Hi fellow game developers or gamers

I don't like to ask, but I really need to know what is the problem with my game "8-bit Pocket Wrestlers" below.

It's a funny RPG that parodies pokemons and prowrestling. You catch and collect pocket-wrestlers, make them fight and evolve, solve funny puzzles, and advance through the story.

You can play on Android or directly in the browser on any recent OS. You can play in english, french or spanish.

You can play it like a classic RPG with a joypad / touchscreen joypad / keyboard, or you can play it in 'point and click' mode with a mouse or a touchscreen if you prefer playing this way.

You can play for free as much as you want. There is no ad. Instead, the paid version will let you enter some more levels such as the castle, the beach and so on, and get you unlimited access to the mini-games. Fair, isn't it ?

https://dom83xyz.itch.io/8bit-pocket-wrestlers

I spent years on it. I really tried to do the best job I could, to refine it and make it the most enjoyable / least frustrating possible. It has been online and on Google Play for over two years now. I introduced it on three forums. I did sponsor wrestling youtubers to try to get their viewers to check my game. I added support for gamepads, including in all menus and stuff. I tried changing the price to 1 euro instead of 2, but it did not change anything. And here is the result : only a handful of people played, not a single one bought the paid version ever (which means that over 75% of the game's levels and story have never been played by anyone ever...)  According to Google Play, the few people who had installed it all uninstalled it, and there is only 1 active installation left in the whole world, which is me... '-_- Man, my failure is so legendary that I could almost brag about it!

I wanted to port it to iOS, Steam and the Nintendo Switch, but I gave up, it would take money and a LOT of work, with next to zero chance to do better than on Android. I also wanted to port it to Linux consoles, Anbernic and such, but same story.

I almost let my website shut down along with my games in april before barely deciding to renew the hosting and try one more year. I added mini-games and collectible pictures to the game.

By the way, if a youtuber wants to make a review of my game I can refund them the huge 2 euros cost of the paid version, but I mean a real review, not just a few seconds of you hanging around in the first level.

So, what do you think about my game ? How do you think I should improve it ? Or should I just give up and stop wasting time on it ?

Thanks.

mmm.. tricky I didn't play the game I just watched the video and looked carefully at the screen caps.

I'm going to offer my honest feelings- they are just mine and I am a single person on the internet so take with a grain of salt if you like.

The game visually doesn't appeal to me.. game play is okay but  the "samoan splash" image or the menu with all the wrestlers in it...no. The wrestlers pixel profile pictures look amazing!-fine pixel artwork right there! but the purple maroon background doesn't suit well possibly- it needs something- writing... excitement... I don't like the dark background. It's too heavy on the mood. Wrestling is exciting right?

When battling do you get a sprite of the wrestler? or just the picture of them in a frame fighting? In pokemon you kinda got to see the pokemon battling even if it was just their sprite and some effects over the top. Don't judge me but I have only seen WWE and I'm not a huge westling fan- but wrestling usually has a lot of action. I feel 2 picture frames attacking each other means it's completely lacking headlocks or grabs or whatever they do we love to watch lol Not saying you have to animate all that-but you could jiggle a sprite around when it gets hit or show a "solarbeam" attack  pokemon. You could also use a streetfighter battling system rather than pokemon but keep the pokemon catching mechanic... that would actually be super cool and totally unique from pokemon. Catch a wrestler and have them streetfighter battle it out and level them up-one hit punch weaklings for exp. to gain those levels and fight at the end and beat the elite 5...Damn that is something different I would honestly love to play haha. Make something new-if I wanted to play pokemon I would just play pokemon without the wrestlers because I don't like wrestling- again one dumb girl on the Internets opinion.

I think if you added story and a heap of wrestling facts or hidden knowledge into your game plus more action that would be cool! I suggest looking at wrestling matches or games and try and copy the way they show you the players profiles/stats etc. I am sure they do so in a way that invites the viewer to feel excited or feel anticipation. From memory its lots of flashing animation and fire/sound effects lol- but it's more than this, just my memory.

By keeping it "wrestler fan niche" without making anything gameplay wise new, you are really narrowing your audience. So I think you have 2 paths, make a wrestler fan super super happy with fun pokemon like game-play, insider wrestler knowledge/facts and all the wrestler action feels-make it actually feel like watching wrestling! or make something new that will appeal to everyone that has wrestlers.

You made a functioning game- that's a huge success and not a failure at all!  I haven't done that yet!!!! You feel like you wanna keep going don't stop! I think you should make a game because you want to and you really enjoy it, not worry about if people buy it or not.   If you are passionate about this game I suggest keep polishing it up and looking critically at it and I think you could make it amazing! You will learn if so much too if you try and test new things in your game- or start with a fresh slate and brand new idea- up to you. Either way it’s NOT a failure. 

Hope this helped! I wanted to give my honest opinion and be as constructive as possible :) I love your game. I can tell you put a lot of effort into it!

 edit: did you add some female wrestlers or are they all dudes? That could also be limiting your audiences appeal. Random, but I remembered a wrestler I really loved who was on terrace house named Hana Kimura. She appealed to women as a strong female and men because gotta be honest she was a real hottie. 

Thanks for these advices.

I had to choose between a nice amount of animations but very few characters, or a lot of different characters but very little animation. That is why only their picture is displayed, but the pictures wriggle, a boot or a fist crosses the screen, or there are animations a bit like in Earthbound. I wish I could but I just can't create fight animations for 130+ different characters, so I had to find another way to animate the battles. Also, when playing Earthbound or Harry Potter RPGs I found boring and annoying to have to navigate menus to choose an attack every time, so I chose a quite random but more simple, direct and touchscreen friendly way to fight.

There is a story. You are a ten years old kid, it's summer and most your friends went, but it's your birthday and you got two pocket-wrestlers, so you go outside and start to fight and collect them, trade them for money, buy stuff etc. You come across a kid who has lost her kitty cat so you start searching for it. You learn that the kitty cat was seen near the the door at the West of the village, but that door is stuck and maybe someone could open it with a big kick. They tell you to go to the pub at the East, but you have to find a way to look older because kids are not allowed inside. And so on. You later have to find how to enter the castle, help the king, go to the island, find the champion, find a password to enter the cave, find how to defeat a giant spider, etc. In the menu, a "I am lost" button tells you what you should do next.

Yes there are a few female wrestlers too, and by the way you can choose between a male or female kid to play.

The game can be played directly in the browser, no need to install it, so check it.