I’ve got an idea for a great game, just like a million other people, so what do I do next? Read on to find out.
We’ve all been struck with a great idea for the perfect game or productivity tool, but that flash of inspiration isn’t going to bring itself to life. If you really think your idea is a winner then you need to decide whether you’re going to build it yourself, ask for help or simply let it slide and chalk it up as another one that got away.
My big idea is for a game, which I know is a pretty tough market to crack even if you do have a great idea. Having spoken to game developers in the past, I know that if you leap into your first game with dreams of striking it rich then you’re likely setting yourself up for disappointment. It’s best to view it as a labour of love, and allocate your time and effort to it accordingly.
Do your research
Before you get too excited, the first step is to do a little market research to see if your great idea has already been brought to life and whether there’s actually demand – critical for a productivity app but perhaps less important when it comes to games.
If you’re building a casual smartphone game and you’re hoping to make a few bucks then you need to think about “replayability” – is it a compelling idea which will draw people in, keep them coming back for more and hopefully encourage them to share it with their friends?
If you wanted to be more cynical you might think of it as Pavlovian addictiveness – something that’s easy to learn, difficult to master, doesn’t take too long to play and rewards you with a sense of satisfaction when you find success.
Of course there are some great games which succeed because they ignore all these rules – but you need to learn the rules before you can break them.
My idea started out as a physical tile game, roughly a dominoes-style colour matching game with some mathematics thrown in for good measure. It’s far from revolutionary, but my family has been play testing it on the kitchen table for a while and we’ve honed the rules and gameplay.
Whatever your idea, I’d say it’s a good idea to start with shuffling pieces of paper around on the table to flesh out the concept, long before you think about cutting code.
Take the leap
Rather than let my good idea wither on the vine, I’ve decided to take it to the next level. Instead of self-publishing it as a physical game, or try pitching it to game publisher, I thought an app might offer an easier path to monetisation. Should the app find some success then a more expensive physical game will be much easier to sell.
Now you reach that fork in the road where you need to decide whether to build it yourself or call in the experts. In some situations speed to market might be important, to seize on a lucrative opportunity or beat a rival to the punch, but that’s not really an issue here.
To be honest I’m not confident enough in my idea to invest good money in a decent app developer, but I’d also be reluctant to sign up with a budget developer perhaps waiting for suckers like me to come along.
If you are confident enough to pay a developer then look for someone with a proven track record who is keen to listen to your requirements rather than just jump in.
Make sure you read the fine print regarding who owns your game, how the profits are split and the process for releasing updates. If you don’t understand how your app works under the bonnet then you’re totally at the developer’s mercy.
Do it yourself
After weighing up my options I decided to build my game myself, I’ve dabbled in programming before but I’m starting from scratch in terms of smartphone development. Meanwhile my (almost) teenage son has created some quite sophisticated games using MIT’s Scratch, but it’s not really designed for smartphone development.
My game idea isn’t too complicated in terms of graphics and gameplay, the challenge lies more in the backend logic regarding tile placement, matching and scoring. There are plenty of app development tools for beginners which might do the job, such as GameSalad, but I decided to go with Stencyl because it relies on a Scratch-style interface so I can bring my son onboard as a co-developer.
After a few hours our first demo is coming together nicely, Stencyl seems to meet our needs and we’re making much better progress than if either of us had tackled the project alone – I’m dealing with the big picture and he’s working out the fine details of how to implement our ideas.
At this point we haven’t spent any money, but if we’re happy with the results it will cost a few hundred dollars for the professional version of Stencyl and the developer fees to get into Apple’s App Store and Google Play. For now we’re treating it as a father/son school holidays project rather than dreaming of riches – once it’s up and running we’ll rope in a few play testers and decide whether it’s worth taking it to the next level.
Do you have a great app idea simmering away? What’s your plan for bringing it to life?
This article originally appeared in Digital Life, The Sydney Morning Herald’s home for everything technology. Follow Digital Life on Facebook and Twitter.
Comments
6 responses to “How I Brought My App Idea To Life”
I have many ideas bubbling along, but very few that can be actioned for one reason or another.
The reasons range from being based on a protected property (a pebble watch app based on the pokemon pokewalker with expanded functionality and gameplay), to being way too ambitious (a super smash bros style fighting game which incorporates a roster of indie game characters, has a brawler/platformer style story mode, and tools to make your own levels), to too niche (a Habitica client inspired by Any.Do’s “Moment” feature which frames your daily checklist as a small fantasy-rpg battle), to too saturated (a multi-platform terraria/junk jack clone).
And yet I can’t let go of any of these ideas. However, because of the reasons mentioned above, I have no motivation to try and work on any of them…
It’s very disheartening to come up with what you believe is a good idea, but then have the idea shot down by doing some research. Although I suppose it’s better than actually implementing it and then being shot down after all that hard work.
Me and 3 friends just finished building our web to-do list & calendar cloudpad.
We started it in 2013 – was expected to be finished in August 2014.
It’s now nearly October 2016 and the site has only just launched.
What originally was just an ‘idea’ (me and my friend wanted to build something together), quickly turned into something more in 2013. However, over the nearly 4 years of building it I’ve learnt so so much about startups/business and how much harder they really are.
The site was supposed to cost about $20,000, has easily blown out to $40,000 as a developer left halfway through and we essentially had to build again from scratch.
We all work fulltime so couldn’t spend as much time on it as we hoped.
Plus there’s SO many things you don’t think of before starting (well, we didn’t!). SSL certificates, trademarks (goodbye $1000), business registrations, marketing tools, the ridiculous cost of facebook ads.
Overall it’s been an incredibly rewarding experience, but even though we’ll doubtful ever make any money from it – I am super proud of what we built. That said, every-time a friend has mentioned an app idea, I have to bite my tongue when they say how easy it will be to make a fortune!
Still, we’re just about to hit 1000 users in a month!
Dude who ever does the marketing just kicked you in the balls. As far as I can tell you didn’t state the name of the app. Don’t be shy, with the monologue you gave it’s not an obvious self plug.
So what is it?
Hi @rhys I truly forgot it was 6am when I wrote it and my coffee hadn’t kicked it haha!
It’s available at https://cloudpad.me
It’s a very simple web to-do list/calendar. Android app is nearly finished and out in a few weeks!
Appreciated! Looks very polished!
Thanks for kind words Rhys! cheers 🙂
I had an idea – but copyright lawyers would probably have a conniption.
With the scripts for the Simpsons available online, and the episodes themselves available, the idea is to capture all the speech of Troy McLure [Phil Hartman – died 1998] and make a speech synth.
In theory, you could do this for any character in any show, if you have enough samples.