$4 for any kind of fun and addictive game that provides at least a few hours of gaming is a steal. One must be privileged and either uncaring or unaware to think otherwise.
I hate it when people flippantly say that four dollars is too much for a primium game that someone has worked hard on for years when a cup of Starbucks costs more. You try making one buddy. Downloading NOW!#✌#️###
The sizing is off on the 6S Plus. 1/3 of the screen is black. I'm also a little confused about why there are three hedgehogs to shoot and sometimes you have to start over after only shooting one hedgehog.
Thanks for downloading! I suppose when are you a consumer rather then a producer you can loose sight of the work that goes into something like a game or lots of other products for that matter.
Sorry to hear its not displaying right for you. I have a 6 Plus here with no issues. Would you mind sending me a screen shot and your iOS version to support[at] hedgehogs.com so I can investigate for you?
I might of found why it is displaying strangely on your iPhone 6S Plus TheGodless. Can you check if Display Zoom is turn on on your phone? You can find it under Settings->Display & Brightness->View If it says "Standard" then the screen is not zoomed but if it says "Zoomed" then it is and could be causing the game to display strangely. If that doesn't resolve it please still send me on a screenshot to support[at]hedgehogers.com
That was it. Thanks! Changing the zoom also stopped making me start levels over after using just one hedgehog too.
I had to take a screen shot of this. HedgeHogers went straight into the number 1 spot on the Puzzle and Family AppStore charts in Ireland. Its very humbling to be on the same page as classics like Monument Valley and Plants vs. Zombies, however briefly! Thanks for all the support so far.
How to Make 100 in Only 3 Years I launched HedgeHogers, my first mobile game, three weeks ago. I spent the previous three years making it. With the typical indie developer marketing budget of 0, I spent about five months working on social media marketing etc. This earned me about one day at the top of the Puzzle and Family charts in Ireland, with overall chart numbers 5 in Games and 8 in Apps. It was very exciting and humbling to be on the same page as classics like Monument Valley and Plants Vs Zombies. Two days later my first reports from Apple arrived. I had visualised reading those reports for the past few years, trying to estimate how many downloads Id get and how much Id have earned for all my hard work. 55 downloads and 100. I'd estimate 45 of those downloads were friends and family who I had threatened to disown if they didnt buy my game. So about 10 people in the world bought the game because they actually wanted to. It seems that ranking on the App Store chart in Ireland for a short time does not require too many downloads. So were the three years spent making HedgeHogers worth it? From a financial point of view, Ive done the maths and it doesn't appear that 100 for over three years work is financially sustainable going forward. It works out as a gross salary of about 33 per year or 0.09 per day. Thats before tax and doesn't take into account any costs like purchasing an iMac, iPhones, iPads, external hard drives, software, annual apple developer membership, website hosting etc. As someone trying to make a mobile game in their spare time this might not seem all that enticing, however, as the sole income for a 40 year old father of three it's not a sound financial strategy. Tough decisions need to be made. From a learning perspective HedgeHogers was more beneficial but, as with the financial success, not as much as I'd hoped. I have learned a lot in three years. I may be a master of none but Im now a jack of all trades regarding coding a game, level design, 3D modelling, animation, music composition, video editing etc. These are all areas I'm interested in and so its been a fantastic experience to get to grips with such a wide variety of skills within one project. However, I had hoped I could reuse more of the nitty gritty I'd learned like the game frameworks or Objective-C or the way I'd integrated a level designer or textures but, as with politics, three years in the tech world, particularly in the mobile world, is a long time. Apples tutorials are now in Swift instead of Objective-C. Game frameworks have come and gone, the handling of images and textures seems to change with each iteration of iOS and XCode. Game engines that support multiple platforms are now very popular, like Unity and Unreal. So while I will certainly reuse the high level skills I've acquired from HedgeHogers, there needs to be quite a bit of new learning done regarding the best way to proceed if Im to make another game. Finally, from a strategic point of view, HedgeHogers has been a great success. One of my main reasons for working for myself and choosing a job that could be done at home, was to spend as much time as possible with my three children during their formative years. People without children may want to turn off at this point. My kids are now aged five, seven and nine and Ive been here for them growing up. My youngest cant remember not having Daddy at home. It's been an honour and a privilege to be with them so much and its not an opportunity parents get very often. Now, minding a three year old every day has its challenges and constant trips to the doctor with three children does somewhat disrupt workflow. However, I wouldn't swap it for the world. I just need to find a way to improve that financial aspect. Feedback on Touch Arcade from people who bought HedgeHogers has been fantastic. They really enjoyed the game and even felt it should be featured by Apple. I need to get it into more peoples hands and I havent given up on it yet. With my three kids now in school I have more structured time to work and who knows, if the bank and my infinitely patient wife are willing, I might make a second game that could buy us a nice meal for two. .
