1.99 to 0.99?

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by ktfright, Dec 9, 2009.

  1. ktfright

    ktfright Well-Known Member

    Dec 18, 2008
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    Student,Rapper,Game Dev.
    Hawthorne,California
    Hi just had a question...

    My game "Stickman Dan's Dreamfall" has just got released, and so far I haven't heard anything bad about it yet. However, in the back of my mind, I feel like people won't buy it because it is worth 1.99 instead of 0.99. Should I try to stick to this original pricing, because I think its worth 1.99, or make a sale, or at least a Christmas sale or something.

    Also made a blog post sort of related to this.
    http://teamdropkick.wordpress.com/
     
  2. Short sales are good every once in a while. Lots of price-tracking sites (like this one) post when an app has a sales drop. In my experience, there's a small spike where you make more money, then it evens out with the income you'd get at $2.
     
  3. bravetarget

    bravetarget Well-Known Member

    Sep 14, 2009
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    That isn't a stickman, he has a body that goes beyond 1 pixel width.

    Also, don't sell your app what you think it's worth, sell your app what your customers will think it's worth.
     
  4. goldglover411

    goldglover411 Well-Known Member

    Apr 11, 2009
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    ipod touch game reviewer
    USA
    i posted a review on http://pocketfullofapps.com/ and i gave a lot of suggestions because i felt this game could be improved...one of those things i said was that i felt the game was not worth 1.99...but ill let you make up your mind
     
  5. ktfright

    ktfright Well-Known Member

    Dec 18, 2008
    587
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    Student,Rapper,Game Dev.
    Hawthorne,California
    Yeah, thank you for the review. I also made a comment over ther about how I couldn't currently implement certain features you asked because of limitation to the program I use, but I guess dropping the price is best if that's what the people want. I just don't wanna be a dev that makes dumb 0.99 cent apps.
     
  6. Flickitty

    Flickitty Well-Known Member

    Oct 14, 2009
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    iPhone Dev
    hey! :)
     
  7. ktfright

    ktfright Well-Known Member

    Dec 18, 2008
    587
    3
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    Student,Rapper,Game Dev.
    Hawthorne,California
    Okay, I'll try that too, but that's how I usually draw stick people.

    I read countless things about semi secret saying that canabalt to them was worth 2.99, and they got flames because of that. People think their app is worth less than that, but it could just be very important to semi secret. But thats just my word on the subject.

    I'm probably gonna do an indefinite price drop after postng this.:(
     
  8. bravetarget

    bravetarget Well-Known Member

    Sep 14, 2009
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    You'd prefer to be the dev that makes dumb $1.99 apps?

    Not saying your apps are dumb, it's just that making $0.99 apps shouldn't be frowned upon. The games I play the most were 99 cents when I bought them.
     
  9. ktfright

    ktfright Well-Known Member

    Dec 18, 2008
    587
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    Student,Rapper,Game Dev.
    Hawthorne,California
    Okay, that's good to hear. I guess while I do a price drop, from the looks of things, what should I improve on (other than high scores and stuff; limited to the GS program) to make the game more appealing?
     
  10. Flickitty

    Flickitty Well-Known Member

    Oct 14, 2009
    761
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    iPhone Dev
    #10 Flickitty, Dec 9, 2009
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2009
    Well first of all, you don't have a free/lite version. If you think that a free/lite version will cost you sales, then you need to really rethink your overall strategy- are you trying to sucker people into buying your app? That isn't a good business model.

    Try doing something with your icon. I think the image of Dan falling is much better visually and probably the most intriguing part of the game.

    Adjust your palette. The sketchy grey is great, but the other colors don't work so well, even in an MS Paint ironic funny way. Choose a more subtle pallette and stick to it.

    Keep Dan and the background objects grey and make sure all other object contain at least some color (even the airplane, unless that is a background object).

    The screenshots really need to be punched up as much as possible.
     
