This app was mentioned in 6 comments, with an average of 1.67 upvotes
> Are these numbers typical for installs/uninstalls or is there something wrong?
I'd say for a game on that level of polish, it is typical. People install, try it out and decide if it's a keeper or not. Especially people who install the game after looking at your ad. Unlike players who actively search for such game on the store, players coming from ads can often expect something else, but once they clicked the ad they would install it anyway to try it out.
If you want the players to keep the game installed and come back, you need to have stuff that makes them come back. Long term goals to reach, daily / weekly challenges to complete, etc. The daily bonus you have is good, but you should consider why would the player come to play your game every day. As far as I can tell, the only real goal is getting the highest possible score, which just isn't enough.
Basically, you need to add some "gamification" on top of the base game.
For example, take a look at my very simple space shooter game that's got about 3500 installs on Android:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bigosaur.backyardpanic&hl=en
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/drone-invaders/id1047158768?mt=8
It's got a very easy daily challenge, then a not too easy (but still easy) weekly challenge, and a monthly challenge. On top of that, you can complete missions, which allow players to progress through the game at their own pace. The more missions you complete, the faster you can level up. Missions are tied into the gameplay, so you have to complete some goals in the game itself.
Just like your game, the gameplay is really simple. Without all these extra features on top you would play the game once and uninstall it, just like the players are doing with your game currently.
Hey KarmaCatalyst,
I made this game called Drone Invaders:
iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/drone-invaders/id1047158768?mt=8
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bigosaur.backyardpanic&hl=en
It's got great reviews by players but it's kind of stuck of being completely unknown.
Can you help?
Thanks.
> I'm just not sure if it the bundle ids really matters
In my experience, not at all.
I have a game called "Drone Invaders" that used to be called "Backyard Panic" and still has backyardpanic in url:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bigosaur.backyardpanic&hl=en
Try typing "Drone Invaders" into google and see the results.
Well, I did approximately what you wrote:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bigosaur.backyardpanic&hl=en
Got about 1000 downloads in the first week after release, without doing much marketing:
http://bigosaur.com/blog/25-success-or-failure-pov
The game had about 3000 downloads after one year on Play Store.
AFAIK, Flappy Bird itself was a project like that and it had monetization via ads.
Another example, my first Android game got me only about $50. It has 3500+ downloads, 4.5 rating on Google Play with 137 votes:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bigosaur.backyardpanic
many times I wished I could go back in time and think about monetization before I released it. I would surely earn around $1000 or more if I did.
I did zero marketing for it. If I had earned money from those first 3500 organic players, I could re-invest it into marketing to bring in more players. It's sad, but unless you game is some total viral hit, this is the way thinks work on mobile.
All the good cred I got in the community when I released it was nowhere to be found when I released my second, more polished game in which I invested much more time and money. People are overwhelmed with sheer amount of games, and they are probably going to forget who was the developer before you get to release the next one.
In the end, it isn't about hurting the game dev community, but hurting yourself.
I can completely relate to your story. I released Drone Invaders in 2013, got similar spike of downloads and installs and similar reviews and score:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bigosaur.backyardpanic&hl=en
This was all in the first 3-4 months. After that, the game fell into obscurity. I tried to buy Facebook ads as well, and got 540 players for $100:
http://bigosaur.com/blog/28-facebook-ads-android-players
However, average revenue per player is around $0.08 so far, so spending money to get new players is just like throwing money out of the window.
I even collect analytics about active players, number of games played, etc. You can see it here:
http://slagalica.tv/drones.php
As you can see, huge drop and barely any interest afterwards.
If you want to use ads, your game has to be designed in such way to make more money. It needs to have mechanics that are addictive enough to make people play the game often and spend money on it.
Without ads, I really don't see how this quality of game like yours and mine could spread between players. There's just way too many games on the market. Perhaps /u/GeekyAntics is right about "Tell a friend" nag screen. Add that before it's too late and your game drops from the radar like mine did.