Jens.kofod-hansen.com

So finally Marble Lounge was as done as I ever feel it will be, so now I have finally put it out on Google Play! I must admit it was with a bit of anxiety, that I put my baby out there for the whole world to see! I mean, there is currently more than 0.5 billion Android phones active. But I'm curious to see how many people will actually download it. I have even put up a small adword campaing.

So after a looong development phase, here is what I have learned:

• Game development is FUN! You get to code a lot of challenging logic, make music, sound fx, graphics, marketing, etc. It's really a cross discipline hobby :)
• Game development takes time! :) Surprise! No, it took a bit longer than expected, especially since I have been working on and off in bursts. After a week of intense work, I just didn't feel like looking at it at all. And then it just gets harder to pick it up again...
• Be careful with picking a theme! Even though I fell the tiki-based theme takes the game a bit further, than if it didn't have a specific theme, it has also been the ball-and-chain around my neck. Everything has to follow the look and feel of the theme. That's the graphics, the music, the sound effects, the power-ups, the text, you get it. 
• Don't overcomplicate things. Even though a game IS complex and I've tried to follow best practices and learned a lot, I think I could have simplified some of the programming. Inheritance and encapsulation is good for some projects, but I think the game would propably be just as maintainable, if I had just made it as one long script. A lot of stuff is state machines, and the code is kind of isolated in bits by that already.

Ok, so that was what I have learned. What's up next then?

• Google play archievements. Small badges like "got 5 refill powerups" and "got to level 5" makes the game more addictive, longer lasting and your friends can see that you are playing it....meaning more exposure.
• Get it to other distribution channels. Samsung store, Amazong store, why not get it out there. They do not have that many apps, meaning mine will not drown in the mass...but ok, there's still a lot of casual games ;)
• Make a trailer. I'm already working on that, using Synfig. That's an open source animation tool. 

That's all for now. I hope you will try to download and enjoy Marble Lounge :)

Best regards,

Jens