Yeah, I definitely think it is challenging for non-english developers. You are already 1000x better than I am in any other language. I can't imagine even posting in a forum where I can't speak/type the language let alone creating and marketing a game in that language. Your best bet is to find a camera to record the game play. The best is if you could borrow from a friend...or if you live near an electronic's shop that sells cameras (here we have Best Buy) you could bring your own memory card, plug in the memory card, and then tape yourself playing the game at the store... it's probably not the best, but if you are on a budget it's one way you could get it done...
Yeah we did some lite versions for a US client who insisted they were the only thing that would boost sales. They did nothing. For three different games. For our own stuff we are avoiding Lite versions like the plague.
You actually have had more downloads than my game, War 3100. I spent close to a year on it and having 5 sales or so a day isn't exactly overwhelming. I get lots of good personal reviews and comments but so far no real sales. I did much better with my XBox 360 Community Game Exisled. I'm hoping sales of War 3100 pick up to justify it's website and of course future development. I did the same thing as you as well, submitted it to many sites with promo codes but so far have not received a review. I may get one, but so far nothing.
fwish, you might want to read up on these articles and see what successful devs have done: Bolt Creative http://www.industrygamers.com/galleries/industry-insights-10-tips-to-succeed-on-iphone/1/ Video Capture Tips Courtesy of Firemint http://firemintgames.blogspot.com/2009/07/iphone-app-video-making-tips.html The alternative to camera vidcap is for you to use software like ScreenFlow. We swear by it.
It's kind of sad... I don't know what to tell you. There's just too many games out there and not enough customers. Most iphone owners don't even play games on it, after all, and of the ones that do it's still a small percent who buy them more than occasionally. It's just not as great a market as it may seem to be. Plus there's a new great-looking game coming out every day now, so it's easy for something like this, that looks decent but isn't a Minigore or Defender Chronicles, to just get passed over. Maybe developers with games that just aren't selling (and that don't look like they're ever going to sell) should consider teaming up. I bet a lot of people might buy a "game pack" with a bunch of overlooked games for 99 cents who wouldn't have bought them individually. I know, you won't make much money at all off that, but at least you'd get something Just a thought.
after looking at the video the game does look pretty decent. the accellerometer controls look very accurate and the graphics look really good in motion. although, the basic idea of the game still deos not appeal to me, i think that as a developer you show alot of promise and i hope that your not disscouraged by the response you get from this game. i decided to buy the game and try it out. its an alright game and the controls are decent. i am still a little turned off by the lack of depth and one small change i think that might be easy to implement maybe a bonus multiplier for having sharks chasing you as you go for the treasure. you can have most sharks add 1 to your multiplier and the slow pink ones can add two becuase its hard to keep them chasing you. overall its not asnd awful game but still not something that i would eager to buy.
thanks for your advise,a bonus multiplier ,very good idea, I will think about it,and see if it will be done in the next update
I played the demo . Its all very well made The one suggestion I would have is to have game larger than 1 screen. I think it would be cool to be able to keep going down and explore deeper in the ocean.
