Synesthetic, the App Store and making a living

[Hercule]

Originally Posted by Connector

8. Probably should lower the price to 99 cents. Both Supersonic hd and Boost 2, run at $1.99, and I hate to say this, but I enjoy both more. While I think the graphics in this game are better, due to the above points I think the other games are better. This game has a lot of potential, but if developers want to price their games at the same price, they really need to make sure their games are almost twice as good since the existing games have an advantage already with a good reputation..

Conclusion:

This game has a lot of potential with some game changes and price reductions.

I disagree on the price point.
I don't see a buyer comparing before buying an Ios game at 2$...
Buying a game on the applestore is an impulse buy.

99% of the time, buyer look at your icon and at your screenshot. If it looks like fun, he bought it.

By reducing his price, he will only reduce his income.

[Jason Stark]

Originally Posted by RevolvingDoor

Sad as it may be, my next project will be designed around its marketing and plans for revenue generation, and not vice versa.

It's weird, but if you have a look around, pretty much any monetisation model can be successful -

"Ski Safari" - a simple endless runner with a straight up $1 purchase.
"Temple Run" - a free endless runner with in-app purchasing.
"Ravensword" = a niche RPG with a $7.50 price point

Although planning your marketing alongside your game sounds very sensible to me.

[Connector]

Originally Posted by Alex Dantis

Are you sure about this ? All the graphics are at retina resolution (including the icon), I've checked and double checked. As for the rail it's supposed to take up most of the width of the device (in portrait) otherwise you wouldn't see too much (and it wouldn't look like a rail anymore).

The game syncs with the music. Bumpy music=bumpy track. This is the game's main feature and most seem to agree that it works well. Neither boost nor supersonic do this (Supersonic actually falsely advertises this)..

When I was talking about icon graphics, I was talking about the icon, not the graphics in the game. The game graphics are very good on my new ipad.

My personal view is that a new icon would help.

I can see where you are trying to get the game to sync with the music which the other games really don't do, but there must be some way to make it less bumpy and smooth it out a little. I think making the music visualization in the background like in beat hazard would help.

And I did forget one point in my analysis, it would be nice if the collision sounds were changed. Right now, my music stops and almost has a hiccup sound when it hits something. At first, I thought it may be a bug, but a clang sound would seem better to me. If you are listening to music, it wouldn't seem like you would want it to go mute and a weird sound if you are a music lover. I dunno, maybe some would prefer this, but personally I would rather have a loud clang sound, and music with no interruptions.

Anyway, just giving you my 2 cents worth. Hope it helps in any small way, and good luck, I hope your next project goes as well as you may hope.

[Connector]

Originally Posted by Hercule

I disagree on the price point.
I don't see a buyer comparing before buying an Ios game at 2$...
Buying a game on the applestore is an impulse buy.

99% of the time, buyer look at your icon and at your screenshot. If it looks like fun, he bought it.

By reducing his price, he will only reduce his income.

I think for most buyers though, a game at 99 cents will attract more impulse buyers. I think how the itunes store works nowadays, most buyers will buy games at 99 cents, but if games are priced more, they will do more research, or not buy off impulse.

Also, there is competition at the higher price point from two competitors, so a lower price point may cause more sales.

But if it is niche market, and only a small dedicated market exists, then perhaps a higher price point would be better. But if this game is going to be popular, it needs a lot of sales now, and recommendations either by reviews or word of mouth. So I personally think a lower price point would be good for now. You could raise the price if it did start selling like hotcakes...

Don't want to put Alex on the spot about this, but would be curious too if there were any plans to run a temporary free in the future to promote sales. I know Boost 2 does temporary frees once in a while, and the iphone version of Supersonic is free, only the hd version is premium.

No need for an answer on this part cause I don't think any developer likes to talk about price points on a public forum, but using a free app a day promotion might help.