So it's been just over 3 weeks after I did this challenge, and I have to say I had quite a good time doing it, so now it's time to post my lessons learned.
Lesson 1: Always listen to your players
This should be obvious but it is important, as if you're not making the game for the people playing the game, you're not going to have any success with the game.
Lesson 2: Get your game playable as quickly as possible
Getting your game playable quickly will enable you not only to get feedback faster but give you more insight on possible future problems, and gives you more opportunity to identify how to balance the game.
Lesson 3: Don't try to estimate time based on similar things you know
A lot of the first day and part of the second day was lost due to me flailing around with flex, so my lesson here is if you have a deadline, stick to what you know.
Lesson 4: Don't randomly kill the player
I found the turning point of having my testers going the game is okay, to the game is good, happened when I made it so the random monsters were unable to randomly come along and kill the player(there is still the odd chance they get stuck in the tunnel to the safe room, but I kept that in to punish people who hide out the safe room too long). The safe room made a huge difference in people having fun with the game as it gave them a way out of otherwise impossible situations.
Lesson 5: Add something to give your players something to compete over
It's also a good idea to integrate this from the start. The move counter was kind of shoehorned in at the last minute, but it provided means to a competition which upped the number of people who played, and gives the competitive gamer something to strive for
Lesson 6: No matter how simple you make something, some people still don't get it
There was something about this game that people couldn't seem to figure out right away, and I couldn't figure out a way to give instructions without being intrusive. Some people (like my fiance) just don't seem to get it no matter how much I explain it to them.
Lesson 7: Simple games are harder to create strategies for
I couldn't come up with any different strategies other than hit and run with so few variables to work with, so hit & run strategies tend to be the only ones I hear of. Plus I found it hard to come up with a way to easily represent other possibilities like ranged attacks, or faster movement in the game(which was another suggestion I had for the game).
Lesson 8: Python rocks, but Flash gets your game to more people
Even though I feel the python version is more polished, and seems to run faster, and was about 200 lines shorter, the flash version has almost 3 times as many views, here's a pie chart for reference as pie charts are fun(eat your heart out mac users):
Lesson 9: In game ads are more effective than web site ads
I don't know if I'm just executing the web ads wrong, but the in game ads are getting a much higher eCPM, which is resulting in much higher earnings. If you're looking into making money off your game without having to sell it, you should really look into in game advertising.
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