BALLOONrain is a flop !?!

[ManuTOO]

Hello,

4 months after its release, it's the time to face the truth.
BALLOONrain is a flop... :(

But why, oh, why ? :confused:

It got published on BFG, and during 1 month & half, it got a CR of 0.03% . (it was the XS version => basic 3D, but smaller install file)

So far, I guess my CR is about 0.1%, so it's pretty low, too. But I had a lot of downloads from retail video game websites, so I thought it was just not the good audience.
Lately, the downloads lowered, and my CR went up to about 0.2%. That is still too low.
At total, I can count the sales on my 2 hands.

I'm not sure why. I just guess the game is too fast and don't need enough thinking for people who like brain teasers, and maybe it needs a bit too much of learning from the casual gamer.

Till now, I had almost no feedback from users, except a few ones who bought it, and most of the time, it was really positive comments. The only criticism I got was about the organisation of the levels in the Puzzle mode : people would prefer all levels in a row, instead of the current pyramidal scheme.
Users told me they particularly like the hypnotic side of the game, make them relax and empty their mind.

So what could I do to drastically improve my sales ?
I'm afraid I have to face the fact BALLOONrain is a nice game, but that doesn't satisfy the market (but it seems that it works nicely in Warez .... :eek: ).

I guess I could improve the quality of the presentation. There're thousand of things to do so, and doubling its quality would probably double the sales, but a CR of 0.4% won't justify the work involved. (as my dl are just not good enough)

The "outside of game process" is ok (web, order page, etc...), maybe not perfect, but good enough, as I have a more decent CR for my other game.

To see the game & dl a demo :
http://www.managames.com/balloon

Any thought ?

[GameStudioD]

I dl'ed this game when it came out and it didnt work on my dev machine. The screenshots looked interesting though.

One question about your website: Would you buy from it?

Making your site more usable will increase your CR. Maybe not by incredible amounts, but at least by a little for both games.

Also, have you fiddled with the price? Possibly 19.99 is too much for your perspective audience.

[Jack Norton]

My suggestion: forget about it and make a new game.
Too often people keep trying on a game while they could make another, and maybe come back to the first one after a while.
My first game USM has 0,1% CR too, I tried to make a better version spending 3 months more but CR was still the same.
Now I'm spending max 2 months on a game and see if it works ;)

[oNyx]

There aren't any system requirements listed. However, I do remember that they were pretty high (and that it won't run at my system at all - therefore I've never tried it).

Most likely the majority of your customers weren't able to play the game.

If that's the case you can't do much about it right now, but you could for example promote it as a "new" game in 2 years and do something else in the meantime.

[Bluecat]

Don't give up yet. You've only scratched the surface. The game looks beautiful and deserves a better fate than being forgotten.

Some things you could do:



Contact your customers and find out what they think of the game. Offer them a free version of your next game for helping.
Fix any bugs that are reported. People won't buy a game that doesn't work.
Usability testing. This is a big one. Test the game for usability and get rid of any impediments to the player getting into the game. Ask questions like, "How hard is it to navigate using the GUI? How many buttons do I have to click to do this action?" Make sure it is simple to use.
Play testing. Also a big one. Make sure the game is fun. It's related to usability testing, crappy controls aren't fun, but is the core gameplay. Don't be afraid to change or remove something that isn't fun. You need feedback on this.
As has been suggested, review your website to see how you can improve it.
Did you do a press release? If not do one.
Submit it to an indie game review site like GameTunnel. Find many of these sites.
Consider other affiliates, spread the game around. Just make sure people know about it and can get to it.
Contact Joseph Lieberman (Terin) who runs a marketing service. He posts here often and may be able to help you.


It may be that none of these things will make a difference, but then again they might. If you try them and still nothing happens you won't have lost anything, but you will have gained some skills in quality and customer management, and marketing.

Good luck.

[tolik]

My honest opinion - it's not casual. It's hardcore. I would call your game "Space Tripper" of the action-puzzle world.

It has nothing to do with presentation, you can compare it with Marble Blast.

