Android Lawn Mower Tycoon | Grass Cutting Simulator with Idle Progression

Hi everyone,
a month ago, I left my regular job and decided to try my luck as a solo game dev - and now I finally have a first simple game live on the Google Play Store which I would like to share with you:

Lawn Mower Tycoon (Android)

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https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brusgames.lawnmowertycoon

In the game, your task is to cut grass on various lawns, get paid for it, and use the money you earn to buy upgrades such as:
  • Bigger lawn mower
  • Faster engine
  • Automatic robo-mowers to help you with cutting
  • Higher level rewards
  • Idle offline income

When you unlock all upgrades on a map, you can also start again on a new, different map - now there are 3 of them, with increasing level rewards.
Here's a couple screenshots in-game:

ScreensScreen_529180.png ScreensScreen_4598193.png ScreensScreen_1509310.png
maps-jpeg.jpg

Rough gameplay video: Gameplay video on YouTube
(sorry, didn't really spend much time on this one, and the game is only in portrait mode while Google Play requires landscape, so it's kind of hacked too)


I wanted to start with something I can finish and release in a reasonable time (~1 month) to see what it takes to make a free-to-play game with basic ad monetization - and learn as much as possible in the process, which I did a lot more than expected :) Fixing bugs, re-doing clumsy code, investigating why things don't work - that was definitely at least 50% of the whole time. And of course, some things are just hacked together, because I found the right way to do them too late (e.g. too many rooms, too many global variables etc.).

It was a great learning experience and I wouldn't get anywhere without tons of advice and guides found not only in this forum, for which I would like to thank all those who help people here - things such as save / load mechanics, how to do offline progression, pathfinding, screen resolutions, Android SDKs, builds, Google Ads integration... For every problem I encountered, there was an already tried solution that worked. I would do a lot of things differently now and some still need to be done (e.g. I just used the default font), but I didn't want to spend too much time on details, except for bugs, and decided to just give it a shot and go live now.


Thank you for any feedback, comments, or tips on what to improve / change!
 
So far, it looks like the biggest challenge will be to get installs and reviews
Make yourself a nice website that serves as a portfolio, and try to approach publishers. Unless you did P.R./Sales/Marketing in your previous job or you are some sort of guy that can sells refrigerators to penguin, you will probably be able to use some help there. Doing it all is a LOT of work, and can be frustrating sometimes to NOT be able to work on games because you have to deal with all that stuff
 
Make yourself a nice website that serves as a portfolio, and try to approach publishers. Unless you did P.R./Sales/Marketing in your previous job or you are some sort of guy that can sells refrigerators to penguin, you will probably be able to use some help there. Doing it all is a LOT of work, and can be frustrating sometimes to NOT be able to work on games because you have to deal with all that stuff

I actually worked in game publishing before, but we only did PC and console titles, so yeah, it's a lot of new stuff to learn (and a lot of time required) - will definitely try to reach out to some smaller publishers. Thanks for the suggestion!
 
Update 1.0, added a couple things - mostly on the "backend", could be useful for other Android devs using GMS2:
  • Google Review prompt (doesn't seem to work too well though...)
  • In-app purchase available - pay to remove all ads (this one was tough)
  • Game Analytics (really useful, easy implementation)
  • Local push notifications - very easy implementation and use, perfect tool for improving retention - highly recommended for anyone doing mobile games!

If anyone is struggling with any of the above, feel free to let me know - I got it all to work somehow, and will be happy to help / point in the right direction.
 

ChrisC

Member
I'd love to hear of income of an ad based game. I know that is very private information and maybe id be better off searching on google. Ill download your game and try it out though.


Edit:
I downloaded but I get an error "Unable to get a valid license, please ensure that you have a valid connection to the Store,"

I use Aurora store to access play store so that may be why, but the game wont even let me play it at all this way.
 
I use Aurora store to access play store so that may be why
Yes, most likely - the game uses Google Services and account to show ads, do in-app purchases etc. Are you able to play other games which show Google ads? Interesting, I didn't even know this option was used :)


I'd love to hear of income of an ad based game.
Well, I can't share the numbers, but in general, I can tell you that in my case, it sucks :D I wasn't expecting much but was disappointed anyway, revenues are practically zero. However, it could be very different in your case - depends a lot on the quality and retention rate of the game.

