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The Appreneur Path; iOS and Android apps/games

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

beatgoezon

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Hello everyone here at the Fastlane Forum, just wanted to share my journey/process with what I’ve been doing. For a long time I’ve felt shy to post this, but I think this could be good for some people and good for me to finally get active here at the Fastlane Forum.


It’s been quite a ride since I joined about a year ago. Like I wrote in another comment here once, my journey started with mental masturbation. I was content, for a short while, with just dreaming, wishing, hoping, and imagining my dream life until I started hanging around here. This community pushes you to forge process, and I’m very grateful for all the amazing information that’s here.


The post is long, so if you want to skip to the summary, feel free to scroll down.


In September, right after my birthday, I decided enough was enough and no matter what happens, I’d work instead of wishing and dreaming. Turning 24 and still only dreaming about freedom and going home smacked reality hard in my face… It was when I finally let go of fear and began, even if it meant failure…


For those who are interested in the App business (iOS/Android/etc), I hope this sheds light on the subject (even if it’s just barely any).



I decided to get into the App business, particularly for the iOS platform. I didn’t know how to code, how to market, or how to do anything in the field of apps, but after much research and determination, I decided to stick to this 1 path, even if I failed and struggled in it. The research took around 15 days of non-stop Googling and understanding the field.


I began raising capital, talked to potential investors, and finally raised enough money to get myself a Macbook and some tools so I could begin coding on Xcode. I got myself a few books on learning to code Objective-C (the language which iOS apps are written in).


Big Nerd Ranch Guide: Objective-C programming 2nd edition

Big Nerd Ranch Guide: iOS Development 4th edition

Stephen Kochan: Programming in Objective-C 6th edition



Everything got setup and ready by October 25th and I began learning to code, learn about marketing, app store research.


By December 3rd, I had learned the basics of C and started with Objective-C. I didn’t believe I could learn so much in such a short amount of time. I still had a long way to go, but I finally felt I was heading in the right direction.


A few days later by chance, I got an email about a game developing software called Buildbox, which is essentially a drag and drop game making tool. It was being given away for a 30 day trial, so I decided to continue coding and give Buildbox a try along with it.


Long story short, the past months have been non-stop work days, yet I’ve never felt more active and alive before… It’s amazing what you can do when you direct your focus on working instead of dreaming and wishing for change. I hope this can help push those who still haven’t quite begun their journeys. To be completely honest, it’s only been a few months since I’ve began working myself to the bone, but one thing is definitely true: you learn more from just a few days of work than you learn from months and months of reading, thinking, and planning. Plus, you feel more alive than ever before...


After weeks of failures, frustrations, and 12 hour work days, a friend and I were able to complete a game. The runner style game seems addictive and unique( even though its graphics are minimal). It took 14 days to learn to use the software, and about 7 days to complete the game. I’m not concerned with how great the game is right now because it was the first game I’ve created, I’m just happy with all I’ve learned through these few weeks. I'm going to use it to create apps/games with even more value. We’ve begun working on a second game, and hopefully we’ll be starting the third one in a few weeks( if there's still time in the trail).



Right now I’m in the process of arranging some cash for an Apple Developer’s account and an Android Playstore account.


After taking care of some of the complicated compilation of the game files and having the accounts approved, I’ll be uploading the game.


Truth be told, I don’t know what will happen, I don’t know how the game will go, but I feel happy that I’ve done something. I was feeling shy about posting this, not sure if it’s worth it’s weight in anything yet, but I’ll keep progressing and learning from my failures and setbacks. I guess this is my process, and I have to go through it one way or another.


I’m still learning Objective-C, but if it seems worth it, I’ll be reinvesting the revenue I earn from my apps into this software.

If anyone else is into the app business or wanted to get into the business, you can give the software a try (not affiliated in any way), I think there’s still a 15 day trial available:


https://www.buildbox.com/game-business-challenge/?utm_source=Referral&utm_term=Friends


I think exhaustion is taking it’s toll so I decided to take a break today and post this up here, I hope it’s helpful to anyone else attempting to enter into the field of App development or even just start their own journey.