  11. MidianGTX

    MidianGTX Well-Known Member

    Jun 16, 2009
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    Please don't do that, some of us would rather the devs actually got what they'd earned rather than bankrupting everyone and destroying any hope of seeing good iPhone games in the future.
     
  12. Eli

    Eli ᕕ┌◕ᗜ◕┐ᕗ
    Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold

    How does the amount you've played a game in any way relate to its price?
     
  13. 9000bcgame

    9000bcgame Well-Known Member

    Sep 11, 2009
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    Hey! :) :)
     
  14. bravetarget

    bravetarget Well-Known Member

    Sep 14, 2009
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    I didn't say lower the price. I was implying that he should put himself in the shoes of someone browsing the app store, downloading the game, and playing it, rather than someone who spent weeks or months developing the app and putting in all the hard work and blah blah blah.

    He was saying 99 cent apps are a bad thing. I was providing a counter-point.
     
  15. Flickitty

    Flickitty Well-Known Member

    Oct 14, 2009
    761
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    iPhone Dev
    LOL!

    I have 9000 BC BTW, it is a great little game with some pretty nice art. I have a friend that works in a similar style, and I'm trying to convince him that his style COULD work on the iPhone. I should show him 9000 BC.
     
  16. Eli

    Eli ᕕ┌◕ᗜ◕┐ᕗ
    Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold

    Pandering to people who care about nothing more than getting things for a rock bottom price seems to provide little more than frustration for developers.
     
  17. MidianGTX

    MidianGTX Well-Known Member

    Jun 16, 2009
    3,738
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    His next game's got some awesome looking artwork as well, show him that too ;)
     
  18. ktfright

    ktfright Well-Known Member

    Dec 18, 2008
    587
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    Student,Rapper,Game Dev.
    Hawthorne,California
    I first didn't do a lite version because, honestly, when i get the lite version of a game, i never buy it. also i read that it doesn't really convert well in terms of moving sales.

    i can fix the icon on the next update, honestly it was supposed to be more blue than that, and i like how it looks, but not when you view it on the iphone appstore

    the look of the game now is what i was going for, and i thought that everything (except the plane and clouds and background) should have color as opposed to something that was all greyed out.

    i don't really understand what you mean by pallete for the colors. grey all colored items?
     
  19. nattylux

    nattylux Well-Known Member

    Sep 17, 2008
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    Washington, DC
    I keep hearing developers say they want to charge how much the app is "worth" - how in the world do you determine that on a per-app basis?

    Ultimately, you want to maximize this:

    revenue = # units sold * unit price.


    So if you think you can sell 100,000 copies at $0.99 and 25,000 copies at $1.99, then you should make your price $0.99, because then you'll make more money. Making the price higher would actually be devaluing the worth of your app, because you'd make 50% less $$ overall.

    As for how much you think you'll sell, you need to look at the market and see how similar apps are doing and what people are willing to pay for them. If you're creating, say, a line drawing game, of which there are about a million at this point, and all of them are $0.99 - if you price yours at $4.99, you'd be robbing yourself of all the profits.

    However, if you're creating an RPG, $6.99 seems to be the going price that people are willing to pay.
     
  20. Flickitty

    Flickitty Well-Known Member

    Oct 14, 2009
    761
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    iPhone Dev
    Free versions aren't required- and for some apps it would probably kill sales- Pocket God might be such an app. But honestly, how many daily US sales are you talking about losing here?

    I've bought many apps based on free versions, but I certainly wouldn't use my buying habits as the App Store norm.

    We see about a 20% conversion from Free to Full version purchases, which indicates that our Free version is decent enough to get peoples attention and they want more. 20% is actually pretty high, and many apps are much higher.

    What I mean by palette, is choose a palette of colors and stick to it. There are many different ways to do this.

    ColorSchemer- based on a single dominant color

    Color Palette Generator- based on an image

    I'd recommend plugging a vintage poster image into the Generator, in order to get a subdued palette that would work well with your greys.
     

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