the new fans of the game a way to directly see their contributions and also give something back to those fans

Finally it is a good way of generating extra interest from those people who accidentally stumble across it.

Public Beta
This is where modules needed to make the game a commercial success (In-game support, store etc) are integrated into the game

Making a beta public dampens the feeling of being special and exclusive that private beta members have had, but is balanced against the feeling of resentment felt by those who discovered the game a bit later and still want to "get in on the action" early

Promo-codes
Different websites or sources will give different promo-codes, that when used give players a reward (e.g. a free, limited edition item)

This is a good way of identifying which marketing channels are most effective

Post Launch Support Preparation
After public beta, it should be possible to gauge the likely volume of sales post launch and thus the probably support needs

Post Launch Sales Preparation
Setting up the in-game / in-app store (see Monetisation and Price)

Conventions
These provide the final element of human touch prior to launch. They will help  identify any potential marketing channels (forums, blogs, websites etc) that might be aimed at the target demographic but have previously been missed.

They also act as a channel in themselves, allowing reach to potential players who's use of the web is limited

Finally, there is the possibility of creating free, positive PR


Launch
As the game is not aimed at the mass market, and so does not rely on chart rankings and the visibility (or lack thereof) of the app stores, the launch is about converting the potential players into playing/paying players

Announcements
These serve to remind players of the upcoming event. They should ramp up to the actual launch rather than simply declare the event as having happened to maximise anticipation.

The danger is players will lose interest again or forget if the build-up period is too long . I think 5 days is good (start announcing Monday, release Friday)

Backup Plan
In case there is some problem with the market(s), have a backup plan that lets players get hold of the app or otherwise not be disappointed

Timing
There should be consideration of other events both in the games industry and wider world. E.g. a week before any major conferences or conventions, but not during or after.

Avoid big AAA-title launches and Holiday seasons (i.e. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Golden Weeks (China), Eid etc).

Also avoid major news events (some websites list all the events in the near future likely to generate news stories (e.g. court dates for high-profile cases, elections) unless they fit with the game (e.g. Space rocket launch)

(continues below...)

[James Coote]

Post Launch

(Re)Acquisition

PR
Why only now? To give journalists the chance to discover the game of their own accord, which is far more likely to generate a positive preview/review

As launch is not as important in the overall strategy, generating positive PR prior to launch is not as important as getting good reviews and a longer tail or reacquire players lost between hearing about the game first and launch

Advertisements
These will help boost re-acquisition of players lost earlier in the process, as well as generate some new sales

The most effective marketing material and channels will have been identified by this point, allowing the advertisements to get best value for money.

Furthermore, the income from initial sales should allow this to become financially viable

Retention
The 'nasty' stuff? This is about keeping the player playing whilst issues with the game mechanics (which is what should be keeping the player engaged) are solved.

It is cheaper short term to retain players until 'burn-out' then acquire new players. However, long term sustainability is recognising the vast majority of players have a finite attention span anyway, and that reacquiring them later is much cheaper if you let them naturally come and go

Wait Mechanics
These give incentives for the player to come back at a later time to get some greater reward.

The danger is this causes resentment amongst players for dictating the times they can play a game, whether or not it fits with the rest of their life. This in turn can cause burn-out

It is also non-compatible with the variable game speed mechanic

Daily Rewards
Encouraging players to artificially play over multiple sessions over an extended period of time, may, like the wait mechanic, cause resentment where players feel obliged to play the game, rather than the game rewarding them for their skill

Limited Editions (Items)
These give current players an (undeserved?) reward, and may temporarily increase re-acquisition or temporarily increase existing player retention

The danger is players who miss the limited edition item(s) may resent not being able to get the limited edition

Some players may also resent having to play longer than they might otherwise just to get the limited edition (and then be disappointed if it does not meet their expectation), leading to burn-out

So use with caution or only in special circumstances

Early

Tutorial
This is the biggest way to stop early-loss / increase new player retention. Often the start of a game can be the most fun, but also most challenging time. The player must not be abandoned as soon as they walk through the door (only to turn round and head straight back out again)

It will also help in converting freemium/lite/demo players into premium players

The danger is in ensuring tutorial(s) allow multiple play styles (hand-holding, ok-I-get-it-let-me-get-on-and-play, sandbox play/experimentation etc), so players never feel lost or constrained. This clearly increases development and maintenance costs

