Hi all, I'm not a developer--rather a graphic designer--and I had an idea for an entertainment app that I'd like see if it's worth developing. Are there any coders out there that would entertain the idea of checking it out and possibly working on it with me? This is my first foray into app development and I'm hoping that I'm not going about it the wrong way or insulting anyone. Please, forgive me if I am. I mocked up the concept and can send the look and feel to anyone that's interested. Thanks in advance. B
Absolutely. It's been the issue since the App Store opened and its never improved. Personally I have pages and pages of game design ideas, and no hopes of ever making all of these into reality. Especially when I still have a day job of consulting to do. That's the other funny thing about the app store- 999 out of 1000 people don't get rich there, so the smart ones do it in their spare time. Sometimes with the goal of getting rich, or maybe just the desire to make something fun to play (as I did). Honestly if you're a good artist you stand a better chance of being commissioned to help someone on their project than to get someone to start on your own project. I've already commissioned one artist for sprite work on my next game, and may be in need of an additional one soon...
Funny that we keep seeing clone after clone of the same crap every day. I see it as there being too many developers without unique ideas. But I know there have been a lot of great unique games released. However...............I think new ideas are a MUCH harder sell in the appstore. A lot of unique ideas will get lost in the appstore mess. I'm thinking that, in many ways, it is a better idea to make a game that isn't too unique so that someone will find in a keyword search. Build a better mousetrap, so to speak.
I don't think that the problem is lack of good ideas. It's lack of profitable ideas. You see a lot of clones, because people want to emulate the success of others. And, as counter intuitive as this may seem, unique ideas may have greater trouble getting noticed in a crowd of clones, simply because people don't know what to look for. On the other hand, if you know you like a certain type of game, when you're searching around for something to buy, you just might see a clone that looks interesting, while the unique game gets overlooked due to poor presentation or a myriad of other variables. While this statement is true to a certain extent (unique ideas getting lost), if it catches on, the reward is much greater than the risk involved, especially relative to another platform. Since the barrier to entry is so low, the distribution channel fairly broad, and the pricing set by the developer...iPhone development is one of the best places to do marketing research or a case study.
