Under 50mb vs over 50mb

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by derpderp, Dec 4, 2012.

  1. derpderp

    derpderp Well-Known Member

    Nov 17, 2011
    87
    0
    0
    Hi all,

    I have an app ready for release but im pondering whether to optimize to get it to fit under 50mb, it will take alot of work but i should be able to do it, but it it worth it?

    Ill be selling the app for $1.99, how many more downloads would I get if it was under 50mb, obviously I don't mean exact numbers, just a general thing. Its kinda hard to explain what i mean really.

    Thanks in advance!
     
  2. spacecowgoesmoo

    spacecowgoesmoo Well-Known Member

    Sep 4, 2008
    722
    3
    0
    Composer / Level Designer @ Bovinedragon Software
    Los Angeles, USA
    Being under 50MB is hugely important, you should do everything you possibly can to make that happen.
     
  3. ThreeCubes

    ThreeCubes Well-Known Member

    Oct 13, 2012
    743
    0
    0
    Well I think it depends on the game how much it matters. If Modern combat 4 was under 50mb then people would think that there not getting much content for their money. But I would say for most games it's an advantage to be below that.

    I guess you have to cost the time it would take to cut it down. Usually it's sounds and music. You could just make some sounds mono.

    Be careful you don't break you game in the process. You will have todo all your testing again.
     
  4. MarcJay

    MarcJay Well-Known Member

    Oct 12, 2012
    92
    0
    0
    California
    Hard to say how many extra downloads it will translate to when its impossible to know how many downloads any game will get these days, but being under 50 MB is pretty important, IMHO. I dont see there being a huge rush to get your game to apple right now due to the apple store closing very soon for the holidays. Might as well use this time to get it under 50mb. As ThreeCubes noted, just make sure not to break things in the process and test well after any changes.
     
  5. wearepinata

    wearepinata Well-Known Member

    Apr 25, 2012
    77
    0
    0
    iOS Game development
    Adelaide
  6. outqube

    outqube Well-Known Member

    Oct 28, 2012
    53
    0
    0
    App Developer
    Canada
    great information!
     
  7. Allanon

    Allanon Well-Known Member

    Dec 10, 2011
    645
    0
    0
    Protecting the Lands from Brona
    Paranor
    I couldn't care less, I've got 64gb mang
     
  8. PikPok

    PikPok Well-Known Member

    Nov 26, 2009
    938
    1
    0
    Wellington
    Getting under 50MB is massively important in terms of leveraging impulse buyer behaviour.
     
  9. Moonjump

    Moonjump Well-Known Member

    May 17, 2010
    356
    0
    16
    Game designer
    Lincoln, UK
    I worked hard to get ShootStorm under 20 MB when it was released (20 MB was the 3G limit then). I followed it up with a free version that required a little more optimisation to include the advertising code and stay under the limit.

    The free version was being downloaded about 5 or 6 times as much as the paid version, but an update pushed the free version to 20.1 MB. Downloads on the free version dropped to match the paid version. More optimisation to get back under returned the downloads to the original ratio.
     
  10. derpderp

    derpderp Well-Known Member

    Nov 17, 2011
    87
    0
    0
    Thanks for the info guys!
     
  11. Blackharon

    Blackharon Well-Known Member

    Mar 15, 2010
    978
    0
    16
    Game Designer for Ludia
    Canada
    While not as dramatic, when we reduced Pickpawcket from 100mb+ to under the 3G limit at the time we saw a jump of 2-3 times the daily downloads.
     
  12. Rainier

    Rainier Well-Known Member

    Apr 16, 2012
    160
    0
    0
    I think it's the difference between being able to download something on impulse or having to do it when a person really thinks about it. In most cases you'll probably only get one chance to get that impulse buyer. That's worth something.
     
  13. Jez Hammond

    Jez Hammond Well-Known Member

    Oct 20, 2012
    50
    0
    0
    I think you're right Rainer. If a 3G download failed due to being over the size limit then a lot of users will still be on 3G when they return home. I noticed this on my daughter's phone even though I had setup wifi for her when she first had the phone. Her reply was along the lines of "I dunno".
     
  14. derpderp

    derpderp Well-Known Member

    Nov 17, 2011
    87
    0
    0
    Just had a look at Pickpawcket, 17.5mb, thats quite the drop from 100mb+ lol!
     
  15. Blackharon

    Blackharon Well-Known Member

    Mar 15, 2010
    978
    0
    16
    Game Designer for Ludia
    Canada
    The original version had 8 songs, 4 versions of each painting (small version, retina small version, full screen version and retina full screen version). Changing it to only 1 song and 1 version of the painting (as well as other optimisations) helped a lot!

    Edit to add: We had exactly 1 complaint about the paintings no longer being full screen and 0 complaints about the lack of song selection... so the rest was obviously superfluous
     
  16. Wizardo

    Wizardo Well-Known Member

    Jul 30, 2012
    92
    0
    0
    Starving indie developer
    New Jersey!
    Has anyone ever heard of an over 50mb non AAA title becoming successful? Unfortunately, there's no way my upcoming game will be under 50.
     
  17. derpderp

    derpderp Well-Known Member

    Nov 17, 2011
    87
    0
    0
    That's allot of music lol!
     
  18. derpderp

    derpderp Well-Known Member

    Nov 17, 2011
    87
    0
    0
    Good point!
     
  19. Wizardo

    Wizardo Well-Known Member

    Jul 30, 2012
    92
    0
    0
    Starving indie developer
    New Jersey!
    Yeah, I'm pretty curious. At any rate, when my game comes out in a couple months, I'll share the good or bad news.
     
  20. BulletDev

    BulletDev Well-Known Member

    Sep 20, 2008
    784
    40
    0
    produce applications under "Bullet Development"
    Vancouver, BC
    funny how this topic keeps coming up. Except at first I think it was 10MB.
     

Share This Page