thanks, that will be a huge change of all the levels that I have designed,I will thingk about it,but maybe it will be more fun
The reason why is the Application Description Your presentation is not good enough 7 points here: 1. the title and the icon is not understandable 2. the icon giving a wrong information/expectation/impression 3. the screen shot is telling nothing about the game play 4. the game graphic maybe too fancy 5. wrong order of the description in app store 6. lack of instruction in the website 7. only give a youtube link in your site before I explain my point, I apologize here for my poor english, I am from Hong Kong, english is not my first language. 1. the title and the icon is not understandable When I read the the title "Shark's Treasure", I think the treasure is belong to the shark, and I am the shark defeating enemy to protect my treasures. But the second minute, I think maybe I am a diver who chasing and defeating the shark to get the treasure. I am not sure, but okay, I know its about Shark and treasure, and it should be excited. suggestion: something like Getting Treasure. I mean add a verb into the title. Because what is lacked in the title is a purpose/an objective/ a goal/ the reason why a player should avoid the shark and diving under the sea. They dont care it was a shark or a lion, they care about how happy they are when they play, Beside, heres a shark on the icon already, you dont have to mention it again. 2. the icon giving a wrong information/expectation/impression What make me think like that? Because the Icon, it seem like a very excited action game, I expect its style is "metal slug"-like game. However it is not, The icon is giving wrong information/expectation/impression to me. The icon and the screenshot is totally different, i feel like being tricked. Its not what i expected, I think the STYLE inside the GAME should be SIMILAR to the ICON. However, its only a Casual game.... Come on!! Can you see the mouth of the shark on the icon ???? The Sharps BITING!!! So Dangerous!!! It scare you!!! Make you nervous, Right!? But whats this screenshot? Is it scaring you ? making you nervous, feel dangerous? NOoooooooooo, its not. Divergence of the screenshot and icon is disappointing me. even though both icon and screenshot are great. 3. the screen shot is telling nothing about the game play Okay, whatever. let me take a look on the screenshot. mmmm...... a lot of shark, a lot of treasure, mmmm...... which shark am I ? or OH~ I am the treasure!? no no no I am the submarine, its too small, and look like a shark, I just didnt see it.(screenshot 1) so what should i do next? attack the shark to protect the treasure? yes i think so. i got a lot of ball under the sea (screenshot 2) which are not shown on the screenshot 1 and the numbers of the sharks decreased. These should be the weapons:my bombs, but hold on why is the shark on right top corner seems not getting hurt? how does it work? er?? wait, attack shark to get 20 point?(screenshot 3) what? and defend submarine to get 100???? so what character is my role? hey finally an instruction in the screenshot, but its not readable because font is small and the complicated background raise the difficulty for reading... after i read it i finally found that i was wrong , i should avoid the sharks and collect the treasures to win.. its really not what i expected at the first time i saw the icon........ and it seems boring because the screenshot is lack of motion i know its not a video, but i cant see any visual effect about: a. how submarine move(change the ways of bubbles and make it bigger) b. whats happen when submarine is attacked(blink or submarine cry) c. anything special when submarine got the treasure the first 2 screenshot are no different to me until i see the screenshot 3 and so does the screenshot 4, its similar 1 and 2. And finally the screenshot 5, is it any meaning about score when the players dont understand the gameplay?????? 4. the game graphic maybe too fancy actually its not what i want to say, but i dont know how to say it because my poor english..whatever, okay. Look at the screenshot 5 again, the numbers of the treasure and percentage, time is too thin and close to the color of the water and so does the next button and main menu button, its my suggestion a: after clear the stage, dont show the score immediately on the background. change the screen first, because the last image when clear stage is too complicated for display the score (since a lot of sharks and sea urchin there) b: paste a transparent box between the score and the background 5. wrong order of the description in app store similar reason to my 3rd point in my opinion, a good presentation emphasis the focal point is it any meaning about scores(reviews) when the players dont understand the gameplay? before you tell them iphonetech78 reviews: what 4.5/5, what 4.7/5 there is something more important, its INTRODUCING YOUR GAME I think the below paragraph should be the first paragraph The deep blue ocean is full of luxurious treasures ...............are you up to the challenge? because almost all the information about your game is in that 4 lines. how to play should be the second part of your description and Features is after it. an example, imagine its website about a product it tell you Someone reviews like this 10/10 10/10 Fantastic, beautifully, perfect, irresistible, very cool an underwater product what kinda image is in your head now? a camera case for diving? frogmans flipper? or a brush for brushing toilet? I dont mean iphonetech78s review is bad but first let your target customers understand the game first, then place the reviews in the last part of your description to tell your target customer that your game is great the second reason to place that review in the last part of your description, because there s url in the review find video here: http://www.fwish.net if that line is near Orangefish.INC WEB Site, dont