Smol Business (2022) | Hacker News Reader

Smol Business (2022)

smoldungeon.com

40 pointsluu9 comments

I'm not big into games but the app store listing itself doesn't seem that compelling. Perhaps to people who follow the developer or heard about the game from the friend that's okay but I think to capitalize on traffic from the app store the listing itself could use some work.

The problem with optional cosmetics in a single player game is that cosmetic items are fundamentally status signals. If it's not a multiplayer game, people wont care. As an analogy, nobody buys fashionable clothes to wear at home.

This is why most single player games that are free to play go for the "pay for more lives" model. If you want more fun you need to pay.

> nobody buys fashionable clothes to wear at home.

Sure, but people buy nice clothes to wear at home. Why else would there be a whole fashion pyjama industry?

You're arguing against my analogy and no analogy is perfect. I don't know why people buy luxury pyjamas but I'd bet it's not a large market and I suspect part of it is related to comfort which has no bearing on games.

> I would guess that my biggest issue is not the details of the IAP, but rather marketing. I don't really do much of it outside the occasional tweet or social media comment. These blog posts are my primary marketing strategy.

Spot on. Makers think releasing the product is the end. It’s actually just the beginning. Now that your product is released, you will live and die by the sword of marketing.

As an indie developer, I made a month worth of sales in 3 days when a YouTuber mentioned my app. Not even a big YouTuber (few tens of thousands subscribers).

I completely agree, and I think this idea applies to a lot of different ventures.

In my experience working with technology founders, especially those in academia, there's a common belief that having a great idea is all it takes—that as soon as they come up with something innovative, people will be lining up to help turn it into a successful business.

But the reality is quite different. This misconception is one of the main reasons why most university patents never really get off the ground, ending up being more useful to patent lawyers registering them, and registration offices getting paid by their fees, than to the scientists who created them.

Yes, someone explained it to me as not only do you need execution (beyond the idea), but distribution too. As engineers it’s easy to overplay execution vs distribution.

Why not https://play.google.com/store/games

There's another blog post that addresses this: https://smoldungeon.com/tech

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