I know this opinion will be very unpopular here, but I think your game would have done much better financially if this were a free-to-play game either with iap's or incentivized ads. It is a very good game and I am one of the few people who bought it, but not many other casual gamers want to spend money to download an unknown game. I wish it wasn't that way, but those are the facts. Please consider this if you decide to make other games in the future.
Sarfa thanks so much for buying the game. I'm really glad you are enjoying it and I think you are right regarding the majority of people being unwilling to pay for an unknown. I'm currently working on a free version of HedgeHogers so people can try some of the levels and see if they like it. If I make another game it is looking more and more like I'll have to consider IAPs, but I'm going to try and avoid ads!
I haven't downloaded it and while the graphics are cool, I think the game play actually looks well planned. Congrats!
Your not alone I like stories like these. Its honest and sounds a bit like you need to get something out of your system I sense a bit of disappointment, which I fully understand I can totally relate to all of your writings. For the past 6 years I have created games, and started out thinking I could make a big hit game (It was easier in the past). I got a decent success with my games, not money wise, but really great feedback from players and the TA forum. I started out thinking I would make a great bit of money from my games, but have not seen it yet. I spent 1 year making a game, actually a sequel to my first game which sold ok. It was free with in-app, but it failed big time.. Sales numbers look a lot like yours. 1 year, and it all felt like it was a waste of time just after 14 days. Anger, dissapointment, sadness all kind of bad feelings was in me, why? because we think we have the right ideas and we are full of excitement and joy. We are investing so much time building these games, because we love working with it and are dedicated But, it can all fail in a few days. As the years has gone by, I am now making smaller games. I stopped making bigger games for now.. By doing that, I can improve my game making skills, work on various smaller games, Spot trends, finding out how the app store works and hopefully one day, one of these little games take on, and I can work on from there, being a much smarter game developer. Im writing this because, I have been in your shoes (Im also a father with limited time) But I really love making games, and just because the first game or the 10th game is not a success, I will keep going strong, and one day it will succeed. So, dont let this game knock you out, keep making games, keep experimenting.. And maybe, make smaller games, and make a lot of them rather than a big one, I promise, youll become a lot smarter game developer Thanks for your story, From one developer to another Christian
Thanks for the feedback. I know everyone has their own personal preference for graphic styles so glad you liked it!
I don't like these type of games but I will purchase it out of pity lol. You worked so long and hard on it, sad to see it didn't become more successful
Christian, thanks so much for your post. It's great to hear from someone with a similar experience. As you say, our wonderful vision for a game can seem as bit tarnished after the first few weeks in the real world! But it is all an experience and while I may be as mad as a brush, I'm still glad I chose to do all the different parts of the game myself and it has given me a much better understanding of what it is I enjoy most about making a game and also where I can greatly reduce the time taken. I'm delighted to hear you are still making games and if the bank allows it, I plan on doing the same! I've come to the same conclusion as you, in that I need to focus on smaller, tighter games. While I'd like to create unique games, trying to link into trends in the App Store and beyond is probably a good strategy. That said, I can't seem myself making a game that launches Donald Trump out of a circus cannon! I've downloaded Drift ZenRacer and have had great fun playing it. The physics are great and I like the different colours you can make with your tyres. I seem to spend most of my time making pretty shapes with the colours rather than focusing on what I'm supposed to be doing! I will post some more feedback on your own thread. Thanks again for taking the time to respond and sharing your own story with me and the community. Shane
