[somehnacct3757]

All the indie devs you mentioned had moonshot successes that catapulted their studio. They shouldn't be modeled by anyone making a fresh go at the games industry. Save yourself the time and buy a lotto ticket.

Having a tight release loop is a good strategy. You will find mechanics that work over time and iterate on them, finding more and more reliable success. Eventually one will hit. You don't even have to avoid looking like shovelware. The mobile game audience doesn't care about that, it's more of a capital G Gamer gatekeeper thing.