Ask HN: I got fired from 100k job so I've made a game and it failed
7 martinlistiak 19 9/2/2025, 8:50:11 AM
Hey guys I am trying to understand why my game isn't performing as I expected.
It's the game I've always wanted to play - logical, puzzle game. I made 3 game modes and I really enjoy playing it.
Help me improve it or just understand my mistakes. If you end up playing it rate the following please: UI: 1-10 Game Mechanic: 1-10 Fun: 1-10 Sounds: 1-10 Ads?: 1-10
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/arrows-logical-game/id6751233749
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=webmobilegamedev.arrows
In my opinion, your game isn't performing well because the gameplay isn't very compelling. In best combo mode, I can see a grid of arrows, I'm informed that clicking one of these arrows will clear more than the others. It says that I should find "creative ways" to clear the grid. I'm not sure that such a thing is possible. At worst, this is a game of guess the 1/25 arrow to click. At best, it's a game of tracking backwards through the arrows. As somebody who enjoys puzzle games, I don't personally find this a fun mechanic.
My initial thought was that the art might be the problem. That perhaps if these were frogs that ate each other in order or if these were bubbles that popped in a satisfying way, this might be more enjoyable, but if you haven't got compelling gameplay, dressing it up isn't going to help. My recommendation is to focus on creating challenging and enjoyable gameplay first.
Perhaps play some other puzzle games and ask yourself what it is you're enjoying about them.
Given the issue described above, if we were to add a translation task to the player, this would feel more like a puzzle. For instance, if instead of a downward facing arrow, we had a blue tile. Blue tiles move down, orange tiles move left etc. This way, we can use the exact mechanic you've built here but start the player off with a 1x2 grid, and progressively grow to a larger grid with more colours/rules. This to me seems more fun than what it currently is, and it lends itself to a more compelling art style -- even Tetris pops with colours. Going off the art idea I had in my previous comment, perhaps blue frogs are always eaten by the frog below them, green frogs are always eaten by the frog to the left of them. It could be called Frog Eat Frog or something.
Wishing you the best of luck with your project.
So while the game might be fun to play, at first glance it just looks and feels cheap. It lacks an identity of its own, and that makes it really not stand out from the hordes of other generic puzzle games flooding the app stores at the moment.
Definitely add something to make it stand out there. Unique characters, a visual theme as a whole, etc.
Also maybe rethink the name too. Arrows is definitely a clear name for this game, but it doesn't really sell the game in any way, and feels about as generic as the art style does. Most successful games have strong branding that you can build a potential series off of, whereas this one does not.
Gameplay wise it seems like it could be fun, but it also feels like the mechanics will get old very quickly. It's a gameplay loop that doesn't look particularly compelling from the footage required, and which most bigger titles relegate to a mini game or dungeon puzzle since the mechanics don't have enough to them to carry a whole game.
I'm not being hostile, just inquisitive.
Or, even, make a trial version and allow people to pay to upgrade for the full version.
Or do all of the above -- have an advertising version and a version without ads that people can pay for.