Humble beginnings of my game on the app store after one month.
After years of development, I launched my game, Counter Tactics, on the App Store on April 8th. Here's how it's going after one month.
Development Details
I built it with Objective-C (never did convert to Swift), SpriteKit, GameKit and Google Firebase. Most of the art is purchased assets from Humble Bundles, but near the tail end of development, I did start to use some AI generated art. I used AI for 7 of the 105 tokens (aka "cards"). I spent a little money on an artist, but I think they scammed me and just gave me AI art. I did not use their materials.
Game Details
It's an asynchronous, turn based strategy game where you have a Battle Stack (aka "deck") of at least 45 tokens and 2 champions. In your Battle Stack, you have Pawns and Actions. You play Pawns on Spawn Points you control on a variety of maps and, turn-by-turn, attempt to defeat your opponent's champion. Below, I shared a screenshot of what turned out to be a lengthy battle (50+ turns!). Both players ended up sending me screenshots of that game.
The game is FREE. There are in app purchases, but the only purchase so far is me testing to make sure it works. 😄
Stats
Here are some stats I tracked after one month of being on the App Store:
- First time downloads: 85
- Unique Users: 80
- Users who played an Online Battle: 23
- Online Battles Started: 175
- Turns Taken: 3,330
- Most Battles Started by a Single User: 60
- Users who played a Solo Adventure: 49
- Bags Opened: 805
- New Tokens Collected: 308
- Battle Stacks Created: 24
- Shop Items Purchased (crystals): 48
Here is a chart showing activity leading up to launch and how it has gone since:
NOTE: "OZ Play" was a local game expo where I showcased my game for a couple of hours along with other local game devs.
Feedback
I've received 3 reviews. Two were pretty positive and the other was seeking some help. So far, holding a 5 star rating.
Link to Game:
Here's the link to the game on the App Store for anyone interested: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/counter-tactics/id1110597339
Coming Soon
I'm about to submit 1.0.5 which fixes some of the issues observed since launch.
Marketing and What's Next
Right now, marketing is purely word of mouth and me telling the world it exists on social media. I'm working on building content now and a solo campaign. I'm hoping to gather some funds for a small marketing campaign to announce these new features in the early part of 2027.
Game Screenshot
