Lite versions are still relevant if you have a paid App to promote that is above 99c. What you need to consider is how to make the lite generate money... Just put iAd and adMob into it - just in case the lite does well in the charts.
this thread has become a beast! Just because it was easy before, do not let that dictate your expectations for what to expect from the next go-round, considering your circumstances. A lot of factors to consider, particularly when this all happened for you before (and considering that the overall landscape might be quite different by now, especially if even 6 months have passed) There is definitely a snowball effect that happens, it is very noticeable. When one big site gives some hi-visibility coverage to an app, all the other guys potentially may follow suit, and of course this is very dependent on timing (what else is going on in the news at the given moment). All the way to the top, where this might end up in an Apple Feature, and even then, how many other products are they featuring at the time? Another big thing to consider is that by starting with a new company, you are essentially rebooting. If you can't name your old company/projects in things like press releases and forum posts, you lose a huge edge in name recognition between gamers and media alike. Of course there are certain reasons why you may not want to name those, but if you can.. do it Anyway you seem like a smart and driven person, just be aware that "you might have had an easier go of it previously" but that shouldn't lead you to expect that "it can't be too much harder to do it all again." High production values will help, certainly..! __________________ twitter - HeadcaseGames.com Puzzling has Evolved - Enter the 180 Hi-score Facebook contest! FreeAppTracker.com Win ANY app you want, daily!
I not naming games or names The new company just needs a game to test web technologies really to prove that the tech is viable. But if the game makes money then great. To be honest I'm throwing money at this game because I can afford to lose it. But I'm very curious to see if it can be repeated.
Honestly if your not sega,capcom,EA,etc there is no free press. You have to make your free press. Go to every forum you know and promote the heck out of your game. Go to PRmac and get a press release done. All that and still doesnt guarentee your game will sell. You have to be honest with yourself if your game is good or not. Like I said every developer feels he has a hit on his hands. Let you in on in a little secret , you got to do what customers like ,not what you like. Look at Gameloft , they rip off every title. Why?? Not because they want to but they know that sells. Thier games will always get covered ,good or bad. Games that people like will get noticed.
Free press is possible, you just have to have a unique game that can sell on your behalf. I might as well mention it now... I was going to wait a few months down the line when I had some things to show but this discussion is very relevant to would be Indie developers. Jet Car Stunts had tons of press - very good press really. The game had two forum threads going. One before release and one after release and only in this forum. But it proves it's possible to do it. Jet Car Stunts was a hole in the market game and it just sold itself. I'm really surprised no one has tried to copy it.
Highest Silverfish ranked in the US was #46 in the arcade sub category. That was on the second day out, after a feature on TUAW. It quickly dropped and never made it back into the top 50 - even after repeated features here on TouchArcade and other big sites. I had relatively modest expectations for this game - a comfy spot in the bottom 100 of the US arcade chart seemed a reasonable goal, but it failed to even come close to that - zero traction. I'm completely flabbergasted by some apps that are perpetually in the top 100 of the arcade charts - I have no clue how they manage that. The numbers for Silverfish Free are also depressing - you literally can't give stuff away on the App Store (well I can't at least). Completely demoralizing.
I would be happier if I even got that. Your daily sales match the lifetime sales for TiltStorm. It also has a US 4.5 star rating in the US store, but with only 7 lifetime reviews. A lot was learnt on the release of the game. I'm already at work on my next games, and I will market them differently (I wouldn't normally work on 2 at the same time, but I started on one, then the other needed attention because a company is going to publish my board game / puzzle and I have said I will do an iOS version).
What you should really learn, is that you are better off not making 10 games each bringing you 20 bucks a day tops but make one game, but make it so playable, graphically good and polished, and you will get much better rewards for your time. And sorry to sound rude, but if your game is shit, no power in the world will get it into first places of app store. It is not marketing fail or app store overcrowded. Face it. Game is shit. And it's not just you, it's all those developers with crappy apps who think they made next doodle jump, but their game is at best wasted traffic.
I'm not trying to make 10 games that bring in 20 bucks each. I don't believe my game is shit, the people who have played it seem to like it. I have worked on worse games that have sold much more. I did make some mistakes in the original game that I corrected with updates, but I also suffered from some bad timing as I got lost in the deluge of big name games in the run up to Christmas. And I could have marketed it better. It was the first time I had done that, so I made a lot of mistakes there. My next game will be better, and marketed a lot better, but will it be enough? I'll find out.
I think 2011 is a crucial time for Indie developers. Production values and development costs are getting higher now. There is going to be big fall off from a lot of developers. There is no way one person can do this in their spare time now - not when you consider marketing and the costs to make a game on the scale that is required. If Doodle Jump was released now then it would fail in the present climate. It sells now because it sits in the top 10, it's as simple as that. The risks are really too high now for a one man band. Those days are long gone. If you do it as a hobby then you have nothing to lose. If you do it to make a living then be prepared to spend money on development. I've allocated 40k to make the game I have planned. The people I'm working with have track records working on Snes/Megadrive development, including me. That's what you need to do now to compete in the App Store. It's pretty sad really when you think about it... The App Store was a space where you could compete with the big companies - that's certainly not the case now.