Let's try to do some kind of post-mortem.
1) The control scheme is UNINTUITIVE. You have to assume that nobody is going to go through the tutorial to understand your game. The idea might be crazy, but it should work from the first glance. After 10 minutes of play I was not familiar about the controls. They are too complex for the casual gamer. By removing the casuals out of your scope you are left with some very rare hardcore percents.

2) Game interface is too huge (overbloated - first impression). You have dozens of options, you can fine-tune every aspect of the game. It's not about features, I've got lost at the early beginning (from the professional side - I've watched every feature and was amazed by the deep level of implementation - everything that could be accumulated and accessed in the game for the player was there...), as a casual I saw too many options and no indications which one to choose.
In the demo version I would highlight all the menus which player should really click (or remove everything besides them).

The default game controller should be set to MOUSE!!! Most of the players would download the game, get through the menu, find the mode you can play, and find the fact "I don't know how to play it, the mouse doesn't work"! You have to assume that new generation of players is not familiar with "ESC" key... I was searching for keyboard controls for quite some time (to "emulate" a casual gamer I haven't looked at options and game manual).

3) First level is too hard. I would suggest to move the tutorial to the default level in your progression route. Like "A - B - C" tutorial levels. Optionally, user can skip them from the in-game menu (SKIP TUTORIAL) and later disable them in options. You could give a prize for the completion of the tutorial, rewards are very attractive for the players. As a reward I could propose some really cool skin :)

5) The logo is "crappitractive", as opposed to "attractive". I think the only thing which I do not like about your game is game logo and company logo in HTML manual (or was it site?). This is the only thing which is unappealing, everything else HAS A STYLE. I like your game!

4) You have a bug which prevents a browser from opening the order page:

<script language="javascript">
{
if (document.location.href.charAt(9) != ':')
window.open("index_en.php?order", "_top", "", true);
}

It's a relative url, not an absolute one so the game tries to open it from local drive.



It's almost 1 AM, I'll better get some sleep. I like your game very much, it reminds me about one old game which did the same impression as your game does. It's very feature-complete, has stylish gfx, braincrackered levels and neat music. I'm not sure about replayability value (can't access these features), but it's cool. Once you get familiar with controls, you can start teasing your brain.

[tolik]

There aren't any system requirements listed. However, I do remember that they were pretty high (and that it won't run at my system at all - therefore I've never tried it).




Minimum system requirements :
OS: Windows XP/ME/2000/98 (Windows 95/NT not supported)
CPU: 200 MHz Intel Pentium or equivalent
RAM: 32 MB
DirectX 8.1
Video: DirectX 6.0 compatible 8-MB 3D card
Sound: DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
Input: Keyboard, Mouse or Joystick


It did ran very-very nice on my P3-800/256 with some Trident CyberBlade videocard. And it already looked awesome without all the effects it does support (shaders, etc).

[tolik]

My suggestion: forget about it and make a new game.
Too often people keep trying on a game while they could make another, and maybe come back to the first one after a while.
My first game USM has 0,1% CR too, I tried to make a better version spending 3 months more but CR was still the same.
Now I'm spending max 2 months on a game and see if it works ;)

I was reading the "Orbz" story on one site and I guess this game might have similar fate - deluxe version with all the things polished and more accessible.
I guess doing a quick redux (it can be done in a month once you understand all your mistakes) and releasing the game under a different name for a different target audience can make the difference.

[oNyx]

Oh... the requirements, which aren't that high are hidden on another page. I "scanned" the page as usual for those common requirement-constructs (like a headline and a list) and hadn't found anything like that after 30 seconds... I just gave up like anyone else would.

[ManuTOO]

Many thkx for all these answers !
It's really cheering me up !

@GameStudioD :
by "it didn't work", do u mean it crashed ?
Or it's coz of a too low 3D card, so it didn't want to start ?

>> One question about your website: Would you buy from it?

I'm not sure, but I'm not in the target... :p
From the order page appearing when exiting the game, I'd probably buy it, as there're many options, and all my questions are answered... but I'm not my users. ;)

>>Possibly 19.99 is too much for your perspective audience.

