How do I get Touch Arcade to review my game?

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by jamesallen, Dec 19, 2012.

  1. jamesallen

    jamesallen Active Member

    #1 jamesallen, Dec 19, 2012
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2012
    Hi my name's James Allen, I'm 15-years-old and I've recently released my debut iPhone game on the App Store. (iTunes link:http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/save-gloop!/id575122594?ls=1&mt=8, Youtube trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XReXDmcc8c)

    My question is simply, how do I get Touch Arcade to review my game? I know that game isn't terrible, because it has an average of 4.5 stars on the UK App Store, and another review site, TheiPhoneAppReview.com, reviewed Save Gloop! and gave it 4.5 stars and a fantastic review... some things they said include, "It’s fairly rare for me to come across a game that I can’t think of a few others like it" and "incredibly fun to play".

    I've emailed their review people, but got no response... is there anything more I can do? Thanks for any help :)
     
  2. DannyTheElite

    DannyTheElite Well-Known Member

    Oct 13, 2012
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    Not sure but you could send a promo code to Eli.
     
  3. jamesallen

    jamesallen Active Member

    Who's Eli sorry? Cheers
     
  4. DannyTheElite

    DannyTheElite Well-Known Member

    Oct 13, 2012
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    #4 DannyTheElite, Dec 19, 2012
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2012
    He's the person who writes the articles
    you could also try and get someone from TA here.
    The stickied thread about the ta podcast in the iPod touch and iPhone games thread has his forum account with the only post there
    Private message him a promo code.
    However you are not guaranteeed a review.
     
  5. BazookaTime

    BazookaTime Well-Known Member

    Use the submit tip option (top right) and send a promo code.
     
  6. alanappromoter

    alanappromoter Well-Known Member

    Sep 25, 2012
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    app promoter
    London
    We have a few of the TA writers on appromoter.
     
  7. GameHopping

    GameHopping Active Member

    I see that appromoter.com doesn't seem to be for Independent developers, as it requires Company information in the developer signup.
     
  8. Therealtrebitsch

    Therealtrebitsch Well-Known Member

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    #8 Therealtrebitsch, Jan 13, 2013
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2013
    Stop dreaming.
    We had a game ranked #1 Overall for weeks in the US (world wide actually) and we also paid thousands of dollars for advertisement on Toucharcade and they didn't even reply to our email.

    I tell you my opinion about them in a PM if you want :D
    I'd rather don't write it here, because I will be banned...

    I don't even try to submit my apps to them since then.
    I post them here in the forum and that's it.

    There is a forum topic about this however... they say something about 8 bit retro games... that will get you reviewed... or if you are gameloft or so... everything else is waste of time.
     
  9. GameHopping

    GameHopping Active Member

    I think your opinion was pretty 'expressive'. :D
    Thanks for the input.
     
  10. Vovin

    Vovin 👮 Spam Police 🚓

    Nov 28, 2009
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    #10 Vovin, Jan 13, 2013
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2013

    What has advertising to do with a review?

    Both things are completely different. Advertising is a service you pay for and get promoted on one of the largest iOS gaming sites, the other thing is the review. When they see a game or get notice of buzz of an app in the forum and the initial impression is good, then it's downloaded by them and played. If the game is enjoyable, they write a review. There are rarely reviews about bad games or games they don't really like. That's actually quite nice because they don't wastey time as their reader.

    But, afaik, you can never ask, pay (bribe) or force them into writing a review.
    I like the system. While a certain independence is ensured this way, you can normally trust them about the game's quailty. Again, only in four or five cases I was suspecting that they act biased. That's not much when you break it down to several hundreds of reviews.

    Moreover, I don't wanna know how much promo codes and askings for a review are bombing down into Eli's mail account on a weekly or even daily base. According to the app release rate, must be serveral dozens of them.

    If they would react to your poutish behaviour or some other pressure, they'd lose some respect of their readers. Not a good thing, if your life is based on this website. You're disappointed, that's all.
     
  11. Jez Hammond

    Jez Hammond Well-Known Member

    Oct 20, 2012
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    Agreed the system here does seem to work, considering the huge amount of games released (I heard 150/day ?).

    It's a worse feeling when you setup a TestFlightApp beta and invite the team to check out your efforts, only to see that the email invite which TFA sends out never even gets opened! Eli once tweeted a screenshot of his inbox-count, it read something like "42..x"!! Guess that was over 4K unread...hopefully it wasn't 40k (I don't want to know lol!).

    Well I was lucky as the great Dave Frampton gave me some excellent advice after I tweeted that my testers were slacking. (Public tweet) "@majicDave: @JezHammond_com TBH that’s probably telling you something very useful. Your players probably won’t get much further either." - cheers mate I see the light! :O)
     
  12. Therealtrebitsch

    Therealtrebitsch Well-Known Member

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    #12 Therealtrebitsch, Jan 13, 2013
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2013
    I didn't say, they have to review my game because I advertise with them. I don't want paid reviews either, because I believe in objective newscasting.

