How to get on "New and Noteworthy" - experiences shared

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by M of IMAK, May 27, 2009.

  1. mehware

    mehware Well-Known Member

    Nov 22, 2008
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    A lot of people make the sub cat "New and NoteWwrthy" we did it for the iPhone and iPad in Word and Board.

    Making the GAMES N&N = $ tho.

    - Matt
     
  2. Foursaken_Media

    Foursaken_Media Well-Known Member
    Patreon Indie

    #82 Foursaken_Media, Jan 23, 2011
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2011
    Well, I think quality and presentation have a huge deal to do with it, first of all. If you make a quality, well made game I really think you are likely to see it on there.

    HOWEVER, note that there is a HUGE distinction between being on the N&N overall app list (which is what shows up on the main list on the phone), vs just being listed in the N&N games section (where you are essentially in a subcategory on the phone itself). Mind you I'm not talking about subcategory N&N lists like for Adventure and Action... I'm talking about overall games.

    The whole system unfortunately is very cookie cutter and predictable. If you are listed in the first ~8-10 slots of the N&N games section (slightly variation from week to week), then you will show up on the main phone N&N list. If you show up on the phone list, you will automatically move to the "Whats Hot" list after the 1st week is over. The "Whats Hot" list has nothing to do with sales or anything else like that... if you make it on the overall N&N list on the phone, you move to that list next. Also note the Whats Hot list doesn't have even CLOSE to the impact that the N&N list has in terms of sales, but it will slightly help in preventing your app from immediately dropping off HARD, as games tend to do when not on the Whats Hot list.

    If you make it to the main phone N&N list, sales will be significantly higher then if you're just on the N&N overall games list. In fact, I only saw 1-2 games listed with Bug Heroes that weren't on the overall N&N phone list even break the top 500. In contrast I think every game that was listed on the phone itself broke the top 100.

    Furthermore, it seems they tend (not always) to pick casual/cartoony games and large company games for these important phone slots first. To be honest, while grateful that Bug Heroes was featured on the N&N games list at all, I couldn't help but be pissed that for ex the illegally copied and ported games like "The Blocks Cometh", and a few of the other games made it on the phone N&N list over Bug Heroes, which had 70+ ratings and a 5 star average by the time we were featured, full 3D graphics, very good sales, and tons of content...

    Which brings me back to my original point. I truly think you'll make the list with a quality game, but I also think there is HUGE favoritism and subjectivity when it comes to choosing apps for the overall N&N list (those first ~10 spots).


    But all of that being said, I also want to point out the N&N list is not the end of the battle... in fact, if you hang all your hopes and dreams on this list you are likely to fail in the long term, even if you do get on the list... bc that will just account for a week or 2 of your games many months lifespan (unless you are one of the VERY few and lucky games which can catapult up into a top 10 spot from this). You need to have a comprehensive, long term plan in order to SUSTAIN sales... the long tail of your app is definitely the most important thing to consider, not the quick burst of success you may get from a feature (though it sure is nice :p).

    With N.Y.Zombies for ex we have managed to stay relevant 9 months after release thanks to a variety of updates, sales, and free campaigns.
     
  3. charliepapatango

    Oct 20, 2009
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    Our app, Trickle, is currently in 'New and Noteworthy' on the main page of the App Store. In the last few weeks we have been reviewed on TUAW and Gizmodo as well as a number of other blogs. I strongly suspect that apps for these categories are selected by regular humans who discover apps in much the same way that the rest of us do.

    Needless to say, being on the front page of the App Store has a dramatic affect on sales. I strongly recommend that everyone tries it.
     
  4. Razoric

    Razoric Well-Known Member

    I see that Boom Boat is on both New and Noteworthy for Puzzle and Action (US Store). Does that mean there is a higher chance to get added to the main listing? Also, if I didn't get added the week of release (added the game last saturday) do I still have a shot this week or next?
     
  5. charliepapatango

    Oct 20, 2009
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    You can be featured in "New and Noteworthy" months after release. It's more "noteworthy" than "new."
     
  6. u2elan

    u2elan Well-Known Member

    Nov 8, 2010
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    iOS Developer
    Portland, OR
    We're going to do a detailed blog post on this soon, but here's my experience:

    I had an augmented reality app (Robotvision, one of the first) in late 2009 that made overall N&N, but did not sell well because it required the 3GS (which was still new). It was on N&N for two weeks (pushed down the list), but never moved over to What's Hot. Sales were about 200 units / day.

    Ramps was featured in N&N three weeks ago right next to Clumsy Bob, our placement was a bit lower on the list. We were there two weeks. Every day we were there we did way better than my AR app.

    During week one, Apple asked for artwork from us, but did not use it the following week.

    The second week, we showed up in What's Hot in iTunes but not on devices. I was pretty confused as why this happens, but things become clearer later:

    Week three, Game of the Week. This is pretty much nirvana, and catapulted us into the top 10.

