The ratings disappearing isn't just you. It's all across the store right now. They're in the middle of making a change, hopefully for the better. As for your screenshots, you shouldn't load update screenshots until your update is live, as it applies to the current version as well.
Good point on the updated screenshots. I did notice the ratings were haywire for many people after my posting. Our screenshots have always had weird issues though from the day the app went live. On the device sometimes they work, on iTunes via a computer they have been down mostly, except the principal image. It's frustrating as our game relies on the artwork and I dare say most customers base their purchases on screen shots alone. I may be wrong, but it's frustrating all the same.
The outage may not last long enough to make any conclusions, but it will be interesting to see what effect the temporary lack of user ratings has on download trends. For apps already on the top lists, I think this will further skew buys towards high ranking apps away from higher-rated apps that happen to be further down the first page. On the flip side, there are a number of games with beautiful screenshots that are, by all accounts, downright horrible (no sound, crashes, misleading description etc.). I expect these sorts of apps will get a temporary boost in buys, followed by a new wave of negative feedback.
It's only natural that Ethan be worried about whether his next game is a hit. For the smaller developer, there are two high level strategies: - focus narrowly on making a single, incredible app - make lots of simpler apps and see what sticks Ethan's already had great success with the former strategy, and so it's only natural for him to try to do that again. Whatever he does will no doubt get lots of visibility and media attention simply based on his fame from iShoot. I'd be surprised if Apple didn't feature his 2nd game immediately out of the gate. The fact that he's worried shows that he knows what a big risk he's taking. I don't think it's fair to lump him in with folk gambling away their life savings. Phil
With iShoot? Not to say anything negative about iShoot it's an incredibly fun little game but it doesn't stand out as having a huge amount of effort put into coding it, I think it's a pretty simple game. Isn't it possible he took your second approach but just got lucky with his first simple game? Not to intentionally under-estimate the developer, but if he came out with an equally simple game, I'm not sure if it would do too well unless he managed to hit on another addictive gameplay mechanic, but I do think a certain amount of luck went into his first game it's not exactly a huge idea after all - just Worms with tanks.
+1, Not sure how many indie developers that research takes into account. It took me 4 months working part time to build my first game (starting from scratch, learning objective-c), and I did all the programming, graphics and sound myself, so, my costs: £700 on a macbook (I needed to buy a laptop anyway) + £59 for the developer program. I never set high hopes thinking that it'll make me a millionaire, and I won't leave my day job even if it did. So I think it's all up to the developers to be sensible enough, keeping costs low, and making apps to the best of their ability. Some will do well, some won't, but there is definitely a chance out there to make it big, without taking too much risk.
