Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Getting Your Game Discovered
There are many thousands of Android games available already, with many more on the way. Just
scroll through the list of most popular games on Google Play and you're sure to see many new
titles that you've never heard of, developed by new companies that you didn't know existed.
Some developers get lucky, but most games that are popular haven't become popular by
accident. Their publishers know how to get the games discovered by users. How do you get
your game discovered by new users? Discovery is key to the success of any game, and while
you can always throw money at the problem by buying visibility in the form of advertisements,
it's not nearly as cost effective as some other means, discussed next.
Social Network Integration
If you don't use Facebook and Twitter, then by all means, put this topic down right now and
come back after you are registered on both. Social networking sites like these are heavy hitters
when it comes to getting your game known. The tactics aren't so obvious at first, though.
Should you just create a Facebook page for your game and tell all your friends to like it? That
will get you a couple of downloads, but not much more. Does tweeting help? A little. Neither
of these approaches is going to get your game the kind of visibility you need to really make it a
commercial success.
A few of the great things about these two social networking sites, from a marketing perspective,
are that nearly everyone uses them, they are free to use, and they are friendly to more creative
solutions. Here are some examples of how you can exploit these websites to market your game:
Give 50 free VC credits to users who “like� your game on Facebook. Give 50 free VC credits
to users who mention your game in a tweet. Hold a high-score contest once a month using a
service like GREE where the prize is a new Android device, and only allow people to register if
they've liked you on Facebook. In the last example, you'd have to actually purchase a device to
give away as a prize, of course, but as far as incentivizing “likes� goes, such a strategy can work
really well. It's easy to create incentives to get people to share your game with each other, and
these networks are the perfect platform for that kind of information sharing.
Both Facebook and Twitter provide Android SDKs that you can download and use to integrate the
networks with your game. The specifics change all the time, so it doesn't make a lot of sense to
document them here, but both are fairly easy to use, so there's no excuse for not trying them out!
Tip
GREE recently bought OpenFeint and migrated its users to the GREE platform. GREE provides
VC, high score, achievement, friend, and other such services. Check out the GREE Developer Center
Discovery Services
There are companies such as AppBrain whose sole purpose is to help you get your game
discovered. Other companies, such as TapJoy, Scoreloop, and Flurry, also have discovery
services. Most of these services provide ways to put your game “in network� so that it will be
