My 2 cents : Our studio has released 5 games. We are a small french indie studio, and we mainly produce educational video game for kids (but I insist on the VIDEO GAME part of my sentence ) Our first game was released ad featured quicky by Apple in the US Education category. Second was a big fail (no feature = no sales). Third one was featured in Brazil, Europe. And most interesting, our fourth game (a free game about saving the environment) was featured by Apple in the US + their Twitter account and Facebook page. So what I think (but I would love to hear from others) is 60% quality of your game (because let's be honest, sometimes the featured apps are quite horrible or bad copies of successful games) 30% connection with Apple (if you can contact them that's obviously better, also for organizing featured games) 10% chance and time-to-market ++
Games and apps get featured for a variety of reasons. There is no strict criteria, but the following will all help improve your chances - you have a great game (pretty much mandatory) - your game supports "standard" platform features like Gamecenter and Metal - your game supports "new" platform features like Stickers and Replaykit - your game is widely localized - your game is relevant to current trends or App Store promotions - you have an established relationship with Apple
For the bolded statement, do you have proof? I seldom browse the App Store front page anymore (used to do that in the old days). I do try some of the featured games (free ones) but so far they're all good.
Thanks for your pointers. But wow METAL? really? I never think about new platform features when I make games. I guess it does make sense. Using Apple's new features is like lobbying them for ur game.
How do you establish a relationship with Apple? Isn't that.. difficult especially if you don't personally know anyone working for Apple.
I remember some time ago when there was Flappy Bird or Toca Boca copies featured, it really was disturbing to me. In the kids category (which is my core category), a lot of apps are really not the best games made for kids. It may depends on the appstores (I am in France) but featuring beauty surgery apps for kids is not really what I call a great thing However, it takes all sorts to make a world (is that correct btw ?). ++
Indeed, each time we submit a game, Apple asks us which one of their new features is integrated in the game... Good point !
Usually they will reach out if you have a high quality game. Sort of a chicken and egg scenario though.
here's what we tried to do while preparing for our exclusive App Store launch (a controversial plus that adds to the chances of getting featured if you're releasing only on one platform first): - try scanning LinkedIN with keywords like 'Apple', 'App Store', 'review', since there's a special team now that reviews the games that are submitted to the store. When you find the appropriate person, check out his/her profile there might be a working email you can send your game pitch. - send your game pitch to [email protected] (marketing assets: screenshots, raw materials, characters, title, something they can make promo images of) or [email protected] (for them to consider your app for featuring). We sent this email 1,5 week prior to the date of the official release when the game had been already reviewed and was placed 'waiting developers review' mentioning the app ID and exact size screenshots that apple require. We tend to think that our email to the second email address helped to get our game featured on New Games We Love a week after the official release. We even got a reply from apple team, that someone will contact us later.
Wow now that's one easy way to do it... Instant connection! Congrats on getting your game featured by the way. We'll try to do that too next time.
It's not that easy, anyway, if you dig deeper. It's easy to write a well-structured email to Apple and follow-up. It's hard to create a really unique and well-polished game with features that platforms have like 3D-touch or apple-watch support for Apple, or numerous services that Google provide for game developers. And there is a huge % of luck to get your game featured because you'll never know what is inside the heads of those who work in Apple review team, unless you know someone in person. Anyway, good luck with your projects!!!
Hi guys, There are right and wrong assumptions here. 1) Those who complain about the bad quality of the featured games aren't really right. If you don't like the game, it doesn't mean it's bad, expecially, if your opinion is only based on screenshots. Install the game, play it. Try to come to it from another side. Do not try to see the things that annoy you (as your vision is biased), try to see the good things. When you start to understand what's good about it, then you'll move closer to creating your own game that is better. 2) Personally, I know a few teams that were featued without any direct connection to Apple. The key points are still: - make a great game - content/polish/quality - fit into the platform - fit into trends
Hi there, Could you please put some more details into this point? Well, just to be more specific for fellow devs, who are well aware of general tips, but not of the more detailed approach.
It's quite a wide topic with many tiny bits. For example, you can make a game and do not play it on an actual mobile device. In that case controls would probably be awkward. Game will be unplayable in mobile.
We believe that times when a dev makes a game and doesn't play it or test it on at least several devices have already passed. Or such developer doesn't respect what he's doing or he\she doing just for fun\for himself without an aim to earn some money) Basically, we understand what you refer to, but a more detailed reply is always better, you know)
I may have been misleading in my earlier posts. I didn't mean to imply that ticking one box was sufficient to garner featuring. You have to be doing multiple things in order to up your chances of getting featured. Supporting "old" platform features like Game Center and Metal should be considered almost a minimum requirement to get you on par with the myriad of other quality games that also support those basic items. I mean, metal acceleration support is a tick box in Unity with basically no down side, so everything supports it now. You need to work out and highlight what you are bringing to the table on top of that, and looking to support features that Apple has recently introduced and talked up. When WWDC rolls around in a couple of months and for their August announcement showcase, pay close attention to what they highlight in the OS for v11 and in the new devices. Apps that support those things early will then get disproportionate feature love when the new things roll out. So be one of those apps. In recent times this has included advanced iMessage features/games, Stickers support, and subscriptions. But the window is limited. Once an OS feature has been out for a while, everyone starts supporting it, and a new feature will shift from a novelty into the "requirement category. Much harder to get featured on the basis of Stickers alone now for example seeing as so many more games support them.
I see many games out there like that, some even got featured on indie events. Of course, they might have been playing theire games. But it felt like they did not. I'm a seasoned gamer and it was hard for me to understand how to play and how to use controls. The problem here might be because of a soap in the eye that you get while you stick to your game for ages before the release. So they played, but not enough.
