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AppGameKit/AppGameKit Studio Showcase / [Released] Matchday Heroes

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lmr2013
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2015 01:09 Edited at: 21st Dec 2015 06:15
Hi all,

Matchday Heroes written in AGK2 [Tier 1].

Following a session in the pub one day, me and my mate decided to make a football manager style computer game. This is what we come up with...

Matchday Heroes

A game for all football (soccer) fans, Matchday Heroes is a quick tap football management game with a simple goal - to become the Ultimate Football Manager.

Enter your own football teams ! Enter your favourite players ! Enter a fun cartoon style fantasy football world !

Score Goals, Win Games, Earn Coins, Buy Players... can you build the best football team in the world ?

Scout your first squad and begin your football manager journey with the tough demands of non-league football. You start at the bottom playing your matches in the local park. Gold League football and the electric atmosphere of a packed out super-stadium is all but a distant dream. It's your job as football manager to loan, buy and sell your way to fame and glory, creating footballing heroes along the way. Shoot for the top with 6 challenging leagues to climb and 2 cups to conquer.

Are you a tactical football management master ? Have you got what it takes to reach the pinnacle of football management and dominate the Gold League? Are you the Ultimate Football Manager ?

Play today and find out....

Game Features :

- Immerse yourself into a fun cartoon style fantasy football world.
- Creative freedom. Full In-game team and player editors included.
- No adverts. Fast paced flowing gameplay.
- Build the perfect squad. Managing a blend of age, ability and personality.
- Optional In-app purchases.
- Unique player generator. Millions of different in-game players to choose from.
- In depth player profiles, with detailed stats and records.
- Colourful player personalities, from Psychopaths to Fashion Icons. Can you keep them all in line ?
- Special 'Heroic Profiles' for the greatest players, with shirt sales and fan popularity stats.
- Tactical freedom - Create your own formations easily.
- 35 advanced tactics to unlock, from 'Park the bus' to the infamous 'Chop down star man'.
- Mid Season Loans - Perfect for a squad boost.
- Transfer Window - Buy and Sell your way to success.
- Youth development - Can you nurture the next superstar?
- Bargain Veterans - Bring in valuable experience at minimal cost.
- Real time, highly detailed match commentary.
- Adjustable match speed - From in-depth to quick play.
- Endless Gameplay with a plethora of bonuses to unlock.
- Starting a new game provides a brand new experience every time.
- Collect all of the cups and show them off in your Trophy Room
- Built in help console with game instructions.

Plus much, much more...

Screenshots:

http://2bigpixels.com/gallery/

Available on Google Play.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.twobigpixels.themanager&hl=en_GB

Available on IOS

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-manager-a-football-story/id1067831365?ls=1&mt=8

</div>
http://2bigpixels.com/
Crazy Programmer
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2015 01:19
Very nice! Very Professional! Sweet idea!

I believe you have hit a GrandSlam... CONGRATS



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lmr2013
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2015 01:23
cheers crazy.
Zappo
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2015 18:15
Looks incredible! Gorgeous and feature packed.

I've never been into football manager games myself but I know people who are addicted to them, so it should be very popular.


Chart data provided with kind permission from ELSPA
DavidAGK
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2015 18:29
Awesome! Exactly the type of game that TGC need to help market AppGameKit! Fantastic graphics and a popular game type. Hope you do well with it! I have my fingers crossed for you.

Using Tier 1 AppGameKit V2
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lmr2013
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Posted: 23rd Sep 2015 01:29
thanks for the kind words guys...

the AppGameKit forum has been a great help in getting the game up and running.
Conjured Entertainment
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Posted: 23rd Sep 2015 09:48
Wow, looks top notch.
Nice graphics, and great features.
Well Done!!!


Coding things my way since 1981 -- Currently using AppGameKit V2 Tier 1
SpecTre
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Posted: 23rd Sep 2015 11:06 Edited at: 23rd Sep 2015 11:07
Looks great, will download and have a play when get chance. Well done.