I already did a little try at $14.95, but just through my newsletter. I'll do a big try for the next update.

@Jack Norton :
U're a well of wisdom !
As I spent less than 2 weeks of work on Balloon since the final release, it gives me 6 more weeks of tuning.....
But I think u're right, and I won't spend more time on it.


@oNyx :
The requirements are listed on the download page.
I guess it means my website layout is not good for ur taste... :-S
As the requirements list is a bit long, I didn't want to charge too much the 1st page.

@Bluecat :
thanks for all ur advices.
I already did more or less a good part of them.
Ur most important points (easiness & fun) are well developed by emulLynx.

@emulLynx :
woh !
U're a big game fan !

>> The control scheme is UNINTUITIVE

unfortunately, except changing the gameplay (so, it'd like creating a new game), there's not too much I can do with that... no ?

>> Game interface is too huge

u have a good point here. Maybe I should add a toggle hiding most of options by default. The experienced users would have to turn the advanced menus on...

>> The default game controller should be set to MOUSE!!!

I'll try that!

>> You have a bug which prevents a browser from opening the order page

it was working fine on my browers (IE & Firefox), but I removed it, as it has nothing to do there :)

>> The logo is "crappitractive"

yup, when I did it at 1st, I was almost pride of it... Now, I think it could be better ... :D

I'll work on all of these little things, and I'll try to bring a more polished, casual gamer friendly version..!

[Jack Norton]

U're a well of wisdom !
As I spent less than 2 weeks of work on Balloon since the final release, it gives me 6 more weeks of tuning.....
But I think u're right, and I won't spend more time on it.
Haha LOL
Well I just told you what worked for me. I think that is difficult to change CR of a game with only small little modifications. I am thinking even more that is the IDEA that make the CR.
My USM in release 1.0 didn't even had interactive match (Really a big plus for soccer fans). After I added it, I noticed only a very very slight increase of CR, really not worth the 2 month spent on it.
I guess that the idea of making a CM clone with less features for a more casual public was bad from the start... that's why now I think to make very original games, like The Goalkeeper one (at least I have no competition!).

Good luck! :cool:

[Rainer Deyke]

Because of the 3D perspective, it took me a while to realize that movement is locked to a grid, and even after that I had trouble estimating if I could fit between two obstacles or not. IMO the game would be a lot easier and more fun in 2D. It was also sometimes hard to see if a balloon is attached or not.

Edit: I see there is a top-down view option. IMO this should be the default. Preferably with a chess-board pattern so you always see where everything is on the grid.

[princec]

Couple of comments, haven't time to scan the thread but I played the 10mb demo:

1. Controls were massively sensetive for some reason - tap the Up key and I'd shoot off. Very difficult to just move one square. Would be better if they weren't on "repeat" mode but just behaved with normal keydown/keyup behaviour

2. I tried to play without reading the instructions on the first screen, and after randomly moving up down left and right I got to level 2, none the wiser :) I followed the instructions from there on...

...3. until I got to the level with the ghosts, which was so outrageously hard I gave up and went to bed!

Truly this is the Mutant Storm of the arcade puzzle world! It's as slick as an oiled weasel in a tub of grease and beautifully presented (I like the Quake 2 moan when you drop a ball, hehe) but I can kind of see why it's not selling just from a gameplay point of view - it's very inaccessible at first, then there are several ok levels, then it's suddenly impossibly hard.

Considered allowing the ghosts to move only when you do?

Cas :)

[KNau]

My advice would be to not worry so much about on-line sales right now but to get the game into the hands of a retail distributor. With those visuals you could probably do well in the budget retail market or at least get yourself a couple thousand in an advance.

[Artichoke Games]

I wasn't able to try the game (all menu items had "Unknown Code" text), but why do you let the player play the game for 21 days? This is a very long time and I can definitely say that there are not many games that I would want to play for such a long time. I don't know how much content do you have in the game, but maybe shortening the demo is worth considering...

