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Created my first game, huge success overnight

TheoryMode

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No, just kidding.

Here's the real story:
four weeks ago I made the decision to finally take action and start working on my first android game 'Color Runner'.
It's a small highscore endless runner game with a little twist. I finished it yesterday, it took longer than expected with all the stuff around it, like learning the frameworks, 3D modeling software, creating all the graphics, creating a Google Dev account, etc.
Despite that I already had a lot of programming experience before.

It is currently only my side hustle as I'm still finishing uni this year, and I don't expect to make any money on my first games anyway. Let's be realistic they will probably only be mediocre, so there are no ads / IAPs in there right now. Although I have to say the game is fun and it's kind of addicting :D
For me it's more important to build a habit of working on my games everyday and mastering the craft first. I see too many people putting out an OK game, expect it to create 1000$/month in passive income, and then drop the whole game dev idea once they see their game only has 100 downloads and it's not taking off. I try to do that differently.

Cheers.

You can check out the explanation/gameplay.
Or try it yourself on the Google Play Store here and tell me what you think.
 
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Fox

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Welcome to the forum and that game does look great, especially for you first game.

But 'Huge success overnight' - ? just seems like a traffic drive but hope that's not the case and you stick around.
The advice here is worth a lot more than some quick downloads.
 

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Welcome to the forum and that game does look great, especially for you first game.

But 'Huge success overnight' - ? just seems like a traffic drive but hope that's not the case and you stick around.
The advice here is worth a lot more than some quick downloads.
Did you even read the post?
 

fhs8

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The last thing that you need are dishonest complements. Here's my honest opinion. The game sucks. This game is just another one of those 100 downloads. You cannot make a good game. You need good music, good graphics, good gameplay, and it has to be fun. This game is none of that. In fact most (popular) games are so well designed that they actually have a/b tests running in the game itself and are analyzed down to the pixel. I would consider what you're doing to be a hobby. In fact let's google "color runner" and you have other games with the same name on Google Play. There's 1 million+ games why do you think yours is any good?

Just count how many "Color Runner" games there are. Must be about 50. You're seriously just wasting your time.
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=color runner&c=apps
 

TheoryMode

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Welcome to the forum and that game does look great, especially for you first game.

Thanks.
But 'Huge success overnight' - ? just seems like a traffic drive but hope that's not the case and you stick around.
The advice here is worth a lot more than some quick downloads.
It was a joke / clickbait. I agree that the advice here is worth a lot.

That game does look pretty good! Congrats man! I hope you find much more success!
Thanks, I'll work on it.

The last thing that you need are dishonest complements. Here's my honest opinion. The game sucks. This game is just another one of those 100 downloads. You cannot make a good game. You need good music, good graphics, good gameplay, and it has to be fun. This game is none of that.
Thanks for the honesty, but "Make a good game, with good graphics, good gameplay, good music" is just generic advice that everyone already knows. I agree that this will just be one of those 100 downloads games, did you read the post?

You're seriously just wasting your time.
I'll take it as a motivation to prove you wrong.
 
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mws87

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No, just kidding.

Here's the real story:
four weeks ago I made the decision to finally take action and start working on my first android game 'Color Runner'.
It's a small highscore endless runner game with a little twist. I finished it yesterday, it took longer than expected with all the stuff around it, like learning the frameworks, 3D modeling software, creating all the graphics, creating a Google Dev account, etc.
Despite that I already had a lot of programming experience before.

It is currently only my side hustle as I'm still finishing uni this year, and I don't expect to make any money on my first games anyway. Let's be realistic they will probably only be mediocre, so there are no ads / IAPs in there right now. Although I have to say the game is fun and it's kind of addicting :D
For me it's more important to build a habit of working on my games everyday and mastering the craft first. I see too many people putting out an OK game, expect it to create 1000$/month in passive income, and then drop the whole game dev idea once they see their game only has 100 downloads and it's not taking off. I try to do that differently.

Cheers.

You can check out the explanation/gameplay.
Or try it yourself on the Google Play Store here and tell me what you think.
In my opinion, I think a lot of people would enjoy a game like this. Speaking personally, in the world of modern-gaming and it's overly-polished visuals and lack of depth, the "puzzle-style" games like Tetris and like yours (even though it's not a puzzler per se) still beat all. Basically, I quit playing video games, but the concept of yours actually looks fun and immediately caught my attention.

The game market is a great and easy place to find "NEEDS". People don't really need games, but want them. And, what's more, there are a LOT of gaps in the modern gaming market. Basically, I feel when everyone jumps on the gaming bandwagon (five nights at freddy's, the redundant horror FPS games & zombie games, war games, etc) they start becoming blind to the "gaps" in the market.