My experience (and recommendations) gathered so far:
  • If your game has low retention rate (people don't stick around and play after giving it a try), your monetization and revenue will be low as well. In my case, day 1 retention is around 10%, and that's way too low to break even.
  • If your game doesn't hook people and keep them playing and returning to the game, then ads won't help, no matter how aggressive they are. I knew about this in the past, but didn't realize until recently how difficult it actually is to design the game and its mechanics in a way that would really keep people coming back. Just copying what other games do is not enough in itself.
  • It's good to have at least one premium in-app product (e.g. ad-free option for a few dollars) - some people would rather pay upfront than have to watch ads. Provide them with the option - and if your game performs well in terms of player numbers, you can always add more in-app purchase options later.
  • If you want to do a game that's only ad-based, then you have to have a) a really big hit with tons of players, or b) really aggressive ads - but in both cases, you'd still be missing out on a lot of potential revenue if you don't use in-apps.
  • Retention is also key for user acquisition - the better you engage, keep and monetize your players, the broader your options are to acquire new players (via Google ads, FB etc.). If anyone has good experience with platforms for advertising your game (google app ads, FB app installs...), I'd be happy to hear some tips.
 

Joe Ellis

Member
Woah this is such a good idea for a game!

I'm not really a fan of in-game ads and purchases, I just believe in old fashioned buy a game. And I think this game is definitely worthy of that. IAP's just lower the game's credibility and also trust & respect of the creators for me, plus most people I know. I'd just avoid this altogether and sell the game for $20. If the game is good (which it looks like it is) you'd have probably 80% satisfied customers, and might even make more money in the long run.
 
Thank you! There's actually quite a lot of similar games for Android, as I found out later :)

Unfortunately, the old-fashioned "buy a game" doesn't work too well on mobile phones I'm afraid, unless you're an already established studio or have previously released great and popular game(s). Personally, I very rarely purchase any premium games, without trying them out first - there's a lot of garbage on the Play Store, and players are generally reluctant to pay upfront.

Good overview of mobile revenues - ad-based vs. in-apps:

Also, interesting interview about pros / cons of premium mobile games (quite old, but still useful):
 

ChrisC

Member
Yes, most likely - the game uses Google Services and account to show ads, do in-app purchases etc. Are you able to play other games which show Google ads? Interesting, I didn't even know this option was used :)
This is the only game I've seen that wont let me play it. I have other games that have ads, i dont know if they are google ads.


Well, I can't share the numbers, but in general, I can tell you that in my case, it sucks :D I wasn't expecting much but was disappointed anyway, revenues are practically zero. However, it could be very different in your case - depends a lot on the quality and retention rate of the game.

My experience (and recommendations) gathered so far:
  • If your game has low retention rate (people don't stick around and play after giving it a try), your monetization and revenue will be low as well. In my case, day 1 retention is around 10%, and that's way too low to break even.
  • If your game doesn't hook people and keep them playing and returning to the game, then ads won't help, no matter how aggressive they are. I knew about this in the past, but didn't realize until recently how difficult it actually is to design the game and its mechanics in a way that would really keep people coming back. Just copying what other games do is not enough in itself.
  • It's good to have at least one premium in-app product (e.g. ad-free option for a few dollars) - some people would rather pay upfront than have to watch ads. Provide them with the option - and if your game performs well in terms of player numbers, you can always add more in-app purchase options later.
  • If you want to do a game that's only ad-based, then you have to have a) a really big hit with tons of players, or b) really aggressive ads - but in both cases, you'd still be missing out on a lot of potential revenue if you don't use in-apps.
  • Retention is also key for user acquisition - the better you engage, keep and monetize your players, the broader your options are to acquire new players (via Google ads, FB etc.). If anyone has good experience with platforms for advertising your game (google app ads, FB app installs...), I'd be happy to hear some tips.
Thanks for going as in depth as you could. Appreciate you taking the time to give that insight.
 
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