[GameStudioD]

The game was just black when I ran it on my dev machine. I downloaded it to my laptop yesterday and it worked fine.

The game visually looks pretty nice. I thought the game really sucked the first time I played it (just a lousy first impression). The first tutorial level was a real drag. I mashed the arrow keys and not much happened. I figured things out and then it wanted me to learn how to drop things (4 more keys, ugh). I was just frustrated at that point. I imagine that many players are having this same experience.

Normally, I would just uninstall the game, but I played it some more to give you some feedback. I learned the controls and I began to see the deep strategy involved with the game. I went to thinking the controls were bad, to thinking that the controls were really good. The UI is good (the buttons are not too big), lots of options, lots of cool stats after completing a level, good graphics and animation. I give this game the thumbs up, I think it is really cool.

For some reason, the game doesnt communicate its finer points to players. People must be getting frustrated early on (because they are not reading the tutorial) and uninstalling.

A suggestion for the controls: maybe hold down x key + arrow key to drop a ball. Less controls overall to learn.

A suggestion for the game overall: spread out the balls on the first level. Let the user play with the controls, instead of being boxed in and getting confused. I would not be surprised if this alone improved sales.

[ManuTOO]

For the ones who were worrying about, I corrected the little bug reported by "Artichoke Games" ... :) (install script trouble : it has different behaviors between XP & 9x)

@Rainer Deyke :
I'm going to add a grid (on by default, with an option to turn it off).
About the 2D view, I'll ask the user to choose during the install... I think the 3D is really more impressive, even if it's not so efficient to play, it's more cool ... :)

@princec :
yup, the controls is a bit too sensitive... It's better with a pad (even with the mouse about this particular point), but a 1 by 1 move would be quickly really harrassing.

and yup again, u're right about the ghost, I lowered their speed by more than 50%, I hope it'll help enough (I didn't mean that level to be hard, just show there're ghost in the game).

@KNau :
If everything goes right, it should go on shelfs in a few weeks, but no advance on royalties ..... :-S
Considering the comment here, I guess it should get a little success on retail : people who paid for it will spend the time to learn the control, and so they'll really enjoy their game :)

@Artichoke Games :
The time limit is 14 days. As it's not easy to discover the game at 1st, I prefer people to have the time to give it a 2nd try...

@GameStudioD :
Thanks for ur appreciation, it sheers me up (and make me think more about retail ;) )

>> maybe hold down x key + arrow key to drop a ball
it's already there !
By default, it's not "x", but "left windows" key. Maybe u don't have it on ur keyboard ?
(it was harsh to determine which default keys were the best choice, to fit a maximum different keyboard layouts)

>> spread out the balls on the first level

I guess u're right, I just did it.
Actually, I did like that at 1st, but from my tests, people had tendency to move all around and get a bit "lost"...
But actually, with all the balls next to them, people didn't get lost anymore, but they just didn't really understand what was going on, so I guess it was not really better...

[nalenb]

I'd go over all the text on the site too. Recommended System Requirements is spelled wrong. 5 different ways of paying is confusing. One page says the demo is 14 days, one says it is 21 days. Two different downloads is confusing (even though it is explained), can't you dump the 3d if a slow cpu is detected? Features says "8 Bonus", 8 bonus what?

The game looks nice though (I'm unable to play it on my dev computer though due to my crappy video card).

[20thCenturyBoy]

You've mispelt the game title on the web site (BALLLOONrain). Little things like that really detract from the professionalism of the game itself. Why would I trust a website that can't spell it's own game to handle my credit card order securely?

Also the name itself is a little....odd...to me anyway. It's not snappy enough and the caps look out of place. Just call it Balloon Rain. It's a lot easier on the eye. :)

20thCB

[Gmicek]

You know, for all these months I thought it was BalloonTrain, not Rain. Ha! Whoo, i feel dumb.

Anyway, i think it's an awesome game, but I never liked the menus. Then again, I'm a baby when it comes to those.

[princec]

I thought the menus were stunning. Really, really, well done. But totally overcomplex! Too many options.