My response is probably really incoherent as I'm pretty exhausted right now. I'm sure you're able to piece together what I'm saying, though.
 
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mws87

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Also, the fact that your game is an "endless" style game really helps you (in my opinion). See, there is a reason why difficult games, and games that have a lot of mystery and lore behind their story get a lot of attention. I've read human minds have a need to "complete" things. Think about anytime you've played Super Mario and kept dying half-way through the level. Chances are, you kept playing, grinding your teeth and cursing until you finally beat the level. It's worth looking into, I'll see if I can dig up the article about it.

Having said that, the "endless" games or "top score" games are always fun because not only are they more challenging the further you progress, when you see that high-score you always want to top it. Reminds me of people who just can't walk away from the Blackjack table until they're completely broke.
 

firmwear

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Sweet little game, very nice for your first try!

I am only a neophyte when it comes to apps, but I know you probably learned a lot on this first endeavor.

I am glad to hear you have realistic expectations but especially that you want to, "master the craft."

Learning by doing is best! Keep up the good work.
 
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firmwear

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The last thing that you need are dishonest complements. Here's my honest opinion. The game sucks. This game is just another one of those 100 downloads. You cannot make a good game. You need good music, good graphics, good gameplay, and it has to be fun. This game is none of that. In fact most (popular) games are so well designed that they actually have a/b tests running in the game itself and are analyzed down to the pixel. I would consider what you're doing to be a hobby. In fact let's google "color runner" and you have other games with the same name on Google Play. There's 1 million+ games why do you think yours is any good?

Just count how many "Color Runner" games there are. Must be about 50. You're seriously just wasting your time.
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=color runner&c=apps

You wrote this overly-negative post as if you really know what you are talking about, like you are some big-shot authority.

I'm not kidding. I've already made a couple of apps and server/desktop apps myself. It really depends on the app but many apps can be entirely completed by one person in about 10-20 weeks. If it's a game app then you'll probably need help to make all those textures. Here's the thing about making apps yourself. If the app fails then what do you lose? Just time. No big deal. However if you have to spend money to make an app and your first app fails, how are you going to make another app without money?
If you don't know programming and you're making an app for the foundation of a new business (not an existing) then you're in the wrong industry. If however you already have a business making 10+ million in revenue then hiring a team to make an app for an existing business can be a great choice. The failure rate for apps is extremely high.

And it turns out you wrote only, "a couple of apps" yourself. OP is already as experienced as you are, but you still feel compelled to project your bullshit all over him.

Very well. I don't have a thriving business yet and have no idea how I'm going to make it but I do know apps aren't the way to go given the odds. Good luck, you're going to need it.

You keep quoting me the MFing odds. Shut up already, don't you realize that actually getting yourself in the fastlane is against the odds?

To the OP: like you mentioned, most people write, "a couple of apps" and then give up. They say it takes 10,000 hours of concentrated practice to master any given skill. You made a good start, ignore the peanut gallery and see where your effort takes you.
 

fhs8

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You wrote this overly-negative post as if you really know what you are talking about, like you are some big-shot authority.

If being honest causes me to be pessimistic then count me in. If someone runs a business badly, the best advice isn't telling them that they are running the business well.

And it turns out you wrote only, "a couple of apps" yourself. OP is already as experienced as you are, but you still feel compelled to project your bullshit all over him.

That's because I actually learn from my mistakes and don't do the same thing over and over again.

You keep quoting me the MFing odds. Shut up already, don't you realize that actually getting yourself in the fastlane is against the odds?

To the OP: like you mentioned, most people write, "a couple of apps" and then give up. They say it takes 10,000 hours of concentrated practice to master any given skill. You made a good start, ignore the peanut gallery and see where your effort takes you.

Yeah the fastlane is against the odds but there's better odds on different paths. The APP path has horrible odds. I'm not just saying this. Many articles out there show this to be an objective fact. My advice would be to give up on your project because it's a complete 100% waste of time and look for another path to success.

Read this article: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324582804578346221047028366
While there are more than 800,000 mobile apps available in Apple Inc. 's App Store, only 80 of them generated more than $1 million in revenue during the fourth quarter, according to research firm Distimo.

Please let that sink in. Only 80 apps made more than $1 million in revenue for Q4 2012. That's revenue not income. Although the article is dated it's still pretty much the same story today.
 

firmwear

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If being honest causes me to be pessimistic then count me in. If someone runs a business badly, the best advice isn't telling them that they are running the business well.



That's because I actually learn from my mistakes and don't do the same thing over and over again.



Yeah the fastlane is against the odds but there's better odds on different paths. The APP path has horrible odds. I'm not just saying this. Many articles out there show this to be an objective fact. My advice would be to give up on your project because it's a complete 100% waste of time and look for another path to success.

