For the last week I have not written a line of code. Any free time I have has been taken up with preparing my game for its final release. I have also decided to launch it on Google Play and Apple Store. I was going to hold off from releasing it to these two stores but decided there was no real reason for this.
The mobile version is actually exactly the same as the PC version – So best suited for Tablets but I am sure people will also download it to play on their tiny mobile screens!
I am unsure what pricing strategy I should take with the mobile versions so have priced them a little higher than other available games. I figure I can always reduce the price later if there are no sales but not increase it. Not expecting much from Android or iOS sales – more a case of testing the waters and seeing if there is still an audience out there that will pay for a mobile game.
So for the last 2 days I have been battling with the development tools to get my game in review with the people at Apple. Its a fairly simple process once you know how to do it. However the last time I published a game in the App store was 8 months ago so I have forgotten everything and had to look up how to do many of the needed actions.
Getting a game ready for actual launch takes a lot of time and its something I need to plan out and prepare for better next time. You need screenshots, icons, text, instructions, translations and so on. I have not done my best with preparing the assets needed this time. I really think I will engage my graphics guy next time to help me prepare some professional looking screenshots and icons. This time I did it myself – unfortunately cost is a consideration at this time until I know games I write will at least sell enough to cover off my costs to produce (The development hours are a labour of love…).
For my next game – Battle for Korsun – I am going to try to localize for the Asian market. China, Korea and Japan are getting to be big markets on steam and it will be interesting to see if there is a market for a traditional hex based wargame. I have had a couple people from China and Korea buy Kursk in the Early Access store – so I know there is a level of interest there.
I have also been fairly heavily engaged with my graphics artist this week on my various projects. He is not a WW2 buff so I need to guide him on what I want to achieve. I really like his work so the effort needed to help him get things right is worth it to me. Plus his work really motivates me to finish projects and see everything come together to produce a game.
My motivating this week is the new splash screen for Battle for Korsun. I think it looks great. I am really enjoying working on this game.