    I just think, if I already paid for their living an ammount of money which others earn in months, then I can expect a reply to my email at least with the words "Sorry no. Your game sucks. Thanks for your money though".


    What didn't you understand from the words "Number 1 all over the world for weeks"?
    In german: Nummer eins auf der ganzen Welt, wochen lang.
    I think that is pretty recognizable and doesn't really mean a bad game.
    FYI the game's free version is still downloaded around 800 times a day after almost 3 years.

    The game was even before Angry Birds and Chillingo... There were not too much big publishers back then who they could... let's say be friends with.

    And to be honest.... I don't care how many emails they get.
    They earn insane ammount of money, so they could afford 1 or 2 guys who read and sort emails the whole day.
    They of course don't have to do it, because as we see, the system works this way too, but it shows how they don't care about you, me or anybody else, except the big players on the market.

    And yes, if you ask...I am pissed off since then and I pray that one day they have a reason to come to me so I can laugh into their face.
     
  13. BravadoWaffle

    BravadoWaffle Well-Known Member

    Sep 25, 2010
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    It's been said before, and it will be said again...

    Make a good game.
    Get community on the TA forum interested in the thread.
    Post on it and share updates.
    The Mods will take notice.

    TouchArcade is a fan service. If the fans want a review, they will get a review.

    Cater to the fans, not the Mods. That's the secret.

    Also- meet the dudes at a convention or something. They are real people and nice genuine guys. They'll probably give ya a minute to show them your game, so make sure you can show something amazing in 60 seconds or less, and you'll have their ear.
     
  14. Moonjump

    Moonjump Well-Known Member

    May 17, 2010
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    Nothing on Touch Arcade, which is why I trust their reviews. Unfortunately this isn't the case for many other review sites.
     
  15. Vovin

    Vovin 👮 Spam Police 🚓

    Nov 28, 2009
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    Doesn't work always! ;)
    I remember threads where a lot of people were raving about a game but it never made it on the front page. Then there were threads which were barely visited, but the game got a full front page review. It always depends...

    But no, tA is not a fan service. There were a lot of threads with people complaining because a game got no front page review, but even that did not help.
     
  16. touchten

    touchten Well-Known Member

    Nov 10, 2009
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    I guess nothing is fair in life,

    But I will continue to dream that one day our game can be reviewed by TA

    Actually it is one of my life long ambition..

    Isn't it kind of sad? To base your life long ambition on a website with a forum? Hahaha

    ........

    Now I am getting depressed..

    Somebody cheer me up?
     
  17. bramblett05

    bramblett05 Well-Known Member

    Aug 29, 2012
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    One of the best infinite runner/shoot em up games out there :)
     
  18. touchten

    touchten Well-Known Member

    Nov 10, 2009
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    *blush*
    Thank you for that.. bramblett05

    Like always, we will continue dreaming!
    And we will make great games! That we are sure of!!

    And one day guys.. One day our game will be in TA front page! And I will update this thread! :D
     
  19. chimpman252

    chimpman252 Well-Known Member

    May 8, 2012
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    Front Staff at Chinese Restaurant
    So uh... What is this #1 spot game you keep talking about?
     
  20. headcaseGames

    headcaseGames Well-Known Member

    Jun 26, 2009
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    Hollywood, CA
    I will never get what all the hubbub is about "get my game reviewed on TA, it's my #1 goal in life." Oh sure, it would be nice, no one will argue that, but like anything I can't say it amounts to little more than a nice little pat on the back in some ways. Yes, TA review will get you seen more, and get your game a few more downloads, and might even help your chances getting featured in iTunes and all of that.

    But those things can happen anyway without a TA review. Just the same, a review will not guarantee sales/feature/etc anyway. I've seen that happen more than a few times.

    What one should aspire to, really, is this - make a good game. That's hard enough in itself.. and just as importantly, spend a large chunk of time building up a social presence, stoke the community, contact with & engage the media wherever you can. Try to find some nice unusual angles to play with the story of your project. Honestly, it's been a very long time since I've released anything and dealt with this stuff so I can only expect it's way wayyyyy harder now to get attention and sales then before (and it was already beyond difficult then!) Difficult but not impossible.

    Overall, if you insist that you must get that TA coverage - keep a sharp eye on the games regularly covered on their front page. If you can genuinely produce something of the caliber that they usually like (this is a tall order), then obviously it's gonna be way easier to sell them on it. You really have to be honest with yourself, can your game hang with the best of what's being shown? A lot of what's featured is often looking like it's pretty heavy-duty production quality. Take a good hard look and see where you stand.
     

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