Greeting! My name Kateryna Duma – I am the creator of the team altenia gamewhich makes cute games for phones (App Store and Google Play). My first game “Lulu’s home garden» gained +2 million organic downloads on Google Play and I would like to share my experience with novice developers.

The beginning of the journey

In 2021, when I was in my 3rd year at the university, I, together with my fellow programmer Igor Shats came up with an idea.

We wanted to create a cute greenhouse game where the player could grow and study flowers.

This idea formed the basis of our game. I came up with the basic mechanics for the mini-games and the rooms that the player could decorate. After a long search, I found a very important person for our team – an artist who was perfectly able to convey the atmosphere of nature. Our artist for Home Garden Lulu became Elizaveta Vodosty.

After I gathered the team, we started creating sketches and developing the atmosphere of the game. First, we decided on the main format of the game – it became two-story rooms. We wanted to add as many objects to the game as possible and came up with the brilliant idea of ​​rooms with two floors that flew up and down like pages. This format was exactly the chip of our game.

We also decided on the aesthetics of the game. goblincore and cottagecorewhich are based on love for nature, the forest, the atmosphere of country life.

In the game, it was planned to build 5 rooms, each of which should have its own mini-games. INCafe> we made mini games about coffee and smoothies. INGreenhouse> a flower growing game was added: in the game you had to properly care for and fertilize the plants. After 3 mini-games, the player could get a full-fledged flower in his greenhouse and study it in more detail in the herbarium book. INLulu’s house> we made a game about caring for a pond and fish, touched on the topic of ecology and separate garbage. INFlower shop> the player could grow flowers and make bouquets to order frogs. And the last roomCinema> where the user could play a vintage slot machine and watch animations on the screen.

The first difficulties or how to survive the release

My team and I worked on the first three rooms for one year. I had a lot of ideas in my head and, of course, because of that, there were a lot of revisions. Only three locations were included in the initial version of the game <Теплиця>, <Кафе>,<Дім Лулу>.

There was little activity in the initial game, as our mini-game mechanics were based on a 2 o’clock break. This approach was based on two reasons: 1. So that the player does not go through the whole game at once 2. We wanted to make a meditative game that would not take a lot of time from the player, but he could relax a little in it and return to the game when he needed a break from everyday routines.

Of course, at the start we lost a lot of players due to the small number of activities in the game. Since the release of the game, we have had a content race. We made and released new updates every two weeks for another 6 months until we finished the main elements of the game that started to hold the player: 1. daily tasks 2. frog stories 3. new rooms and mini-games 4. herbarium book 5. achievement system

Game advertising and monetization issue

Our game release date is March 14, 2022. Not the best time to promote the game, as Russia has isolated itself from the rest of the world. Of course, we couldn’t buy ads on popular social networks and AdSense. And we didn’t have a big budget for advertising.

At the start of the game, VKontakte advertising helped us. We bought advertising in creative publications and were able to gather an initial audience from Russia. I promoted the game all over the world through Instagram, Tik Tok and YouTube. I did everything I could: published content (videos, posts), insulted people, because of which I got a couple of blocks and shadow bans. But still, my efforts paid off! Little by little, the world began to know about us, someone made content about us, and Google began to give good organic downloads.

Normal monetization was built into the game. Ads after mini-games to double your profit + in-game purchases for coins.

At first, we didn’t want to embed a lot of ads into the game, so as not to scare away players. We were looking for a logical rationale for the ad so that the player would be interested in watching it himself. We came up with an original way to serve ads in our game: to fertilize a plant, get a tip in a cafe, or recycle trash, the player had to watch an ad to help his greenhouse thrive.

The player retention system started to work better when we added a skip to waiting time in minigames through ads. Those players who did not want to watch ads came after a while. And those players who wanted immediate big progress watched the ads and were satisfied.

Working with the audience and how to maintain a high rating

Currently, the rating of our game in different countries varies from “4.8” to “4.7” stars.

29 thousand users rated our program, 12 thousand players wrote a full review.

We have responded to every review, every letter and message from social networks. At every stage of the game, we listened to players, helped them with in-game issues, and made updates that helped them feel comfortable in the game. Feedback is very important! Players are willing to forgive developers many mistakes if they know they will be heard.

At the launch of the game, we added a small feedback mini-prize, which helped us reach over 1,000 5-star ratings. Also, thanks to this prize, many people joined our social networks and stayed with us.

How to create a popular game on Google Play

Our team has come a long way from an unknown studio to a little known one.

If you are just starting to make games, I have some tips for you:

1. The idea of ​​the game is very important

Think about how to improve ideas that already exist on the market or come up with your own unique one. It is important to understand how your game will stand out in the story.

When we started making a game about flowers and plants, there were about 5-7 games with a similar theme on the market, but not one of them was published in the “simulator” genre. Also, our game was created not in casual style, but in creative drawing. Thanks to this, we were able to attract the attention of players and form our unique audience.

2. ASO and game description

Learn from the elders. Look at how big companies with a similar theme make the description of games like yours. Pay close attention to the words they use in the description and title of the games, as this will help you rank in Google. The more people using unique keywords download you in stories (we have words <сад>, <квіти>, <жаби>), the higher your game will be in the rating and players will find your game faster.

3. Social networks and content

You should not expect Google Play to immediately give your game organic downloads. Our game started to be installed by players from the “interesting” section after the first 10,000 downloads.

Try to declare yourself everywhere you can. If you do not want to look for a good publisher and plan to do everything yourself, think in advance how you will advertise your game. It is best to start doing this in advance. Share sketches, work processes and start building your audience as early as possible. Use popular hashtags and follow trends in social networks.

4. Communication with the audience

Don’t forget about the people who play your game. Thanks to their activity, your game will grow.

Players can also help you attract a new audience. Call friends or relatives. Whole families can play our game: brothers and sisters, grandchildren and grandmothers.

Sometimes you should listen to the negative reaction of the players and change something in the game, and sometimes you should stick to your original idea. Balance is important!

Answers to reviews on Google Play are very important. Players are constantly reading each other’s reviews and their opinion about your game is also based on your answers.

5. Consciously approach monetization

If your game is not “one-day” and you value communication with players, then be careful with advertising. Pop-up ads discourage players and are very cheap. After all, it is important that the player watches the advertisement to the end. Think about where and how you can organically include advertising so that it does not annoy users. Post-ad rewards are also very important, as they provide additional motivation for players.

In game purchases, in addition to coins, you can give players unique items and inventory, it will make them very happy. It is also worth thinking about a nice animation after the purchase and a discount for the purchase of the next product.

6. Think about how you will keep users in the game

There should be something special about your game that will make a person remember your game in the morning or at night. In our game, we made short daily tasks, after which the player receives a unique item in his greenhouse. We also invented a whole system with achievements that motivate the user to play mini-games. Also, many players think that their flowers can die if they are not watered for a long time (although this is not the case)

7. Come up with a unique character that will be remembered in the communities

For the game, we chose the characters of frogs. You won’t believe how many people love these beautiful amphibians! In 2023, the capybara gained great popularity. Believe me, a unique character can hit your game!

Love your game, don’t forget about the users and everything will definitely work out!