https://uyllii.com/blog/ Making and publishing free Android games as a one-person studio. en https://uyllii.com/blog/six-months-of-indie-android-games-numbers/https://uyllii.com/blog/six-months-of-indie-android-games-numbers/Mon, 12 Oct 2026 23:00:00 GMTIndie businessAn honest six-month retrospective on 17 Android games: daily players, revenue, what earns, real search rankings, and the lessons I'd give myself. https://uyllii.com/blog/cross-promotion-more-games-sheet/https://uyllii.com/blog/cross-promotion-more-games-sheet/Sun, 11 Oct 2026 23:00:00 GMTIndie businessHow a shared More games sheet links each Android game to its siblings, grouped by audience, with a live list from uyllii.com, referrer tags, and the bugs. https://uyllii.com/blog/first-in-app-purchases-remove-ads/https://uyllii.com/blog/first-in-app-purchases-remove-ads/Fri, 09 Oct 2026 23:00:00 GMTAds and monetizationThe first two in-app purchases across my Android games: a Genesis Remove Ads in Denmark and a Word Slide sale in Italy within a day of translation. What they changed. https://uyllii.com/blog/idle-fishing-empire-generational-tycoon/https://uyllii.com/blog/idle-fishing-empire-generational-tycoon/Wed, 07 Oct 2026 23:00:00 GMTGame designDesigning Idle Fishing Empire: heirs across generations, sustainable vs destructive fishing, logistic fish stocks, five endings, human-cadence sims, and no time gates. https://uyllii.com/blog/idle-game-players-hooked-or-bounced/https://uyllii.com/blog/idle-game-players-hooked-or-bounced/Mon, 05 Oct 2026 23:00:00 GMTIndie businessAnalysing real Genesis players by hooked vs bounced instead of averages. What the first sessions show, where hooked players stop, and the signpost that fixed it. https://uyllii.com/blog/google-play-games-sign-in-popup-at-launch/https://uyllii.com/blog/google-play-games-sign-in-popup-at-launch/Sat, 03 Oct 2026 23:00:00 GMTEngineeringWhy the Play Games sheet still appears when your game opens even if your code waits, and the AndroidManifest fix that removes PlayGamesInitProvider (with a check). https://uyllii.com/blog/rewarded-ads-idle-game-design/https://uyllii.com/blog/rewarded-ads-idle-game-design/Thu, 01 Oct 2026 23:00:00 GMTAds and monetizationDesigning ads for an idle game: a rewarded boost that actually rewards, interstitials that respect the prestige loop, and a Remove Ads offer that sells speed. https://uyllii.com/blog/revisiting-genesis-shipping-an-idle-game/https://uyllii.com/blog/revisiting-genesis-shipping-an-idle-game/Tue, 29 Sep 2026 23:00:00 GMTGame designHow I un-parked my idle game: fixed scope with an ending, a simulator that plays like a human, value pricing, and a privacy-policy rejection on release day. https://uyllii.com/blog/battery-drain-idle-screen-zero-frames/https://uyllii.com/blog/battery-drain-idle-screen-zero-frames/Sat, 26 Sep 2026 23:00:00 GMTEngineeringMoonlit Garden drained 7% battery in 38 minutes. Endless CSS animations on blurred layers and an AudioContext that never slept. How I measured and fixed every game. https://uyllii.com/blog/wordhoard-word-roguelike-design/https://uyllii.com/blog/wordhoard-word-roguelike-design/Wed, 23 Sep 2026 23:00:00 GMTGame designWordhoard, a word roguelike in an illuminated manuscript: rarity from word frequency, a broken charm combo the sim missed, and sounds that weren't gunshots. https://uyllii.com/blog/minesweeper-roguelike-rules-solver/https://uyllii.com/blog/minesweeper-roguelike-rules-solver/Sun, 20 Sep 2026 23:00:00 GMTGame designDesigning Minesweeper Rogue: tunnels, stacking rules like liar and knight numbers, a solver that keeps every level no-guess, fuses that count digs, and phone-only bugs. https://uyllii.com/blog/closing-an-ad-tapped-the-game/https://uyllii.com/blog/closing-an-ad-tapped-the-game/Fri, 18 Sep 2026 23:00:00 GMTEngineeringWhen the touch that closes a rewarded or interstitial ad lands on your game's buttons. How a capture-phase tap guard fixed it in every game the same day. https://uyllii.com/blog/rogue-video-poker-content-rating-simulated-gambling/https://uyllii.com/blog/rogue-video-poker-content-rating-simulated-gambling/Wed, 16 Sep 2026 23:00:00 GMTPublishing on Google PlayDesigning a video poker roguelite