ShepHertz has started App42 Student Lab to provide umpteen learning and practical simulation to budding developers. The Android Game Dev Series is the first workshop that is being conducted in association with Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Kharagpur. The Series consists of three Webinars and a month-long Hackathon for college students to learn and bring their ideas to reality. In this second Webinar V0.2 we have covered: how to engage users to your game, integrating facebook and creating a social leaderboard, steps to publish on the Play Store and some simple and effective techniques of marketing.

1. Workshop conducted by
(Wednesday 12th March 2014)
App42 Student Lab – Android
Game Dev Series V 0.2

2. V 0.1 Walkthrough
Key Takeaways -
 Basic Steps of Developing any App/Game
 Configuring Java for your System
 Android SDK Setup
 Developing a sample Tic-Tac-Toe Game
 Creating a basic Leaderboard

3. V 0.2 Agenda
Engaging users to your Game
App42 Social Engagement Mechanics
Integrating Facebook to your Game and creating a Social
Leaderboard
Publishing Guidelines for Google Play Store
Simple and Effective techniques of Marketing
App42 Package for Students and Indies
Q & A Session
Attend V 0.3 (19th
March 2014) for
 Converting your
Single-player Game
to a Multiplayer
Game
 Monetization
Techniques

4. Engaging users
How?
Add ‘Challenge’ to your game
• Create levels with increasing difficulty
• Allow users to unlock levels based on performance
Rate performance
• Show scores
• Rank users based on performance
Satisfy the ‘Social’ Need
• Allow users to compete with their friends
• Allow users to flaunt their performance on Social Media
 Acquire more and more
users
 Keep acquired users stuck to
your Game
Making your Game successful -

5. App42 Social Engagement Mechanics
App42 provides you with multiple user engagement features to keep users stuck to your game
Customizable Leaderboards
- Create global leaderboard, buddy-based leaderboard, Facebook leaderboard
Push Notification
- Send out Push Notifications to users as a reminder to your game
- Create turn-based games using Push
Social Media Integration
- Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin integration with your game
- Acquire more users by letting them know that their friends are playing your game
- Allow users to invite and challenge their friends

6. Rewards
- Create a Reward Point System
- Allow users to accumulate points for good performance or for certain activities (Sharing
about your game on Facebook, etc.)
- Users to redeem points for unlocking levels and getting power boosts, gems, lives etc.
Achievements
- Create achievements like trophies, badges (top scorer of the week etc.) to be won by
high performers in the game
- Let users flaunt their achievements on Social Media
Buddy Management
- Allow users to have their own buddy circles
- Buddies be able to share messages amongst each other
Avatar Management
- Create custom Avatars for users
- Allow them to choose avatars that reflect their personality
Contd..

7.  Now you will learn how to integrate Facebook in your game
• Facebook Login and Authentication
 You will also learn how to create a Facebook-based Leaderboard for users to compete
with their friends and strive to beat each others’ scores
Integrating Facebook to your Game
and creating a Social Leaderboard
Follow the link for a complete Video Tutorial

8. Steps to Publish on the Play Store
Creating APK File
1. Right Click on the project in Eclipse and click on Export
2. In the ‘Export’ dialog box, double-click the folder tree titled ‘Android’, and select ‘Export
Android Application’
3. Enter name of project or browse and show the project path
4. Use existing Keystore or create a new Keystore
(Keystore is the location for you .apk file and a password(key) for the file)
5. Enter all details for creating the Key
Your APK (Android Package) File is ready!

9. Uploading APK File on the Play Store
1. Go to Google Play Developer Console
2. Create an account (here you will need to pay a one-time developer fee of $25)
3. Add a new application  specify default language and ‘App Title’  Upload .apk file
4. Click on “Upload your first .apk to Production”  Browse your .apk file and select open
File Uploaded!
Prepare your App Profile
Go to Store Listing  Write App Description  Add screenshots  Add App icon and other
graphics  upload video (optional)  Fill remaining details  click ‘Save’
Contd..

