Is it worth having a Mobile version for your game?

[KittyWills]

I asked this over in my game post, but I wanted a bit more feedback and see what other devs think.

Is there really any reason to port your game to a mobile format? (IOS, andriod, etc) It seems with the renpy community at least that most tend to stick with PC gaming. I'm not sure if it's worth putting the extra work in for something that may only get me a small handful of extra sales.

What do you guys prefer? And have other devs had any luck in the mobile market?

[sharkmittens]

I'd actually like to know the answer of this, too. Bumping for better statistics I guess?

Personally, I prefer mobile gaming for the purpose that I'm not always online and I work quite a bit. I like to do things that don't require much effort to access, so I would be more likely to purchase a game on the phone than on the computer.
So I mean, if the game interests me enough to buy it in the first place, I'm going to want it on my tablet more than on my computer.

But I tend to stray from the grand majority, so while I would export it knowing that my crowd exists, I'm not sure how many of us there are.

[Zetsubou]

I'd say it's worthwhile, particularly if your GUI is already touch-friendly.
Exporting to Android requires an additional download, but little effort. It's not like you're maintaining two versions of your game, or making changes to the code (apart from some of your screens, potentially).
I'd be mindful of the resolution of your game and its assets though. Once you go past 720p, many current devices (by which I mean 2-3 year old mid-range phones) will lag noticeably, and you may need to rethink some special effects.

That being said, I have no idea how well that translates into sales. Personally I'd rather play VNs on a handheld device, since I'm usually gaming while in transit or away from a PC. But many mobile gamers seem to prefer free-to-play ad-supported games, as opposed to PC gamers jumping on every Steam sale.

Still, given that you should only need to rewrite a few screens and download RAPT, I think it's worth doing. That's pretty minimal effort considering you'd be opening yourself up to a huge platform.

[firecat]

yes its worth it, people are busy meaning there's less time to play PC games. mobile is way more friendly to indie than you think, if you think about the games we build, they only last for a few days, weeks or month. this is not to say its a bad thing but more of how everyone expects indie games to last compare to MMO, AAA games, publishers, etc. watch this video for better explanation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeTjr4q_grE

this is for touchscreen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBHircZu5EI

[UnknownWriters]

It's definitely worth it. I (Odin) rarely play console- or PC-games nowadays, so my first Ren'py VN was played on a smartphone. Since that game was so well made, it opened my eyes to Ren'py.

I believe in mobile gaming as long as the games are well made.

[wraithseeker]

Is there really any reason to port your game to a mobile format? (IOS, andriod, etc) It seems with the renpy community at least that most tend to stick with PC gaming. I'm not sure if it's worth putting the extra work in for something that may only get me a small handful of extra sales.

It depends on whether your game is free or paid. For paid it's not going to be worth it unless your game is already well-known. As for the latter, definitely go for it as you'll reach a wide audience.

[mugenjohncel]

ABSOLUTELY NOT!



"POOF" (Disappears)

[PyTom]

Android is a no-brainer, at least if your game is serious. iOS is harder - it requires access to a mac, and a yearly subscription fee.

My big goal for the month is to replace Ren'Py's default gui with one that is mobile-friendly by default.

[Miyuu]

Personally, I've played VNs on my Android, and I quite enjoy them, but I'm not sure whether they are made with Renpy or not. Either way, mobile is a good platform if you want to expand. I've seen some successful VNs on mobile, most of them are free but with paid access to some features. I don't know if you can do it for Renpy though.

[xelestial]

We're porting our VN, Mystic Destinies over to mobile right now. Steam support has been good.

It's been a headache, actually, just to get it on Android. Lag and random crashes and screen jumps. Can't say why specifically, as I'm not the programmer, but it's not as simple as we had hoped. Gonna try for iOS, but we'll see. Not a single programmer I've spoken to is confident about Ren'py support on iOS unfortunately.

[firecat]

We're porting our VN, Mystic Destinies over to mobile right now. Steam support has been good.

It's been a headache, actually, just to get it on Android. Lag and random crashes and screen jumps. Can't say why specifically, as I'm not the programmer, but it's not as simple as we had hoped. Gonna try for iOS, but we'll see. Not a single programmer I've spoken to is confident about Ren'py support on iOS unfortunately.

IOS is impossible market to get to as a indie, you have to pay apple to put it on the store. you can't upload to any apple's products without the user jailbreaking the device.

[xelestial]

We're porting our VN, Mystic Destinies over to mobile right now. Steam support has been good.

It's been a headache, actually, just to get it on Android. Lag and random crashes and screen jumps. Can't say why specifically, as I'm not the programmer, but it's not as simple as we had hoped. Gonna try for iOS, but we'll see. Not a single programmer I've spoken to is confident about Ren'py support on iOS unfortunately.

IOS is impossible market to get to as a indie, you have to pay apple to put it on the store. you can't upload to any apple's products without the user jailbreaking the device.

We've already gotten permission to become an Apple developer. Our app just has to pass their standards test, which may not be possible for Ren'py. The hardest thing is that no one knows what their standards are. But it's not impossible for an indie in general - and it doesn't cost much to become a developer.

[MimirollCookie]

Well in my opinion, yep! ^^

[Saitoki1582]

It depends on whether your game is free or paid. For paid it's not going to be worth it unless your game is already well-known. As for the latter, definitely go for it as you'll reach a wide audience.

Agree with this. I have seen some Winterwolves games on android, so it would be nice to have their opinion on this.

One problem with commercial game is how you sell the game: set it behind a paywall or have some chapters for free and the rest can be bought by in-app purchase.Each have its own set of pro and cons:

-Set it behind a paywall limit your audiences, as player can't try before playing to know how good it is.
-use in-app purchase might widen your audiences, but it require more coding skill than just running a simple port and replace your icon.

Also android user are too used to free app, many of them give bad rating to in-app purchase app for "not being really free", or ask for the app to be made free. Similarly, since android app are generally really cheap, a normally $20 game on pc when port to android at same price won't be welcomed unless it's by a well known company, or cartering to a certain audience, or already famous in other media (pc, novel, anime....)

For free game, it would be a no-brainer though. More exposure is always good, unless you don't have $25 to pay for developer fee.

[jQ_theeNHK]

If the goal is to make money, I say go for it! You already did the hard part, u created the game world! If all it takes is some extra coding and maybe some changes to port it, go for it. It could not only help u with your current game but gain loyal followers for future game sales as well! I think I remember seeing somewhere, or someone telling me, the iOS contract is like $100 a year or something like that, not too bad.