The gfx are very good and look nice and clear. Did you draw them yourself? Awesome.

The Amiga and Amos were great!
My website LEAP - Download Paint Pot here!
Rickynzx
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Posted: 24th Sep 2015 16:37
looks very professional, great graphics. wish you all the best with this.

lmr2013
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Posted: 24th Sep 2015 20:56
Thanks guys your comments - your support is much appreciated.

My mate does the graphics and I do the code - we make a good team and the best thing is we have a great laugh coming up with stuff.

We both have hectic lifestyles and free time is very limited. So AppGameKit was perfect to start making our ideas into games.

Matchday Heroes is our first effort, it's all a big learning curve releasing stuff... but again, all great fun.

fingers crossed this is the first game of many.
lmr2013
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Posted: 25th Sep 2015 22:07 Edited at: 14th Dec 2015 13:23
Matchday Heroes released on IOS

new links below...

its a good day...
http://2bigpixels.com/
DavidAGK
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Posted: 1st Oct 2015 08:29
How's it going? Is it selling well?
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lmr2013
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Posted: 2nd Oct 2015 18:38
Hi David,

yeah it's going well...

we've had just over 50 downloads from Google Play, iOS we are not sure at the moment as iOS 9 is playing up and doesn't record who's bought what (but it's registered around 30 downloads from platforms other then iOS 9).

I think we were number 18 (for a while) on the new top selling games on Google Play.

and we've had some nice reviews and some handy advice from Full Fat Games. All's good.

Been tweaking the gameplay this week as a number of people were finding the initial gameplay a bit too testing. We always wanted the game to be a challenge to beat to make it more rewarding... (plus we dont like games that are too easy), but in hindsight it was probably a bit too testing for the beginner in the lower leagues.

Memo to self for next game: do not make games too hard from the off - lol.

So we've been tweaking the gameplay to allow give the player more coins in various ways, allowing them to buy better players - and it seems to be going down very well.

With game updates we're finding Google Play is nice and quick (we release an update and its available for download on Google Play within a few hours), Apple however currently take 7 days to review... and that seems a lifetime - we are still trying to get the extra coins update to the iOS players but it's in the queue awaiting review. All being ok, it should be out Wednesday / Thursday next week.

It's all a learning curve - but all good fun...

ps. I notice you started coding with AMOS, ooooo that was my favorite programming tool growing up, I loved it - I think that's why I've warmed to AppGameKit so much. Still got my old AMOS box and book somewhere.

http://matchdayheroes.com/
http://2bigpixels.com/
DavidAGK
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Posted: 3rd Oct 2015 22:44
Thanks for the update. I have my fingers crossed it works for you - I know how much time games take to make - and that is one heck of a lot in your game!!

Yes....AMOS....love it, absolutely loved it! Felt like a world of magic coding games in it and I'm here too because of it. I'm amazed at just how many people have come from an AMOS background and everyone who used it always has such positive memories. No doubt about it, AppGameKit is my replacement - feels very similar.
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lmr2013
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Posted: 7th Oct 2015 22:13 Edited at: 7th Oct 2015 22:14
Hi All,

Matchday Heroes Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx4sGdIyTDo
http://matchdayheroes.com/
http://2bigpixels.com/
DavidAGK
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Posted: 7th Oct 2015 22:42
Very well done!
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SpecTre
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Posted: 7th Oct 2015 23:02 Edited at: 7th Oct 2015 23:02
Very slick video, great work

I think you need your developer badge
The Amiga and Amos were great!
My website LEAP - Download Paint Pot here!
Conjured Entertainment
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Posted: 8th Oct 2015 01:47
Quote: "Matchday Heroes Trailer"

Looks great.
Some shots were a little fast for me to absorb everything being shown, but overall the trailer is very professional looking.
Well done.

