Thanks for all the advice, guys. Really helpful. I've already made the graphics more saturated, decreased the grid lines so they are barely noticeable, and began working on a new icon. I'll work on some better screenshots and clearer description, and get all this out in the update we'll be submitting this week.
Hey there Hobbsicle, Just bought the game and I like it very much. I wanted to throw in my opinion. I agree with most of what's been said, and I do like the graphics. Seeing the screenshots of the level and the island like landscapes definitely intrigued me to try it. However one thing that did put me off was the icon and particularly the main character. Sorry, I hope to not cause offense! The whole balls with eyes approach is extremely hard to design well. So it generally doesn't look very nice, with few exceptions. World of Goo managed to pull it off somehow, it worked as a whole, perhaps because there were so many of them. But just a single World of Goo ball as a game protagonist wouldn't have looked good, imo. I know you probably don't want to make such a major change, but I do believe a main character redesign could make an enormous difference. Gameplay is great, and that style of game can do very well (I met the dev who wrote a lovely game called Quell once, and that's had a decent amount of success I think). I can understand it's tricky to communicate this style of gameplay in screenshots, perhaps a screenshot with a series of faint arrows indicating the path of up/down/left/right movements to complete part of a level might work? The key thing is communicating the "movement until you hit something" aspect, as that will immediately be recognized by fans of the genre. Hope this helps!
Thanks for your input! You know, the "main character" (not really the main character overall, but it is on the first world) has slowly become one of my least favorite parts of the game, because he's just not very interesting. I could see how that would be a bit of a turnoff. We've been working on world 2, and the main character for that one is much better looking, I think. I had been thinking that I would just try releasing World 2 asap, and just use that character for the icon, but I hadn't really thought about redesigning the first character. I think I'm pretty well set in the whole balls with eyes thing in general, as it would require a complete overhaul to do a different type of character altogether. But redesigning the way he looks may not be so difficult. Here's one concept graphic I just worked up. Does this guy look any more appealing?
I wanted to say something bout the whole balls with eyes theme, but I wasn't as brave as amroc. xD Maybe something to add more character? To make them stand out. Like the Dad, he has glasses, a pencil and a tie, the son has a cap. I love those. Maybe a mustache and a monocle gentleman, or a bowtie, a funny hat or a clown nose. A ribbon, tiara or flower on her head if its female. Something to make them unique and not just a ball with googly eyes. Something to make the user say "heh, that's funny" or "that's so cuuuute!"
I gotta be honest, the character still isn't doing for me. He's lacking any real 'character'. Something about the icon also rubs me the wrong way. I can't tell if it's the color scheme or what, or maybe that it's too busy. It could be that I'm just not attached to the character. Overall, he looks too plain and I don't think the fur is doing him any favors, either. Basically, I think you're going for something generically 'cute', but missing out on a cohesive theme or style. The character needs some soul. iPhone classic Rolondo is probably one of the better 'rolling ball' games I've seen, which, admittedly, aren't really my cup of tea. However, they do have some good character designs: Little Big Planet, though it uses characters, is also an OK place to draw some inspiration for creative character design.
I think the pupils are too dilated on the main character, makes him look too spaced out (too much black middle bit and not enough blue bit). Also the specular highlight is too diffuse, eyes need high specularity to look realistic. The main improvement I would say is you can add a load of character by just adding eyebrows - look how the Rolando characters have such varied expressions depending on eyebrow tilt. Mouth less so, so a mouth is optional.
Thanks for all the comments. It was good to have those examples. Honestly, I've never really liked the look of the Rolando characters, but I do appreciate that they all have their own character to them. Here are some concepts I worked up. What do you think of these?
They're great! Nice work - they've got loads of character now. The eyes look infinitely better and adding a mouth gave it more character than I thought.
The accessories and eyebrows are definitely helping a lot! I'm liking the one with the red bandana. I'm not too sold on the idea of a hairy ball though (dunno if you're working that angle for humor).
Yeah, I like the mouths for sure, I was actually going to post that in my last post, but I figured you didn't want a mouth. I like the red bandana one, but the mouth maybe you could make smiling or a smirk. Maybe you could make us one with a bandana, kind of like the one you see in movies a white one with the japanese red flag symbol on the front like in karate kid or something, maybe a martial arts based one. Or one with a mohawk, one with big glasses, a cute female blond one, a zombie or vampire one, a robot one, pirate hat, fishermans hat, etc... Just throwing out some ideas cause I really don't know what the game is all about. Looking forward to seeing how your game evolves, if you need a beta tester, just hollar.
