R.I.P. IncaBlocks: 10/14/2009 – 10/24/2009

The depressing chart to the left represents our recently released game IncaBlocks.  The blue line is trial downloads, and the red line is purchases.  The game is currently #518 out of 557 on the bestselling list of Xbox Live Indie Games (XBLIG).  The best stat I can mention is we are 3 places behind one of the all time bestselling XBLIG titles “I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1” if you sort alphabetically.  I believe I have the credit of releasing the worst game ever on the Xbox 360, a modern day E.T.!

Our conversion rate is a respectable 5%, but on 10/22 we were no longer on the XBLIG New Releases list, and you can see from the days following what not being on the list means for downloads.  Rating wise we are holding a 2.5/5 with 59 votes, and have two not bad / not great reviews at gaygamer.net and xblig.co.uk.

This was our first game, so the only way I’d call it a complete failure is if we didn’t learn from the experience.  I think the biggest lesson here is understanding there is no traffic in the XBLIG’s section.  It’s been said you only find the section when messing around drunk, and surprisingly relying upon drunks is a poor business plan.  Microsoft never makes mention of the section anywhere else on the Xbox, and while Major Nelson will blog about each new Rock Band song, there will only be a weekly footnote on top sales list for XBLIG.

Still, with a vortex of suckage to rival the Large Hadron Collider black hole generation, this can hardly account for a fraction of our non-existent sales.  I have a few guess why trial downloads are so low.  The best would be this is not the type of game that players who do visit the XBLIG section like to play, and that those who would like it aren’t aware of or looking at the XBLIG section.  To be blunt, no one is interested.  A second idea is the name, box art, and screenshots do not create interest.  (The game play video isn’t listed on the official site, just the creator webpage).

We also contacted the sites known to review XBLIG games after release.  Since you cannot predict when your game will pass review and be released (this can be anywhere from 1 to 4 weeks), this seemed like a good choice.  It wasn’t.  Most of the review sites have a back log of games to review, so you need to get on that list early for the chance of reviews timed with release.  It also wouldn’t hurt to send out teaser press releases and videos to review sites – they may not publish them, but your game will be in their minds come release.

This experience hasn’t changed our desire to create more games for XBLIG.  The view from the bottom might be a factor in our future titles.  When your below every screensaver, massage app, and geometry wars clone, ideas enter your mind that otherwise wouldn’t:

In honor of hitting rock bottom, here are 15 codes to save you the 80 Ballmer Bucks ($1 USD) and get a free copy of IncaBlocks.  They are one use only codes, so the first person to use the code will deactivate the code for anyone else.  Given how bad this game is, I’d say there is no rush on trying a code!

(I don’t know when a specific code has been used, so I won’t be able to cross them off – if you use one, leave a comment to let others  know which one it was).

Posted By Mike On Sunday, October 25, 2009
Filed under funcworks feelthefunc xna | Comments (12)

Thanks! I used code #7. I'll definitely check it out & rate it accordingly. If it's good I'll let people know on Twitter. :)

Thanks a lot. I used code #13. Sorry to hear about the poor turnover rate. The whole indie games system needs to be rethought out I think. I've been thinking about writing a game or two for it, but I think I'd rather wait to see if the system will be overhauled.

Good luck with future games.

Used #14. Thank you for sharing!

I think if the game had A.I. it would be more successful. Multiplayer-only games don't sell very sell. "Include single player features in your multi player game"

Thanks for the codes.

You can add AI players by pressing X rather than A when you're adding players to the game. It's probably something we should have put in the description, now that you mention it.

"1-4 players" and "Play with or without computer players." It is in the description, and you cannot start a game without having at least 2 players (the second being human or computer).

OK, yeah... I went back and skimmed the description, and didn't notice it because I was looking in the part around "1-4 players." :)

You're totally being too hard on yourself. Learn from it, but you might as well focus on the positive. You did make money and you learned in the process.

I used F7GYX-4WKJQ-GPQHM-DF8TF-TYWYD. Thanx.

Got PMP94-KKYYG-YRRHQ-3J7YH-H3YQ6.

Don't think I've tried your game before, hopefully it's less horrible than this article makes it seem. Thanks.

So are you guys totally giving up on the game? The indie marketplace on the 360 at least gives you the ability to market the game yourself since you can link to the game on live.xbox.com (and the user can purchase it right there without having to be on the Xbox). You should at least try a little marketing before giving up on the game altogether. I've been thinking about working on an XNA game, but there are too many stories like this...the Apple App Store still seems like it's the best place to be. You may want to consider porting IncaBlocks to iPhone/iPod touch though...even without marketing, my company's latest game/toy is still making a decent amount. Not anywhere near enough to live on certainly, but enough to keep working on updates and additional games.

Hi, i wish i had the chance to play your game, i won one of the codes in Emuholic's blog unfortunatelly indie games are not available for mexico. (sad face) but watching the video of the game i have to agree, is to early to give up, focus in the positive and learn from it, i am sure the game could be improved and updated, if any i would recommend is adding better interface graphics, as the rock textures and fonts wasnt that good, i say keep working on it and dont give up!

Michael C. Neel, born 1976 in Houston, TX and now live in Knoxvile, TN. Software developer, currently .Net focused. Board member and President of ETNUG, and organizes CodeStock, East Tennessee's annual developers conference. .Net speaker, a Microsoft ASP.NET MVP and ASPInsider. Founder of FuncWorks, LLC and Feel The Func podcast.

Proud father of two amazing girls, Rachel and Hannah.

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