Android 10 Things I Learned by Publishing my First Game - Blind Samurai

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Chatterb0x

Guest
Friends,
I share with you the hard-sown fruits of my labor. These 10 tips will save small developers hours of wasted time and money. Others allow you to budget in advance. Please note that my experience pertains to Google Play. But first...

The Secret Origin of Blind Samurai
Marvel’s Daredevil serial is awesome! Did you know it debuted without blind accessibility? Irony is when a blind audience can’t appreciate a blind hero. That notion made me wonder what a Daredevil video game would play like. I imagined players listening to the enemies every step along concrete roofs, pouncing when the time was right.

Developers partake in programming marathons called Game Jams. In October 2015, I entered a 30-day competition with 1 rule: Finish a game – Take it to market – Earn $1. You know the theme. 365 days later, it became apparent my vision was too ambitious for a monthly project! But it was still perfect for mobile devices.

The Final Product
Blind Samurai is the first mobile action game 100% accessible to the blind and visually impaired. You can play it with your eyes closed! All you need are headphones and ears. Listen to enemy footsteps and swipe towards the direction they approaching from. They may wade through snow, charge through the rain, or use wind as a disguise.

There are 5 levels per cycle and a boss fight at the end. Gameplay speeds up each cycle.



What Did I Learn?
1) Be prepared to buy domain and hosting if your game requests permissions.

Because Google requires a Privacy Policy for games requesting them (ie. READ_PHONE_STATE). An example can be found here. Feel free to use mine verbatim. I recommend mentioning Unique Device Identification code in your game.

2) Official YoYo Games extensions have permissions built in.
I'm referring to the Google Play Licensing and Google APK expansion extension. For whatever reason, these have certain permissions built in and there is no option to deselect them.

3) Consider avoiding them altogether.
Sorry guys, these extensions gave me too much trouble. You can't test your Android game once installed because it requests a license :p. Even when my game was downloaded from the store during Alpha, it gave me a licensing error. There is little documentation.

4) Google charges $25 for becoming a developer.
Better to find out sooner than later.

5) Developer must change release version internally each update.
Found under the Global Game Settings. You must increment your version number by 1 or more each upload. IT DOES NOT MATTER IF UPLOADS ARE FUNCTIONALLY THE SAME. For example, I uploaded an APK with an extension, then decided to remove it. Nothing important had changed but Google requested I specify a new version number.

6) Track changes between updates.
Google shows players what specifically has been modified or added. Document them in a notepad.

7) REDUCING PRICE TO $0 MAKES IT FREE FOREVER!
Even if you only publish to Alpha, making it free once sets it to free at all stages. I was forced to delete the project and re-upload under another name. Which brings me to my next point...

8) Each app must have a unique name and package.
Because of my misstep, I could no longer use the original game name, Blind Samurai. I changed the package name internally and re-uploaded as Blind Samurai Complete. A real bummer, so learn from my error!

9) You must provide a 512x512 icon for achievements.
Google Play Services was the only YoYo Games extension I used for achievements. It should have been obvious, but hitherto, I had not designed an icon. Support community artists. ;)

10) Implement Google Analytics into your game.
I recommend Taylor Dale's Easy Google Analytics. Analytics can turn a $100 game into a $10,000 game. For example, you put a line of code indicating which levels players are dying at and how often. You then update the game with a chance to bypass that level by watching an ad. Boom! A win/win! Players have a better experience, and you make $$$.


Thanks for reading, hope that helps! Please consider checking the first mobile action game 100% accessible to blind and visually impaired players. Blind Samurai is available on Google Play now!



Big thanks to the GM Community and Admins. Wow, how do you guys do it? Answering the same banal questions must be a grind. First rounds on me if you're ever in Saskatchewan, Canada.
 
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The 512 is always a bit excessive.

I learned the thing about unique name, unique package. I also learned to avoid leaderboards, because then when you install the app it asks for your friends list and well that turns people off. It makes it seem like you're trying to hijack their phone or something. Kudos on the local news coverage.

Also is this really a WIP if its a released game?
 
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Chatterb0x

Guest
The 512 is always a bit excessive.

I learned the thing about unique name, unique package. I also learned to avoid leaderboards, because then when you install the app it asks for your friends list and well that turns people off. It makes it seem like you're trying to hijack their phone or something. Kudos on the local news coverage.

Also is this really a WIP if its a released game?
Thank you. I'll post the interview when it hits the air.

Ironically, asynchronous events like achievements and leader boards are interrupting gameplay. There is narration for everything except Google Play Services. It's beyond my control and I may remove achievements in an update.

An admin put this in WIP because, initially, I plugged my game too little, haha. It will probably be moved back to Made in Gamemaker.
 
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Chatterb0x

Guest
Anyone that would like a promo code may PM me directly.
 

woodsmoke

Member
I was planning on releasing my one-button games on mobile, but man this is a huge turn-off. Was having massive problems trying to set up Gamemaker for Android anyway.
 
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Chatterb0x

Guest
I was planning on releasing my one-button games on mobile, but man this is a huge turn-off. Was having massive problems trying to set up Gamemaker for Android anyway.
Is this your first game? There will be barriers no matter what. 1-button games KILL IT on mobile.
 

woodsmoke

Member
Nah, I've released 8 games so far, and 2 of them are one-button.

I'll try (a third time) to set Gamemaker up for Android soon. I get stuck with the APK. I should open a thread. Or maybe can find someone who can do it for me. But then I can't test and modify it myself.
 

woodsmoke

Member
I don't intend to hijack your thread, and am work right now, so I can't open GM. But I remember Gamemaker gives me an error when choosing the APK in the Android settings. I followed the instructions for GM1.4 which I am using. I'll try it again soon, then create a new thread if I fail.
 
