GameArter: Tool for game management (2/2 — Post-release phase)
This article follows part 1/2 — Game Development Phase describing GameArter as a tool for Game Development.
Game development is complex industry connecting programming, sounds engineering, design, marketing, testing, optimizations, monetization and presentation. It all often happens at the same time which puts high demands on people working in this industry. Especially indie game developers who need to deal with all of it in very low number of people or sometimes even alone. These people will appreciate GameArter tool helping them in all of these areas without any initial costs.
Let’s take a look at GameArter’s automatized services available for developers releasing their games.
Everything begins with a request for publishing.
- Pre-release check
GameArter automatically checks all games added to its platform for functionality of used GameArter services as well as game itself. Part of the check is evaulation of Monetization, and UX based on experiences from daily access to games and their results.
This check is processed publicly on Slack where any other developer in GameArter system can add his opinions and comments for the game.
Pre-release check is very helpful and necessary feedback. This pre-release feedback has only informative purpose for developer and the developer does not have any obligation to do any changes based on the feedback. In special cases (game is non playable, full of bugs, pure bought template, containing brutal violence etc.), GameArter has right to reject participating on the game.
2. Selecting the right strategy
Based on developer’s goal and puprose for which he release his game on web, GameArter allows to discuss about individual strategies and order of next points described in this article. For example, let’s say that developer is ready with his game, but he does not wish to test it first on real users before distribution and he just wants to distribute it between as large number of users and as fast as possible.
3. Assistence for distribution
Once point 1 is processed, developer’s game is automatically sent to larger number of Publishers that signed for receiving new games to add on their websites. The game is at the same time automatically posted on PacoGame’s social sites (Facebook 30k fans, Youtube 31k subscribers, Twitter 1,5k fans) and posted by push-up notifications to other 40k users interested in targeted game category. If you are interested in more detailed view at our opinion relating game distribution, check article “Right way of game distribution in our opinion”.
4. Tracking
First thing every developer should do after release is to check initial data. Especially users behaviour, game errors and feedback from real players. GameArter makes it all simple.
4.1 Users behaviour in the game
- Success ratio of game launches
Browser is a very specific platform. Users want everything running in a browser to be instant. This is not possible and it is based on selected game engine used for the game. For example games made with Unity require you to download quite a big file before running. This usually takes some time, multipled by additional time needed for decompression of downloaded game files. We mentioned this issue in sepearted article “Importance of loading time”.
GameArter tracks basic success ratio in default and developers can view it in Reports section.
- Users data
Best way to look at users behaviour in the game is to check user’s data in the game. On basis of this data, it is also possible to optimize game and level design, tutorials, value for achievements and so on. GameArter also automatically attaches information about user retention (frequency of game visits by certain users). These data are available in .csv export form so that developers can work with the data without any limitations.
- Advanced analytics
GameArter allows native implementation of various analytics tools. Support for Google Analytics is native and only requires placing developer’s tracking id, developers can also add other tools on their onw. See more in our separated article “Analytics tools for games”.
4.2 Errors tracking
Every software contains errors and bugs. The problem is, that some of these issues may be only relevant to certain OS, browser and device only. GameArter automatically catches all errors occured in a browser, collects them and prints them to GameArter’s error report.
GameArter’s report tool allows ordering according to quantity and time of reports. After clicking at quantity number, errors are divided between certain devices.
4.3 Real User’s Feedback
GameArter contains native discussion module which may be opened directly from the game as well as optional module for reporting bugs. Both modules are the best way to communicate with players and get relevant feedback for next improvements.
GameArter’s allow also placing social sites to its GamePlayer. Players often communicate with developers via various platforms, so this is way to allow it them.
4.4 Distribution
Developers have full information about websites which published their games, playability of the game at these websites and configuration under which the games run on them.
5. Updates
After evaluation of all the data and feedback, you may consider to make some changes in your games and release an update. Game updates are very simple and fully automatical with GameArter. There is no check from the side of GameArter team which results in instant game updates. Just by pressing one button, game is updated at all websites. On the other hand, you have the responsibility for functionality of the update. Anyway, verifying functionality is not hard after all, becasue all games uploaded to GameArter are running on testnet before moving to production. Thanks to this, developers can test their new updates first in real game environment. To eliminate all of the not-found bugs and not-fair dealing, all updates are tracked and controlled by GameArter team within minutes after processed update.
6. Promotion
6.1 Promotion at gaming websites
If the game is working right and all the data look good, time for promotion begins. Most of the bigger gaming websites today are running an algorithm on basis of which games are displayed at their main pages. From here applies the first rule — make good games which users will enjoy. There is no better way to promote games.
6.2 General promotion
We could write many paragraphs here about general promotion of games but instead we summarized it to separated article, read it at …
6.3 GameArter Promotion
GameArter writes articles, creates videos, runs PPC campaigns and invests to other various ways to promote games in GameArter system. Usually in a cooperation with gold partners, such as PacoGames.com gaming website. This website also prepared special promotion ways and bonuses for developers using GameArter. Find out more about the benefits at blog post “Publishing games on PacoGames”.