Read this article: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324582804578346221047028366


Please let that sink in. Only 80 apps made more than $1 million in revenue for Q4 2012. That's revenue not income. Although the article is dated it's still pretty much the same story today.

Translation: this is too hard, look for something easy.
Truth: there is fast money and slow money, but no such thing as easy money.

Take a look at your own profile page, literally every post is you telling somebody that what they are doing is something wrong or dumb. You are jumping across the border from pessimist-country into a**hole territory. Quite a few of your posts simply tell the guy to give up, LOL.

The OP is young, just finishing up what I assume is some kind of software or engineering degree, and will be starting out his slowlane career and/or fastlane soon. In the meantime, he is building skills and doing something constructive (aka engaging life) instead of compulsively posting "give up" posts all over the fastlane forum.

To the OP, sorry to hijack your thread.
 
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fhs8

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Translation: this is too hard, look for something easy.
Truth: there is fast money and slow money, but no such thing as easy money.

There is fast money, slow money, but also no money which is what this is.

Quite a few of your posts simply tell the guy to give up, LOL.

That's what I believe the best course of action to be. Of course other people have different opinions.

In the meantime, he is building skills and doing something constructive (aka engaging life) instead of compulsively posting "give up" posts all over the fastlane forum.

Ok he is building skills which may prove to be helpful for learning another programming language or in the future but don't you think it's better to work on a business that'll actually have a chance?

I've shown statistics that making apps are a bad way to go. Do you have stats that show making apps Is a good idea?
 

Knugs

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If being honest causes me to be pessimistic then count me in.


Everyone has to start from somewhere or do you think Picasso grabbed his mothers tit and sprayed Le picador on the kitchen wall?
You remind me of failed school teachers: no, you shouldn't paint. You are shit at painting. You will never be a good painter.
Guess what happens when you tell people to stop doing something because they are "bad" at it. They will certainly never get any better at it. And translate that into Business, people with a pessimistic attitude like yourself are the ones holding others success back. We have seen that over and over again.

"That's because I actually learn from my mistakes and don't do the same thing over and over again."
"..better odds on different paths. The APP path has horrible odds."

Quite a few of your posts simply tell the guy to give up, LOL.
"That's what I believe the best course of action to be":cookoo:
...
Thats actually pathetic

...I don't understand. This is a student who is about to finish university who has developed his first ever game and you bash it for being a bad game? This is amazing progress and he has already achieved more than most of his class mates. In fact he has already proven many qualities that are needed to succeed in business. This is his first game. He talks about mastering the craft. How good will he be in 1/2/5/10 years time. How good will THAT game be when he updates new sounds/graphics etc.

Talk about dreamers vs doers, please enlighten us on your track record. Or has your attitude been holding you back of going into ideas that were against the odds, was the best course of action to give up? Actually screw that, I don't even care.
 

7.62x51

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Congrats on building that.

I spent the last 6 months working on a game project which I ultimately abandoned because the game just wasn't fun. What you built looks fun to play.

Would you invest countless hours of work for many months building something for a highly competitive business with virtually zero validation? That's the bet with mobile gaming and why it's more of a hobby than a fastlane avenue.

Also my two cents: Take your gameplay and connect it to something that's really popular. ie There was another poster here who made a flappy bird clone using donald trump.
 
G

GuestA4319

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The game is nice, but making money with games it's like a lottery now.

You don't need ultra graphics, professional sounds, etc it just needs to keep the people engaged and be fun. The main problem is the competition and the way apps are listed in marketplaces. It's so hard to get downloads without a budget that your game needs to be a brilliant viral machine.

Now there is a trick I see people use - ride the wave.

When something happens and gets viral, apps and games pop right away ridding the wave. It won't last long but once you get to the top you'll get so much hits that you can transfer to other game or into money with ads.

Go to https://www.google.com/trends , use game templates(so you can change only pictures, some sounds and some text and you have a game) and built games related to the top trends.

Right now you can build a game about Hillary competing in Iowa or something.
 
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mrarcher

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Well when I was a broker I helped raise over £800,000 which is just over 1 million usd in 3 months for an app company that no one had heard of AND their games were shite. Honestly if this is the OPs first attempt I don't see how he cant surpass that. Well done for starting something you've already accomplished more than most.
Yeah the fastlane is against the odds but there's better odds on different paths. The APP path has horrible odds. I'm not just saying this. Many articles out there show this to be an objective fact. My advice would be to give up on your project because it's a complete 100% waste of time and look for another path to success.

