Do you think this game can't be played on mobile devices ?

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7 comments, last by alaslipknot 9 years, 3 months ago

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Hello everyone,

I finally had some free time to start working on a new game, first gameplay footage can be seen in this youtube video, i hope you like it.

LtOah6Q.png

Now the thing is that i think that this game can't be played on mobile, and am not sure if i can keep working on it because i have no idea on how to make profit from browser games, and i heard that games that require unity plugin are a lot less popular than flash and html5 games, so maybe i will start working on it again when HTML5 deployment is available in unity (publicly), or if i find some free time i'll try to port it to Phaser.

Anyway, until that day comes, here is a quick demo for those who want to try the game or want to understand more why this can't work on mobile :

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/88553415/collectTheDots/collectTheDots.html

I already tried using a virtual stick,the only good part about the joystick is that i was able to use it as a hint on which color to collect, other than that, i really hate it, i don't like virtual sticks and i don't think my game will make an exception:

stickDots.gif

if you think that this can work on mobile or if you played any game that require consistent gesture control and you didn't feel frustrated when your hand hide the screen then please tell me, i had so much fun working on this game (which i didn't do for quite a while now...) and would really love to continue working on it. The reason i can fully focus on this as a browser game is because i have no idea on how to make profit from browsers games, specially those made with unity, so maybe i'll work on it on my free time but i don't have much at the moment :/

EDIT:

i just made a quick change to the game, it's now played vertically so the big part of the player hand won't cover an important part of the screen, and i also made the "dot outline" a lot bigger so the player can have more information on its position, of course that wont detect any collision.

vertDots.gif

Thank you and have a nice day smile.png

"It's not at all important to get it right the first time. It's vitally important to get it right the last time."

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Looks great!

I think it could work well on mobile, but you need to actually play it on mobile many times and let others play it and tweak the controls so they become natural and easy to use. Hard to say beforehand exactly what needs to be done.

If you believe it can't be played because of finger size not allowing precision, there may be room to tailor game according to. But if it is because of hand covering active area (which I didn't think at first as a left-handed, it was natural to have action at right side of screen) , you can change side of action (assuming you use virtual stick) depending on hand orientation.

I think mobile is the sole platform you can publish this game into , rather than Unity Web Player or Phaser porting, tailoring game for mobile needs is less painful imo. But I wonder how you intend to get profit from this theme no matter which platform it is.

mostates by moson?e | Embrace your burden

Looks great!
I think it could work well on mobile, but you need to actually play it on mobile many times and let others play it and tweak the controls so they become natural and easy to use. Hard to say beforehand exactly what needs to be done.


Thank you !!
I did play it a lot!! and made it played by +10 players, their reactions at first was pretty cool, they all loved the style/feels of the game, then in the advanced levels, when they start dying the first reaction they do is to try to hold the phone in a different position or turn their head so they can see what's happening under their heads, none of them mentioned that the game has an "output problem" (except 2 who are into game development) but it's clear to me that they are losing not because the game is too hard or they don't know how to play, but because they can't see what's happening.
I saw lots of my "casual gamers" friends playing games who were succesfful and have the exact same problem as my game,the latest example that i can think off is a game called Mmm finger, the only difference here is that Mmm Finger is player vertically so the "big part" of your hand wont cover any important part of the game since everything under your finger (y axis in the game) is useless, i tried holding my phone vertically while playing my game and it is better indeed so maybe i will try redesigning the levels to fit the vertical aspect.

If you believe it can't be played because of finger size not allowing precision, there may be room to tailor game according to. But if it is because of hand covering active area (which I didn't think at first as a left-handed, it was natural to have action at right side of screen) , you can change side of action (assuming you use virtual stick) depending on hand orientation.

I think you only saw the virtual stick gif, try play the demo and enable the "hand" there is no difference the player is right or left handed in that case.

But I wonder how you intend to get profit from this theme no matter which platform it is.

What do you mean ? there is tons of ways to monitize a game, primarily will be through ads (and a Remove ads button) but i can add IAP because the final version of the game will have a Timer and the fastest you finish a level the more "stars" you have, and the higher levels require "X" amount of stars which can only be done if the player finish a level under a certain amount of time, so i can add things like "+3" seconds or "second try when dead" etc... or if this problem is fixed i really don't see why this can't be sold for $0.99 or even $1.99, but in that case i will worry about the marketing process a lot more than publishing it for free, still this is not my main concern at the moment

"It's not at all important to get it right the first time. It's vitally important to get it right the last time."

Blog Games 2DNoobsArt

It was why I told "assuming you'll use virtual stick" :) , if you won't creating an off-zone by vertical gaming works as well apparently.

And for monetization, I hate games relying on advertisement (shouting I have nothing to monetize because my gamplay is dull) but may fit in, btw timer and maybe other elements (Candy Crush striped sugars? , coop play) are new to hear, there may be room for monetization.

mostates by moson?e | Embrace your burden

Maybe you can try to use the accelerometer in the phones to move the pointer with the phone instead of the hand.
Also, a small tone of the background color could represent the current dots color that you are matching could be nice.

It was why I told "assuming you'll use virtual stick" smile.png , if you won't creating an off-zone by vertical gaming works as well apparently.

And for monetization, I hate games relying on advertisement (shouting I have nothing to monetize because my gamplay is dull) but may fit in, btw timer and maybe other elements (Candy Crush striped sugars? , coop play) are new to hear, there may be room for monetization.

I see :) also i think it's decided that i will follow the latest update, playing it in portrait mode with the circle that always shows the position of the cursor, all i have to do now is to make the level more convenient and specially more eye-pleasing in portrait mode.

For monetization, you have no idea lol, specially when am working on my own ideas, having an ad bar or an add popup that will completely be out of style compared to anything in your game, plus the frustration that it will give to the players and the worst part that it's not a reliable funding, but the thing is that for most cases, a premium game will always need a decent marketing process, and that requires more money and more risks, which unfortunately i cannot afford at the moment, so yeah am really counting on the IAP thing, i will also make it that if the player spend more than 2$ in the game then he will never see ads again, i believe that is fair enough for everyone.

Maybe you can try to use the accelerometer in the phones to move the pointer with the phone instead of the hand.
Also, a small tone of the background color could represent the current dots color that you are matching could be nice.

Accelerometer will cause very low accuracy and precision, also it will remove the "fairy stick" feeling from the game.

Yeah i saw couple of people struggling with picking the right color specially when the background is not black, making the entire background tone its color to much the target one will make the game looks "repetitive" in someway, so i decided to make the circle around the player finger be the target color, also the particles that the cursor release are always a mix between white and the target color, this should be clear enough.

Thank you all i really appreciate it :)

"It's not at all important to get it right the first time. It's vitally important to get it right the last time."

Blog Games 2DNoobsArt

Eagerly waiting for monetization ideas that "I have no idea" :) , apparently they are beyond ad-free gaming (not valid for Android though) and special items.

mostates by moson?e | Embrace your burden

Eagerly waiting for monetization ideas that "I have no idea" smile.png , apparently they are beyond ad-free gaming (not valid for Android though) and special items.

i will keep you updated if the game is released ^^

"It's not at all important to get it right the first time. It's vitally important to get it right the last time."

Blog Games 2DNoobsArt

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