If you’re a mobile game developer or studio, self-publishing your own game is becoming more and more of a viable option. With the know-how and some time, you can strive to get the results without needing to depend on finding a publisher to do it for you. But the big question is how.
As a growth engine platform that makes it possible for indie developers and studios to self-publish, we are excited to be releasing a series of articles and guides to help you achieve great results on your own!
In this Game Concept Testing guide, we will show you what must do before you even start developing your game.
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How to determine what gaming app to build
When it comes to creating mobile games, it’s true that if you create it then players will come, right?
Unfortunately, in most cases that is not true. Like any other products or businesses you want to release into a market, you must do the prep work first to determine the viability of the mobile game you’ll be building and the marketability of it to the audience you’re building it for.
Failure to do so can lead to devastating results. You and your team could waste months, if not years, and a lot of money building a mobile game that ends up being a commercial dud.
If your goal is to build a mobile game that can be a profitable commercial hit then it is imperative you conduct rigorous Game Concept Testings.
By conducting Game Concept Testings before you start building your game, your likelihood of building and launching a successful game increases drastically.
Why? Because you would have identified:
- The types of games that earn decent revenue
- The potential audience size for your game type
- The direction your game should be developed
- The way to market your game for the best ROI
- How much it would cost to acquire your users
By following the methodology in this guide, you can avoid a common mistake of building a game solely based on a clouded vision or biased idea, which is not a bad thing if your goal is to create a game for fun and to learn.
However, to build a game that becomes a viable source of income for you, your game needs to be guided by business and market insights.
Preview of the Game Concept Test Guide:
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Game Concept Test Checklist
To sum up all the detailed step-by-step on how you can conduct your own game concept test, here's a quick checklist you can refer to:
- Do market research first using SensorTower
- Narrow down your game concept’s subcategories
- Formulate hypotheses for your test
- Create pre-prototypes (i.e. gameplay screenshots) of your game concepts
- Create a mock app store page for each concept (use Google Play template)
- Insert a Facebook Pixel to your mock page and thank you page
- Create ad creatives for each concept
- Make the ad and store page copy for each concept consistent
- Launch ads on Facebook to direct visitors to your mock store pages
- Track and analyze the conversion rates and cost per installs
- Identify your top concepts with high conversion rates and low cost per installs
- Repeat tests of your top concepts with more specific hypotheses
- Discover your winning game concept
- Create the game!
Be sure to check out our full 45-page guide for the detailed step-by-step instructions on how you can start running your own game concept test!
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Main illustration: Natasha Dzhola
