Yobonja – Angelo Yazar
Listen to the framework that today’s guest uses when developing mobile apps that has led to over 11 million downloads. And also see why you’re missing out on a huge potential of downloads if you’re only focusing on iOS.
Today’s guest is Angelo Yazar who is the co-founder of Yobonja! a indie mobile development firm based in the San Francisco Bay Area dedicated to making fun and interesting experiences.
About Blast Monkeys
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“Blast Monkeys is a game you should play.”
-Jeff Marchiafava , Game Informer
“This is one of the most entertaining puzzle games I’ve played in quite a while”
-Eric Pankoke, Technobrains (Highly Recommended)
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Moki is a hungry monkey, and only one thing can fill his rumbling belly. BANANAS! Help Moki fly through fun and creative obstacles in search of a giant bunch of bananas. In order to make him really full, and to get the highest score possible, collect the three elusive individual bananas on each level.
FUN AS A BARREL OF MONKEYS
Moki’s path is not always going to be clear. Getting bananas is hard work. Sometimes you’re going to have to use your wicked fast fingers to help Moki move through spinning platforms and more canons than you can shake a banana at. Make sure to avoid the pesky spikes and electricity as you make your way to banana bliss.
*****Game features*****
– 12 worlds full of puzzles and fun. (360 levels!)
– Hours of gameplay, with more to come soon!
– Interesting puzzles that are easy to complete and challenging to perfect.
– Retina graphics
:: Have a Blast! ::
Download the FREE Game
How to Approach App Development
Angelo talked about his approach to app development and how he doesn’t get married to an idea. He recommends other developers to “experiment and iterate” as much as possible.
Blast Monkeys was developed because he was experimenting with different cross-platform app engines. He found out about Corona SDK which made it easy to develop a physics based game.
He also released the game on Android a week after releasing it on iOS and noticed that the game was really taking off on Android. If he hadn’t experimented with Android, the game may not have been as successful as it is today.
Promotional Methods That Worked
Being featured as a Free App of the Day app lead to over 100,000 downloads. They even tried Facebook Ads.
The key is to test different platforms to see what is working.
Highlight’s from the episode:
- Corona SDK
- Favorite app – Twitter
- Angelo Yazar on Twitter
- Blast Monkeys Forever (new game mentioned in the episode)
Nice interview. I wish you would have gone into more about how he was making money on Monkey Blast as he stated that was the most difficult thing, yet later acknowledged it was the game that was supporting his development company. Is it the ads? The IAP?
Thanks for the great feedback. From my experience with the game, they don’t have too many ads so most of the revenue comes from IAP I believe.