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mysticjim

Guest
hello @Chatterb0x - great story behind your game, and very detailed and interesting info about the pitfalls of Google Play intergration :)

This is made for an interview on the Gamemaker Podcast, I think my listeners would love to hear about the development and the journey to bringing the game to market in more detail, as told by yourself.

If you want a bit more info then you can check out the official thread on GMC;

https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.php?threads/the-gamemaker-podcast-now-live-episode-6-out-now.22496

And if you want to check out a few episodes of the podcast visit the website;

https://thegamemakerpodcast.blogspot.co.uk/

If you fancy being interviewed drop me a PM and we'll set something up.

Very nice work with your game :)
 
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Chatterb0x

Guest
@mysticjim
GM Community has a podcast!? Awesome! I'll stream them while applying the next update. ;-)
Thank you for the invitation.
 
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N8Games

Guest
Wow what an awesome idea for a game. Really cool idea.

And I really appreciate you sharing your hard earned experience with those of us still trying to get a game off the ground. I'm not sure when I'll be ready for the Google Play store, but it's good to have a heads up on things to watch out for.

Thank you!
 
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Guest

Guest
@Chatterb0x Very helpful post, thanks. In the future, how would you recommend alpha testing an Android game, to avoid the lame "once free, always free, now you can't use your name" problem?
 
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Chatterb0x

Guest
@N8Games
Please share your game with me when it's published. I'll be sure to play it! I'm glad you found this thread useful. When promoting their game, people tend to go, "Whoomph, there it is!" without having built rapport. The community has invested tons in to me, it's only fair to invest back.

@Justice
Build your playtester list before publishing to any phase. For example, if I were to upload a unique APK now, it would be neither Paid nor Free. I believe at this stage you may compile an e-mail list of testers. Google Play Developer Console then generates a unique download URL.
 
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N8Games

Guest
@N8Games
Please share your game with me when it's published. I'll be sure to play it! I'm glad you found this thread useful. When promoting their game, people tend to go, "Whoomph, there it is!" without having built rapport. The community has invested tons in to me, it's only fair to invest back.
Thank you @Chatterb0x . I find it very inspiring to see what others are producing using GMS. I'm working on a mini HTML5 game that I'm hoping to have finished soon. Nothing to I,pressive, but hopefully a good start. I will share that once it's live.
 
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mysticjim

Guest
@mysticjim
GM Community has a podcast!? Awesome! I'll stream them while applying the next update. ;-)
Thank you for the invitation.
Yes indeed. There wasn't one, I'd been told there have historically been a few but they soon ran out of steam. So, I'd done podcasts before, there was a niche for it, I like talking to people - so I thought why not. :)
 
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Chatterb0x

Guest
Showcasing Blind Samurai is difficult. A fellow developer suggested a video would increase conversions - and I agree. The problem is that you can't replicate 3D sound from footage alone. Craig Forshey of Super Game Droid found that out the hard way. Check out his game play video.

He did write a nice article, though.
There have been many arcade reaction games in the vein of One Finger Death Punch over the years but few have been quite as interesting or clever as Blind Samurai.... The sound effects at work in Blind Samurai are very well done and help to elevate the game’s core mechanic far above being a mere gimmick due to its dynamic implementation of environmental effects like rain and wind that continually keep players on their toes.
Read it here.

Oh, and more downloads from Russia. o_O
 
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Chatterb0x

Guest
Twitter can be a productivity killer. However, a friend begged me to use it. I should have listened sooner! It got me in contact with accessibility advocates quicker than weeks of reaching out. You can follow me here.
Google Play Developer Console has suggested translating store description in to Russian. No doubt this would increase sales. Can anyone recommend a service?
 
Just make sure it doesn't translate it automatically, I've seen games translated to my language, but it makes no sense because I'm pretty sure it uses google translate.
 

Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
Just make sure it doesn't translate it automatically, I've seen games translated to my language, but it makes no sense because I'm pretty sure it uses google translate.
Seconding this, I always set the language to English even if there's a Swedish translation available because I'm so used to them being crap I don't even try, and having something detect my language and start off in swedish always gives me a bad impression (LMMS for instance, which didn't even bother making sure everything was translated, so stuff would be mixed up 50-50). Also I always switch voice acting to Japanese when possible because I feel bad english voices are distracting (i like the Banjo-style grunt voices because they're functionally the same as japanese voices to me - they portray personality without being distracting).
 
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0.Bytes

Guest
Great idea make a game that blind people can play. Have any blind played your game ? And thanks for sharing you experience =D
 
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Guest

Guest
Twitter can be a productivity killer. However, a friend begged me to use it. I should have listened sooner! It got me in contact with accessibility advocates quicker than weeks of reaching out. You can follow me here.
Google Play Developer Console has suggested translating store description in to Russian. No doubt this would increase sales. Can anyone recommend a service?
I've always thought that if I get to this point I'll hit up the local university and get a whatever-language comparative lit graduate student or some similiar graduate student--someone who's (1) fluent, (2) probably aware of cultural idiosyncrasies, and (3) even hungrier than me.
 
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Chatterb0x

Guest
@0.Bytes
Yes. The Audio Games and Eyes-Free Android community have been play testing Blind Samurai. To my surprise, they wanted menus! They were quick to point out that Blind Samurai is not technically the first 100% blind accessible mobile action game. I would argue it is a new genre. Non-sighted gamers, apparently, prefer iOS.
@Justice
Hungier than me! That will be difficult. ;-)
 
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