Comment by ajhai | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ajhai | Hacker News Reader

Inspired by these reports, I started learning android this January and successfully released two apps (Picpuzz and SmartCat), both small puzzle games. While I totally enjoyed working with android SDK and coding these apps, they failed to attract the users . Here is a quick list of reasons why I think my two apps failed (in the context of games)

- There are not many levels in the game

- Hard to finish the puzzle / user gets bored before finishing the puzzle

- UI is not great. You'll need a decent UI when developing games

- No regular updates. Important way to increase downloads is to push regular updates. With an update, app appears in the "Just in" section of the android market and gains visibility

And not to mention with such less downloads, the ad revenue is pretty bad ($1.52 so far). Even though the total number of impressions that are being served on both the apps together is between 1k-2k per day, there are only 1-3 clicks per week. My best guess is that this has something to do with the way I place ads in my apps. Almost all the free apps (games) that I'd seen till date place ads over the game distracting users. I hate that. So, during game play, I'm diving the screen into two parts, one that displays the game and other displays ad impressions. This won't draw the attention of players and I think is the main reason for the low CTR

1) Your screenshots need to show what you actually do in the game for picpuzz. You have a screenshot of your main menu and some pictures. No screenshots of the puzzle being played.

2) Why on earth does a game like this need to modify SD Card storage? Be VERY cautious of the requirements your app needs. Remember, your user is going to wonder right away why a simple puzzle game that hasn't been downloaded very much wants to access their SD Card.

If it's to grab pictures from your phone - have a screenshot that says "Use photos in this game right from your SD Card". That explains the permission, and shows a feature all in one.

3) You have a big icon that looks like a cat cut into puzzle pieces that is awesome, but for the smart cat app, you have a creepy looking distorted cat that makes your app look like app-spam. I wouldn't even look at the details of the app after seeing that icon normally.

4) The smart cat game is a derivative of a game that's been around for a long time. It is a really fun game by its nature, so are you coming up in the right searches?

5) I have learned from experience that a key to getting found is coming up in searches people actually use.

6) Do the Titles of your games say enough about what they are?

7) Are you writing long descriptions for your apps so they come up in a ton of different searches? You get 4000 characters now, you can really go to town.

8) Do your games give a really nice "how-to" tutorial before the first time the user plays so there's no question about what they have to do?

It's not just about updating. It's about improving.

Thanks dpcan for taking a look at my apps and giving feedback. I agree with all your points and must confess that I took lightly the user experience part of the apps. Yes, it's about improving.

Google has developed Google analytics to help you answer questions like that.

It is up to you to deside if you feel it is too icky to use.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com