Cas :)

[ManuTOO]

@nalenb :
Thanks for the misspelling reports.
About the way of payment... ShareIt & other payment process will expose even more ways (tel, fax, e-check, etc...).
And so far it didn't discourage people to buy my tennis game.
About 5% of people answered a little survey, containing 3 questions about the order form, all said it was clear (except one who said "almost clear enough").

The main purpose of the XS version is to provide a lighter download, as I read thousand of times people on this forum worshipping the 5MB limit rule ... ;)
And as 95% of people don't download Balloon from my site, the little confusion should be ok.
And sure, the engine auto detects the computer speed on the 1st run and chooses the most appropriate settings.

@20thCenturyBoy :
Thanks for the misspelling report. (again)
This one was really... humm... doh ! :eek:

"BALLOONrain" caps has the advantage to be a bit different from most games, so it can catch a bit more of attention, when listed with thousand of other puzzle/action games.

@Gmicek :
Ahah ! no, no train in my game...
and thanks :)

@princec :
Stunning ? Really ?
I just hoped they were good enough ... :)
By the way, how the hell could u recognize the moan sound from Q2 ??? (actually, if I remember well, I already changed it a bit)

[nalenb]

I guess I was saying it's more usable if you make the choices instead of giving them to the user. When you are different from most other sites, the user has to slow down and read everything. I can't remember the last site that offered more than 1 site to pay with nevermind 5. The download thing is okay, but again, users are going to have to slow down and read everything. Might they download the smaller one and think the graphics are not very good (even though they supposedly read this when the downloaded it)? I know *you* know the difference, but will they? Would it be worth giving away the XS version and having the other as the paid one?

I'm all for taking as many choices away from the user so they don't need to think as much. It's very hard to offer the right minimal set of choices. In the game, can you move some of the choices to an xml config file or something? That way power users can edit the file, but regular users won't need to see options they will hardly ever choose.

[serg3d]

Here is my take:
1. the game have "too hardcore" feeling, may be because it's too abstract. IMHO it need a theme - make it pie factory, or fruit gathering or something.
2. Menu too complicated. Tutorial difficalt to find (take several seconds :) ) Make a tuorial a default choise if it's a first run, encapsulate all other menu entries into "advanced" or something
3. Screens in tutorial too long. I'd make it shorter: move right. Move left. Now you won.
Move left
4. rotation control. It's very difficalt to figure that you have to <I>release</I> a button to start rotation (at least at my computer). Rotation should start immediatly after the buttons pressed
5. add mouse control ?

just my 2 cents

[ManuTOO]

@nalenb :
>>Features says "8 Bonus", 8 bonus what?
I forgot to tell u about that last time... U know, it's bonus, like in a puzzle game... bonus... if u have another word, I'll pick it ... :p
(power-up doesn't fit very well)

>> I can't remember the last site that offered more
>> than 1 site to pay with nevermind 5
If someone did a A/B with 1 against several paid methods, I'll be curious to know the result...
As an user, I like to have a choice between several methods. And the form is pretty clear & simple.
Anytime I buy something on the Net, I always have choice for the pay method. And as I said, ShareIt will even expose more after.

@serg3d :
>> IMHO it need a theme
yup, mabybe it'd be good.
But I prefer advice that lead to 2 hours of work, instead of 2 months... ;)

>>2. Menu too complicated
corrected... if u have the time, let me know if u think it's ok or not, now.

>>Make a tuorial a default choise if it's a first run
it was already like that. But when u use the mouse, it'll select other modes... That's why I put the tutorial in blue, so it's different from other modes.

>>4. rotation control
actually, if u press both left & right rotate, it'll be like the drop button, and won't do any rotation, that's the reason of the control... It's useful for 2-button mouse/gamepad, or keyboard withouth the Left Window key (ok, all of that are pretty rare now :) )

>>5. add mouse control ?
It was already there.
I know, it's lost in too many options ... :p


@Everyone :
I started a new thread for the new version 1.0b....
http://forums.indiegamer.com/showthread.php?p=7366#post7366


=============