Home-Grown Bliss with a Growtopia Simulator

It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention. When the going gets a tad bit too difficult, creativity kicks in to help people create easier ways of doing things. Such was the case for Alfino Juliendo, the brains behind the Growtopia Simulator app. Thanks to him, fans of the game won’t have to go through needless struggles any longer. Whether you’re relatively new to the game and are struggling with surgery, you’re stuck trying to figure out what to farm, or if you simply want to create music, you’re sure to find this simulator handy.

Don’t let your Growtopia experience be dragged down by difficulty. You can download the app here and enjoy the game the way Alfino does.

(1) Tell us about yourself (name/nickname, hometown, age, occupation, favorite games that you play and what platform(s) you play)?

My name is Alfino Juliendo; I’m a 21-year-old currently working in a software development company as a mobile developer from Indonesia. I enjoy playing 2D sandbox mobile games such as Growtopia and first-person shooters like PUBG, Left4Dead, and FreeFire.

(2) Do you work independently or in a team? If in a team, how big is it?

I enjoy building things by myself because I have more freedom to execute things. I designed stuff, do the programming, learn how to market the app through digital marketing using Google Adwords and ASO (App Store Optimization).

I prefer working within teams of under 4 people which consist of a developer, designer, marketing person, and a leader to motivate and give direction to the team.

 (3) What inspired you to create an app specifically for this game? When did it cross your mind to create your app? 

I have been playing almost for 4 years and was inspired by my own difficulty while playing the game. I also do research before I made the app and interviewed some players. I asked which areas of the game they found difficult. I came up with some ideas and started making the prototype to solve the problems.

(4) What programming language or tool did you use to create this app? Do you have any favorite PLs or tools in particular?

I used Android Studio and Java as the programming language.  The app also contains some HTML, Javascript and CSS code for some features. Java is my favorite programming language but I enjoyed programming in that language.

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(5) When it comes to designing the user experience/UX of the app, what motivated you or what influences did you have?

It’s nice to have a cool animation but I prefer to keep the navigation as simple as possible. Most of the time, I would draw some mock-ups for a simple prototype then pick the best one for further development.

(6) From the developer’s and gamer’s perspective, how do you think the app affects the overall experience of the game?

My app contains some simulators such as surgery simulator which can be used for players to learn surgery without having to lose many tools. It can be especially helpful for beginners. Aside from that, there is also music simulator that enables players to create music along with unlimited music notes.

(7) Is there any margin of error when it comes to the app’s performance and provided information?

The in-game prices change all the time depending on the market. As such, there is no way to get 100% accurate information on how much profit something will give you. But my app is there to give you more insight and help you decide on what to farm.

(8) What were your biggest challenges for this project? How did you overcome them?

The violation of the impersonation policy is a very common occurrence in-app publishing. In this companion app, some graphic assets I used belonged to Ubisoft which is the publisher of Growtopia. My app was rejected because I didn’t provide enough proof to show authorization to use the content in my app. After I contacted the Growtopia Support Team, they helped me out and gave me guidance so that my policy problem could be solved. For technical stuff, I don’t meet many issues or problems while developing the app.

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(9) Are you expecting the game’s expansions to change your app’s dynamics and performance? Is it something that you’ve already prepared to tackle?

The game has small-to-large updates every month like added new items, bug-fixing, patching, and other stuff. When new items are added especially related to some features in this app, we need to manually add the items including logic implementation because there is currently no public API for the game.

(10) Are there any exciting new developments for your app that you would care to share?

As long as the game is giving new updates, I would be glad to make something that helps other players to succeed in the game. Currently, I’m working to improve the app UI/UX and develop small reminder features to help farmers while they are away from the game.

(11) Could you share a few quick tips to new players of the game?

This game is recommended for people with builder instinct and not just playing to get expensive or fancy stuff. Because the motto of the game is all about punch, build, and GROW!

(12) Any advice you’d like to share to aspiring game app or web developers?

If you have any idea to solve some problems related to a game, you can do a quick sketch on paper for a prototype and make simple mock-ups from scratch. Also, it’s very important to ask other players about their problems and how to solve them because great apps can come from the simplest of ideas. Don’t give up and keep improving to achieve your goals!

A Growtopia App From a Dev Who Plays the Game

The Best App Creators are Those Who Actually Play the Game. Alfino certainly embodies Growtopia’s motto of Punch, Build, and Grow! It’s for this reason that the Growtopia Simulator stands out. It’s for the players, of the players, and by the players.

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