    Week four (now), What's Hot on devices. Apple seems to follow a process where App of the Week and Game of the Week go to the top of the list for What's Hot on devices. This week they mixed it up a bit and put the 1 billionth downloaded app at the top. I'm not going to complain or anything. ;)

    I'm not saying Apple follows a formula or anything for picking apps, that it requires being a casual, cartoony title (though Ramps is that, LOL), or that you need major coverage (we didn't have that), etc.

    I think you just need to understand the kind of culture Apple has and appeal to that and you'll succeed (not just on the App Store, but everywhere). Apple is all about aesthetics, quality and a "feel-good" experience. Big game companies can circumvent this with innovation and technical excellence, but for us indies, we have to shine in other ways.
     
  7. dreadwench

    dreadwench Well-Known Member

    Jan 17, 2011
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    I don't really understand how new and noteworthy works. I will read this whole thread when I have a little more time, but, we've never had our game on the N&N general thing, just the subcategories. We were on the US itunes, under word games for a few days, went off and then went back on. I don't know why, it went off and back on, and we've been on australian itunes N&N under word since a couple of days after the game was released and it's been there since, and it went on under puzzles a week or so ago.
    We had more sales when it was still on the new games list.
     
  8. pzimmer

    pzimmer New Member

    Feb 11, 2011
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    Current N&N feature propelled us to Top 4 paid iPad App

    I just made it through this thread: thanks to everyone who's put down their experiences.

    I wanted to fill people in on what's going on in our (still unfolding) story: last Thursday, Apple was kind enough to put us in position 5 on the New & Noteworthy section (i.e. "above the fold" so that it displays in the first page of the Featured section on the device App Store). Our sales up until then had been (as I had put it), um, less than Angry Birds level (i.e. maybe 3 sales on a good day). Friday morning when I woke up and lackadaisically checked our sales not expecting much, andwe were up to about 160 sales. I frantically looked around for the reason why and there we were, featured on the front page of N&N.

    We had released the app in almost 3 months before in mid-December, to very little fanfare. I highly recommend against releasing around Christmas unless you've got very deep pockets for a sustained marketing spend. We had only released a small maintenance release in mid-Feb along with a price reduction from $4.99 to $2.99. As soon as we saw we were featured, we decided to put it on sale at $0.99 to drive sales.

    We've been watching BallFallDown Deluxe climb the charts this weekend to where it is now: #4 Top Paid iPad App! Just below Cut the Rope, and above Fruit Ninja. We're still a little incredulous. Anyway, there really was _no_ driver that we can think of other than a price reduction in mid-Feb to $2.99. It's possible that Apple had liked our app before but felt it was priced too high at $4.99.

    It does seem like you've really got to get all your ducks in a row. A solid app (i.e. no crashes, etc.), great artwork (thanks Iuliana!), and some special sauce: we like to think something that hadn't really been done before (IMHO). BallFalllDown is a kids marble run/construction toy game w/o points or levels.

    We do want to thank to Apple for featuring us, and to everyone who's been kind enough to buy it, and for the incredible developer community here. OK Academy awards moment over. Anyway, feel free to contact me directly if you've got any questions, and I'll try to update the thread as things unfold.
     
  9. Liv Games

    Liv Games Well-Known Member

    Jan 25, 2011
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    Founder, CEO Liv Games
    USA
    #89 Liv Games, Mar 7, 2011
    Last edited: Mar 7, 2011
    I'll share my experiences as well.

    Our first game, Legendary Wars, was featured on the 2nd slot of the main feature page 4 weeks ago (a week after it released).

    We were all stoked and sales skyrocketed and we made it up to number 44 overall paid app. To celebrate we did knock the price down to $1.99 for the weekend.

    After the weekend we did raise back to $2.99 and that proved to be a mistake. If you've played Legendary Wars you know there is tons of content to warrant the price, but in hindsight raising the price in the App market during a feature was not a good idea but the game had just come out so we were not sure what users were willing to pay.

    We got moved to New and noteworthy a week later and sales fell slowly so we did another sale for 1.99. I feel like you can lose trust of your fans if you mess too much with price so we decided to keep it at 1.99.

    The week after that we got moved to What's hot for a week and sales continue to decline.

    Last week we disappeared from the lists entirely and bottomed out at around 66 rankin Strategy Category.

    To my surprise a friend told me we were featured again on What's hot on thursday right after our 2nd update went through.

    This past month has been an exciting roller coaster for our first game.

    If i could have done something differently is offer the game at 99 cents when we got the big feature which seems to be the magic price point. I think visibility and exposure is the most important thing if you want to stay on the lists.

    I do think having a quality app with a great icon is the most important since we have been in direct contact with Apple, we know these are hand selected by their staff. We also got great reviews from Gizmodo, Kotaku, Toucharcade and Macworld the first few days we launched which helped generate buzz. Presenting in Macworld in SF was the key to get this exposure.

