[bmalicoat]

I'm slowly building some success in Android and iOS games (most revenue comes from iOS!). I've got a paid game that is a yahtzee-inspired poker game with just a touch of cosmic horror [1] and a free-to-play word game [2].

I've been fortunate to get some featuring by Apple which has driven most of my sales. I'm hopeful the daily word game, Well Word, will start to take off because it's the best game I've made and I'm really proud of it.

I started working on Pine Tar Poker while I had a different job about 13 months ago and I've since switched to trying my hand at converting my side project into my full-time gig [3]! My short-term goal is to be able to pay my mortgage with the proceeds.

[1] https://www.pinetarpoker.com

[2] https://wellwordgame.com

[3] https://www.birdcartel.com

[totoglazer]

Not sure if you’re interested in feedback, but I found well world intimidating and didn’t understand the objective/affordances. Clicked it and had a bunch of letters and no idea what to do. Closed it. Looks pretty though.

[bmalicoat]

Really appreciate the feedback, thank you. Truth be told, the website is kind of an after thought version of the game. The Android and iOS version are the real deal. If I haven't lost you entirely, and you like word games, please give it a shot on your phone.

[UnpossibleJim]

What do you see as your best routes to monetization on the Apple v. Android and how FTP differs on each platform? Also, what routes of promotion have you been taking to build a customer base?

Sorry to ask so many questions, but as a maker of personal projects which are games, I'm curious about the promotion and monetization of mobile games =)

[bmalicoat]

I haven't yet tried an ad-supported game (with an IAP to remove ads), but I think those perform the best overall. Personally I'm opposed to ads for a number of reasons (privacy, bandwidth usage, ad quality), so I'm not sure I'll ever try one of those.

I was lucky to get my first game, Downwordly, as Game of the Day on iOS. This plus other sustained featuring (Essential Word Games) led to 50k+ downloads. Unfortunately I did a bad job with the IAP value proposition (both explaining it and what it actually is), so the conversion rate is abysmal (<1%). Pine Tar Poker was also Game of the Day a few weeks back and had some sustained featuring (Best New Games). That let me ship a few hundred copies over a few days but once the featuring dried up, the sales did too.

Well Word is currently featured under Best New Games and is getting decent download numbers in the mid 100s and has a great conversion rate of ~15%. I'm hopeful that it can continue to spread through word of mouth and the built-in score sharing.

I have made next to nothing on Android. I've never (that I know of) had any featuring and the Play Store doesn't have as many editorial pushes in my experience. To be honest, the download count and revenue from Android is such that I only release games there because it takes less than an hour or so (thanks Unity) and my brother uses Android.

I'm currently working on an expanded version of Pine Tar Poker for console + Steam so I'm interested to see what I can learn in that space! Let me know if you have any other questions. I hope hearing about my experience so far was helpful.

[m3at]

I just tried well word, unlike a sibling comment I think it's fun :)

Though I have to agree that it's a bit unclear how to proceed at first. Maybe make a link to the tutorial more easily accessible, or even auto-suggested on first visit?

[bmalicoat]

Thanks for giving it a shot! I used to automatically show the tutorial but then some folks would play on a phone versus their computer and have to see the tutorial again and skip it. I probably swung too far in accommodating that scenario and left new players confused when I removed that feature. I'll try to improve it, thanks for the feedback.

I mentioned it in another comment, but the mobile version (also free) is where I put most of my energy. If you liked the web version, please give it a try and let me know what you think. Appreciate the support!

[sogen]

Do you have a lengthier description of what Pine Tar poker is about?

I like Yahtzee so it interests me.

Thanks

[bmalicoat]

At its core, Pine Tar is about making poker hands (two pair, full house, etc) with five cards using up to two extra deals. You can choose to keep cards around and replace other cards on each deal. There are usually ~12 hand types you can score, if you can't score anything the game is over.

As you play, you can use your winnings to buy items that give you an edge and transition your play from pure luck to more skill based. Along the way, you can have your fortune read to unlock puzzles that reward you with magick runes that can transform cards to allow you to score hands that at first glance are impossible.

Here's the trailer which shows some gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuLh8Ft4Uhg