Now that the game is out, there are some challenges. First is FTB's promotion: how to do it? Organically? Via social media? Via ads?
Those are metrics that for me, the developer, are really hard to measure without this real-world data. And I accept the "lean startup model" (by the way great book) - meaning accepting that the product is not great at the start, but with feedback, using data and improvement, it can be great. If so, I need a way to get this data. It will help with balancing, bug fixing, making smarter decisions, troubleshooting, and training ads to bring users who would enjoy the game.
Fourth is continuous improvement based on that data. For example, I made changes to the monetization systems based on some data, and so on.
And that's precisely what I did in the last month and a half. Let's start diving in. First with auth.
Pain. No more words. I want players to be able to back up their data. But you can link and unlink accounts, there is Game Center, Play Games. You may already have an account, you might have played offline, and data remote and local might be mismatched... anyway, you got it.
If you have issues, please contact me so I can help you resolve it or maybe implement something in this area. That's it with authentication. It took around 2 weeks of time.
By the way did not find any place online with a guide of a production grade authentication system for games. Maybe will create an article about it in the guides section later.
I realized that I tried to market FTB as a PC game and not mobile. In the Steam games world, the standard is to create viral content or gather an audience on X, YouTube, and other platforms, then direct them to the wishlist button on Steam. On launch, the more wishlists, the more visibility the game gets. On mobile it's harder, as the wishlists are "pre-registration" with a time window of just around 90 days (or 180 on the App Store). From my understanding, the more popular approach for mobile is via—you guessed it—ads.
Except for ads, I will continue supporting socials, YouTube, Discord, and organic growth via talking with influencers and other relevant people, but the focus is not only on this, but this in addition to ads.
Regarding data: how do I even receive logs about errors, crashes, or the fact that you got all your game info removed because of an authentication issue? Luckily, logs and crashes are automatically collected by Unity and the stores where FTB is published. This way I could begin analyzing critical bugs and fixing them.
Another important part is that the data can be used to train Google Ads. Previously, I ran Google Ads campaigns only to optimize for installations. While that's good for fixing bugs, I'm more interested in people who actually enjoy playing the game, spend time in it, and (potentially) will consider getting a skin from the store—and not some baby who took the iPad of their dad to download the game only to never open it.
This data I'm collecting—who reached a new level, who entered the store, etc.—allows me to create basic rules to optimize the ads for people for whom the game is more relevant. This way I plan to begin optimizations for basic interactions—watching an ad, opening the store, collecting free coins, playing 5 minutes, etc.—and later move into deeper engagement metrics. This way, hopefully, ads will eventually lead to some profits so at the very least I break even.
As I said, based on the data, I was able to find critical bugs that caused crashes or buttons that don't work. Usually, it was a method of writing some code that worked on my device but not on others, localization issues, and so on. Thankfully, it seems like those critical bugs are finished for now and the game is relatively stable.
All I've been talking about is ads, marketing, collecting your data, and blah blah blah. Let's talk about what changes happened to the game.
This caused progression to be harder for non-FTB Premium users—like getting less XP or having to watch an ad to open chests. It remains, but in the beginning, I want you to experience the game without those hassles. So until Level 1, there is no need to watch an ad to get bonus XP, and for every chest you buy—along with the first two chests you gain from level-up rewards—you won't have to watch an ad to open them.
Regarding the "more money for me" part: I increased the prices of coins by 3 times. Let me explain. As a solo developer, I don't have much time to create skins, abilities, and emotes. If anyone can relatively easily get all of those, it's a problem. There will be no in-game value to those items if everyone has them. Second, I don't earn via ads but via IAP, as we said.
So after this memdump, let's sum up:
I changed strategy from marketing only via socials to running ads, gathering data, gathering metrics, and improving the metrics and the ads based on the data.
I'll continue working on cool videos and showcasing the game, but the focus has shifted to ads and improving metrics in addition to social media.
Made the authentication system work fine.
Integrated Firebase SDK with events. Data can be analyzed to improve the game and bring in more relevant people via ads.
Fixed critical issues and bugs so the game works worldwide.
That's all my dear reader. Bruh fr if ur reading this get a life, not like I have one though : )