Coding things my way since 1981 -- Currently using AppGameKit V2 Tier 1
Chris Tate
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Posted: 8th Oct 2015 13:33
Great looking product; I really like the user interface and the caricatures.
lmr2013
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Posted: 10th Oct 2015 10:49
Thanks Guys for the support.

Hopefully the video will attract more players (fingers crossed)

Found apple put a number of limits on videos, so we need to redo a specific trailer just for apple.
http://matchdayheroes.com/
http://2bigpixels.com/
unlikely
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Posted: 11th Oct 2015 21:40
This is very impressive. Congrats on release and I hope it does well for you!
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xGEKKOx
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Posted: 13th Oct 2015 02:34
lmr2013
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Posted: 14th Oct 2015 23:16 Edited at: 14th Oct 2015 23:18
Thanks Guys. Much appreciated.

It would appear the big challenge now is getting the app seen by people.

Once we fell down the google new selling chart, sales dropped from the first week - we are on about 150 downloads now. Most of which are Google.

Apple appears to be a tough market. For some reason, we dont seem to be listed on a number of IOS 'football related' searches... we just don't appear anywhere on the lists (which can be 400+ footy apps long) which is strange as our keywords are all football related. You have to search for the game name 'Matchday Heroes' to find us.

The Apple review time seems to be around 8 days which was a bit of a shocker, so whilst the guys on google / android get updates within a few hours of release, the apple / ipad guys have to wait over a week for the same.

One thing that seems to be working well though is the in app purchases.

Its still all good fun and a good learning experience.
http://matchdayheroes.com/
http://2bigpixels.com/
xGEKKOx
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Posted: 15th Oct 2015 16:19
Yes wish the best for your app on apple, if you grow there, you are in!!
Now start your next app!!! Don't wait the downloads!!!
RickV
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Posted: 27th Oct 2015 11:54
Hi,

Really professional looking app! Well done on getting this out across iOS and Android. Some ideas for you;

* Publish to Amazon too
* Make free versions which upsell to the paid versions

Can you post this into the AppGameKit Gallery?

Rick
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Digital Awakening
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Posted: 27th Oct 2015 17:21
Wow, this looks really slick and professional. Good luck with the game
DavidAGK
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Posted: 27th Oct 2015 19:40
Quote: "It would appear the big challenge now is getting the app seen by people."


The biggest challenge with anything and everything nowadays...

Have you explored advertising to see if it works? Decide on a percentage to re-invest into advertising?
Using Tier 1 AppGameKit V2
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CJB
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Posted: 27th Oct 2015 23:55
Great stuff lmr2013! 'Liked' the vid
Very professional. You say this is your first release!? Awesome! You are going to go far.


V2 T1 (Mostly)
Phone Tap!
Uzmadesign
lmr2013
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Posted: 30th Oct 2015 18:26
Thanks Digital, CJB for your support. Much appreciated.

Been busy updating the game to have different levels of difficulty, i'd say that was our major stumble at the start judging the level of difficulty for the different players out there. Thinking that one shoe fits all. Some players contact us saying the gameplay is too hard could we relax it, some contact us saying it would be much better if it was harder... so we are finding that cant really win. So we decided the only way is to let the player decide how hard the game is - the update should be out shortly.

RickV - yeah we will look into posting into the gallery - no worries. Without AppGameKit we would probably have not had chance to complete the game, so we are more than happy if you wish to use our game / images for any sort of AppGameKit promotions.

We are looking into a 'lite' (free) version of the game to boost exposure. We are finding once you start falling in the charts the traffic (and the sales) drops considerably. With the 'lite' version its a bit of a juggling trying to work out what too limit, you dont want to seem to harsh and limit too much - but again you dont want to upstage the paid app.