Read this article: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324582804578346221047028366
Please let that sink in. Only 80 apps made more than $1 million in revenue for Q4 2012. That's revenue not income. Although the article is dated it's still pretty much the same story today.
 

splok

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It's a small highscore endless runner game with a little twist.
...
there are no ads / IAPs in there right now
...
tell me what you think.

Great work getting your first product out there! First, I like the twist, though I wonder if it would feel better if you were spinning an enclosed track or maybe spinning your avatar around instead of the rings. It might throw some people at first since we're conditioned to expect that our actions affect our avatar and not the environment. Second, I think that more visual feedback when you successfully go through a ring would be helpful, as well as some feedback when your ring changes shape. Currently, you have to shift your focus from your shape to the shapes on the ring quite quickly, and some feedback to draw attention might help that. Last, you should probably go ahead and implement ads/iaps. It's basically stuff that you're going to want to port into your future releases anyway, so it won't be wasted work, even if they never generate revenue. You'll also learn lessons through the implementation that might affect your future designs. Oh and if possible, you should port it to iOS too.

Edit: Ok, so first impressions having just played it: It instinctively felt like I should be able to swipe in the direction that I wanted the wheel to spin. Tapping twice to spin right twice (that I have to time, since there's a delay) when I could just swipe left once feels meh. I also think the delay between the rings should start a bit slower and then speed up. Another thing is that people will instinctively try to match the color of their shape to the color on the wheel. Making them different and random makes it considerably harder. It might be good to match the colors initially and start to change it up later on to increase the difficultly (along with maybe adding more shapes and sides to the ring).
 
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Leo Hendrix

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Installing it now, had a quick play, fun and seems addictive, I like how it could help improve your hand-eye co-ordination and anticipation, reaction time and reflexes, awesome for your first game and great that you did it yourself!
 

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if this took you a day then im sure you on your way to something good, maybe another 10,000 hours or so... :)

kinda reminds me of this guy (http://www.millionaireby25blog.com/) who was making nearly 4 apps a month

and this guy (facebook.com/allenapp) who made a living from nearly one good app... now hes building an app to control a Tesla from an iwatch
 

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To the OP, this guy bashed me as well on my own business. Don't let his words get to you, they are pointless.

Your APP looks fantastic, let this app be your BABY for the next however many years, you may have to change/sculpt it over and over again, but soon you'll be the one with a top app. I see it as a rock, the longer you chip away and sculpt it with detail, the more unique and valuable it becomes amongst all the other rocks.

It's true everyone is sculpting their rock (app), but most are giving up along the way, just keep sculpting away at your rock, never give up.
 
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Twopro

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Gratz OP, I'm the guy that made the flappy bird style Donald Trump game. First 3.5 months I was getting barely any downloads because I messed up not doing good keyword research and ASO (App store optimization) techniques. Then a week ago someone from Vice's Motherboard site emailed me asking me questions about the game and featured it in an article along with 3 other Trump games. Since then its been getting 100-200 downloads a day and it seems to be snowballing. So don't give up because someone thinks it sucks, keep it up, learn some ASO and keep making games. I'm still not making much money from it, think $10 in one day has been my best so far but it's slowly growing. Weeks/Months ago I was making 0-$1 a day
 

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For me it's more important to build a habit of working on my games everyday and mastering the craft first.

So. Much. This. You are implementing the mindsets/skillset that so many in this life fail to grasp. Don't listen to the naysayers. Keep doing what you're doing. I only wish I had half this grasp on life/work when I was your age.

Also, holy shit, I would have to practice that game to become anything near un-embarassingly bad at it...

Any way to hook up your pandora to it so it plays the music you like? Maybe default to a Drum & Bass channel but can be changed by the user? :)
 

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HEYYYY!!!! awesome another game developer!

Your game looks like a nice simple casual title. I just don't like the gray floors under the player and the black circle. They're not really needed there, and maybe make it a easier to see the shapes in the distance by making the objects bigger or something. But still nice game, I'm sure you've learned a ton making it.

I'm trying to succeed on the app stores as well, good luck!
 
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JohnZ123

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All of FHS8's posts is putting people down. OP you got this do your best!
 

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Good job on taking action! You're ahead of 99% of the population. I've made a few small games for iOS that have gotten around 350k downloads so far. I'd say they've generated less than $10k. The issue with games is that they can make money the first few weeks but after that the rev and downloads fall off a cliff.

The real big money in games is in social style games like clash of clans, boom beach or the Simpsons Tapped out. They're created in a way that causes users to get addicted to performing an action everyday. These games are built around time and resources. It's all about making the user wait to get something they want. In order to skip the waiting you buy currency or gems which cost real money.
Most of the big games have some variation of this. It's scary actually. Users get rewarded for playing every day and performing certain tasks.

You either need ads or IAPs if you plan on making any money from your games.
 
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