Mid

Help
This reduces mid-game loss / increases retention amongst players who are beyond the initial tutorial

This must be in multiple forms (videos, walkthroughs, in writing/diagram form, help forums and channels), since different people learn and respond to different media. Clearly this adds to development and maintenance costs

The danger is that if not properly managed (or with independent fan/community sites), the challenge of discovering optimal strategies and tactics is destroyed by having the answers pasted across the web

Support
This helps players who have a technical problem with the game. This prevents newly acquired players from being wasted (because their device is not supported or whatever), and should also prevent such future occurrences before they even happen

The danger is balancing the cost of providing support with the demand. Too little and the players feel undervalued and used / not cared for. Too much and the cost to employ support personnel drags down the business

This can also be thought of as buying / maintaining company reputation, rather than an overhead, though it has diminishing returns

In-Game Support
This reduces the chance players are lost between having a problem in game and getting to player support & help

Late

Expansions
Giving new challenges to existing players, it is undoubtedly the best way to increase/maintain retention long term

It helps reacquire lost players and acquire new ones (like a mini-launch)

Multiple expansions over time may increase the scope, making maintenance more difficult, increasing support cost and making the new-player-experience more bewildering

It is also very expensive to develop

Donations
This is the main area where sales lost to the IAP price cap are picked up. The biggest fans of the game are encouraged to donate to new expansions or content

It is unlikely to completely replace developer-funded expansions without causing a feeling amongst at least some that the developer is letting the community do all the funding then taking the profits from more sales when the player/fan expansion is released

Expansion Vote
By allowing fans and players to contribute and/or have a say in continued development, a feeling that they have a stake in the game beyond just playing it, is generated

Competitions
These add a social and competitive dimension currently lacking in the game


Monetisation
Also 'nasty stuff'?

The player must feel the transaction is fair in value. They must also feel they are the ones initiating the transaction, rather than circumstances or a pushy sales person forcing them into it. (Ideally the transaction IS fair and unforced)

Bulk Buy
Combining purchase of multiple items rather than 1 item, 1 sale

The danger with the techniques listed below is they go against the aspirational, high-quality image

Uneven Price Promotions
$1 = 1 item
$2 = 3 item
$3 = 10 item

Psychologically, the player is confused, unable to spot a reasonable pattern to the pricing. Therefore they pick the item that appears too good to be true (when actually 1 item ought to cost $0.30), thus shifting more units in the process

The biggest example of this is the IAP cap. It seems like the player is getting a good deal, when actually they might not have stretched to the $5 to unlock everything when they actually only wanted one or two extra items.

Packs
Grouping together low demand items with high demand items in order to shift more units (sub-prime mortgages anyone?)

Valuable Items Drop Chances Fall Over Time
This allows new players to make rapid progress early in the game, aiding early retention. By showing the player what progress they could make if they purchased an item, they are encouraged to overcome some of their concerns about its value

In a way, the lite/demo version of the game acts in a similar way. Even more so if the demo/lite version has a time limit

The danger is the player resents having to pay for what they previously did not have to.

Consumables
The nature of the game prevents selling of consumables. In a game ostensibly all about making money, being able to purchase in-game currency would defeat the point

The danger is that players who are frustrated with progress or of lower skill resent being unable to reach later stages of the game sooner

In-Game Advertisements
These use up a lot of battery life (not good for a game that goes at a slower pace and aims for extended play sessions).

They also take up screen real estate, something of already limited availability on many devices

Finally they don't fit with the aesthetics or aspirational / high-quality image (especially as they are often associated with cheaper and/or lower quality apps. Also lack of targeted advertisements and/or control over what adverts are shown for many API's)

IA Store
The In-App (IA) store is the primary tool for turning lifetime ARPU from $0 to $5. It is also the public face (along with in-game support) of the company in-game

All the lessons retailers have learned over the years should be replicated here

Loss Leaders
These will encourage people into the IA store, where upon they may be more easily encouraged to purchase more than what they initially intended

Players may feel more comfortable making bigger transactions if smaller ones have been a success

Displaying Locked Items
This increases awareness of items that may help players, and encourage them to visit the IA store. For those that do purchase these items, it may engender a feeling of exclusivity (that they posses items that usually can't easily be acquired)

The danger is players resent being able to see but not touch things they consider useful or valuable. It may create the "pay-to-win" feeling

Similar Items
If you liked this, you may also like that

Impulse Buys
Presenting extra items near or in association with bigger purchases (Chocolate bars by the counter, accessories for your new purchase)

Shifts more units (depending on store design)

Loyalty Rewards
These encourage repeat use of the IA store.