Hi David, We have tried some limited advertising (with the profits), but not much has come of it so far - it may be you need to invest a quite a bit to get a good return. Its all new to us so we are unsure what is best to try - if any developers have got any success stories / tips with the online ads jungle, ie. what and what not to do, please let us know.

cheers guys.










http://matchdayheroes.com/
http://2bigpixels.com/
DavidAGK
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Posted: 30th Oct 2015 19:10
Quote: " Some players contact us saying the game play is too hard could we relax it, some contact us saying it would be much better if it was harder... "


Yes! I think that is a central issue for most single player games. You're always going to have both hard-core players and occasional gamers who want to gain enjoyment out of the same game. I have some ideas for my platform game with this exact issue in mind...

Hope someone can offer you some help on the promotion side. It is the key to pretty much everything online nowadays.
Using Tier 1 AppGameKit V2
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DavidAGK
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Posted: 14th Nov 2015 21:55
How are you getting on? Have sales improved?
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lmr2013
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Posted: 15th Nov 2015 17:45
Hi David, not really - we are still on a go slow, apple sales improved last month, google sales slowed right down.

The advertising is a minefield, we found a google play ad system, where you pay per install - which sounded ideal, you dont mind paying if someone installs your game. It works on a bidding system. But when we went through the process google sent us an email recommending for minimum £5 - £6 bids ?? not sure how that works as its way more than the game price. We have set it to a much lower figure but with no real improvement views or sales.

Our next step would be a 'Lite' version, but after testing a price drop of the main game we found this surprisingly had little to no effect on the number of sales. So a 'Lite' version may suffer the same fate - if you are not seen, people will not install your app.

It would appear keywords and game name are a big thing in getting your game seen. We are in the same category with a lot of much more established football related games and being behind all those, we realise now it was always going to be tough for us to make any headway.

It's all a learning curve, in hindsight there are a number of things we could have done differently to improve our chances.

But we made the game we wanted to make and had a great laugh making it and we are getting lots of positives from the people who are playing it which just adds to the reward.



http://matchdayheroes.com/
http://2bigpixels.com/
Digital Awakening
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Posted: 17th Nov 2015 15:12
I would guess that it is better to go through a publisher that can help with promotion and visibility. I imagine it is very hard to get sales on your own in such a crowded market.
DavidAGK
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Posted: 17th Nov 2015 16:16
Yes, I was thinking that I will probably want to go the publisher route for this reason.
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lmr2013
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Posted: 14th Dec 2015 11:28
Hi guys,

after grinding to a halt on our paid version of the game, we have decided best to head along the free route (which will hopefully give us more exposure? ...)

the advertising didn't really work that well, we only really invested small as our funds are very limited - so suppose that isn't much of a test of the effectiveness of advertising.

but once you fall off the charts and the sales die off - the chance of being spotted is very limited without some major advertising - being at the back of 100's of apps its unlikely people will scroll down that far to find you to install.

anyway,

we updated some of the graphics.

gave it a new name which is more search friendly... not putting the words 'Manager' and 'Football' in the title (in hindsight) was a big drawback to being discovered.

go rid of a few niggles including the music (i quite liked the quirky music lol, but from the emails most people seemed to find it annoying - although we did have a music off button in the settings, suppose in hindsight music and football manager games dont mix that well).

we have removed the difficulty settings - there is just one level to beat, that gets harder as you play, as opposed to Matchday Heroes where you were able to set your own level.

we have took a chance and made the game fully playable (no limits, no ad's, no paid version - the free version is a full version of the game). We thought, at the end of the day, we just want people to play and have a bit of fun - if we get something back from that then great, if not - hey, we still made a game!

hopefully it will more exposure and get some good reviews to push it up the charts now we have removed the paid barrier.

but.... I image the free route will be just as competitive (if not more!) as the paid route, there are a lot of free games out there, lots of free football games and we are at the back again.

we will soon find out how it pans out. Its all good fun.!

