AppStore is a tough place - no publicity means no sales. It was my number one lesson learned after releasing 1.0. There are countless articles written on this subject and maybe I should have done my homework better before initial release. However, I don't regret it as knowing how limited my resources were I can't see how I could have done this project differently. Of course more sales wouldn't hurt and I do constantly try to make Cavern more fun and polished. Maybe it will pick up the pace some day.
I agree. A good roguelike / dungeon crawl is definitely worth the price most sellers ask for it, if not more.
Yeah, definitely hold your ground on the price. Rogue Touch was a steal when I bought it (still is), and even Sword of Fargoal is worth its current asking price. Cavern is a little bit simple on the graphical side but that's part of its appeal, really, as it brings back memories of classic dungeon crawlers like this. (I think I mentioned that it kind of reminds me of Gemstone Warrior, which was a great game.) A lite version I think might help sales as long as it's handled properly. Great news on the submission today. Won't be long now before I'll be able to finish the game.
I have to second all the above opinions. Cavern is a gem and the price is Ok if not too low. I normally get happy when I hit a sale on a good app that I was waiting for, but when I bought SOF for the whole price (when a couple of days before it was on sale) I felt I could have payed a lot more for it. Same with Rogue Touch. I consider the three great games very well done. Roguelike games have something I can't put my finger on that makes the whole gameplay extremely enjoyable. Surprisingly enough I discovered rogue game for the first time here. I wanted to knock my head off for the amount of time I spent NOT playing them before!!!
I have to say though, I do wish this, Fargoal and Rogue Touch had lite versions. I'd like to get one but I really don't know which. I'd buy all three but I have spent way over my limit this month on games (last month as well) and just found out today that I'm receiving a 15% pay cut this year, so it doesn't exactly make me want to buy more rather than less.
1.4 has been submitted. As said before, this update will flush your save game, and also all the highscores (local ones too). Hopefully everything else is alright. Couple screenies:
500 sales is a pretty high achievement for a game that has received no publicity, and especially for an asking price of 2.99. You should most definitely produce a lite version of Cavern, as it will generate a lot of sales for a game that deserves it!
Just downloaded the update! I'm pretty excited, I'm going to try to get a couple of games in before I have to go out to do my daily things. It's a shame to hear that you've only sold around 500 copies, but I have to agree with CD and the others. Keep the price where it is. I think CD and I had a discussion about the pricing of Rogue Touch and he told me (I hope I'm not talking about anything I shouldn't be) that Rouge made more money at the higher price point then it ever did at the .99 price point. Like CD said, word of mouth will keep your game going. That and your work towards making it better every update! I'll go talk up your game on an internet forum I belong to and see if I can't get a few more sales for you though
Holy crap. You weren't kidding when you said this was harder. More monsters, stronger monsters, and what seems like fewer treasures. I got down to level 7 and still hadn't made enough money to upgrade my weapons or armor or even buy that town portal thing because I had to spend all my money on healing potions. Which apparently wasn't enough because I died there. It's hard to tell from one play-through, but I think it might be a little too hard.
Had a quick shot on the update- liking the item descriptions, makes it a lot more user friendly- did crash on me once so far though when I was on floor 3, after checking the description for Repulsion Potion- it just crashed and dumped me back into the main menu of the iPod. When I restarted Cavern I was back at a higher floor 2 instead of 3) and it hadn't saved any of the progress I'd made on 3... okay for me though because I'd be poisoned a bunch of times and used up all my healing items...
Found the Repulsion potion bug, just submitted 1.4.1. Sorry about that. I also made healing potion a bit cheaper so it's not that hard to survive with Fighter. I think the update won't be reviewed before monday so avoid checking Repusion potions before that
Couple details for crash bug (which I really should have noticed during testing...) Currently, DO NOT check the stats for these items: -Repulsion Potion -Magic Map -Words of Wisdom -Instant Workout If you do, Cavern will crash instantly. After update they will work fine, no need to start new game. Update has couple other small fixes too: -Stats for edibles shows healing effect in addition to just value and weight. -Healing potion is cheaper -Reliefing Elixir cures poisoning and curses. -When monster gets killed by a poison effect, splats and items appear properly on current turn. -Levels generate items to a bit higher total value.
Cool. Cheaper healing will definitely help, as will a bit more treasure. And of course the bug fixes. Let's hope for another quick approval.
hi, I'm stuck in "cavern". i'm lvl 7, I killed a red dragon, and I don't find "down stairs" anymore... it is a bug?
