Moving on with Buildbox

Hi All,

It has been like 2 years since I last posted and many things have changed since then. I published a lot of games which you can check below and I would like summarise what happened during that time.

https://itunes.apple.com/tr/developer/volkan-kutlubay/id927603440

https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Volkan+Kutlubay&hl=en

So I published a lot of games but didn't get enough return from all of them to tell the truth. Only 1 game which I have worked on that around 6 months called "Ninja Kid vs Zombies" somehow got famous at Google Play Only and now the total download numbers are above 100.000. That was a big surprise for me. But the funny thing is those download numbers didn't affect the number of installs at iTunes. Funny tough still I can say not too much revenue is coming from "Ninja Kid vs Zombies" at iTunes so we can say that one app store doesn't help the other in terms of promotion.You can check the game both in Android and iTunes below.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.touchnfun.ninjakid

https://itunes.apple.com/tr/app/ninja-kid-vs-zombies-8-bit-retro-game/id1005826249?mt=8

What happened this year is I switched to another game engine called Buildbox. I never thought I would do that because of the price of it. It is 99$ per month subscription model and yes it might sound quite expensive when you hear the price but it is worth it believe me.

I was against it at first I always wrote to facebook posts like you don't need to pay that much use Construct 2 instead blah blah beause Construct 2 was my first Game Engine. It was dynamite by the way it is a great game making tool the only flaw is it is designed more for HTML. So when you start getting into publishing mobile you always have problems with plugins etc. and I actually created Ninja Kid with Construct 2. So I actually owe Construct2 a lot and I can say it is great only I needed something which I had to create a game fast. And there Buildbox came to my life. I said that's it and since I am not a programmer I will go with Buildbox. I will tell more about Buildbox in my other blogs but all I can say it is a simple drag and drop 2D Game Making Tool pure without programming knowledge. Check the official website here.

https://www.buildbox.com/

WHY BUILDBOX?

Ok what happened with Buildbox is I started to concentrate more on Game Design because I wasn't doing any virtual coding and checking if the system works or not etc. so I started to add some tricks to my games which I didn't do before. So instead of solving Problems you concentrate more on designing games which is the most important thing.

Buildbox is really dynamic and you can see the results of your game design in seconds simply by hitting the play tool. And what is great is you see the way it will look in an iPhone6 or iPad etc. It opens up the preview screen with the right proportions so you see how everything will look before exporting and running the game in your device. So this was like a big WOW from me when I saw that. 

Also I realised I learned more on game design because the community was great and helpful and also I saw that most Apple Featured games were actually created with Buildbox. Some major Ketchapp games like Phases, The Line Zen and The Pit were created by Trey Smith who is the owner of Buildbox so actually he created this software to make games and send them to publishers but later decided to sell the software as well. And of course we shouldn't forget the famous game "Color Switch" was created with Buildbox.

You can check the games I created with Buildbox Below.

iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/tr/app/hopper-steve-platformer-games-in-adventure-world/id1162261386?mt=8

https://itunes.apple.com/tr/app/stack-emoji-hopper-game-emoji-popping-mania/id1212310916?mt=8

https://itunes.apple.com/tr/app/hero-jump-quest-3d-arcade-hopper-game/id1168406530?mt=8

Google Play:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.volkan.codenamejackson

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.volkankutlubay.herojump

So what happens is you just urge to be a part of this community and the way I look at 99$ is like paying the rent of your office. 

PUBLISHING THROUGH PUBLISHERS

Why publish through a Publisher while you could get the whole Pie right? Well for now as many of you might realise the competition is way high for us Indie game developers to compete. Still there are ways and even tough Trey Smith himself says that ASO is dead I still see some people around me getting success by using ASO. But for now I just shifted my concentration from Marketing and all other things but to pure game making and this is what Publishing through Publishers is all about. YOU JUST CONCENTRATE ON GAME MAKING!

I also personally think it is a good challenge as well because sending your game to Big Publishers like Ketchapp, Noodlecake Studios or Appsolute games etc. can teach you a lot of things. Because I am sure they will ask for revisions and what I see is you and the Publisher work on the game together after they accept your game and you polish your own game with their Advice. It might sound scary but look from this point of view. You learn Game Design from The Big Guys! How Cool is that you know!

I never sent any of my games to a publisher but I am working on one of them right now and trying to polish it as much as I can. When my game is ready I will send it to Publishers and see if it will be accapted or not. What I heard is most of the time you get a Publishing deal, you send them the game, they Publish under their name and with your Logo below (check Ketchapp games) and you split the revenue. 

Anyways that's it for today and I will write some more later. Until then please check some Ketchapp games and also other Arcade Games which you think you might create and check yourself how would you go about creating that game and send it to a Publisher. 

So see you soon and Happy Game Making

Volkan