Below is the link to the free google play version, if you want to play the game:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.twobigpixels.themanager&hl=en_GB

the IOS version will out asap...

hopefully up before xmas but i've just read apple are going on their xmas jollies soon (dont blame them), and their review process takes a while without xmas.



http://matchdayheroes.com/
http://2bigpixels.com/
SpecTre
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Posted: 14th Dec 2015 17:07
Have you released it for the MAC store, I have found you get around 4x as many downloads there than on iOS.
The Amiga and Amos were great!
My website LEAP - Download Paint Pot here!
xCept
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Posted: 14th Dec 2015 21:07
Beautiful looking app, very polished! Did you remove it from iOS? I tried searching and could not locate it under the original or updated name.

Sorry to hear about the low traffic to it. It's definitely an uphill struggle given the millions of apps out there and how many thousands get released each day across the markets. I feel like both Google Play and iTunes do very little to help promote the little guys and small apps; it seems that most lists and search results are simply based on existing popularity so unless your app is already receiving thousands of downloads a day it is buried in the search results and invisible. Things were different when I released my first app in early 2011, both markets prominently featured new releases the helped with early discovery.

The freemium model seems to be the best route these days.
lmr2013
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Posted: 15th Dec 2015 19:59
Thanks Spectrepaul - we will look into that, it was mainly written for mobile devices, but you can play it on a MAC / PC (thats where most the testing is done).

Hi xcept, thanks for the kind words. yes its currently off IOS at the moment, we are uploading the free version of the game very shortly hopefully apple will review before xmas. The paid version seemed to be working (first few weeks) but its now clear you need to maintain your chart position which means generating a lot of downloads. When we were on the 'new games' chart, things seemed fine, however we slowly began to fall (and so did the installs). Then after about 30 days, we were removed from the 'new' charts - this was a big drop. As soon as you fall in the rankings so do the installs, which makes you fall faster - and seems very hard to get back up (without investing heavily in advertising - which we cannot afford).

The paid element appears to be a much bigger barrier to most people than we first thought - especially when you are surrounded by free games and rankings are dependent on how many people you get to install.

Its not surprising a paid game was always more likely to be pushed to the back - creating the downward spiral into obscurity.

so if you cant beat them, its best join them.

http://2bigpixels.com/
lmr2013
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Posted: 21st Dec 2015 06:19
Hi guys,

we finally went live on the App store last night with our free version of the game, lets see if this freemium method works - lol.

links for both the Android app and the IOS version below.

Available on Google Play.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.twobigpixels.themanager&hl=en_GB

Available on IOS

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-manager-a-football-story/id1067831365?ls=1&mt=8

thanks for your support.
http://2bigpixels.com/
DavidAGK
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Posted: 21st Dec 2015 13:31
Keep us updated!

Using Tier 1 AppGameKit V2
Started coding with AMOS (Thanks Francois Lionet)
Crazy Programmer
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Posted: 21st Dec 2015 13:39
Fingers crossed!
Beta Test Age of Knights:https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.CrazyProgrammerProductions.my_AgeOfKnights
Download JellyFish Dive:https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.CrazyProgrammerProductions.my_JellyFishSwim
SpecTre
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Posted: 21st Dec 2015 16:41
Seems the way to go at the minute with in-app purchases and a free game. Good luck!
The Amiga and Amos were great!
My website LEAP - Download Paint Pot here!
lmr2013
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Posted: 21st Dec 2015 19:42
Thanks guys - i will keep you updated with our progress.

We're heading down the free road now - it will be interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks.
http://2bigpixels.com/
JohnnyMeek
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Posted: 23rd Dec 2015 14:26
It might be interesting for you to try adding in Chartboost too. What I have in my slots game is adverts that are disabled after the user makes any purchase in the store.

This has the added benefit that you can run some adverts through Chartboost to get installs of your game. We generally return around 80%-90% of our advertising cost just from publishing adverts. You'll drive customers to your game which will enable you to fine tune your In App Purchase points. You really need to tune your chartboost adverts to make sure that players are seeing similar types of games. If they don't like your game, they'll click on to another game from within your app and you can recoup some of the install cost.