My next step is to set these accounts up by Sunday and then begin learning and applying ASO, (app store optimization) marketing, and promotion of the app.



Some lessons I’ve learned:

To make 2015 the year your life changes, your actions and PROCESS must change

A few weeks of work (process) will teach you more about your field than months and months of reading and thinking.

You’ll never have a perfect plan… The only way to know what or how you’ll achieve your aim is by deciding on a path indefinitely and traveling it; many times you end up finding opportunities you couldn’t imagine.

Every field/business market/road is “too saturated/hard/complicated/weird/boring” if you believe it is, pick one thing and stick to it, change your plans you go along, and don’t worry about obstacles; overcome the bastards as they come instead of worrying about them too much early on

2-3 weeks is more than enough time to “research”. Any more than that and you risk analysis paralysis.

Don’t be afraid of hard work; you think it will be painful, boring, tedious, and unenjoyable, but you’ll feel more alive than ever having done it.


Sorry for the long post! 2015 is 10 days in, if you’ve gotten off track, remember that wasting time is essentially wasting life. I’ll keep everyone here posted about the progress, until then, I wish you all the best.
 
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Adam Secada

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Good read. I've been doing some app development myself but have always held back because half my market segment is on iPhone, the other half on Android, and I have to double my work effort to reach both of them unless I develop an HTML5 game instead of a native application, at least thats my understanding (Haven't done a ton of research)

Once your accounts are setup, are you aware of any translation tools / services out there to translate from C objective to Java? Are you planning to just outsource the development effort on Android based on the iOS code? I'm curious what your solution to that problem is because thats the biggest thing keeping me from diving in (For me, the ROI just simply isn't there to code something 2x over to reach 100% of the market out there.)

PS if you decide to go the self-development route, you'll have to download the native Android Development SDK, and if you don't have an intel chipset (AMD here.) you will run into mega issues running the phone VMs to test your software -- PM me for the steps I took to get around this... Genymotion is a great Phone VM solution.
 

Wolf

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Good read. I've been doing some app development myself but have always held back because half my market segment is on iPhone, the other half on Android, and I have to double my work effort to reach both of them unless I develop an HTML5 game instead of a native application, at least thats my understanding (Haven't done a ton of research)

Once your accounts are setup, are you aware of any translation tools / services out there to translate from C objective to Java? Are you planning to just outsource the development effort on Android based on the iOS code? I'm curious what your solution to that problem is because thats the biggest thing keeping me from diving in (For me, the ROI just simply isn't there to code something 2x over to reach 100% of the market out there.)

PS if you decide to go the self-development route, you'll have to download the native Android Development SDK, and if you don't have an intel chipset (AMD here.) you will run into mega issues running the phone VMs to test your software -- PM me for the steps I took to get around this... Genymotion is a great Phone VM solution.

My plan is to just focus on iOS. If any of my apps have success and there is a demand for an Android version I would just outsource because if you get to that point you are more than likely making enough money from the iOS app to fund it.
 

beatgoezon

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Good read. I've been doing some app development myself but have always held back because half my market segment is on iPhone, the other half on Android, and I have to double my work effort to reach both of them unless I develop an HTML5 game instead of a native application, at least thats my understanding (Haven't done a ton of research)

Once your accounts are setup, are you aware of any translation tools / services out there to translate from C objective to Java? Are you planning to just outsource the development effort on Android based on the iOS code? I'm curious what your solution to that problem is because thats the biggest thing keeping me from diving in (For me, the ROI just simply isn't there to code something 2x over to reach 100% of the market out there.)

PS if you decide to go the self-development route, you'll have to download the native Android Development SDK, and if you don't have an intel chipset (AMD here.) you will run into mega issues running the phone VMs to test your software -- PM me for the steps I took to get around this... Genymotion is a great Phone VM solution.
In terms of coding once I've completed the lessons I need to learn, I plan on making apps only for the iOS. The reason for this is simply because the Apple App Store has a higher quality market segment (which also means higher monetization).

Now what I've done with this software, I've imported it to both iOS and Android, the software itself comes with multiplatform exporting.