with machine chips and bosses, then fixing a wrong IARC content rating, simulated gambling rules, and seven countries that ban it. https://uyllii.com/blog/eldritch-survivors-postmortem-webgl-crash/https://uyllii.com/blog/eldritch-survivors-postmortem-webgl-crash/Mon, 14 Sep 2026 23:00:00 GMTPostmortemsWhy my cosmic-horror Vampire Survivors-like is shelved: the design, a 3D asset pipeline, a WebGL context loss on an older phone, and what I'd change. https://uyllii.com/blog/3d-battles-threejs-kaykit-mobile/https://uyllii.com/blog/3d-battles-threejs-kaykit-mobile/Sat, 12 Sep 2026 23:00:00 GMTEngineeringAnimated 3D fights with three.js in a Capacitor game: CC0 KayKit characters on a shared skeleton, meshopt from 23 MB to 2.4 MB, and the bugs on the way. https://uyllii.com/blog/backpack-battle-balance-is-a-web/https://uyllii.com/blog/backpack-battle-balance-is-a-web/Thu, 10 Sep 2026 23:00:00 GMTGame designBalancing Backpack Battle, an inventory autobattler: a class-vs-class sim matrix, survivorship bias in balance tests, a counter triangle, first-fight fairness. https://uyllii.com/blog/emberfall-mobile-performance-pixel-art/https://uyllii.com/blog/emberfall-mobile-performance-pixel-art/Tue, 08 Sep 2026 23:00:00 GMTEngineeringTechnical lessons from Emberfall: a canvas water layer that killed frame rate on phones, blending tile edges, readable pixel fonts, a battle sim, and Bluetooth audio. https://uyllii.com/blog/emberfall-retro-jrpg-offline-rpg/https://uyllii.com/blog/emberfall-retro-jrpg-offline-rpg/Sun, 06 Sep 2026 23:00:00 GMTGame designEmberfall is a retro turn-based JRPG with a real ending. Why a Kemco-style RPG, the story, Auto battle for older players, and pricing chapters at $0.99 or two videos. https://uyllii.com/blog/animating-2d-heroes-with-a-code-rig/https://uyllii.com/blog/animating-2d-heroes-with-a-code-rig/Fri, 04 Sep 2026 23:00:00 GMTEngineeringWhy generated sprite-sheet walk cycles failed for Tavern Heroes, and how a cut-out rig posed in code replaced them. Plus the clothing, joint and cache bugs on the way. https://uyllii.com/blog/tavern-heroes-idle-rpg-menus-not-places/https://uyllii.com/blog/tavern-heroes-idle-rpg-menus-not-places/Wed, 02 Sep 2026 23:00:00 GMTGame designThe design of Tavern Heroes, a Soda Dungeon-style idle RPG with no gacha: missions, retirement for Renown, a sim before art, and why the game became menu-only. https://uyllii.com/blog/sovereign-postmortem-polished-puzzle-game-earned-44-cents/https://uyllii.com/blog/sovereign-postmortem-polished-puzzle-game-earned-44-cents/Mon, 31 Aug 2026 23:00:00 GMTPostmortemsI launched my most polished game with A$200 of Google Ads as a test. It earned A$0.44. The numbers, the four mistakes, and why I'm done paying for installs. https://uyllii.com/blog/sovereign-no-guess-queens-logic-puzzle-launch/https://uyllii.com/blog/sovereign-no-guess-queens-logic-puzzle-launch/Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:00:00 GMTGame designHow Sovereign generates Queens logic puzzles that never need a guess, its six modes and async replay races, and why its launch is a deliberate paid-ads experiment. https://uyllii.com/blog/parking-genesis-idle-game-maths/https://uyllii.com/blog/parking-genesis-idle-game-maths/Mon, 27 Jul 2026 23:00:00 GMTPostmortemsWhy I parked Genesis after weeks of tuning: a prestige loop that collapsed to 3-second resets, a tuner chasing moving targets, and no ending to aim for. https://uyllii.com/blog/balancing-an-idle-game-with-a-simulator/https://uyllii.com/blog/balancing-an-idle-game-with-a-simulator/Mon, 20 Jul 2026 23:00:00 GMTGame designHow Genesis is balanced by a headless simulator and an auto-tuner, the bugs that made the bot a player who couldn't exist, and why the sim must play like a human. https://uyllii.com/blog/offline-progress-idle-game-closed-form/https://uyllii.com/blog/offline-progress-idle-game-closed-form/Mon, 13 Jul 2026 23:00:00 GMTEngineeringHow Genesis computes offline earnings exactly with a closed-form solution to its producer chain, the soft cap that keeps it fair, and Android WebView canvas traps. https://uyllii.com/blog/genesis-idle-evolution-game-design/https://uyllii.com/blog/genesis-idle-evolution-game-design/Mon, 