You'll need to fine tune so many things to get to the sweet spot. I also use Parse ( www.parse,com) for remote config settings ( amongst other features) so that I can remotely configure the app on boot up to tune the various monetisation factors. How long between adverts, how much free curreny & how often etc etc.

It seems like a lot of work, but it's kind of fun to keep tweaking things to see what affect it has.

I would really recommend using analytics in your game. You need to know what people are doing and when they are doing it. Try this solution that I posted a while ago. https://forum.thegamecreators.com/thread/215260

Digital Awakening
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Posted: 24th Dec 2015 19:27
Here are my thoughts. This is not a game for me so keep that in mind when reading my comments. The game is really good looking.

I find it very strange to have no background music.

Found no way to exit back to previous screens. Like a main menu. Also, the Android back button didn't work at all.

Only 4:3 support gives ugly black sides on 16:9 devices.

There was so many options from the start. I felt overwhelmed. I would have preferred to have them unlocked over time.

To me the match was really boring. I could not wait for it to be over. I don't want to be reading all that text. Watching a game would be more interesting. Or just reading a brief summary at half time and match end.

Those are my personal opinions, take them or ignore them. Only management game I have ever enjoyed is Speedball 2 for Amiga.
Digital Awakening
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Posted: 25th Dec 2015 11:36
I should add that the graphics are perhaps the best I have seen in an AppGameKit project so far. Everything looks really professional.
lmr2013
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Posted: 28th Dec 2015 09:21 Edited at: 28th Dec 2015 10:02
Thanks for the tips johnnymeek - good tips - We will see how things pan out and look to give them a try.

Thanks digital for the comments, not a fan of the old championship manager games.

We had a very mixed response on the music, we did have a 'quirky' tune that played in the background, which I quite liked, however received a number of negative comments about it (even though we had an option to turn it off). Footy fans who play the game over the longer period seem to find looping music annoying and more of an irritation - if they miss the music off button, it leaves the only option to switch the mobile device sound off completely to play. We then found a number of other top football manager games don't have music playing over and over - we assumed that was the reason why, the majority of football fans prefer no music.

The buttons should return you back to the main menu, however, when you enter into the match you can only go forward until the match is complete.

We originally intended to release on the iPad only, so thought best to use 1024 x 768 screens. We later decided may as well also do an android version, which does leave the unavoidable black borders (I never even thought about the android back button -lol). The screens took a while to produce, we are not professional developers and have produced this in our limited spare time on the weekends. To have multiple artwork and the code to cater for every device out there is way beyond our current means. When we went to release on android, at that time, we were hit with a 50mb limit and found AppGameKit had limited use of the expansion packs. This knocked the wind out of us as the artwork we had produced (in just 1024 x 768 format alone) and the sounds were over 116mb. We then spent the next few weeks hacking the game back to under 50mb limit. This android limit was later upped to 100mb weeks after we released it (typical of our luck). Different size screens would not have worked with these limits.

We are finding you cannot please everyone with what we have done, no matter what you change, or how hard you try.

Some people enjoy the simplicity our game offers compared to other football manager games. They enjoy the team building process within the game and the characters the game generates - the match fondly reminds them of the early championship manager games and to them the text works fine. The text offers a simple description of what is going on, plus you can easily fast forward through if you don't want to read it.

Some people are the total opposite, they want the game more complicated to meet their expectations, they want 3D match engines, stadium building, FIFA quality graphics, with live highlights showing the players running about the pitch and scoring goals - which is a massive undertaking for even for the professionals (and of course they want it for free). These are unrealistic expectations for us, with the working week, we have very little / limited time to make games. There are a number of more advanced football games than ours, with these features included - that look to have bombed with bad reviews, so it's no guarantee of success. If our game is not your cup of tea, that's fine - we just thank everyone for giving us a chance and trying the game, no doubt there is something else out there to better suit your needs and expectations.

I agree, my friend has done an amazing job on the graphics.