10. Alpha and Beta Testing (Optional)
 After you have uploaded your APK, you can set up groups of users for alpha testing
and beta testing the App
 You can make a group of users who can access your App's store listing and install the
app
 User feedback will come directly to you and will not be posted as public reviews
 The feedback can be used to adjust your UI, translations, and store listing to ensure
a great experience for users
Contd..

11. Final Steps
 Specify Pricing – Free or Paid
 Specify Country Distribution
 Specify Maturity Rating for your App (Low, Medium, High)
Click on Publish
You App will be live in a few hours
Contd..

12. Make sure the App does not violate Google Play’s Content Policy Guidelines
 Your App should not contain any unwanted or spam content, or content unrelated to your App
 You must not violate the IP property rights or take proper permission to use someone else’s
copyright
 Make sure that the Ads to be displayed in your App are as per the Content Policy
Test App Quality according to targeted devices
 Make sure that the App is running properly on the targeted Android versions and device screen
sizes
The APK File Size should not exceed 50MB
 For a larger App, you can use two APK Expansion Files each up to 2 GB in size
Points to be taken care of

13. 8 simple ways to increase visibility of your App and acquire more users
Social Media Hype
• Start sharing interesting facts, tweets, Pinterest posts etc. related to the App way before the
launch
• Create groups related to your App audience/target market
• Contact Admins of popular Facebook Pages related to your App to mention about it
Cross-Promoting to users of your other Apps
• Send Push Notifications to users of your other Apps to inform them about your newly
launched App in the market
Social Media Integration
• Integrate Social Media (Fb, Tw, Lin, etc.) in your App so that friends of your users get to
know that they are using this App and also think of trying it out
Simple and Effective techniques
of Marketing

14. Press
• It is still the best way to reach out to people if you have some money or if you can make
yourself news-worthy
Pitch App Review websites and bloggers
• If they write about your App, it will be great!
Collect potential customers
• Start collecting Email Id’s right from the beginning, way before the release
• Even manually look for potential customers on different groups and other places
Microwebsite/Blog
• Create a microwebsite or blog on your App beforehand
• Collect visitor data, email id’s etc. to inform them later on the launch
Contd..

15. App Store Optimization
• A very important aspect
• Enhance your visibility across the Play Store by focusing on the following factors:
 App Name
 Keywords
 App Icon
 Screenshots
 Review/Rating
 App profile page
• Spend money on advertising, co-promotional partnerships, etc.
Contd..

16. ShepHertz for Students and Indies
ShepHertz Indie Plan
ShepHertz has recently made it’s Starter Package FREE for Students and Indie Developers
Why?
We being the largest Backend-as-a-Service provider in India, understand it to be our duty to
support the burgeoning Indie culture in India
Key Benefits –
 Use App42 Backend APIs, App42 Social Features and AppWarp Multiplayer Engine FREE till your
game does well in the market (i.e. upto a cap of 1mn API Hits/App/month for App42 and
2mn/messages/game/month for AppWarp)
 Develop as many Apps/Games as you want and use as many APIs as you like
WE JUST WANT YOU TO BE SUCCESSFUL ON THE CLOUD!

17. (5th March – 2nd April)
Category of games:
• Casual single-player
• 2 – player turn-based
• Multiplayer (will be taught in V 0.3)
Rules:
 Use atleast two App42 Backend APIs or AppWarp Multiplayer Engine
 Submission of Entries (.apk) by 26th March 2014
(Send us your entries at team.shephertz@shephertz.com)
 Results – 2nd April ’14
Register now
National Hackathon for Students

18. Links for Reference :
http://www.shephertz.com
http://api.shephertz.com
http://appwarp.shephertz.com
http://app42paas.shephertz.com
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Contact: sales@shephertz.com
Skype: ShepHertz