I'd recommend stick to iOS market because there's a lot more quality there. At the moment I'm not aware of cross platform conversion tools, but I will post it up if I come across something bud.
 
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beatgoezon

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PS if you decide to go the self-development route, you'll have to download the native Android Development SDK, and if you don't have an intel chipset (AMD here.) you will run into mega issues running the phone VMs to test your software -- PM me for the steps I took to get around this... Genymotion is a great Phone VM solution.
I won't be doing any of that simply for the reason that it requires too much divided focus. (Also because I didn't even know that problem existed, lol). I plan on testing the apps on Test Flight and only on iOS. It's like Wolf said in the comment above, it's better to outsource development for your iOS app to Android if there seems to be a good demand for it, otherwise it could be a huge waste.
 

mt_myke

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Once your accounts are setup, are you aware of any translation tools / services out there to translate from C objective to Java? Are you planning to just outsource the development effort on Android based on the iOS code? I'm curious what your solution to that problem is because thats the biggest thing keeping me from diving in (For me, the ROI just simply isn't there to code something 2x over to reach 100% of the market out there.)

You don't have to rewrite everything from scratch if you made judicious choices from the start. I know a guy who recently published a game that runs on IOS, Android, OSX, Windows, and Linux...and he wrote the entire system himself. Probably not the route I would go but this was a one-person project (the coding anyway) and it only took him about half a year, so it is possible. He also wanted his own engine to use for future projects and decided none of the existing ones met his exacting requirements. If you're more interested in making money and less interested in creating the world's most perfect game then check out the many cross-platform engines already out there. Off the top of my head - Starling, libGDX, and of course Unity. That's far from a complete list.
 

Adam Secada

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Awesome. Udemy.com has been flooded with courses for Unity lately -- I wasn't even sure what it is. Thanks for the heads up.

Sorry for hijacking the thread. Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming :D
 
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beatgoezon

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Lol no no ! It's no problem at all! Best of luck bud:)
 

Hooked

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Good story. I like the focus on something, sounds as though you've put in some steady effort and are well on your way.

I'm curious to know more about your discussions with investors. It sounds like you were successful. Without anything but a concept how did you pitch them? Did they have specific concerns or interests? Anything you wish you'd have known or prepared going into it?
 

beatgoezon

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Good story. I like the focus on something, sounds as though you've put in some steady effort and are well on your way.

I'm curious to know more about your discussions with investors. It sounds like you were successful. Without anything but a concept how did you pitch them? Did they have specific concerns or interests? Anything you wish you'd have known or prepared going into it?
Hey bud, your absolutely right! I had to pitch them without anything except a concept.

These "investors" were actually a couple of neighbors, friends' friends, etc. It was hard enough for me to ask for capital, which I've never done before, but getting into apps was just something I had to gain mastery of no matter how long it took, so I began asking anybody who seemed like a potential investor.

Now you can do this yourself if you ever need to raise capital (first people I always recommend for help are family), and if you ever do, always be direct about what potential you see and what the person you're talking to has to gain from it.

2-4 people even told me they'd give me $1000 (which is a lot for people here) if they could have 50% of the business... Seriously... Being direct with people will help you avoid falling into regretful deals...

Finally the person who decided to help me with the investment (a friend's friend) gave me some money for starting up on the condition that I give him 5% of the busiesses profits or payback the investment within a year equal to 3x the invested amount. (I'm going to pay back the investment, I've learned giving away equity for a petty investment is never worth it, unless they're actually going to be helping you out with the business or their investment is potentially lifechanging for the business, don't give away equity just because you're desprate... You do all the work and it can be demotivating at times...)

I learned that when looking for investors, their main concern is about competition of your field (isn't everybody doing apps???), the demand and growth the market is going through (why apps???), faith and belief in your capabilities and skills, proof that others have been able to do what you claim to be trying to do, and from my personal experience their most important requirement is that even if you fail, they want you to work with a 120% effort on what you say you're going to work on so they don't feel like they've invested in a bum.

