How to market an iPhone game on a 15-year-olds budget?

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by jamesallen, Nov 14, 2012.

  1. jamesallen

    jamesallen Active Member

    If you were 15-years-old (like me) and had a cool unique game for iPhone ready launch, how would you get your game noticed with... well... a 15-year-olds budget?

    You can see my game trailer at //www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XReXDmcc8c&feature=plcp, which shows you how the game works, or you can read my blog I've written since I came up with the idea in May at savegloop.com.

    Any help or advice is welcome! Thanks :)
     
  2. jamesallen

    jamesallen Active Member

    And if anyone has any advice at all on my game (design, gameplay) that you can see from the trailer, I'd love to hear it! Thanks again :)
     
  3. Devcade

    Devcade Member

    Feb 23, 2012
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    We don't know what a "15-year olds budget" is.

    People only care how much money you want spend. So name your price, in terms of dollars.
     
  4. Yeah, some of us are so old, well maybe not that old, that we don't realize how much kids get nowadays for allowance or through part time work.
     
  5. Balloon Loons

    Balloon Loons Well-Known Member

    Jun 20, 2012
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    Ok so here is my opinion. You're 15 and that's awesome that you did this at 15! Super impressed and it means you have a great future. Good for you! My suggestion is to improve your craft and you will only get better. So much better that a year from now you will look at this game and say wow I'm so much better now!

    Use this as a learning experience. My bet is you won't make money from this even if you dump money into marketing. So don't worry about that for now. Just keep focusing on improving your skills and soon enough you will have something that really shines that will be ready for mass publication.

    Meanwhile make some social pages, invite your Facebook friends and friends from school to join your pages and put stuff on YouTube. Also make some blog videos about yourself and your journey as a growing programmer / developer. And people will get interested. All this will pay off some time from now an until then you have time to improve your craft.
    Great job buddy. Keep at it!
     
  6. Comicool

    Comicool Well-Known Member

    Sep 4, 2011
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    16
    Melbourne, Australia
    If you want to push the angle that your only 15 and developed an app, try contacting your local papers, community news organisations etc. At least you will get some recognition from your local community. It may improve your employment prospects and get a couple of downloads from some people who read about it if it gets published. Use those publications to further your profile.

    Apart from that you can try mention it in a press release for the internet. PRMac is worth a shot at only 25 dollars for them to send one out for you. Otherwise there is not much you can do on a limited budget apart from the free social media etc etc.

    Im also starting to figure that out, 15 years old or 26 years old, the odds are against you if you have a low budget and the competition for getting your game recognised over others is immense.
     
  7. jamesallen

    jamesallen Active Member

    I'm sorry, now that I read it back I realise it makes no sense.. my budget is a couple of hundred dollars (like 2 or 3). Nothing really compared to a proper budget I know but its all I can drum up at the moment.
     
  8. jamesallen

    jamesallen Active Member

    Thanks for the advice - much appreciated. :)
     
  9. jamesallen

    jamesallen Active Member

    Great ideas, thanks. I've heard of PRMac before and it sounds really good, I'll give it a try. You never know, maybe I'll be lucky! :)
     
  10. jlauener

    jlauener Well-Known Member

    Jul 7, 2011
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    Yeah keep your bucks man! Maybe just pay the prmac fee.

    Balloon Loons got a point here. The best for you now is to build your social network through twitter/facebook/youtube/... Get to know people, chat with them, increase your followers, all this will pay off in the long term.
     
  11. I'm going to be trying the PrMac FREE one this weekend, I'll post something in here on the outcome.
     
  12. psj3809

    psj3809 Moderator

    Jan 13, 2011
    12,741
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    Good luck with your game.

    I must admit in your app description i wouldnt mention it was created by a 15 year old. Its only because its turned into a bit of 'boy who cried wolf' now as i've seen quite a few apps the last year who were created by a boy of 15, a boy of 12, a boy of 10 etc and they always have to mention their age in the description. I personally think 'some' are fake and they just put that to get more sales.

    NOT in your case dont get me wrong but i get the impression on 'some' of these games that they put that so people think 'ahhhh great a 15 year old kid code that, better be kind....' about the game. When i buy a game personally i dont care if its coded by an 80 year old or a 15 year old, i just want a good game.

    I do agree you should go to the local newspaper as they normally love stories like that but in the tough world of apps on the app store i wouldnt personally mention your age.
     
  13. jamesallen

    jamesallen Active Member

    Thanks :)
     
  14. jamesallen

    jamesallen Active Member

    I see what you mean with the "boy who cried wolf" thing - I haven't planned to put how I'm 15 in the description because I tried to make my app look as professional as possible so that, like you said, people might actually download my app because they like the look of it rather than a pity download because I'm 15..

    I'm mainly pushing the 15-year-old thing in marketing because that's the only way I can get noticed in a really crowded market. Thanks for the help though - it's really helpful :)
     
  15. jamesallen

    jamesallen Active Member

  16. I'm still doing a bit more research for this. Been trying Prmac on different times/different days etc. Currently having a go with Facebook Ads to see what difference they make / how useful as a marketing tool.

    I think my games are quite niche but the results may be useful.

    Anyway, not forgot about this.
     
  17. PikPok

    PikPok Well-Known Member

    Nov 26, 2009
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    Wellington
    As a 15 year old you likely have an abundance of 2 resources a lot of adults don't - time and tenacity.

    You can use these resources to

    - post on every single iPhone gaming forum you can find
    - hit up every gaming journalist/website you can
    - find a way to get your local press (school newsletter, newspaper, local TV news) to cover you
    - hit up people at school, on the same sports teams/clubs, friends, family to try it, after all "It's only a buck!"
    - collaborate with other developers to cross promote each others games

    For the type of game it is and the monetization model you have, you should NOT be spending real money on advertising. You won't get the return you need.

    Good luck!
     
  18. jamesallen

    jamesallen Active Member

    Thanks for the advice - don't worry I haven't spent any money at the moment... just been doing stuff you've said.

    Cheers.
     
  19. WellSpentYouth

    WellSpentYouth Well-Known Member

    Jan 11, 2009
    1,363
    6
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    iPhone programmer
    App Tech Studios, USA
    I just want to say that your app looks great, awesome work :)
     
  20. outqube

    outqube Well-Known Member

    Oct 28, 2012
    53
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    App Developer
    Canada
    thats a great app!
     

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