#indielog

I finally got around to returning to Hex FRVR updating the game to implement some of the new platform features I have been working on for the FRVR Apprentice program.

From a technical and pipeline perspective the most complex feature is the new fully integrated localisation flow which means that Hex FRVR is now live in 26 languages such as Korean, Hindi, Spanish, Norwegian and many more. Use this link to be send the version for your browser language.

As an experiment I also introduced a new token system, where players are awarded tokens when getting 2+ line combos. These tokens can in turn be used to unlock themes that visually changes the look of the game drastically.

Alternatively the themes can be unlocked on mobile with in app purchases ranging from $0.99 to $24.99 as yet another experiment.

It’s going to be interesting to see if these more complex features are worth the extra effort they require to make.

About a month ago, I announced the FRVR Apprintice program and the response has been amazing. More than 50 developers have contacted me, even more impressive is that they are pretty much all amazing developers easily able to fill the role.

As such, I feel I need to give a followup on the process.

As some of you might know, the idea of the Apprentice program is not new, and I have actually been working with the first Apprentice since mid Marts. More on that in a separate blog post very shortly. 

I was 100% sure I was ready to rumble when I announced the program publicly, however as part of getting the first apprentice developed game live, quite a few technical issues has appeared, and it’s clear I need a bit more time to clean up the platform before it’s reasonable having 3rd party developers building on the platform. 

Likewise, I made assumptions about cashflow per game that might turn out to be a bit to optimistic, limiting how fast I can safely onboard the next developers and be sure to be able to cover all associated costs.

Lastly, I need some better processes in place to manage developers as I seem to be the bottleneck in how fast the current Apprentice is able to work.

It’s now 20 days since I started distributing Hex FRVR. My hope was that I would be able to push the game into a few app store top lists, by strategically releasing the game to distribution channels in the right order. 

So far, it’s been a huge success!

Since October 4th, ~1.7M users have played ~32M games in ~5M game sessions.

Particularly in Asia the game has taken off. On iOS the game has been in the Chinese top 5 for the board and puzzle past week and the game is currently the number #1 overall game in China on the Google Play store.

However so far, I have not managed to break into the top lists of any major European or American country. 

There is also about 200 hacked versions of the game in about the same amount of 3rd party Chinese app stores which I have no data for. Actually, if you know a good major Chinese publisher, have them reach out to me at [email protected]

The game now seems fairly steady with about 200k DAU playing 2.8 million new games daily.

Sadly the mobile versions are not as great as they could be. So since the game really took off around two weeks ago, I have been very hard at work building improved versions for both iOS and Android.