From doing a mobile game as well, I've learnt a few things that helped me to keep the performance smooth.

1. Limit TLE's (Top level events). I would say is the most important and keep this in mind at all times. The best way to do this is to Group Events in a smart way, and turn those groups off when they are not needed, and turn them on when needed. As your project grows you will have a lot events "listening" for the right conditions to be met. If you have too many of those running every tick you will notice a performance drop, so when those events are not needed, turn off the group. For example: if you have a couple of events that detects conditions between objects, close the group if that objects involved is not moving, or is not on screen, by distance, or any other smart way you can think of. The less number of events the engine has to go through every single tick the better performance you will have.

2. Structure the conditions in a smart way. If you have an event with several conditions try to limit the picking of objects. The more objects your condition picks the heavier this event will be. Be smart, and try to reduce the picking to as few objects as possible, using conditions. I managed to reduce my Z-Ordering for isometric game to only sort objects that are overlapping, only one time if they actually are overlapping. Instead of sorting the Z order each tick my z-order will only order once if any moving object is actually moving, and actually needs to be sorted. Took my Z ordering down from sorting all sprites in layout every tick, to only 2 overlapping sprites maybe once every 2-3 seconds if they are actually overlapping. Made a huge difference to performance. And again, closing the Zorder group altogether when not needed.

3. Use functions / Trigger once / or Once every XX seconds. Unless a function is called it's not gonna be using any performance and they are naturally triggered once when called, so have functions do most of your heavy work that doesn't happen so often, they are very flexible and can take a lot of params. Trigger once while true can be useful in some cases, but "once every XX seconds" even more so. For example: If your character is close to a pickup like a coin or whatever. You don't need to check every tick if that's the case. Reduce it to something like every 0.1 seconds, that way you will save a bit of processing power.

That's just some of the stuff I learnt while doing my game to have it run much smoother. Hope that Helps.

Cool are you planning on having multiple height levels?

I'm not really sure, because some days it's from morning until next morning, some days almost nothing at all, but if I estimated a weekly average maybe 20h per week. Sometimes a bit more if I don't have a lot to do at work. If so, then I usually try to squeeze in some graphics time for my game on my lunchbreak or in between job tasks.

This thread has some good info i guess.

No Im not sure about the ads model at all. Ive only just started thinking about monetization.

Its a very simple platform game and I'm aiming for something like 60 - 80 short levels. Each level might take between 30secs to say 1 - 2 minutes roughly. With levels getting longer and harder as the game progresses.

So ads should be an ok way to generate income I hope.

It sounds like Option 1 has more support for a first game. Seems like in the beginning its more important for a developer to just get as many players as possible.

I think the trick with Option 1, would be to set it up so that the ads aren't too intrusive so the player doesn't delete the game on first play or something, but by the time they get half way through the game, the ads eventually become annoying enough that, the player opts to pay to remove them. But by that point you hope that the player likes the game enough to pay, and keep playing...

If you just get a few cents per 1000 impressions, and the player completed the game in a few days seeing the ad X times during the game u can calculate how much each player is contributing with the ads. Let's say each player generates 0.10$ during their lifetime in ad revenue, then you can pretty calculate how many weekly players you would need to have for your game to be "profitable" or at least earn some money.

For that type of short game i would probably just sell it cheaply let's say 1-2$, nobody is gonna feel ripped off from a couple of hours of entertainment and no annoying ads. Most marketplaces have option to try the game first or refund within some time if you don't like it.

Or .... you just release 2 versions which I've seen some do. One free with ads, and one for a small fee without the Ads. Release one without ads first, if nobody buys it, release a free version with ads.

Anyway, I'm not sure what would best fit your game, but my guess is that you would earn a bit more by just charging for it.

First of all i wouldn't recommend sending X & Y every tick through photon. It will create a lot of messages being sent/received. You can send X & Y every 0.1-0.2 seconds and lerp the position on the recieving end. Much more bandwith multiplayer friendly. Best is to only send X.Y at start and stop of movement, or any direction change. Also, you can send both X and Y and alot of other things in one event at once using arrays.

Option 1 for sure, but depends the lifetime of the game.

Are you sure about the ads model for the game? How long does the game last? How many levels? From what i heard, short games that you finish very quickly generally does better if you just sell it at a fee. Games that last long or has MANY levels usually does better with ads/IAP. If you plan on constantly updating with new levels etc, ads can also be good.

Ads usually pays off best for games that players play often but little with longer lifetime, ie. Candycrush, Angrybirds. If someone finishes your game in a few days or a week then deletes it Ads/IAP usually is not a very good monetization.

Lordshiva1948 Thanks. Got a full weekend planned to start animating and finishing up the level.

Here's the latest progress.

—, gas bomb... interesting. I'm planning to have more characters released on a regular basis after initial release where i think the gas bomb would fit also, tricky one, but I'll defenatly keep that one in mind. Did you imagine it as a ninja gas bomb where they dissapear in the smoke? or more like some negative effect on other characters?

The last of the four characters planned for the release is done. The Hunter with Robin Hood style outfit. Time to give them some color and animations.

Cool. I'd like to see where this is going!

I'm working on my own as well. It's a lot of work for one person, and takes much longer but I'm learning a lot. It's hard to keep a team together unless everyone has the same motivation. I would love to have have a team but usually you have to pay for it. Nobody likes working for free, and not many will work for a share of the revenues unless you have a really great idea and an awesome demo. It's hard to get funding from bank or investors unless you have a portfolio of released stuff that has proven to make a profit, or have the right connections. My suggestion would be to start small, or a project size you can handle, on weekends and evenings while having a full-time/part-time job to pay your bills. Eventually if you're lucky and working hard you might earn enough from your "hobby" to start hiring some staff.