Xmas has been good to us. We've had a great response and a lot of positives.

We've had just over 1,400 downloads android and over 1,000 on IOS - in a week (400 on xmas day alone)

The IAPs are coming in from people who don't want to save up to buy the better players.

It's early days, but so far, so good.

We've just got to figure out what game to do next.
http://2bigpixels.com/
Digital Awakening
AGK Developer
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: Sweden
Posted: 28th Dec 2015 19:02 Edited at: 28th Dec 2015 19:06
I understand why things are as they are. Just letting you know my thoughts on the game. As you say, different people like different things. And just because you put more into a game doesn't necessarily mean you get more sales. A lot of people have no clue about the work required to make a game. And it's become worse with the mobile market because people expect to get a lot for almost nothing. I'm the same. I hesitate to pay $1 for a decent mobile game/app. It's so weird.

Maybe music on the main screen? I can understand not wanting the same music looping through the entire game. And you want something that is very unobtrusive.

The Android back button is the same as the ESC key on a keyboard. Keycode 28, I think.
lmr2013
10
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 15th Jul 2013
Location:
Posted: 28th Dec 2015 22:59
Too true - the 'dream' and the 'reality' of being a game developer are very different.

Matchday heroes took us years to complete and finish. Saying that, the end users don't really care about the development cost and time invested - it's just a game.

We had tons of other ideas for the game (mainly following visits to the pub - lol), which we later realised we simply cannot incorporate, it was not practical due to one limit or another (the main limit being the extended development time involved). If those lost ideas would have made a better game to the masses will never be known. But game development can turn into an endless process - and there is no guarantee you will get anymore sales, it is more likely you won't. It appears a game of a certain type has a certain 'value' that you will struggle to exceed unless it's of exceptional quality. With this in mind, we always said we would make a follow up game if this was a success with the ideas.

But we now realise you simply cannot please all people. Some will praise your efforts and like the game for what it is. Some will dislike your game because they have played (what they consider) a much better game, some will dislike it because they want something changing to meet their expectations, some will dislike it ... just because, for no real reason and will simply post a 1 star rating.

We are getting to the 'reality' bit of our game, reality (in our experience) is that most markets are already saturated with top quality professional games that you will be compared to. These games are highly polished and free to play, working on massive download numbers and IAPs to earn any money. To make any headway against these is an uphill task, its reliant on staying in the charts which takes big download numbers (which are unlikely if you are in a niche market) and good reviews. IAPs are a tiny fraction of the downloads.

The returns (money available) appear to be very scarce and are competitively fought over.

Then Apple and Google have a good slice of any of the small earnings you manage.

The increased exposure over xmas has helped us. Hopefully it will continue.
http://2bigpixels.com/
SpecTre
Developer
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 24th Feb 2003
Location: UK
Posted: 29th Dec 2015 02:08
Well I say good luck to you, you deserve it. We do our best and unless you have a massive budget then we cross our fingers
You have a good app/game on the market and now put that to bed and get on with the next, this is how you will gain more and more downloads. I have learnt this the hard way I think. I have a couple of apps out which are really simple but have done ok. I have gone mad trying to get them known and doing the social network stuff.

What happens though if you are not careful and what I have learnt is that you can get carried away with that side of things and then all of a sudden you think crikey!!!!!! I haven't done any coding in a long time!!!!

lol

Well in the new year this is going to change, I am going to do far more coding and release more stuff!!!! I have a big network now on social media to get my stuff noticed so I suppose all is not lost haha but I wish I had done more coding at the same time now! Having said that there is only so many times you can carry on a full time job and go to bed in the early hours before you totally burn out.
I must admit I am a sort of an addictive and very motivated, passionate sort of person though!

Take your experience on this project and put it to the next x100, etc, etc and the future will be bright with your skills Good luck and as the theme of the moment says, may the force be with you haha.
The Amiga and Amos were great!
My website LEAP - Download Paint Pot here!

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