There is a danger, if managed poorly, that players resent having to buy items they wouldn't normally, just to build up loyalty points. Equally they may feel their loyalty points are touted as being more valuable than they really are

Shop Window
Giving more prominence to certain items that the player sees upon entering the store, and cycling these items to increase visibility of all items and encourage the player to explore the store

Sales (Cut-price promotions)
These will increase visits to the IA store (in a sense, advertising loss leaders through the guise of having a 'sale').

Assistance
Giving sales assistance helps the feeling the company cares about the player and the choices the player is making in game (and thus in the IA store)

The dangers are the same as with support. Getting the balance right so that not too many sales assistants are crowding round too few players, nor that players feel they are not getting the attention they deserve because assistants are rushed off their feet


Scaling & Exit Strategy

The game should be able to scale in both directions

In particular, both support and the IA store can be completely cut or left at the planning phase if the game is not as wildly successful as I hope.

The support will be picked up by the developer whilst sales would come purely from premium rather than also from IA store.

Expansions can still be supported through updates

Localisation can also be cut and/or left until later. Android has some nice in-built features that provides for localisation support without adding too much development overhead

Exit Strategy
A graceful exit strategy that allows the game to continue even when no longer profitable for the company can ensure continued positive reputation from the game and prevent fans of the game being alienated toward the company

Legally, the art assets in the game are all copyright of their creators and licenced. The licences can be legally exited but new licences would have to be negotiated as the current ones cannot be transferred.

The code is proprietary property of the company, but can be licenced for limited use where the company still uses it in other products


Executive Summary

Product
High-quality Android game
Aspirational branding

Price
Freemium version w. In app store
Premium paid-for version ($5-10)
IAP cap / auto-upgrade to premium

Promotion
Social Media Marketing
Private/Public Betas
Kickstarter
PR

Distribution
Easy to buy, Hard to pirate

[bateleur]

Have you just done a business degree or something?

My main reaction to all this is that it's waaay to soon to think about marketing since you clearly haven't made even a prototype of the game.

Based on the very brief description of your planned mechanics this game sounds like a FaceBook game. If you're planning to sell it for $5+ then get rid of all the grindy stuff, "retention" and "reacquisition" and IAP. Don't worry about iterating mechanics. Just design a game that's good on day one. Programming spaceships seems like it could be either a puzzle or an RTS (or something else?). I suggest thinking about this a bit more so you know who your audience are.

Also, stop obsessing about pirates. The slightest whiff of DRM on something like this and you'll get such a bad reputation that no other marketing you do will have any effect at all.

[Chris Koźmik]

Whoa! You included every single possible monetarization scheme

Freemium is NOT like demo at all. If you think even for a split second that freemium is like demo, don't attempt to make freemium, you will fail.

You have an obsession over pirates. Make a game worth pirating first, that's the real goal for an indie, not fighting pirates. You want to make a game that will be so tasty that it will be pirated a lot (and purchased a lot). Also, DRM is "passe" in indie products. No one does it anymore.

[James Coote]

My main reaction to all this is that it's waaay to soon to think about marketing since you clearly haven't made even a prototype of the game.

What makes you say that?

I've been working on the game full time for over a year. It is about 90% complete in terms of functionality (the above is not the design document, only the stuff relevant to marketing), even if it still needs a lot of polish

Whoa! You included every single possible monetarization scheme

Yeah, I tried to cover every single one, but there are a lot that I don't intend to include for the reasons I state. Maybe I didn't make that very clear

Freemium is NOT like demo at all. If you think even for a split second that freemium is like demo, don't attempt to make freemium, you will fail.

I meant freemium as in lite/premium. That is as opposed to free and supported with in-app purchases, which I'd call free-to-play (f2p). A semantics thing or am I missing something?

[bateleur]

I've been working on the game full time for over a year. It is about 90% complete in terms of functionality (the above is not the design document, only the stuff relevant to marketing)

Ah, OK. Your document gave the impression that you knew almost nothing about how the game was going to turn out. Surely, having now written (and presumably played) the game you must be able to rule out the majority of these marketing approaches as wildly unsuitable?

Anyway, if it's 90% done then the next step is to run some closed playtests with people who aren't you. If the testers like the game they should be able to tell you how much they'd expect to pay and what payment models seem appropriate.

