Hi all,

This is my first post in GameDev (just joined the community earlier today). I have some basic programming experience in C++ and Java and would like to develop my skills further by game programming, and at the same time venture into game design to learn the skills of making a successful game that many will enjoy. Over the past few days I have developed a very simple mental maths game with Java which I named R.O.W (for Right Or Wrong, this name is temporary as this is a work in progress), the .jar file of which is attached in this post.

To play, the player looks at the equation at the center, and then clicks either the tick button (if the displayed equation is correct) or the cross button (if the displayed equation is wrong). If the player chooses the correct answer, (s)he gains a point, otherwise (s)he loses a life. The goal of the game is to score as many points as possible within a minute and avoid losing all three lives.

The basic mechanics of the game are set, and at this point I would like to ask for the GameDev Community's feedback. Essentially what I am looking for would be improvements I can make to the game in terms of gameplay, user interface, visuals, etc. in order to make the game marketable. For now the prototype is for PC but my end goal is to turn it into a mobile app for Android and iOS (aware that I will need to learn Swift for that) that users can download and play to keep them occupied while waiting for something (like 2048, Cookie Clicker, Flappy Bird, etc.).

Thank you all for your time,

Tungsten 98

ROW_alpha_02_game.zip

Hi, I tried out your program. Cool that you got a working piece!

However as a consumer of games and just from my life experience, I feel pretty confident in saying a game based on math is a bad idea. Can you think of any that were big hits? And I know most games have some mathematical aspects in them, but usually the game calculates the answers for you. Most people do not enjoy doing math, or if they do, they're at a much higher level than simple addition and subtraction.

The main demographic for mobile is children, teenagers and young adults. If you look at successful mobile games they're all very simple and very visual. If you want to stick to a snap-decision answer model, I might suggest something that has more to do with colors and shapes. If you really want something to do with numbers, counting questions might work alright (example: how many cats are there on screen).

And then aside from, there need to be more levels. Each successful round should award the player points that they can spend on something. Having a goal to work towards so they can buy "that thing" can keep some players in a game that might otherwise be a bit monotonous to them.

I was unable to successfully run your application. The buttons will not display, and appear to be invisible. I was able to make them work by just clicking everywhere and eventually finding the positions.

In terms of making a "consumer" game, don't worry about this if it isn't your goal to generate revenue. Make whatever you want and release it. To be honest, there might not be a big market for math games, but it all depends if you're pitching people in the education sector, or the everyday gamer.

I'm assuming you're new to game development, so keep making these types of games because they teach you a lot of the core concepts of what goes into a project. When you decide to go mobile it's not too default. I can usually copy and paste most of my JAVA android applications to SWIFT with ease. I just need to change a few things, and make sure I account for using a different library. SWIFT does things a bit different, so keep that in mind (variables can be defined or undefined for their type on initialization, c-style for loops have been removed, ect...) It's extremely easy to transition though!

Let me know if you can figure out why the buttons don't display. I can only see in game text.

I just want to second the idea of not worrying about "market interest" unless your goal is to make money.  What you should focus on are 2 questions really.

1. Is there a market (however small) that would like to find your "game" and play it?  If so it is worth making.

2. What can you do so that those people will find your game and give it a try. (this is basically a question of presentation and marketing).  A math game in the middle of the app store will probably not even get shown.  But the same math game when linked to from a "learning algebra" site would probably garner some interest.

Multiple categories, and they don't have to be mathematical.

(does the game make up the euqations btw ? question-lists for other categories would have to become quite long to be good)

Oh, and about market, there 's a good chance you ll have fewer competitors as well,

so we can give you our opinions, but to know for sure you 'll need to do some market-research.

On 9/3/2017 at 1:10 AM, Rutin said:

I was unable to successfully run your application. The buttons will not display, and appear to be invisible. I was able to make them work by just clicking everywhere and eventually finding the positions.

In terms of making a "consumer" game, don't worry about this if it isn't your goal to generate revenue. Make whatever you want and release it. To be honest, there might not be a big market for math games, but it all depends if you're pitching people in the education sector, or the everyday gamer.

I'm assuming you're new to game development, so keep making these types of games because they teach you a lot of the core concepts of what goes into a project. When you decide to go mobile it's not too default. I can usually copy and paste most of my JAVA android applications to SWIFT with ease. I just need to change a few things, and make sure I account for using a different library. SWIFT does things a bit different, so keep that in mind (variables can be defined or undefined for their type on initialization, c-style for loops have been removed, ect...) It's extremely easy to transition though!

Let me know if you can figure out why the buttons don't display. I can only see in game text.

Hi Rutin,

When you download the .zip folder, extract all files in the same directory. Within it is a folder called 'resources' that needs to be in the same directory as the .jar file for the buttons to load.

Thank you all so much for this valuable feedback, appreciate it.

Looks like further market research is my next step to take, to see if continuing to develop this project is still viable and if so, what I should include to make the app more appealing.

42 minutes ago, Tungsten 98 said:

When you download the .zip folder, extract all files in the same directory. Within it is a folder called 'resources' that needs to be in the same directory as the .jar file for the buttons to load.

I found out the reason. Windows associated the .jar with winRAR, and when I used open with JAVA Platform it wouldn't load the resource files, or create the highscore bin file. Once I set .jar to have JAVA Platform as the default it worked.

Best of luck with your venture.