Two independent developers created a game that’s achieving an average playing time of 32 minutes (the average Facebook session is only 15) by getting to the heart of what users really want.
Andriy Vinchkovskiy and Alexey Testov –who work out of their homes in the Ukraine and Russia respectively –spent several months pouring their love and passion into coming up with their new game. They sacrificed hours of sleep perfecting the creative concept, graphics and building the engine. Most importantly they transported themselves into the minds and hearts of players.
This result was Back to Candyland. But, their journey didn’t end there.
They teamed up with publisher Spil Games who marketed the game to millions of players across the globe. It’s a move that has paid off nicely. In addition to 32 minute average session times, Back to Candyland has achieved more than 3 million game plays within two months.
According to Andriy, “Finding a loyal audience, let alone getting a return on investment, is a huge challenge for indie game developers. We’ve all read the depressing stats about 300% rise in user acquisition costs.”
“Spil Games made suggestions on game titles and graphic design that would resonate better with users. They even gave us the idea to split the game into two parts which makes for a better user experience and doubled our revenue opportunity!”
Let us know what you think of the game. Any thoughts on how you’d improve it?