[TylerYork]

Oof, that's a laundry list, but a lot of the things you've outlined are great. Let me give some feedback point-by-point, and then some insight into how I build my marketing plans

Product
It's great that you're already thinking about the look & feel of the product in respect to marketing. However, you need to approach it from a different direction. You need to figure out who your target customers are first, then try to create a look & feel that will be instantly recognizable to those customers. Look at the other games that have come before you in that genre (both mobile and PC), and try to figure out what worked in them and what didn't from old forum posts and blog articles. This can shortcut your learning and show you what players respond best to.

Price
If you're building an Android-only game, I would very strongly recommend going freemium-only as a pricing model. Paid apps on Android, especially $5-$10 ones, get pirated almost immediately, which screws you out of the money you deserve. With a freemium model, pirates are less likely to steal your game and even if they do, your game is still free and can compete effectively.

Promotion
This is a great start, and much more thought out than many game developers at this stage. At this point, I'd like to give you some feedback on how I build my marketing plans.

I build all of my plans like a roadmap, which you've started to do. By breaking your plan out into phases, you can start to build a timeline around your marketing tasks. However, a timeline is not a roadmap. A marketing roadmap is a timeline + tasklist merged into one. It is a list of your specific tasks to be completed, organized chronologically and then by task subset. For example, a task in your roadmap might say Pre-Launch > Social Media Marketing > Create Twitter account. Yes, they should be *that* granular. When you complete the task, strikethrough it with your Font editor. Highlight the tasks that you're working on now in Yellow. This gives you a constant running tally of what you're doing for marketing

Lastly, I'd recommend testing your game as you develop it to help refine the game pre-launch and also to build momentum and an initial community around your game for launch. I outlined how to go about this in a Gamasutra post here:
http://gamasutra.com/view/feature/168647/making_lean_startup_tactics_work_.php

Good luck

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

downloadable indie games on pc get pirated almost immediately too, but that doesn't mean that all downloadable indie games should be "freemium" -- some genres don't work well as freemium games, especially  long single-player games with lots of content that the player is likely to play through only once (e.g. rpgs, adventure games)

"freemium" (there has to be a better term than that, really) games work best for multiplayer games (mmorpgs, dotalikes, multiplayer competetive fps games, other types of persistent world games, etc.), for programs/applications/services that have some utility other than entertainment, games that are long-term that you return to and collect stuff in, and the like. i don't think it's a good idea to try to fit a genre of game that wouldn't fit it and just decide to make it freemium based on the platform, especially if he's 90% done with his game

[theRayDog]

I would typically start with trying to make a good game, then letting other people play it. 

[cliffski]

I'd forget android. I don't know anyone making even beer money there. target PC or ipad instead.

[James Coote]

Thanks for all the feedback! Plenty for me to chew over

Seems there is a difference of opinion on the price/monetisation. Fortunately that is a decision I can delay making until closer to launch

I'd forget android. I don't know anyone making even beer money there.

I've got my own ideas about this but I'm interested to hear why people think this is?

[ANtY]

I'd forget android. I don't know anyone making even beer money there.

I've got my own ideas about this but I'm interested to hear why people think this is?

From their own experience, I guess?

[James Coote]

I'd forget android. I don't know anyone making even beer money there.

I've got my own ideas about this but I'm interested to hear why people think this is?

From their own experience, I guess?

So if you have tried the android market with your game and it has failed, why do you think it failed? Did it succeed on other platforms, and if so, what was the difference between Android and that other platform that made the difference?

Or if you have stories of other developers who took time to analyse why it didn't work.

Or even if you're totally unqualified, but you've still got an opinion on the matter

[nico]

I think your plan looks good. There's a bit too much of it though, you should center in and focus on the things you have to do immediately. Cut away things like localization and multiple payment options, and anything else you don't have to do in the first six months. These don't belong in the initial plan, but are better suited for a "nice things to do later" list.

Just remember that no battle plan ever survives enemy contact. You're better off just shipping something NOW, as any plans you've made will likely be subject to major revisions later anyway.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

I'd forget android. I don't know anyone making even beer money there.

I've got my own ideas about this but I'm interested to hear why people think this is?

From their own experience, I guess?

So if you have tried the android market with your game and it has failed, why do you think it failed? Did it succeed on other platforms, and if so, what was the difference between Android and that other platform that made the difference?