Thanks for all the help, guys! Update just submitted, and I think all of your suggestions are really going to help improve this game, and hopefully its sales as well.
We just released our debut game, Operation Smoochy, for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad about a week ago. The game is based on my Boston Terrier, Smoochy (my wife named him; I swear ), and the premise of the game is simple, but the levels themselves are quite challenging: Roxy and the puppies have been captured by the evil monsters. Get revenge by using Smoochy to blast your way through hordes of zombies, killer clowns and frankensteins using a combination of reflex and skill. We have a number of solid reviews/ratings, some decent sales so far, but I agree things move frustratingly slow and you start to question if your game will ever gain traction/do I suck. Hoping some app review sites come through, but my guess is they are backed up for a bit because of all the new games and updates due to the release of the iPhone 5 (developers want there 50 new promo codes ) I think its getting harder and harder to stand out as more publishers with large budgets flee consoles for the App Store. The bar is now ridiculously high for expectations of users. Like the girl from Willy Wonka-they want the world; they want the whole world. That means app icon, gameplay, graphics, music/sfx-EVERYTHING-must be top-notch to stand out in a crowded market. If you saw the movie IndieGamer, we are the games, that if sold at Gamespot, etc, would have to be asked for by customers as we're not on the "shelves." That's a rough starting point. Best advice is the advice I've seen here, which is stay patient, listen to the feedback and adjust from there...and pray. IMO, $1.99 is just not where the market is these days. I'm not saying you didn't work hard or its not "worth" that, but the market is really free and 99 cents for the most part, especially as an indie. If anyone has suggestions on my game, please let me know as well. The game can be found at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/operation-smoochy/id555651007?mt=. Our game trailer can be found at http://www.youtube.com/OperationSmoochy. Because our star is a dog/boston terrier, we've been posting on all Boston Terrier sites and have stickers and tshirts with Smoochy on them that we'll hand out at Boston "meetups." I'd love to hear people's thoughts/criticisms at [email protected]. Thanks and good luck to all the indie developers out there; it ain't easy, but is there anything cooler?!
I saw this thread title and immediately thought of TWWR before I clicked on it. The real shame to me is that it got no attention from TA. I know they can't review everything, but this is a fantastic app that deserves more attention than it has received.
I don't have a lot of suggestions for improvement - I got the game while free, mostly to try out, but as noted had no idea what the game was about. Turned out to be quite good, but I would never have bought it, as I had no idea what the puzzle aspects of the game was about. Really needs work on conveying the type of puzzler it is. Nothing to do with improving sales, but I never understand why the minimum number of moves is never advertised? I mean does it need to be a secret? Mondrian had a clever way - finish the puzzle, then it tells you what your move number is, and what the minimum is. I think people that like these types of puzzles tend to be OCD about getting all 3 orbs, and getting the star as well. I am hoping you do well with this, as I will be looking for future offerings from you, but I understand the app store is a tough market.
@MarcJay: Thanks for the thoughts, and congrats on your new game! I'll be checking it out here soon, and will let you know my impressions. @Misguided: As always, thanks for your awesome support. With fans like you, who needs sales? Well, I guess we still kinda do. But seriously, it's great knowing that there are people who have really enjoyed our game and have been vocal about their encouragement and support. @Pluto: Thanks for your thoughts! You'll be glad to note that everything you mentioned has been dealt with and is included in the update we sent to Apple yesterday. You will now know when you start a level what the required number of moves is, and also have a counter to let you know how many you're at. We've also updated screenshots and description to hopefully aid in knowing how the puzzle mechanic works.
Thanks Hobbsicle. I wish you much success as well buddy. I find it very hard to get your point across via static screenshots and text as well. It's not just you. I think you've actually received some very good ideas here. When we first designed the backgrounds for our game, we went with more realistic colors as it seemed to make sense logically as our settings were a city, carnival and castle. Then you have to take a step back and say, although logic is great, I'm making a game so I don't have to bound by all the rules of reality. We brightened our colors to make them pop more and I think (or do we just say hope ) it made a big difference. I also agree that the app icon is HUGE and main characters have to be lovable and/or cool so I think your changes will help. i think users almost become the main character and who doesn't want to be lovable or cool?
I see your game and think it's good, I think the main problem is not the game itself, but the promotion. I'm a new developer too, hope you find some effective promotion measures. Maybe you can contact some publishers
Have you contacted app review sites? Here's a list of about 100+ sites that you might want to consider pitching your app to: http://maniacdev.com/2012/05/ios-app-review-sites/ Hope it helps!
