Just a clinic observation, if there's no logic flaws: 1) I released a game as free in Jan.6, 2012, there are hundreds (approaching 1000) downloads in the frist two days. 2) I relased a lite version (also free) two days ago, and the first two days' downloads are only around one hundred. All other conditions are same, no marketing campaigns, same icons, etc... The only difference might be the Lite keyword. But I suppose it does not have that great impact? Is the app store expanding so fast and the situation deteriorating that bad?
I remember when your game first appeared and you had a thread in the forums here. Perhaps a large chunk of those initial downloads came from TA users and there was much fewer downloads from here on the Lite version since many of us had already played the full version. Your game is very good so I wish you luck in getting some traction. I really doubt there is much difference in the App Store between a few months ago and now. It seems like it is a huge challenge to make and market a successful game on it.
Nice to meet you again. Indeed I took that into account. I posted here in TA on the third day after the game was released. So I still cannot figure it out.
The free market and the paid market are drastically different from one another for various reasons; it is a good rule of thumb to expect significantly low download numbers of a purely free app, as compared to a paid app which might temporarily go free. In the case of the latter, a lot of sites/services will automatically report it for you, helping you get those thousands of free downloads; whereas in the purely free app's case, there is no such coverage and therefore significantly reduced visibility. The app store has functioned in this way for years by now.
This. With the current low pricing on the App Store, its almost too much bother to download a lite, as you might end up playing it, and if you dont, then you at least have the full game for peanuts.