Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Ad supported
Often, the ad-supported option is the route for a lot of free-to-play mobile titles. This is
one option that can be difficult to get right. If there are too many ads, the player will just
get annoyed and uninstall it. Alternatively, if there are few ads, you are not going to get
much back from it.
A key thing to remember about ads is that it's all about presentation and numbers. You
need thousands of ads presented through your titles to make any kind of money back from
the ad providers. It will be better if the player also clicks on the ad, as this generates better
revenue; however, you cannot bet that the player will do this.
Note
Warning
Do not attempt to fake or force the player to click on ads. It's a very bad experience and
will most likely force the player to uninstall your game quickly. Also, the ad providers are
clever enough to work out whether you are faking the clicks; if yes, they'll simply not pay
for you.
I have seen cases where developers have layered ads on top of each other to maximize the
ad's presentation or use the GUI controls in close proximity to the ads, tricking the player
to click on them. These are very bad practices and should be avoided. At best, you won't
get paid for your ads; at worst, it will significantly get you bad reviews and lower down
your number of players.
A few actions that generally work are as follows:
• Displaying a non-UI blocking portion of the screen in the gameplay
• Just displaying the menu or non-game screens (for example, the inventory and the
pause screen)
• Displaying ads only in the loading screens
• Pop-up ads that appear when an event occurs
• Ads on the purchase screens
You can mix and match the preceding patterns, but remember there is a fine line between
background annoyances that the player can just ignore if they don't want to look and
screens that are too intrusive and overbearing. Test with a selected audience and alter your
implementation based on their feedback
before
you publish it.