I realize Silverfish is better off than many (I've got 2 other games in the App Store doing far far worse myself). My point - that ties into the original thread topic - is that getting on TouchArcade's front page may not be the catalyst for sales that many people assume. Silverfish has hit the front page 4 times - FOUR TIMES. I'm hugely grateful for that, and I can't thank the guys enough (hate to think where the game would be WITHOUT that coverage) but that still wasn't enough to convince many people to buy the game, or even download the free version. If you look at the top lists today, you'll see a lot of big-publisher apps, a few good indie apps, and a load of dreck. How the latter makes it in there is anyone's guess but I'd suspect many are due to questionable or downright sleazy tactics, and the rest are there because that's what people actually want. And that's just sad.
speaking of getting noticed... is getting a review on 148apps a good catch? http://www.148apps.com/ should i be expecting any kind of bump from that? seems like a pretty high ranking site but I've yet to see a bump from any site that's posted a review.
Although I said I would be happier (less unhappy would have been more accurate) with your sales, I was surprised at the low amount you have sold. Silverfish looks amazing, that should have generated more interest on its own. I must admit when I tried it, I found it hard to control, but will be giving it another go when I can give it more time.
This may sound like a lame idea, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Well how about we little guys set up a little club where we help each other promote our games by issuing promo codes to each other and then posting (honest) reviews about the game. Rather than just giving them out at random? I think for us the problem was that when we released Arkinvade, I never even really considered marketing. I just kinda thought, well it's out there. Should sell. Naive, but all our effort was on creating the game. Next game (Cow-A-Pult) will be different. So here is another question to help this thread along the way (wish my game threads got so many replies... ) How soon would you all start promoting your up coming games? Would you release Beta screenshots? Or just wait until a few weeks before the release? Do you think by asking Joe Publics help with opinions on gameplay, graphics, level design etc that will help generate sufficient interest?
Front page I cant stress it enough if you want the front page you must have a quality eye catching game. Look niche games are good , but arent front page worthy. Everyone wants to be on the front page but as yourself a question? Would you cover a) Capcom new game or b) Mr.joe puzzle Look this website is a buisness ,they have to attract viewers to the website to sell ADs that they have posted. Are people going to go to the front page to look at average indie games or spectacular fun or console type games. Iam sorry this is blunt but its the truth. Look at the front page how does you game look next to epic cidel , infinity blade,deadspace,streefighter,sonic,prine of persia,etc. There are literaly thousands of top notch games. Does your game look worthy to be up there? If not then you are being honest with yourself. The writers like hodapp ,brad,arn,etc love you guys. But they got a family to feed too. I check out the silver fish game. It looks like a solid niche game , I didnt buy it because controls were an issue and thats one of my pet peeves. I can relax on anything but controls must be a solid. The game doesnt have a mass appeal look , but should have its own fanbase. In order for it to sell it has to look more appealing in the photos. In the photos it looks like chaos the average person will be like what is actually going on.The icon is solid ,I really like it. Make something more traditional like a solid mario-type or sonic type game. Work on the art more to make it more of a mass appeal look.
I've been thinking along similar lines. I would be up for sharing some promo codes. It could also be used for getting feedback from fellow developers. A sort of mini developers guild. I will be asking for feedback at a relatively early stage on the games I can. It should help the game, maybe with the bonus of some publicity.
A developer guild can help with comments but can it help get the front page or sales? Sadly the answer is no. Look guys I have sympthy for your plight. Thats why Iam trying to help you as best I can. Lets go deeper into what people want and how toucharcade works. Obiviously toucharcade is for the majority gamers. Majority gamers want 1) A fresh coat of polish applied to the game. Polish on the controls , polish the UI ,and polish the graphics. 2) Content plenty of in game achivements and different charactors to select.Pack on as much in game content and power-ups as you can. 3) At least 2 hours of gameplay. Pack on the levels!!! 10-20 levels is cheap how about at least 50 if its a simple game. 4) Graphics have to be eye-candy anything less has little chance. Ok thats the minimum . What I descibed there is a solid 99 cent game. If you dont meet those basic standards the chances of getting the front page are minimal. If you want to charge more then you have to do the real list , not the baby list that I just posted.
I would say it depends on the game, and how much potential it has to generate interest. A unique game with flashy graphics or big names behind them (Infinity Blade for example) could do well even without prior marketing. Based only on observation however, marketing early never hurts sales. Unless a game is so poor or so cliche that people label it in their minds with an "avoid" tag.
I'd refute your points one by one but I don't really have time right now, so I'll just straighten out the main one here- None of the writers or editorial staff have anything to do with advertising. All of our ads are run through a completely different person who has nothing to do with any TouchArcade content. I don't even know what ads are going to be run before they appear on the site. I assure you, we choose games that we think are cool. That's why people view the site, because they want to discover cool games to load on their devices. It has nothing to do with any kind of advertising deal or anything of the sort. Basically, everything you posted is different flavors of incorrect.