I wish I didn't have to look for people who would invest in the idea, the ideal situation would've been to get the money from my family, but sometimes things don't go as we'd like.

Currently I'm looking for investors again for the main software, the art, music, and tools I need to create more games for efficiently and of good quality.

From my last experience of looking for people to help you bootstrap, I've learned that it was a good choice I made to bootstrap for only the required things for this business. The perks can come from your profits.

Hope that helps bud, and sorry for the long post!
 
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beatgoezon

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UPDATE:

After almost 2 weeks, the Apple and Android Developer Accounts are ready. (Ran into trouble with verification with Apple due to country restrictions)

The game is completed and the plan is ready, just need to compile and export it, then it's ready for upload.


Currently meeting and discussing the business with potential investors for the software( I hate doing this but there seems to be no other way to go...)

Gotten declined a few times, doesn't feel too good on the ego, but it's part of the process.

A good lesson I've learned is that your cashflow is what matters most when looking for funding... Without that, it's really hard to get deals going...

Next step is to launch up, market, create the next game, improve it, test the old game's feedback, and learn from mistakes...
 

luniac

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keep going, the nice part about coding is that the more you code the more you can refer back to your old code for reference, as well as reusing certain things for new projects.

I'm not 100% if app development is fastlane since u go product to product instead of kind of being at the top and offering others a service, BUT if you do hit a home run with a game, then you can RESKIN it into a new one, and that is definitely fastlane in my opinion.
 

beatgoezon

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keep going, the nice part about coding is that the more you code the more you can refer back to your old code for reference, as well as reusing certain things for new projects.

I'm not 100% if app development is fastlane since u go product to product instead of kind of being at the top and offering others a service, BUT if you do hit a home run with a game, then you can RESKIN it into a new one, and that is definitely fastlane in my opinion.
Thanks for the encouragement , luniac!

Actually I'm not coding anymore and haven't been coding since my plans shifted towards a different route.

Coding is wonderful, and it can help you create a high end product, but the problem with learning to code is that it's a long route towards mastery(which is what you need to achieve to create higher end products)

The shift of mind-set happened particularly because of the decision to have 8/10 products rather than trying to create 100/10 products (Snapchat, Clash of Clans).

Also, the app market requires a lot of trial and error, which is what lead to the plan of creating smaller games rather than trying to create one massive game.

Shifting to the Fastlane roadmap with apps is about getting revenue and experimenting with lots of different games initially, and then turning towards higher quality games as revenue and experience of game development compounds.

The purpose I'm trying to achieve here is to create the games by remodeling similar games with potential and improving gameplay, options, functions, and themes (as opposed to re-skinning, which I will also experiment with as I progress). This is where that tool comes in (similiar to Unity 2D but with some limits).

It's all difficult, but I do feel there's a chance to do something unique by providing better entertainment experiences.
 
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luniac

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I can understand that. If i didn't major in computer engineering or had previous coding exposure I wouldn't have decided to code my games either.
I 100% agree with sticking to simple games, more complex ones are nigh impossible to finish in a reasonable time unless u have an experienced team.

You outsource now?
 

beatgoezon

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I can understand that. If i didn't major in computer engineering or had previous coding exposure I wouldn't have decided to code my games either.
I 100% agree with sticking to simple games, more complex ones are nigh impossible to finish in a reasonable time unless u have an experienced team.

You outsource now?
No bud, I am not outsourcing yet( but when I experiment with reskinning I will)

Right now I create the simple games myself with a partner.

It's much harder than reskinning, but in the end you do create something unique, entertaining, and addictive.
You can search for Ketchapp the mobile game company, they make simple games with addictive qualities, and are one of the world's best mobile game developers because they understand that giving the user's hours of entertainment is key.
What I'm doing is creating simple games like these, but with a bit more quality (For me, Ketchapp games tend to lack some quality)

I don't know what will happen with these games I'm working on, as soon as I'm able to buy this software and begin exporting these games, I will be posting up some results.
 

d.weglarz13

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I personally find this thread helpful as well as a great read. Thanks for that, and keep up the great work. Those ketchapp games do seem to lack quality, but I do see what you mean about re-skinning them. It seems that Ketchapp also does this, looking at their site. I am eager to see more of your progress, I myself am very interested in the IOS app road also. looking forward to some results!

dave
 
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Have you tried Swift? It's a new language from Apple and it works for both iOS and OS X. It's only compatible with iOS 8 and up though, so it will leave previous iOS users in the dust.

