Hey everyone! Some time back we posted about our new launch, Frog Checkers. We were very lucky and got featured in N&N Games and had a nice fat spike in sales. We were also lucky in that it stayed on the list for about 9 days .. oooeee!!! We made up into the top 20 kids apps, top 200 games overall and even broke the top 500 apps at #2and something. We've gotten a nice little following in Australia and some great reviews. We're back to regular sales now, although they are double what they were just before we got picked up. I had some nice feedback from some of you and we made some screen shot changes. In the end, it's a checkers game aimed at kids. Kids love it. Checker players love it. But it's not going to get us that villa in Italy I know we've all dissected what makes a successful game, what doesn't, etc. I have to agree with many of you who point out that any developer needs an arsenal of games. I believe you don't need a publisher nor do you need a marketing and PR person (we got picked up by some of the kid app sites, but it didn't really influence sales ... are biggest push was from the app store N&N -- and that doesn't come from any PR or Marketing, that I can tell). If you have a bunch of quality games, than you can continually run "free weekends" - push each game through another and also keep PR and Marketing going as you announce new titles. I think this is the trick for steady and reliable income from game development ... rare will be the million dollar app any longer. It's frustrating to see 20-40 sales a day, when a team works SO hard on something, but I actually think that works out quite well in the long run if you have several games going at once. Just my two cents. Melia
I see these threads a lot.. and I always wonder what outcome people actually envisioned before releasing their app. Did you really expect 'Frog Checkers' would buy you and your team a vacation home selling at 99 cents a piece? Not trying to discourage, but I am just trying to understand.
i can just agree.. one of the best examples is donut games.. tons of small fun polished games.. none of them are huge seller like angry bird.. but the size of their portfolio makes them a success.. thats the only way i can see someone have success on the appstore without hopeing to hit the lotterie with a one time big hit..
Great to hear of your success! It sounds like you have achieved some very good sales numbers compared to what most do. Marketing is such a tricky thing. I haven't written it off yet, but that's because I'm a professional marketer by trade and therefore am a bit biased. I'll share my findings and tricks with you guys after I test them out with RoboArena. I'm doing it afterwards to avoid foot-in-mouth syndrome. A large app catalog is sure to be one of the biggest bonuses too. I always look at what else a developer has put out if I like one of his/her games. I'd also add that a diverse catalog of games that are monetized with different methods would also be beneficial (.99 apps, F2P apps with in app purchases, ad supported apps, and more expensive polished products as well).
No, we did not expect big sales. In fact, we only expected low sales and were very excited to get the nod from New and Noteworthy which fairly doubled our sales expectations. Perhaps the sarcasm didn't translate for you, sinecure industries. I see a lot of people expecting huge sales and was just pointing out that we consider our game a success as it's gotten good reviews, been selected by N&N and a few review sites and sold better than expected (wondering if you took a look at it before calling it "just frog checkers" as it's a truly well done remake of the game, all be it still only checkers). I was just stating that I think success in the app store is not something that happens for one game at one time ... if you're trying to make a living at it, I think it needs to be a slow grind of good games. I also see a lot of people looking for PR and marketing help not to mention publishing help ... I don't think that's necessary if you have good games. Just trying to give some perspective.
Congrats on the success! I would agree that being published is not necessary for most projects, but I do think that marketing is very important. Yes, if your game is great you have a higher chance of it being a success, but I believe with marketing (and it doesn't have to be an elaborate multi-thousand dollar campaign) you can increase your chances. Like any other product, an AppStore game needs to draw in users and I feel sitting and waiting is leaving too much up to chance, where a little marketing can give it a push that may get your app seen by the right people (TA, blogs, Apple, etc).
I agree as well. Unfortunately, many who may not get that big time hit never stick it out long enough to build a portfolio of quality games. (maybe that's a good thing for the rest of us? )
I do agree that Marketing is necessary, just not sure a marketing firm is what is necessary. We did it all ourselves and did get a couple pick ups that way. But I don't think we would have been any more successful if we had paid someone to do it (although I don't know and would love to be able to test that hypothesis). I'm also not sure how much of a bump a review gets people. Would be curious to hear other people's opinions.
