I got fired from 100k job so I've made a game and it failed

What marketing have you done?

Well the "contains ads" part will drive some people away.

Hey, I hope this comment doesn't bring you down. You asked for feedback with the aim of doing better -- I'm not going to pull my punches.

In my opinion, your game isn't performing well because the gameplay isn't very compelling. In best combo mode, I can see a grid of arrows, I'm informed that clicking one of these arrows will clear more than the others. It says that I should find "creative ways" to clear the grid. I'm not sure that such a thing is possible. At worst, this is a game of guess the 1/25 arrow to click. At best, it's a game of tracking backwards through the arrows. As somebody who enjoys puzzle games, I don't personally find this a fun mechanic.

My initial thought was that the art might be the problem. That perhaps if these were frogs that ate each other in order or if these were bubbles that popped in a satisfying way, this might be more enjoyable, but if you haven't got compelling gameplay, dressing it up isn't going to help. My recommendation is to focus on creating challenging and enjoyable gameplay first.

Perhaps play some other puzzle games and ask yourself what it is you're enjoying about them.

The screenshots do not look good. I might give the gameplay a chance later but if you want the game to succeed, you should invest in graphics

Give it a graphical theme. Arrows might work well with road signs.

Okay, gonna be honest, the main issue your game has is that it seems too generic/boring. The visuals aren't bad per se, but they feel like they come straight from some premade UI framework, like a slightly fancier equivalent to programmer art.

So while the game might be fun to play, at first glance it just looks and feels cheap. It lacks an identity of its own, and that makes it really not stand out from the hordes of other generic puzzle games flooding the app stores at the moment.

Definitely add something to make it stand out there. Unique characters, a visual theme as a whole, etc.

Also maybe rethink the name too. Arrows is definitely a clear name for this game, but it doesn't really sell the game in any way, and feels about as generic as the art style does. Most successful games have strong branding that you can build a potential series off of, whereas this one does not.

Gameplay wise it seems like it could be fun, but it also feels like the mechanics will get old very quickly. It's a gameplay loop that doesn't look particularly compelling from the footage required, and which most bigger titles relegate to a mini game or dungeon puzzle since the mechanics don't have enough to them to carry a whole game.

Blunt, but:

- The icon is terrible.

- The graphics and UI widgets are terrible.

They actively repulse me, because they resemble the design of those corporate conference "audience poll" type apps.

Try more modern designs? Give it a good space theme, or a castle or dungeon theme, perhaps? AI imagegen might produce something good if you need help.

Just being honest, because that's what you asked for. :-)

What is your opinion on playable ads - do they work?

Games aren't just about fun. They're often about playing out some kind of fantasy. Like you can have something with 10/10 graphics, better than Stardew Valley, but Stardew Valley players aren't going to just buy a clone. They might switch to something with different gameplay though, like My Time At Portia.

Nobody fantasizes about arrows. You can make it a little livelier, like having a child find her cat.

Puzzles and match 3 are actually some of the lowest performing on average. But Candy Crush makes more money than StarCraft II. With games, you have to be in the top 10%. With casual, maybe closer to top 1%.

Wordle is about warming up the brain before work every morning, with colleagues. Sudoku makes you feel like you're good at math. Candy Crush is just plain juicy. Watch the ads for Candy Crush. It sells the fantasy of getting two 5-matches next to each other without strategy or effort.

With games like this, you might want to spend half the dev time on polish, or the game dev term being juice.

It's fun enough to sell I think. Casual games don't need to be fun. To use a food analogy, they're like snacks. They don't need to be filling; they're just there to munch on. The analogy works great for Candy Crush - it's just sweet and doesn't try to be more.