Despite not being as mainstream as Objective-C (which could change in a few years), it's much friendlier looking language than Objective-C; and one could probably pick it up a lot quicker. Many programmers will recommend learning Objective-C and not bothering with Swift until it takes over, but personally, if being able to work with code a lot quicker is a key factor, I don't see a problem with putting your attention towards Swift.

Besides, I think ultimately being familiar with the SDK is more important than a particular language.
 

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No bud, I am not outsourcing yet( but when I experiment with reskinning I will)

Right now I create the simple games myself with a partner.

It's much harder than reskinning, but in the end you do create something unique, entertaining, and addictive.
You can search for Ketchapp the mobile game company, they make simple games with addictive qualities, and are one of the world's best mobile game developers because they understand that giving the user's hours of entertainment is key.
What I'm doing is creating simple games like these, but with a bit more quality (For me, Ketchapp games tend to lack some quality)

I don't know what will happen with these games I'm working on, as soon as I'm able to buy this software and begin exporting these games, I will be posting up some results.


Cool man, keep us all posted lol, ill be doing the same. It's nice to be in a community that actually wants u to succeed, unlike most people around me on a daily basis who don't really believe it can be done.
 

mikekob

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Have you tried Swift? It's a new language from Apple and it works for both iOS and OS X. It's only compatible with iOS 8 and up though, so it will leave previous iOS users in the dust.

This. We just spent the last two weeks moving our apps over to all swift. Sucks a$$ but it's a necessity in the the long run. See if you can "intern" for a place doing UI work. We brought a guy in to do web stuff and UI and he's getting a hell of an education for free.
 
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UPDATE:

After almost 2 weeks, the Apple and Android Developer Accounts are ready. (Ran into trouble with verification with Apple due to country restrictions)

The game is completed and the plan is ready, just need to compile and export it, then it's ready for upload.


Currently meeting and discussing the business with potential investors for the software( I hate doing this but there seems to be no other way to go...)

Gotten declined a few times, doesn't feel too good on the ego, but it's part of the process.

A good lesson I've learned is that your cashflow is what matters most when looking for funding... Without that, it's really hard to get deals going...

Next step is to launch up, market, create the next game, improve it, test the old game's feedback, and learn from mistakes...

This is actually my first post on this forum but after reading your story you have inspired me to write my first post. I would like to commend you on your determination and perseverance through the whole journey, it was great to read and i wish you all the best with success. I relate to your post because I have always wanted to do what you are doing but never had the time to learn a whole new language since the first time i have ever seen what coding was happened two months ago. I have been slowly teaching myself the ins and out of the app development world and it has been fascinating so i hope to use some of your strategies.
A friend and I have been working together to create this app and it has been a slow process but i think we will be able to get it finally working and possibly on the app store. My question to you is what kind of difficulties do you experience when you try to put your app on the app store and that whole process of exporting it? i wouldnt know since we are not even close to that step but it would be nice to know before hand what exactly im getting into haha (ie the country restrictions, etc). And do run the risk of copyright infringement if you copy a picture into your app or an idea?
 
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mt_myke

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I don't want to start a flame war here, but if you're writing apps as part of a fastlane business, I would take a very hard look at trends in mobiles. Specifically, market share of IOS vs Android. The Apple evangelists will go on and on about how Apple users spend much more, but that's only going to go so far when the Android userbase is several multiples in size of the IOS one. Here's just one source:

http://www.idc.com/prodserv/smartphone-os-market-share.jsp

Like I said I don't want to get into any kind of flamewar about which is better. IOS is probably better, but Macs were always better than Windows as well and it didn't matter. People went for the cheap choice that had more hardware options, and the software followed, causing a positive feedback loop and then that platform became dominant. Apple HAD an early lead years ago, but now the others have caught up.

