Hi,

I'm just about to release an android game on Google Play for the first time. I'm not really use to self-publishing and was wondering if there is anything I must do before releasing a game such as copyright procedures etc.

I wrote all of the code for the game and done most of the artwork but some of the models I took from turbosquid; but only those under the Royalty free - for all extended users license, likewise all of the sounds I used in the game are under the Creative commons 0 license and any external textures I got from cgtextures.com (which I believe are all royalty free).

I've skimmed over android's Launch checklist: http://developer.android.com/distribute/tools/launch-checklist.html but intend to read through it thoroughly before release.

I was just wondering if there is anything else I should do to avoid any lauch disasters? anything that could cause the game to be brought down etc.

Thanks.

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the feedback, I'm currently just waiting for the app to become available through Google play. The publishing process was more involved than I had imagined. A few things I was caught out by were:

• You have to add licensing code to your application using Google's LVL library; the annoying thing about this is that there is a known bug in LVL that throws a NullPointerException when you don't have Google Play installed on your device. I tried to catch this exception to provide an error message but unfortunately it's being thrown on an inaccessible thread.
• There is a hard 50MB limit on all applications, I skimmed over some documentation that had me believe your application could be over 50MB but this is only if you use APK extension files which you have to manage in code. I had to remove about 7MB of content from the final game, fortunately I had a lot of redundant sound data to spare but this could definately catch some developers out.
• Google play doesn't have the most intuative User interface - you have to publish a game before you can test it - and then promote it to a production release. I've been waiting for the past ~18hrs for the game to actually show up on the marketplace just so I can test the licensing code I implemented :(

Anyway thanks for the advice. I read over the Turbosquid license aggreement and couldn't see anywhere it said to mention the website in your game, I was going to add a small paragraph/sentence in the about section but then realized I had already localized the game into 21 different languages :( I'll add a reference in the Play store page and trailer video description though.

I'll post a link here aswell if Google play ever decides to actually publish the game

Thanks.

Here's the link for the game:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dreadgames.acorn

Let me know what you think of the trailer (video editing isn't really my strong point). Also, if you decide to purchase let me know if you think the game is overpriced or if you run into any problems etc. just send me an email at: craig.dreadev@gmail.com

Thanks.

I just looked at the trailer, and for a first time developer I am very impressed. The game looks good, and I particularly like the cel-shading on the guns.

There are three points I would personally change:

1. Intro text. I'd have a real logo or splash screen for the game as opposed to the white text.

2. Ending text. Having the entire URL at the end of the video wasn't the best choice. Maybe changing it so it says "Available now on Google Play" or something along those lines would be beneficial.

3. The Menus. They look a little empty and bland, and could do with a logo in there, too. This is based on the screenshots, so I may be wrong.

Overall, I'd say it's a strong promotional video for your game. I'm actually a little tempted to buy it, as the price is very good for what has been shown, but I'm afraid my phone is a little too old! Good job, and good luck!