i have spend about 2 month to develop the "Hook Me--The Creatures Of The Deep" game(program, some UI design, see this thread for detail ) reference by IFlight control, Golden miner, but something always dont go with what your expected. god always play joke on us. For the first version, it's sale so badly, up to now, dont exceed 10. I have give up my job before develop the game, and Full-time develop iPhone game, so i really want to known what‘s the problem with the game? i have ask some guys for advise. and complete the 1.1 version. but i known it have much more thing need to do to make the game more funny. So i need your help, your advise! Many thanks!
it might not be ur game, the app store has recently gotten overwhelmed by app approvals, so urs prob just got overlooked. it looks fun from the pics but thats just from looking idk bout actual gameplay. one thing u could try is just be active on forums and let ppl know about ur game, maybe put out a few promo codes and for the ppl who get them, tell them to tell others about it. maybe edit the name of the game to make it easier to find. anyways im no pro at apps those are just some ideas. btw, i love the pic of the shrooms in the background
It amazes me that people think they can just write a game and somehow expect it to sell well and are surprised when it doesn't. There's been a number of threads lately like this where the dev can not understand why their game/app is not selling well. Trying not to be harsh here just making a comment... The AppStore has changed from when it first opened and its now so saturated with everyone trying to strike it rich that its very hard to get noticed anymore. The big companies have come in and somehow get the prominent spots in iTunes and in game review sites (money talks I would guess)... Sure I'd like to strike it rich as well but I was one of the lucky ones to get in at the start and make my "millions" (well not millions but quite happy with the take I've brought in) and am now finding it very hard to get noticed... Just the nature of the beast these days... Good luck and in your case I wouldn;t have quit my job first....
Thanks Adever - Very interesting that you've been around in the App Store for long enough to see the changes. May I ask which app you had a hit with and what you have up your sleeve currently, if anything?
I think it's sometimes helpful to think of releasing an iPhone game as not much different from coding a PC game and selling it on your site. Unless people know about your site and game, your sales are going to be tiny. Think about what you need to do to stand out from the crowd.
1) By looking at the screen shots, I have no idea what the game is about 2) By reading the description, I still don't have any idea what the game is about. You should get someone to help you with the English description as there are many grammar and spelling errors and some odd choices of words. Plus, what have you done in terms of marketing? There are very few things that sells itself.
Where to start... Like many people above me already mentioned you can't just hope to get good sales by just putting an app on the AppStore. This was possible a years ago, when they were few apps/games and it was all new. So at that time you were getting visibility for a long time and much more chance to be downloaded/bought as they were few choices. Now you are one of several hundreds release each day, so you got visibility in the new arrivals for about 2 days. Unless you were an instant hit by luck (it does happen, but its like trying to win the lotto), you wont make it to the top 100 and you will disappear in the bottom of the seas in the AppStore. What you need to do is to create a buzz, get a group of followers, let people know and make them rush to the AppStore as soon as you tell them its available. Many of the successful indie developer around here have done marketing prior to their release. And you don't always need a big budget, with the very popular social network such as twitter, facebook you can easily reach a large population (need some work/time but no upfront money like paid advertising). Even here on TouchArcade forums you have a great opportunity to talk about your upcoming games in the dedicated sub-forums for it. People will talk about their upcoming games, what's all about, posting early screenshots/videos, etc... Also you can get some feedback early on to maybe improved things and also get people interested and hooked. And another big advice, don't quite your day job before having made a stable stream of revenue/income from the AppStore. Unless of course you have other means of financial support (your spouse, deposits, etc...). They are a lot of uncertainty in selling apps/games on the AppStore, even if you did a great game, make big publicity/marketing campaign they are still no guarantee it will a smashing success. Take it one step at a time.
For our first app, we marketed like crazy before the release. TA is an awesome place to raise interest! We also made YouTube videos, used twitter, and facebook. It was our companies first product and nobody had ever herd of us before. After having our first game in the App Store for about 1 1/2 months, our sales are pretty good We still think we can do better, so we are always planning out updates. We have had 1 update so far, and we plan to submit our seconds update this coming week. Our app was also featured on "New and Noteworthy" 2 weeks ago, which REALLY helped sales. You have to enjoy making the game and then the money will come to you. We had such a great time making our first app, and now we are still having fun coming up with new level ideas for future versions. Hope this somehow helps you!