If you care about making money you simply can't ignore the reality of the mobile market, and that reality is that people overwhelmingly have chosen Android. If you further restrict yourself to Swift you're selling to a fraction of a market that's already a fraction of the overall mobile market...
 

Ninjakid

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I don't want to start a flame war here, but if you're writing apps as part of a fastlane business, I would take a very hard look at trends in mobiles. Specifically, market share of IOS vs Android. The Apple evangelists will go on and on about how Apple users spend much more, but that's only going to go so far when the Android userbase is several multiples in size of the IOS one. Here's just one source:

http://www.idc.com/prodserv/smartphone-os-market-share.jsp

Like I said I don't want to get into any kind of flamewar about which is better. IOS is probably better, but Macs were always better than Windows as well and it didn't matter. People went for the cheap choice that had more hardware options, and the software followed, causing a positive feedback loop and then that platform became dominant. Apple HAD an early lead years ago, but now the others have caught up.

If you care about making money you simply can't ignore the reality of the mobile market, and that reality is that people overwhelmingly have chosen Android. If you further restrict yourself to Swift you're selling to a fraction of a market that's already a fraction of the overall mobile market...
I'll partially allude to a flame war by saying that iOS just introduced features that were present in Android 3-4 years prior :D

But overall I don't either is better at a technical level. It's all about preference.
 
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beatgoezon

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I personally find this thread helpful as well as a great read. Thanks for that, and keep up the great work. Those ketchapp games do seem to lack quality, but I do see what you mean about re-skinning them. It seems that Ketchapp also does this, looking at their site. I am eager to see more of your progress, I myself am very interested in the IOS app road also. looking forward to some results!

dave
Thanks for the moral boost:)
I've done some research on Ketchapp, and what I find is that they don't focus on quality because they understand that the mobile game market, although competitive, is still at a blooming stage. They don't need to create the best games because there aren't enough games in the market with gameplay value(you can only play
Candy Crush, Angry Birds, etc so many times before getting the next time passer...)People's main purpose with downloading apps/games isn't to support the creator or help Apple expand, it's simply how MJ puts it in the Millionaire Fastlane : To pass time for themselves and entertain themselves. Perhaps if I can give them better quality games I will have products that differentiate themselves from the majority of the games in the mobile markets

What I've found is that majority of the apps/games in the store (not counting the top apps obviously) have pretty low value to users. User's need something to entertain themselves, I'm working on providing a better value for the users (even if it's hard and I might not hit it on the first few games I make).
Have you tried Swift? It's a new language from Apple and it works for both iOS and OS X. It's only compatible with iOS 8 and up though, so it will leave previous iOS users in the dust.

Despite not being as mainstream as Objective-C (which could change in a few years), it's much friendlier looking language than Objective-C; and one could probably pick it up a lot quicker. Many programmers will recommend learning Objective-C and not bothering with Swift until it takes over, but personally, if being able to work with code a lot quicker is a key factor, I don't see a problem with putting your attention towards Swift.

Besides, I think ultimately being familiar with the SDK is more important than a particular language.
Yes actually after getting a grasp on Objective-C, I began learning Swift during November/December pricicely for this reason!
You're right about it being much much friendlier, NinjaKid, the only reason I shifted my plan from the coding process wasn't because I thought coding was hard, it was because I wanted to create higher quality apps/games and coding would require a large invested time frame to get a grasp at to create apps with quality.
As I gain traction in this field, I may pick up where I left off with coding, but more probably I feel it may be better to include an experienced coder to join.