you think its better? and introduction of your game should be short, because its only a casual game, your description seems a bit long, (just like my reply ) another reason is that the usage of description is to make people understand your product, so please keep it simple, readable. I think not much people is willing to read that long description in app store because the font so small if they want to know more they will click your web site 6. lack of instruction in the website a. as your site, its great to keep not too much things on it(home page) but i think the icon is too small and and words is too long i think you should make it shorter, and delete one of those sentence like: Sharks treasure A great action and puzzle game learn more and make it into 1 link. before i tried all 4 links, i thought the best acc....ever made is an external link to some review, but actually no different all 4 links. the reason to delete the best acc....ever made is that your game is not on the top 100 and a lot of dev not on the top 100 say that as well b. and the i.Decide should not be in the same column because its not clickable you should put it the bottom of the page and the font of coming soon should be bigger c. after click in the page of Sharks treasure its so messy i think c.1. logo of orangerfish is too big, it should be smaller because i have seen it in the homepage already c.2. the logo of the game should be in the middle of page, its okay not in the middle, but not that right to the edge c.3. the paragraph is too high, i think its describing orangefish rather than sharks treasure c.4. font too small c.5. picture is too small and clickable c.6. the background color is blue, which too closed to the screenshot make screenshot unreadable 7. only give a youtube link in your site why you dont embed it into the website? its much better to read your introduction, and it had better embed in homepage under the logo of sharks treasure I havent try the lite version yet. if i tried it, maybe i can give you more comments
I really don't know what to say except thank you but since we came from the same country--China,maybe next time ,we can talk in chinese ,easy for both you can me please ,please try my lite version. my email [email protected]
I did something based on your advise ,such as video embed in homepage,change to a better screenshot,ans so on,thanks again and after the video out, download increase to 8 from 2,when lite come out,it's back to 5 a day. I think I don't have much to do right now, just wait the 1.1 update,then begin with 1.2 . good luck everyone
To tell you the truth.. It's the app store market. Several people dont find 2D games very entertaining. But there is something I could give you ideas on that hopefully will work. If you really want to sell that bad, i suggest making the submarine with a very close view, then add controls to it to make it move aroud, this will make it harder, but graphic wise, more fun. This is just something simple, im not shure if it will work, but small things could mean a lot. There is something else which is making letters/numbers more colorful. You've already got some good reviews, so the gameplay looks nice. And $160- is pretty decent (if you've already got a job).
Acually just make it more visually appealing !! I acually enjoyed the game very much! The problem is is that my mom wont let me use her credit (i have money, and 16, but not old enough) until later on.. But i really recommend this game! Also add saving and 3 player slots (if you havent done so) and make the sub bigger and a bigger map , sorry if im asking too much.
There are lots of good comments in this thread which I think apply to many cases nowadays. I'll add another, from my own point of view as a customer whose money you're after, and as an observer. App store deluge. Yes...there's too much to keep track of. This is probably one of the reasons. I have limited amount of money I use for iPhone apps - be it games, utilities, or whatever...and limited space on the device. Not to mention limited time I spend on these things. Personal thing. Also the tyranny of low, low prices ("Customer! Do not go there! We have lower prices!" "No! We just lowered our price, just for you! Always look out for the sale!"). We have been quite indoctrinated in this matter. Bad for you, good for me - and I always look out for me...you do not matter. But in the end, bad for both, eventually. But I ramble... Reviews. The culling of "please review my game" mails. Another source of deluge? Sites and their reviewers may be swamped with this kind of mail...no idea if this is really so. If so, they may be quite selective and only review apps from a "credible" source (where credible is somebody already proven to be more or less successful, the EAs of the world and such...and in some cases some apps which just strike their fancy). "Yawn...yet another app...why should I review this?". This is where I suppose presentation (advertisement) matters. Or not. Are sites and reviewers following some other sites to see if there are possible apps they should also review? Another way to lessen their burden, perhaps. It is where getting one review may matter. One site reviews, others may follow. Indies have it hard in this case, I would say. App store reviews...don't know what to say about them, really. Users, users with authority (trusted review skills, reputation, that kind of thing), sudden site visibility by users. This may very well be site specific or become a fashion of the moment for many sites, and provide only a temporary surge. Very much subject to whims, I would say. I have found some gems this way I would have otherwise missed, as well as some things I would not touch (pardon ). I have also fallen to victim to this kind of approach and purchased an app, sometimes. Freak accidents from outer space. The rest - it sells, or no matter what you do it does not sell...or it sells *because* you do nothing. Go figure.
