B4xers who haven't tried game programming yet: Why?

[fredo]

Compared to other forums there is relatively little activity in the game area.

Spoiler: Game Forum posts since 2015

Notice (added later): Only the first entries of the threads were calculated.
​

Are you interested, but don't have enough time to familiarize yourself?
Or do you generally reject game programming because it is too undemanding?
Maybe you couldn't make any money from it?
Why?

 

[Alexander Stolte]

undemanding

rather because it is too complicated.

 

[Star-Dust]

Too busy, little money, too fierce competition

 

[Deleted member 103]

I do not play! I am working!

 

[ac9ts]

Like anything, App or Game, thinking of the idea is the hardest. Creating and programming once the idea is found is easy.

 

[AnandGupta]

No time to play. Need to complete demanding projects.
Further what I have understood, game programming requires lots and lots of time and creativity. This is one thing I am on short supply : TIME.

Regards,

Anand

 

[sorex]

I guess you better look at the game releases in the releases forum and not the posts in the 'game forum'.
They are not really related amount wise and some people tend to stay silent and after a while they post in the releases forum.

As @ac9ts wrote just finding an (original) idea is already a hard task.

 

[XbNnX_507]

Too many math, and i hate math.

 

[Alexander Stolte]

Too many math, and i hate math.

This is my boy

 

[KMatle]

I can't draw... So who wants a game with crap graphics PS: But my databases look quite nice

 

[Sagenut]

Game Development is quite hard.
Talking about serious project.
Probably Games are the best source of income with Upgrade Packs, if the game is really addictive.
But, in my opinion, it's very difficult to create and maintain such kind of games.
Most of all is really difficult if You are alone.
A good Game Dev Team should be at least made of 3 persons:
Coder
Graphics
Sound
But of course there are exception and nothing is impossible.

 

[fredo]

... finding an (original) idea ...

OK. I might look into this later: https://www.reddit.com/r/gameideas/

 

[fredo]

I can't draw...

Me neither. But I was advised to start here: https://itch.io/games/platform-windows/tag-procedural/tag-top-down

 

[fredo]

... thinking of the idea is the hardest ...

Yes, one can perhaps be inspired by the target group. For example, asking around in the family what fascinates and why.

By the way, I found this idea interesting, but not sophisticated enough to code it: https://www.reddit.com/r/gameideas/comments/ckmxy2/2d_shooter_player_teleports_to_the_place_where/

 

[ilan]

I have released until today 21 Games for Android and 13 Games for iOS. Unfortunately, the income from all together is less than 1000$. so an average of 30$/app until today (so few years). there are people here that made much more from their games but I did not have luck with mine. I still like making games but I don't really believe that the right choice is to make games and not applications. Anyway I actually have 3 game projects running but I am still waiting for the motivation to finish them

btw i dont really think that i have so less posts relating to gaming as you wrote. i am sure i have much more!

 

[fredo]

...so less posts relating to gaming...

Please forgive me for not explaining the numbers. I just counted the number of first thread entries in the games forum to get a rough overview.

I have released until today 21 Games for Android ...

I didn't know that. I will have a look at them. Certainly I can learn something from it.

... an average of 30$/app ...

That's something different than one might expect. But I hope that if someone has a fresh new idea that captivates the player in the first few minutes, there will be a good starting point.

The crucial thing, however, will probably be to understand the mechanisms of social marketing and apply them massively.

Spoiler: Expected result

https://www.maxpixel.net/Empire-Man-Self-Employed-Business-Suit-Money-3716552
​

I will probably have to ask @andymc for help...
​

How'd you learn X2? Have you systematically analyzed the examples or simply tried it out?

 

[ilan]

Please forgive me for not explaining the numbers. I just counted the number of first thread entries in the games forum to get a rough overview.

then I think @wonder should be at the first place since he is the one that ask for the gaming section

I didn't know that. I will have a look at them. Certainly, I can learn something from it.

just a few of them: https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/pages/results/?query=spritekit

The crucial thing, however, will probably be to understand the mechanisms of social marketing and apply them massively.

yeah but for that, you may need to invest few 100$ at least.

How'd you learn X2? Have you systematically analyzed the examples or simply tried it out?

xui2d is not much different than the other frameworks we have here (Libgdx + iSPritekit) because all of them uses Box2d. once u understand how box2d work it will be much simpler to make games. all you need to learn is the drawing part. I would recommend to read about box2d and go through the examples also in Java. it is almost the same as we have here. the bodies creation and definition are all the same and also how to apply force or the joints part everything uses almost the same syntax.

I actually started learning box2d using libgdx. then I learned how to use spritekit and in my opinion, those are the best choice for making games for mobile. of course having framework for both platforms is a big advantage so xui2d is for sure a great candidate.

 

[sorex]

I liked playing your turn left game on the airplane, Ilan.

Simple yet challenging because you want to do more rounds.

The same goes for that spider game.

using xui2d or libgdx/spritekit doesn't mean that you will create a successful game.
But it makes it easier because a lot of math is done for you but it all comes to luck these days.
there are a lot of really high tech games with barely 1000 installs just because they are pushed away by those who got their fame years ago
and yes that includes the cheaters who released the same game a dozen times under a different account. (discussed before)

if you want money numbers... I'm currently around €120/month and that's with just some puzzle games. At some time when one of them was in the top 250 for Belgium/Holland for a few months it peaked upto €700+. the challege is to stay in that top 250 I guess so that you have your daily new installs/users & visibility.
When you get out of it it's mostly word of mouth suggestions or luck on searches.

Can I live from it? no. Will I be rich from it? no. But it's a nice extra and enough to pay licenses (B4X, apple ...) etc.

 

[hookshy]

Compared to other forums there is relatively little activity in the game area.

There are few guys that knows to make games.... to start developing games takes a lot of efforts and time
Game is not realy a market for b4a developers , we have other markets where we get more results ...
It is very hard to make users on games , if no results then no energy to develop and start investing time and money in games

 

[AnandGupta]

if you want money numbers... I'm currently around €120/month and that's with just some puzzle games.

I guess these figures are from ad revenues ?
Or does games sale too ?

Actually if I am stuck in a long line, I play with airplane mode on. So I wonder most user will do it and the minuscule ad revenue will not justify the time and energy given to make a game. My thoughts.

Regards,

Anand