I am a hobby programmer working on the second version of a Mount Everest climbing management game. In the game you manage a team of eight climbers and game concepts include: weather, acclimatization, health, rescuing and more. It´s predecessor (Everest Attack) has been on the App Store for almost two years. It has some good numbers. 10% of people visiting the product page buys the game. I sell it for $2 as a premium game and I have done almost no marketing at all. But the new version is actually a totally new game. It is developed in Unity/3D and has totally new graphics, better gameplay, better balance, more concepts... The game is code complete and I plan to release it directly after the summer. ------ I am interested in all kinds of feedback and help. This time I would like to do it a little more professionally. Does this sound like an interesting game concept? Would a publisher be interested? How do I get good beta testers? Should it still be a premium game or should I consider another model? If you are interested - please also visit www.everestattack.com where I have a sort of developers log called "the story of Everest Attack" and more info about the game. I am really thankful for all kinds of help. All the best [email protected]
Can't speak about publishers, as that is something that only they can speak about. There's nothing wrong with a sequel, and as for beta testers, if you put out an ad for them, they'll come. And only you can decide what kind of business model it should be, because it's your decision how you make money off of it.
Some quick feedback Sounds interesting but very niche. My guess is most publishers would probably view the combination of being a strategy game and a mountain climbing theme as having only very limited commercial potential, so interest will be low. Of course, most publishers would struggle to add value to this sort of game release anyway. Recruit them here in the upcoming games forum. Also, you might like to try mountain climbing group Facebook pages or forums. The latter would certainly help with both authenticity and additional scenario ideas. Only you can really make that call as it really depends on how your game is structured. But, given the niche appeal, it seems as though a premium model is probably the way to go. Free to play is only really a viable model if you can have hundreds of thousands or even millions of downloads, and this doesn't seem like that sort of game. Something to consider is whether there is a mountain climbing equipment brand that might pay to have their brand surfaced in a game. There is a lot of work landing this sort of sponsorship deal, but sending a few emails might be easy and cheap to explore whether this is an additional option.
I posted a beta invite in the Upcoming Games forum. If you are interested please send your TestFlight ID to [email protected]. All the best
Thanks for all the great feedback so far from all of you who are testing!! If there is anyone else interested - there is still time. I plan to release mid August!
