This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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How can I develop a game for the App Store? You know the App Store, at least if you have an iPhone. And if you don't have an iPhone, it's kind of like the Google Play Store, or it's where you go and get apps. And some of the most popular apps, of course, are games, mobile games. So we're gonna hear from a self-taught programmer.
She's from the UK. She wants to turn her coding skills into a video game for the iOS App Store. Let's talk about it. Her name is Nadia. She's got this idea for a simple game, which I think is probably important because she is a solo developer.
But she's not sure where to start in terms of validating the idea, then marketing it in a competitive market. So that's what we're all about here. We like to help people go from idea to income in a pretty quick amount of time. That's the whole goal. Don't spend a lot of money.
Don't go into debt. Use a skill you already have and get to market quickly. So in this episode, let's break down the key steps to developing and launching a successful iOS game, as well as explore potential revenue streams to monetize this side hustle. Detailed question and my answer coming right up. [Music]
Hey there, I'm Nadia, a self-taught programmer from Manchester, UK.
I've been learning iOS app development in my spare time and have an idea for a simple video game. I think it has the potential to be a hit on the app store, but I'm not sure where to start. What are the key steps to developing and launching a successful iOS game as a side hustle? How can I validate my idea, create engaging gameplay, and market my game to stand out in a crowded marketplace? I'm excited to turn my coding skills into a profitable side hustle, but need help to know the best path forward.
- Hey Nadia, thank you for the question. I love the vision and I think making it simple is key, just because you are a developer of one. These days there are lots of big studios making mobile games. It's a billion dollar market overall. There's not one studio making a billion dollars, but lots and lots of big studios making millions and millions of dollars.
So for a solar developer to break in, you want to make sure that it doesn't require a ton of maintenance or also take years for you to build, during which time things are always changing. It's a rapidly evolving and changing world. So ultimately that's what's going to come down to, what is that idea? And I don't know what that is, but if you have thought about that, that's great. You can validate the idea by researching the app store to see if there's anything similar out there.
Look for some ways to improve upon what you're already doing. But really I think for a simple mobile game, it needs to be easily understood, let's say. Someone needs to be able to download it and pretty much understand within the first minute of how to play the game. But then it also needs to have some depth. So it needs to be like really easy to understand, but yet I want to keep playing it for a long time.
I mean, if you think about some of the most successful mobile games, they usually kind of meet that criteria. So you want to think about onboarding, how do you teach people how to play the game? And then in terms of development, you want to create a minimum viable product, the simplest version of this simple idea. Do some testing, get some feedback from beta testers, refine and so on. And then once you launch it, Apple actually provides a lot of documentation and tips and there's a whole industry on how to launch new apps or new games.
There are app review websites, there are gaming blogs, there are subreddits on Reddit. There's all kinds of things you can do once you have that working concept of an engaging game. So I don't want to take that for granted because that's honestly the biggest thing. Developing a successful iOS game takes time, effort and persistence. Don't be discouraged if the first idea doesn't work, keep working because there are stories of people like solo developers who have made a game and it's worked out really, really well.
They've done fabulously well, in fact. So Nadia, I hope you will be one of those stories. If that happens, please let us know so we can all go and download your game. And listeners, if you have a question, something we can help you with, sign us on school.com/questions. We are almost at 2,700 episodes.
Thanks for being out there all this time. Or even if you've just discovered the show, thanks for joining. We continue to have a new episode every day. I'm excited for all that's to come. That's all for now.
My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
from the Onward Project.
