This app was mentioned in 2 comments, with an average of 2.00 upvotes
A kid of the 80s, I learned to code in BASIC and made some simple games by the time SC2 rocked around.
It had the story telling, the music, the exploration, the characters. After playing SC2 I caught a fever to write my own epic game.
I would need music, so I researched on the early web and found out about the modscene, and started learning to write mods, which kickstarted an interest in music production that lingers to this day. I would need realtime graphics, so I ditched BASIC for Pascal and started learning how to create VGA graphics routines. I would need story telling and scripted events, so I began learning about abstraction and algorithms, and started writing branching stories.
I never finished a game, at least not until much later (check out Space Strafer on the android store if you're interested), but I can pinpoint SC2 as the game that spurred me to learn the skills which later would form the basis of my career in the web development industry.
Obviously F&P and their team were lightyears in advance of a deluded child but my thought at the time: if those guys could do it, why not me?
Without SC2, maybe it would have been something else, I'm not sure. But for me it was a spark that fuelled me to try harder.
Your games look colorful and interesting, good honest games without the fluff. If my girls were younger I am sure they'd have loved to play these.
Kind of similar story here. I was tired of games on mobile that were P2W or mundane. I wanted to make something that reminded me of games of my childhood; gameplay first. I wanted something that was easy to pick up but with some practice would actually be difficult to master.
I had a back catalogue of some years worth of music, and started putting together some graphics assets. In all about 6 months of development went into making and publishing my game, setting up my business so I could get on the app stores etc.
Overall I made a loss, financially, after all the applications / licensing, marketing and financial costs were considered. The people who did download and played almost universally enjoyed it (4.2 rating), but besides a few niche reddits and a fun day at the Perth Games Festival (there were heaps of return players who kept coming back to secure their high scores) it just wasn't gaining traction.
And while I did show an interstitial ad, it wasn't placed directly in the primary area of interaction as a nasty trick to encourage accidental clicks, and there's no countdown timer or mechanism to encourage or force clicks to the detriment of gameplay. It was just a small way to try and recoup losses.
After experimenting with different models and price points, I realised the same thing you did.
I have ideas for future games but the prevailing attitude towards mobile game developers is that we're scammers first and foremost and must prove ourselves worthy of attention - being free isn't enough in an ocean of copycats and scam artists, and charging money, even just one or two dollars, significantly reduces the number of installs and the quality of reviews since people, obviously and rightly, feel entitled to a return on investment.
Unfortunately cracking the code is just too much effort for a full time working dad :( though I may dabble more in the future I have a career and kids to consider. I am just happy that I made this game for myself first or I'd be bitter about it all, it was a great learning exercise and I got to scratch that itch to make a game I'd had since childhood.
Here's a link to Space Strafer if you're interested: play store link | touch arcade thread.