Now you can find a lot of information how to promote a free game, but how to promote a paid game? Could you give me some advices? My game is Raildale: www.raildale.com. Now the price is $1.99. Is it valuable to use ads? For example, iAd estimates the installation price at $100. I tried Facebook ads. I spent $100 and I can say exactly that I got 5 installations. I use Distimo to calculate the number of installations. But I suppose I got at least 10 installations. Because some people watch the advertising on a computer and download the game on a device. And maybe the real number of installations is larger than 10, because I got 23 likes during this campaign. Do you know any good possibilities for promotion of a paid game?
I am not a developer, but as a gamer I live in a quite specific niche. With something as niche as your game, the best advise from a player's perspective I can give is to aim for your target audience as closely as possible: There are a lot of railroad fanatics around, e.g. we Germans are somewhat (in)famous for going overboard with model railroads. See if you can find where these folks gather online, and try to approach them in a friendly, non-pushing manner. Reminds me of an article I read a while back on Gamasutra. Ah, here: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/188054/ Best of luck with your endeavour. I believe you have an audience, you just need to find it.
Make a free version so people can try it. Unless your game is amazing and looks stunning people will just shy away. Your situation is very common. Putting it on the appstore and hoping doesn't work. Cost for each install is rising to the point free games are paying $2-3 per install, so very hard for small guys to compete buying ads.
Thank you for your advice. I will try. My game is not a simulator, it is a strategy. It's far from reality. I have added Raildale in the simulator category too, because I must choose two subcategories on the App Store. And I have been choosing between simulator and puzzle. But I suppose you should not build something in a puzzle. So I have chosen the simulator category. I tried Facebook ads for people who likes trains. But the result was worse than it was for ads for people who loves games. Unfortunately, Facebook doesn't allow to target people who likes games and trains. I will try to find forums or communities of railroad fans. Thanks.
Thank you for your advise. I thought to release this game as free and allow to play some levels and ask to pay for other levels. But I suppose it is very difficult to achieve a good position on the top free, because most of new games are free now. I think it's possible to achieve a good position on the top paid. I achieved quite good positions on the Russian App Store, because I managed to get some publications there. In other countries press doesn't answer me. Of course, I understand my game is not so original. So I think it's impossible to get many publications. Nevertheless I think my game is an interesting product for gamers, but it's uninteresting for press. Now I think to release a free versions with some levels and ask gamers to buy the full version, but not using in-app purchase. I suppose it could raise the ranking on the top paid.
With a paid game, your App Store page for the game is the most important thing. Advertising will make no difference if you have bad photos and description. I would suggest doing a bit more work on your images, this is the main thing that will sell your game after the icon. Have a look at many of the good paid games, they will add nice text to every image explaining something. People read this text, they don't read the description. So add bites of information, like the number of puzzles in it, or how simple it is to learn, and some of the cool things that can happen. Also next time you update it do some work on your grass texture, and maybe a few more trees. Have a read of this tutorial, it has great info on how to make the grass tiles look good in games: http://gas13.ru/v3/tutorials/sywtbapa_almighty_grass_tile.php
It is just hard to sell a paid only game IMO if you are small and indie. The idea it is easier to get in the paid charts I don't think is true at all. I haven't seen any evidence of this.
Create a free version or make it free for a limited time so it gets more interest, you want people to talk about your game. No better way to spread the word than word of mouth!
Great advice! Thanks. I will try. I'm going to make graphics better in all aspects. This article can really help to make grass better. Thank you.
Yes, I haven't seen an evidence too, but I thought, that competition in the paid chart should be lesser. For example, in this study I found that you need approximately 10 times less installations to achieve the same position in the paid chart than in the free chart.
I will think about a free version. But I don't think that making free for a limited time is a good decision. The number of free downloads doesn't affect the paid chart. So you will only loose your positions in the paid chart. I suppose it could only be useful to get reviews on the App Store. But now an update of the game almost wipes out all previous reviews. So sometimes it's better not to update your games or applications with good reviews.
Your sales are pretty good! For now I think you are doing okay. You should be happy for your limited advertising. I didn't think you would get that many, but clearly you have a found a market!
Thank you. Yes, I think so. Actually, my sales correspond with my expectations. But I'm trying to find possibilities to increase sales.
For the time being I have got 739 sales in two weeks. It is not so many, but it corresponds with my expectations. Raildale is my first game and it is not a peculiar game. I think to get many downloads with a usual game you must have a very big budget.
Well obviously you did Facebook ads wrong. How could users saw those ads on desktop? What kind of ads have you been doing? Also, did you mention that your app is paid in your creatives?
Facebook gives you the possibility to choose users who have iOS devices. I got 420 clicks on my ads, 252 clicks were by means of iOS device. These clicks were redirected to the App Store. Computers and unsupported devices was redirected to the promo page. I used the "Website Conversions" type of ads. I wrote about 50% discount, but I didn't write the price.
I suggest you to try Mobile App Installs Ads (https://developers.facebook.com/docs/ads-for-apps/mobile-app-ads/), it's a different product displaying ads only on mobile devices. I suggest you also to include a price in your copy or image and test those ads. You will get lower CTR, however you will be able to filter out majority of people bouncing from the App Store because of price.
I agree with upgrading the graphics (there's plenty of artists around that would love to get their work released), putting emphasis on your AppStore page and releasing a free/lite version of the game. You should also be in contact with mobile review sites and have a strong presence on social media as well.
I will try. Thank you. I wanted to use it at the first moment, but Facebook told me, that it's better to use the Website Conversions for this application. Now it doesn't show this message. Maybe it was a bug or it was my mistake.
