I am sure someone may have asked the same question, but relevant terms for me to search the forum are too short to be accepted by the search functions (3 letter words). I apologize if there is a similar thread out there. Is there a guideline to how a dev can get his/her game onto TA's "Out Now" article every week? Does posting the game as a [NZ] release helps? Does the game needs an existing thread in the "Upcoming games" forum? Must the game be released at very specific timings/days?
It's certainly a little late for this response, but here goes. The "Out Now" post on the front page is populated by TA staff entirely. They do, however, look at the forums and use whatever personal wizardry they have to gather up the games. We have a few members trawling the App Store for games and posing the threads. Posting a [NZ] thread on a Wednesday night will most likely give you a spot on that list.
Typically I start compiling the "coming tonight" post in the morning at around 8:00 AM Central. I'll include any games I know about with active NZ links, and any threads posted to the forums too. The filter for the "out now" post is a little more broad, but it's still primiarly forum driven as well. Basically, if you care about having your game in the "coming tonight" post, have a NZ thread posted by 8 AM Central. If you care about having your game in the "out now" post, have a thread posted by around 4:00 PM Central.
Thanks for the response, I'll work out all those timings for my time zone. I'll hold off release til next week to test these out. Also, from your responses, I guess the filter works primarily in the "iPhone games" forum rather than the "upcoming games" forum (since people don't post [nz] links there)
@Eli will there be an update on best practice of posting game release in the forums? Last I know, devs are using your Thread-o-matic 5000 and putting up [NZ] posts at specific times. Now there seem to be so many odd timings for which games go live and be listed on TA front page. Or does the same practice still hold?
Just post stuff as soon as there's an active link that works in any iTunes region. That's what I've been doing with stuff I stumble across. We usually post the morning new games around 9:00 to 10:00 AM, then the final "out now" at 11:00 PM and include all the stuff that's posted on the forums at both times.