    But what I think equally important is having constant updates and lots of great reviews. Currently we have more than 820 reviews on the Appstore with a 4.5 average rating. Though sales haven't been great the past week, Apple still took notice that we were improving the game and people really like it.

    Getting featured is the key to increase sales, but you have to maintain that by connecting and communicating to your customers and giving them what they want with Consistent updates which leads to great reviews.

    All in all we are grateful to Apple and the fans that have supported us this month and we are committed to continue to support the game with Retina/ Gamecenter updates, new content and whatever the fans ask for. Just make sure you communicate that to the fans.
     
  10. eJayStudios

    eJayStudios Well-Known Member

    Oct 17, 2009
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    Strange, wanted to check out your game BallFallDown and can't find it in US App store at all??
     
  11. Liv Games

    Liv Games Well-Known Member

    Jan 25, 2011
    548
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    Founder, CEO Liv Games
    USA
    That's great advice on that last paragraph. We made Legendary Wars exactly with this in mind and I couldn't have said it better!
     
  12. mochibits

    mochibits Well-Known Member

    Feb 26, 2011
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    Hey guys, thanks for the great thread! Congrats on Ramps, Legendary Wars, BallsFallDown, and the other great games. Love them all.

    Our app SwipeTapTap just made the N&N this week! We squeaked out the 14th spot on the iTunes app store overall list. 8th spot on the Games N&N list. =)

    Our sales went from single digits wednesday to mid-triple-digits on Thursday. Very excited to see what happens over the next week.

    Would like some opinions, but right now, I'm planning on riding out the N&N and keeping our pricepoint at 1.99, since we have a unique game. Luckily, I submitted an update AND a Lite version of the game early this week, so they will both be available next week.

    My plan is to make the Lite version available next Wed. so that it has a day with STT on the N&N to get some momentum. I'm hoping the free Lite version will boost the paid version when we finally get taken off the N&N list. After the boost from the Lite version falls off, I plan to reduce the price to 0.99. Similar to how BopIt and Legendary Wars reduced their prices.

    Already have a bunch of updates planned and also some sweet IAP.

    Would love any comments or suggestions you may have.

    Thanks. Cheers.
     
  13. tofusoup

    tofusoup Well-Known Member

    Aug 23, 2010
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    Game Designer
    San Francisco
    #93 tofusoup, Mar 11, 2011
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2011
    Excellent post, and replies.

    Our first game Chicken Escape (iPhone/iPad) was on N&N for its categories for awhile and I will confirm that we got almost no sale increases. We have been slowly disappearing into the abyss of the appstore.

    Strangely enough the game is now in What's Hot for its categories starting yesterday, and sales actually went down for Thursday.... doh! :) Also wanted to mention our overall ranking has gone up but sales down heh.

    We did get more media attention as reviews finally started to come in. Our update 1.1 has been uploaded...

    With 1.1 I think our game will be at its best in terms of polish. Our next step here is to launch an Easter version of the lite version and try to climb the charts again. Also do a bunch of cross promotion with my 2nd game and my friends new games....
     
  14. LaughingPanda

    LaughingPanda Member

    Apr 24, 2011
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  15. mochibits

    mochibits Well-Known Member

    Feb 26, 2011
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  16. tigranvn

    tigranvn New Member

    Mar 21, 2013
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    Well I was trying to understand how the featuring works for iTunes seams like nobody has any idea.
    I think My experience will give a piece of clue which right now I can't process. My app is going slowly to the top although now it is in 400-500 places in entertainment. so recently it started to get featured in 10-15 countries in "what's Hot" from which in one of them (UK) in top 100 What's Hot. that seams legit because my second source of downloads comes from UK (after US) . so this goes back and forth for couple of days. Today I noticed my app is featured in 17 countries from which 2 of them in top 100 "What's Hot" one of them as usual UK (some#39th place) and the second one is Armenia (#59), what is weird is that I don't have any downloads from Armenia for last couple of weeks and what is even weirder that my app's developer name is my name which is armenian name (I live in US), so I can't understand the connection here, is iTunes looks where the developer's from and try to feature app over there or is it just a coincidence which makes no sense because I have no downloads from Armenia at all ...
    My app's name is Camera Hoax. it looks like this
    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/camera-hoax/id529389932?ls=1&mt=8
     
  17. AlienSpace

    AlienSpace Well-Known Member

    May 28, 2010
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    Independent developer
    Both Alien Space and Alien Space Retro were featured in New & Noteworthy, and they have since been featured in other sections like "Galactic Games".

    I think the main thing to getting selected is to have a good game with a good icon. That's pretty much it. It doesnt matter how you price it or any of that other nonsense. Where price will come into play is in how many downloads you get once you're featured. When Alien Space came out in 2010 it was priced at $3.99. The boost in sales from being featured was definitely there, but in retrospect I think it would have done much better if it had been cheaper. I really hate the "race to the bottom", but I have no doubt if it had launched at $0.99 that it would have gotten many more sales. And, capitalizing on that initial N&N boost is critical to making a big splash in the App Store.
     

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