06 Jul 2026 23:00:00 GMTGame designThe design of Genesis, an incremental idle game: an 8-tier producer cascade, a DNA strand prestige layer, crucibles built to be failed first, and three chapters. https://uyllii.com/blog/localizing-mobile-game-12-languages/https://uyllii.com/blog/localizing-mobile-game-12-languages/Mon, 29 Jun 2026 23:00:00 GMTPublishing on Google PlayHow every game here ships in 12 languages, with keyword titles per locale, translated screenshots and feature graphics, and the translation mistakes that slipped through. https://uyllii.com/blog/no-guess-minesweeper-generator/https://uyllii.com/blog/no-guess-minesweeper-generator/Mon, 22 Jun 2026 23:00:00 GMTEngineeringHow the Minesweeper app builds no-guess boards with a logic solver, why the first dig is always safe, and why a second-chance rewarded ad suits the genre. https://uyllii.com/blog/word-slide-word-push-new-word-puzzle-mechanics/https://uyllii.com/blog/word-slide-word-push-new-word-puzzle-mechanics/Mon, 15 Jun 2026 23:00:00 GMTGame designTwo word puzzles built on the Loopover row-and-column slide. Generating 2,000 levels with exact par, why a solver's par says nothing about humans, and naming. https://uyllii.com/blog/automating-google-play-launch/https://uyllii.com/blog/automating-google-play-launch/Mon, 08 Jun 2026 23:00:00 GMTPublishing on Google PlayHow I turned publishing an Android game into a resumable pipeline of checked steps across Play Console, AdMob, RevenueCat and Firebase, including browser automation. https://uyllii.com/blog/bible-word-search-verse-levels-licensing/https://uyllii.com/blog/bible-word-search-verse-levels-licensing/Mon, 01 Jun 2026 23:00:00 GMTGame designBuilding Bible Word Search from the Word Search engine. Why not the NIV, verse-based levels, a Whole Bible mode, content ratings, and which ad categories to block. https://uyllii.com/blog/admob-consent-bug-ads-never-loaded/https://uyllii.com/blog/admob-consent-bug-ads-never-loaded/Mon, 25 May 2026 23:00:00 GMTAds and monetizationMy first word games shipped with a UMP consent setup error that stopped every ad loading worldwide. How I found it, fixed it, and the check that stops it now. https://uyllii.com/blog/first-google-play-submission-app-content-declarations/https://uyllii.com/blog/first-google-play-submission-app-content-declarations/Mon, 18 May 2026 23:00:00 GMTPublishing on Google PlayWhat Google Play asks before your first game goes live: data safety, ads, IARC rating, target audience and advertising ID, and the answers I gave. https://uyllii.com/blog/freecell-deal-numbers-solver-store-rejection/https://uyllii.com/blog/freecell-deal-numbers-solver-store-rejection/Mon, 11 May 2026 23:00:00 GMTEngineeringHow FreeCell deals are numbered (the LCG behind game #617 and #11982), a best-first hint solver, saving undo with the game, and a Google Play metadata rejection. https://uyllii.com/blog/spider-solitaire-android-card-game-design/https://uyllii.com/blog/spider-solitaire-android-card-game-design/Mon, 04 May 2026 23:00:00 GMTGame designDesigning a Spider Solitaire app on a shared engine. Why undo is free, how 800 bot games test the rules, and what landscape mode really changes on phones. https://uyllii.com/blog/word-search-generator-typescript-capacitor/https://uyllii.com/blog/word-search-generator-typescript-capacitor/Mon, 27 Apr 2026 23:00:00 GMTEngineeringHow the Word Search grid generator works: seeded puzzles, overlap scoring, frequency-weighted filler letters, and repairing accidental duplicate words. https://uyllii.com/blog/choosing-a-mobile-game-people-search-for/https://uyllii.com/blog/choosing-a-mobile-game-people-search-for/Mon, 20 Apr 2026 23:00:00 GMTIndie businessHow I pick Android game genres by search demand, why Word Search came first, and how one app becomes 15 store listings with local keywords like Sopa de letras. https://uyllii.com/blog/learning-to-make-android-games-easy-first/https://uyllii.com/blog/learning-to-make-android-games-easy-first/Mon, 13 Apr 2026 23:00:00 GMTIndie businessWhy my first games are word search, solitaire and minesweeper: learning the whole pipeline from code to Google Play, ads and players on games with known rules.