Or if you have stories of other developers who took time to analyse why it didn't work.

Or even if you're totally unqualified, but you've still got an opinion on the matter

most of the things you are asking here are both obvious and common knowledge, so i imagine that's why cliffski didn't elaborate. also, if he *did* elaborate, then he'd get android defenders riled up and he probably wanted to avoid that

but in case it's not obvious to you, more explicitly, platforms vary in both sales volume, and piracy rate. some platforms are better than others to sell games on for that reason

to take an extreme example, which is better: to release, in 2012, your game on the atari 2600, or to release it on the xbox 360? the xbox 360 is the better choice for sales. you may choose the atari 2600 for other reasons though -- nostalgia, accessibility (it's hard to get a game published on the 360), programming challenge, or whatever. but if the same game is released for both platforms it'll likely sell a lot more for the 360 than for the atari 2600

likewise, for the pc, you can release a game for windows, mac, or linux. preferably you'd do all three, but if you had to choose just *one*, it should be windows. if you had to choose just *two*, it should be windows and mac. releasing a game and trying to sell it exclusively for linux, and ignoring windows and mac, would probably be a bad idea. not because linux is per se bad, but because there are other choices that get you more return for an equal amount of work

so it just seems strange to me to make a game *exclusively* for android, but not for other mobile platforms, or for pc, or for anything else. is there any reason you are making your game android-exclusive, without ports to other platforms? is it just because you own an android phone and don't own other types of phones, or is there some other reason?

another thing to consider is that demographics differ. for instance, android users are mostly men; iphone users are mostly women. iphone users tend to be wealthier than android users. each platform has its own preferred genres. and so on; it's good to learn that stuff about each platform before deciding where to put a game.

e.g. http://i.huffpost.com/gen/330575/ANDROID-VS-IOS-USERS.jpg

[James Coote]

So it comes down to opportunity cost

I wrote an android app for my previous employer, so I had an android device and about 6 months experience with android development before I decided to go indie.

I wanted to make a mobile game because a year ago, that was all the rage and where the great indie revolution that was shaking up the games industry (and that I could be a part of as a 1 man team) was happening

To develop on iOS, I would have had to buy an iphone and a mac and paid $99 just to get started, and then I would have had to learn objective c

I could start again from square 1 with PC or iOS, but it'd be a waste not to follow through having got this far, and learn lessons that when it comes to the next project, will be applicable no matter what platform I target

[TylerYork]

I think your plan looks good. There's a bit too much of it though, you should center in and focus on the things you have to do immediately. Cut away things like localization and multiple payment options, and anything else you don't have to do in the first six months. These don't belong in the initial plan, but are better suited for a "nice things to do later" list.

Just remember that no battle plan ever survives enemy contact. You're better off just shipping something NOW, as any plans you've made will likely be subject to major revisions later anyway.

I agree with this

Also, as far as platforms go, you are going to see more piracy and less monetization on Android. HOWEVER, you're going to see much more competition on iOS, poor visibility on XBox Live, and stiff competition on Steam as well.

Really, everyone makes money with a successful game, regardless of which platform its on. I would recommend going with the platform you are most comfortable with

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

So it comes down to opportunity cost

I wrote an android app for my previous employer, so I had an android device and about 6 months experience with android development before I decided to go indie.

I wanted to make a mobile game because a year ago, that was all the rage and where the great indie revolution that was shaking up the games industry (and that I could be a part of as a 1 man team) was happening

To develop on iOS, I would have had to buy an iphone and a mac and paid $99 just to get started, and then I would have had to learn objective c

I could start again from square 1 with PC or iOS, but it'd be a waste not to follow through having got this far, and learn lessons that when it comes to the next project, will be applicable no matter what platform I target

that makes sense yeah -- what we know how to do is also an important consideration. it can sometimes take as much time to learn a new language / platform as it takes to make an entire game. perhaps if your game is a little successful for android (i.e. enough for you to buy a mac, an iphone, and the 99$ fee), you can always port it to iphone and/or other platforms afterwards

personally i don't enjoy playing mobile games, so i don't make them. they always feel too short and rushed to me, like flash games almost. i've yet to hear of a mobile game that takes more than 40 hours of gameplay to finish, for instance, and those are the types of games i like to play. i guess final fantasy the after years would qualify, but that's the only one i can think of. i'm sure more exist, but they don't seem to be very common