Hey folks,
Wanted to share a little win from my mobile game dev journey! I built a game called Sliding Puzzle Pro using Flutter — a clean, classic sliding puzzle — and it just crossed 700+ downloads in 4 months without spending a cent on ads. 🎉
Here’s how I managed to get there with organic marketing (and a lot of trial and error):
👉 1. ASO is underrated.
I treated my Play Store page like a landing page. Researched niche puzzle-related keywords, made sure the description felt human (not spammy), and polished the icon/screenshots to stand out. Surprisingly, a good description really boosts impressions.
👉 2. Community > Self-promo.
I hung out in puzzle-game-loving communities (Reddit, Facebook, Discord), joined conversations, and only dropped the link when it made sense. People actually asked for the link when they saw the progress updates — that felt way better than begging for downloads.
👉 3. Fellow devs are awesome.
I posted on Flutter and indie dev forums, sharing the tech side of things (Flutter performance tweaks, UI design ideas, etc.). Other devs got curious and tried the game too. Some even shared it further.
👉 4. Your first players are gold.
I responded to every review and encouraged early players to share with friends. Surprisingly, this worked better than I expected — puzzle fans love friendly competition.
I’m not saying this is "viral success" territory, but it’s a huge win for me as a first-time mobile game dev. If you’re struggling to get traction, focus on making the game polished and find your niche audience first — they’ll market it better than any ad.
Would love to hear your thoughts — what’s worked (or flopped) for you when marketing your game? 👇
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