But you're right on the spot when you say that being familiar with the SDK itself is more important that knowing a particular language, that would shorten the entire process of getting an app developed

Cool man, keep us all posted lol, ill be doing the same. It's nice to be in a community that actually wants u to succeed, unlike most people around me on a daily basis who don't really believe it can be done.
Thanks bud and I'll keep updating the results as I go along!
 

beatgoezon

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This is actually my first post on this forum but after reading your story you have inspired me to write my first post. I would like to commend you on your determination and perseverance through the whole journey, it was great to read and i wish you all the best with success. I relate to your post because I have always wanted to do what you are doing but never had the time to learn a whole new language since the first time i have ever seen what coding was happened two months ago. I have been slowly teaching myself the ins and out of the app development world and it has been fascinating so i hope to use some of your strategies.
A friend and I have been working together to create this app and it has been a slow process but i think we will be able to get it finally working and possibly on the app store. My question to you is what kind of difficulties do you experience when you try to put your app on the app store and that whole process of exporting it? i wouldnt know since we are not even close to that step but it would be nice to know before hand what exactly im getting into haha (ie the country restrictions, etc). And do run the risk of copyright infringement if you copy a picture into your app or an idea?
Hey thanks man and I wish you the best on your journey!
The biggest difficulty for me wasn't in creating the actual game, it was in the lengthy process of getting the actual profile of the app setup...
The screenshot previews is extremely annoying for Apple, for Android, not so much. Apple requires very specific dimensions of your screenshots for each iDevice..
If you have in-app-purchases, you'll definitely stumble the first time setting it up properly. Don't take these things lightly...

Icon creation (although it seems like a 5 minute task) is extremely challenging. We had to get a designer to create a decent icon for it.
Don't create the icon yourself unless you're a designer. What we made vs. what the designer made had huge difference, even though the concept of the icon was the same.
Don't ever go against copyright infringements, even if you get away with it. The music track we used in the game was avaiable on indiegamemusic.com for download, and we could've downloaded and used it without purchasing or asking the artist's permission, but it's never worth going against these sort of policies.

Lol don't worry about the country restriction/verification policies, you won't need them I'm almost 100% sure, I had a different reason for having to waste 2 weeks dealing with Apple about it...

As for the export of the game, it's is still pending due to the trial expiring so I haven't experienced what happens at that point, so now we're working on gathering the investment for the export and compilation process. This is probably the biggest challenge we've hit so far... The pain of not being able to work and momentum breaking really tears you up...

I'm not established in the App business yet, but the best advice I can give you if you're committed to going into this business is this:
Sooner or later, you will run into some major roadblock that'll put you on a major stop(usually its bugs, ideas not coming together as you imagined, or the most common one being money problems). When this happens, it'll be demotivating and kill your momentum(especially with raising capital).
Do not let it stop you. In those times (which you will face definitely), remember WHY you started in the first place. Keep trying even if everything seems helpless.
 

beatgoezon

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UPDATE:

Just paid the first installment for the software.

After a lot of rejections and disappointments, the software for work finally came. So far I've paid 1 installment on it.

For now I'm just glad to be back to work since the software is finally activated. It's limited and has problems, but I'm going to work around the limitations and work on creating something of value.

Yes there are a lot of problems I'm going to have to face, but my plan is to learn from problems and set backs fast and not waste time.

I'll update and post once I get more progress done
 
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beatgoezon

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UPDATE:

Launched the first game in the Android Store, the iOS version is still pending review.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.humzameer.photonrunner

It's been up for almost a week, has like 13 downloads so far.
It's been a good learning experience from start to finish of launching a game. The hardest and most time consuming part was probably learning how to compile the game(pretty technical)

Now I have to learn marketing. I'm not very sure to begin but I'm going to start with maybe putting up a link on Reddit?

For now, I'll learn and apply basic app marketing and after that finish up on the next game.

It's been very exciting and I feel very happy that I may be getting closer.
Would appreciate any feedback or tips on what to do next!
 

beatgoezon

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UPDATE:

It's been a long time since I've updated, but I haven't quit or plan to quit anytime soon.

Just recently uploaded another game we made about 2 months ago, but never launched it until a week ago. Super simple, but helped me get a grasp on design and game play mechanics slightly.

Cubie Jump:
Android:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sycamorestudios.cubiejump

iOS:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cubie-jump/id986329903?mt=8

Basically it's been a long 2 months filled with learning and applying what I learn.

I've learned quite a bit about game design, since the game design is one of the most important factors in play for successful mobile games, bad level design, difficulty, game mechanics, etc = bad user experience...

