Graphics and Levels

I finally got around to making that promised update on Kitten Vs. Zombie! This one is adding a pretty good amount of changes as far as content. I redesigned all the levels with new updated graphics that make the game look 10x's better and also added a new story level!

Also added in this update a prototype minigame, the goal is to get as far as you can down the level without dying, sounds easy right? Well not really, I made it where the game will randomly pick one of four different levels designed in a unique way from the last. So no cheating and trying to learn the pattern!

New Updates; New Game!

Hey everyone! Hope you all like the new changes to the blog in terms of the header / background. It's a little sneak peek at what could be coming up in the future! Before we get to far ahead of ourselves though, we need to cover our newly released game!

Prodigy - Pocket Merlin:

 Prodigy - Pocket Merlin is the first and only Merlin game for Android! Experience for yourself the classic games envisioned by Parker Brothers in a new modern era!

 

Prodigy - Pocket Merlin: A Reboot of the original "Merlin, the Electronic Wizard"! V1.0.0 Now Available!

Challenge yourself with 6 classic number pad games including:

• Echo (A pattern game similar to Simon Says)
• Magic Square (A puzzle game reminiscent of Rubik's Cube)
• MindBender (A number guessing game similar to Mastermind)
• Music Machine (Record a song using Prodigy)
• Blackjack13 (A "card" game similar to Blackjack 21)
• Tic Tac Toe (Classic Three-in-a-Row game)

I may be looking into maybe adding leaderboards for certain games to add a bit of social features in the future, so be sure to update!
 

 

Tapjoy Results (Week 3)

I've got new earnings to report for Week 3 from Tapjoy offers!



                                                                  $36.66

Amazing! Definitely not enough to quit my day job anytime soon, but it's starting to build which means it can only increase from here!

Download Statistics II

So it wasn't the weekly update we promised (instead we focused on bringing you guys an amazing new update!), but here it is! The week 3 update for downloads!

Downloads As Of September 2012 (Week 3) "Kitten Vs. Zombie":

SlideMe              :  1111

Google Play        :  812

Amazon              :  355

GetJar                :  296

AndroidPit         :  139

Opera                 :  89

                                                                                             Total  =  2802 downloads

**Some side notes*

• SlideMe continues to amaze me with it's daily downloads, not only has it surpased all others, but it has also been on this market the shortest! A major factor in this I would say is my constant updating I've been doing to my game (at least once a week)
• Google Play still has given me the most feedback from users (though not all constructive..) I would definitely not overlook this market.
• Amazon just as predicted, Amazon has gained a fair amount of traction through time. The daily downloads here could prove to make it a strong market.
• GetJar after my initial surprise boom with this market, downloads slowly began to crawl. Even with my updates it does not seem to be gaining much attention here. 
• AndroidPit is a market I recently just found out about so it's only been on here a couple of days, but already it seems very promising! Something to note here is the amount of downloads to active users, you retain almost all of your user base that downloads the game here it seems!
• Opera another market that has slowed down significantly over time. Perhaps it will surprise us in the future.
• Apptown, Insyde, Mall.soc.io & Appoke  are still not looking good for market downloads.

Update V0.2.0

So we've been a little busy lately and haven't had the chance to post download data or Tapjoy earnings the last week. Instead we have an Exiting New Update to share!

That's right! We finally brought ourselves into the 21st century of games and added all new social features to our game Kitten Vs. Zombie! These features include the long awaited Leaderboards, Achievements, Friends Lists, Game Messaging, and the ability to now Buy Internets as well as earn them! All of these features are thanks to the feature-rich development tools provided by Swarm Connect!

So get going and make it to the top of that leaderboard before somebody else does! Also don't forget to earn those Achievement Points!

Tapjoy Results (Week 1)

As promised, I've got new data to share with you all about using Tapjoy over in-app ads!

I have always despised those intrusive ads that would pop up just at the wrong time in your game, keeping you from seeing everything that's going on. In some poorly designed games this can even ruin the gameplay for the user!

It was because of this that I decided to implement the more user friendly "rewarded installs system". This system gives users in game points every time they download an offer through Tapjoy (usable on Kitten Vs. Zombie to unlock extra characters). Not only do users earn points, but I am rewarded an amount for each download that is made this way. The system is completely optional as I have given users the ability to also earn points in the game, it would just be much faster to use these downloads.

So before I bore you all to death talking about the mechanics of it, here are my earnings from Week 1 using Tapjoy:  

                                                                   $2.32

I know, I know astonishing isn't it? Actually, according to various other reports I have been given by indie developers such as myself using the in-game ad system, this is more then they have made in 2 months through their ads.

Obviously it could be much, much better, but I am content with how much Kitten vs. Zombie has made so far, knowing it will only increase from here. I really wasn't expecting anything at all!

Download Statistics I

Well the first week of releasing Kitten Vs. Zombie is up and I'd say we had a pretty successful launch! Below you will find the download numbers for our new game from all the markets we've been trying.

Downloads As Of September 2012 (Week 1) "Kitten Vs. Zombie":

SlideMe              :  338

Google Play        :  293

GetJar                :  105

Opera                 :  62

Amazon              :  16

Apptown            :  2

Insyde                :  0                                                            Total  =  814 downloads

Appoke               :  0  

**Some side notes*

• SlideMe it seems, is the first stop for indie games and developers, this market is by far the best source to release an app that does not have the marketing capabilities of larger companies. In only a few short days SlideMe has had by far the most exponential growth. uploaded and accepted to this market 9/12
• Google Play was the first market that I uploaded to, being that it is the flagship store for Android. This market, though somewhat slower in downloads than others does have certain advantages over others. You will likely get the most feedback from users here, currently a  ★ ★ ★ ★ & 1/2 rating in the market.                                                           uploaded and accepted to this market 9/8
• GetJar was rather surprising in it's download numbers. In the first few days after uploading it seemed that it was going to be a bust market, but suddenly after about 2-3 days being up it gained significant downloads.                                                                   uploaded and accepted to this market 9/9
• Opera another new market this time around has shown a somewhat interesting result. On the first couple days it was on the market it gained a fair amount of downloads, but that number has slowed considerably over time. Because of this I believe new / updated games will do best here. I will test these results with my first update coming soon.                   uploaded and accepted to this market 9/9
• Amazon so far has not gained significant traction, however, I expect this one to have a delay time much the same as with my last game. We will see in the coming weeks how it does.
• Apptown Insyde & Appoke  so far have been busts, but may surprise us in time.