I'm thinking of making a separate ''lite' version for my game. I read somewhere, can't remember where, that this isn't as effective as it was years before. In your experience, is putting up a lite version still a good way to sell the full game?
It's not as effective as it was before, but that's not to say it isn't effective at all. A lite version is an easier way for a buyer to 'pull the trigger' and buy your game. Also, if you put ads in the lite, you can gain an extra way of making money, and can say "upgrade for more content, more...., and NO ads!"
In my experience: Yes and No. Yes for Go Native!: It's creating roughly half our sales and filling our islands. No for Pickpawcket: Saw 0 influence on the sales so we pulled it.
To be quite honest, I think a lite is most influencial when you have a spike in notoriety. A lite creates a small spike, but on it's own it can't do that much for you when sales are already in a lull. If you add a lite, say, after getting into the N&N after a big update, then it's gonna help a lot more than semi-randomly releasing it...
Good points... Kind of off-topic, but what kind of money (at least compared to paid app sales) can you expect from an ad-supported game?
I think in most cases a lite version is a good idea. I would always want to be able to test a game before buying it for several reasons. For one the obvious, just to see if its something you would want to purchase, and also for users of older devices( such as myself) to test it just to see how it performs on their device. Because I'd rather try an app and find out i don't like it, or that it doesn't work, than shelling out my money for it on an impulse buy.