I've learned about theme and art styles, which is one of the most important aspects of successful mobile games which user's can actually enjoy.

I've also come to understand much more about marketing and promotion. This is still the hardest part and the one I've been struggling with the most, since I've never been a marketer, but as our third game is completed (within a week), we will be implementing some indie marketing tactics to get the game promoted.

The biggest mistakes we've made so far is not having a sense of urgency in this business.
Things have been slow due to us taking it too easy, but now that we've been in this for a few months, there's a lot that we've learned and one of the lessons was that urgency is very important and it's what defines commitment in your business...

It's harder than I'd imagined, but I'll continue applying what I learn.
 

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Seems like you made quite a bit of progress. Nice!

To be honest I'd have a closer look at the visuals of your apps, they aren't really polished at all, same goes for the icons. Maybe have a look at https://dribbble.com/ and search for keywords related to apps to get some inspiration/a designer.

Also, if you haven't done it already, sign up to http://appannie.com which is an amazing tool, even in the free version, to track certain metrics of your apps, like keywords it ranks for, chart positions, daily downloads and so on. Good luck!
 
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beatgoezon

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Your absolutely right about the visuals, the art is very blurry and unsharp, that's what happens when you do all the artwork yourself lol.

I am going to be hiring or looking for atleast higher quality art/artists since the looks obviously matter.

I've already signed up with AppAnnie and Sensortower but sadly I haven't really learned how to use the metrics and understand the data I see...
 

beatgoezon

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hi there beatgoezon
i myself have started developing for android, i have not put any apps or games out there yet but these are in the making and will be on the playstore at some point! im still basically in the early stages of doing this, do you have tips/advice or links that you feel i may benefit from to aid me in my development path? it is only android i will be developing for at the moment as currently only know java.

regards
Hey JamieForest-uk,

Yea bud I hope these things help you out on your journey as an Android developer!

1. Since you're going on Android, you'll want to learn how ranking and ASO is done, because it's different for Android and Apple

https://blog.sensortower.com/blog/2...-of-your-apps-google-play-description-matter/

2. Determine whether you're going into apps or games as you progress, both have different requirements for success.

3. Begin following certain app blogs early on so you learn as much about the business of apps as you can

http://brightnewt.com/blog/

4. As difficult as it may be, design, art, and layout for apps and games is probably one of the most important things to keep your mind on. As you can see, I didn't design my first few games very well a few months back and I got exactly what I put in. Learn design, hire designers, or get a partner who specializes in design, especially if you're making games or plan to make games.

5. If you're still learning how to code in Java, I recommend master the basics before you move on to more advanced level coding.

6. Another thing I learned after some setbacks is that creating the app/game is only about 1/3 of the challenge. The real challenge is finding retention value of the app/game and promoting(marketing) it to the right audience.

7. I would also recommend you check out App Empire, Game Academy (if going into mobile games), and the Appreneur Summit, these things will make the way more clear than anything else.

8. Read this article from Secret Entourage, Pejman is also a member here at the Fastlane Forum and this article really helped me, perhaps it can help you too bud.

http://www.secretentourage.com/success-stories/braydon-batungbacal/

9. Always keep up with the trends and never let "ideas" blind you, the market constantly changes and you must be updated with what the market wants. A good way to do that is again, to follow blogs of certain authorities.

bluecloudsolutions.com

Here's a great blog by Carter Thomas, he knows what he's doing and he's getting great results with what he teaches.

10. Do app store research regularly, it'll help you get an intuitive feel for what works and what doesn't.



One final thing I'd like to add is a lesson I learned:
Urgency

Have urgency...

It also means commitment to your BUSINESS and BUSINESS alone.
I wasted 1 and a half months doing nothing just because I was scared I wouldn't find the answers, but the day I began working again the whole field became much clearer...

There are going to be times you're going to get overwhelmed, but you must commit to the business, interest isn't enough.

I hope these tips help you out bud, I sincerely wish you the best of luck with your Android developement and hope to see what app or game you release.
 

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