After getting over 13,000,000 downloads for my different apps and games, a lot of people have asked me what the secret is. In this post I'm going to share exactly what I do, because the sad truth is most people who start an app business don't make it. What's even worse is they typically are very close, they just make a couple small wrong moves that end up being the nail in the coffin.
RULE #1 - Don't Program It Yourself
This might be controversial, but through experience I've seen more people have success when they do NOT know how to program. I personally can't program a lick and that has forced me to actually spend all my time thinking about the marketing side of the business. If you look at most successful app companies in the store right now, the person running the company is NOT the one actually programming. This is not a coincidence. Even if you ARE a programmer I strongly recommend outsourcing the development so you can spend your time thinking about how to get downloads.
RULE #2 - Model and Improve (aka Innovation is risky)
As the owner of GameAcademy.com, you can imagine how many people come to me with new ideas for the "next big thing" in apps that no one has heard of yet. The truth is, those pan out about 1% of the time. Instead of reinventing the wheel, we think you should MODEL AND IMPROVE.
Jump Pack has been in the top 25 of all apps multiple times and has over 1,500,000 downloads. When we were coming up with the idea for Jump Pack, we didn't try to invent something the world had never seen (there is a time and place for that, but it's not when you are getting started), instead we focused on building a game we KNEW people would like while adding in a few new features that have never been see before. We decided to model and improve.
The game we modelled was the smash hit Doodle Jump. Doodle Jump has made over $10,000,000 and was one of the breakout hits of the iOS app store, but if you look at it, it's surprisingly simple. The graphics aren't that great and the game is rather thin on options. What we did know is people love jumping. A lot. So we decided to take this proven jumping game mechanic and add in better graphics, more powerups and new gameplay features.
It ended up being a good call. With less than $5,000 invested into the development of the game, we have currently made over $130,000. Not a bad ROI:
RULE #3 - Keep Cost Down... and here's how to do it
Keeping cost down is VERY important. It's been one of the big secrets of my success. Believe it or not, after over 13,000,000 downloads and 100 games, the most I ever spent on a game was Jump Pack. The next game we made was Maze+. It rocketed to the top of the app store upon release and made over $30,000 it's first month. How much did it cost to make? Only $3,000. Why? Because we just edited the Jump Pack source code to make that game. A large part of the hard work had been done.
Now, you're probably thinking, "Well that's great, but I don't have a code to edit". To answer that, I have something cool to share with you. GameAcademy.com has grown tremendously since we opened our doors less than a year ago. We now have over 5,000 customers and 150,000 subscribers. We've had over 1,000,000 unique hits to our site in a few short months and our students have over 100,000,000 downloads (collectively) in the app store.
To celebrate our success, and to help new people get started who might be on a shoestring budget, we're giving away one of our best source for absolutely free. Not only that, it's a Match 3 source code so you can make many variations of the most popular puzzle style gameplay currently in the market. This code won't cost you a dime and comes with both the Android and iOS version. It's our way to celebrate our students success, which has been larger than we ever imagined.2
You can download this match 3 code here and we'll also include 3 videos and an 80 page report on how to get started. You'll also get a sneak peek at the GameAcademy team, where we work and how we started. Typically this is the type of high end training code we use in one of our paid packages. This code isn't available anywhere else and will only be made public for a limited time.
The code itself includes the full gameplay including menu, core engine and a few surprises like a lightening powerup. We've created the code so it's very easy to add new ideas, features and improve upon. This is the essence of our model and improve motto and you can experience first hand how to take a proven game that is known to be successful and make it your own. Download this full source code for free here.
With the training you'll get an 80 page report I personally created that shows specific examples of how to monetize your game. Not only will I show you exact tips and tricks we use to make money in our own games, I also scoured the top 25 grossing and documented any monetization paths that were worth noting. Previously this guide was only availble for purchase from our website, but we've included it for free as part of this Match 3 promotion. Grab both the code and training here.
On behalf of GameAcademy.com we appreciate you checking out our site. The game business is the most rewarding and fun business I've ever had the pleasure of being apart of, and if you are looking for a unique challenge that can turn into a real business, then I can't recommend enough to check it out. There is truly nothing better than creating a business that brings joy to millions of people. Before the onslaught of mobile devices, it was near impossible to break into, but now with the tools at our disposal, and outsourcing that is cheap and available, it's easier than ever.
Thanks and take care,
Trey Smith
Founder
GameAcademy.com
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