However, it is possible to succeed - as he has proved. No publicity and no marketing budget as an unknown developer definitely means that the odds are stacked against you.” “ Geometry Dash crashed on launch and slowly clawed its way back from the dead. “The problem with mobile gaming in general is how difficult it can be to break through the noise,” Topala says. Geometry Dash has more than 270,000 replays recorded, a cache of personal play-throughs that Topala describes as “an awesome and free way to market the game.”Īll this combined to drive the organic growth that slowly snowballed and eventually turned Geometry Dash into a massive hit. “I often see things I didn’t even think was possible to do in the editor.”Īnother winning feature? Integration of Everyplay, which lets players record and trade gameplay videos. More than 500,000 such custom stages exist now. He created a level editor mode that lets users create and share their own levels of the hit game. While most indie developers go no further than soliciting feedback about features that gamers would like to see in future versions, with Geometry Dash Topala fully embraced the idea of letting his game be driven by its players.

Topala wisely took things to the next level.

For example, most indie devs are more than happy to strike up in-depth conversations with players - something almost unheard of in the world of AAA games, the classification given to those titles with the highest development budgets and levels of promotion (think Grand Theft Auto V or Mass Effect). One of the big advantages of the platform is the level of interaction it allows between the coders who make games and the people who play them. A behind-the-scenes look at how Geometry Dash evolved, courtesy of developer Robert Topala.įor starters, we’re in the midst of a golden age for independent game developers in the iOS App Store.

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