Yes I agree, a little bit more polish to the graphics would be great... And...I also appreciate the comments mr. ugly makes...
I thought you were supposed to be giving advice? People do read app descriptions and trying to make out like it's not important is a very bad move indeed. For what it's worth, from a consumers point of view, I think it's well-written and informative (I don't know if it's since been edited though...). The very first sentence explains clearly what the app is about, the UPPERCASE headings are words I consider very positive for a game experience and you told me it supports retina display which is something I always like to know before hitting the "Buy" button. The main reason I read the description is usually to get an idea of game length, usually just "xxx exciting levels!" or something, but I suppose your game doesn't quite work like that. Still, if you've got any big, impressive numbers related to game content then those are always nice to see.
Hey there Professor, first off i think the trailer shows enough to flare up my interest in this game. Website looks allright, im sure when the game is out you will add all the right buttons , and i do agree with some who said the a blog format is better.
lol i am supposed to ahha.. interesting.. even apple shows that they do not care much about lengthy text descriptions.. the ipad store as the itunes store cut the text off very early and you need to press a text button to extend that.. on the iphone appstore you even have the list of IAP before the text.. an odd placement imho . the focus was and will always be about descriptive screenshots and a cool looking icon.. that a handfull of people read descriptions won't make a difference.. all important features should be features prominently in screenshots where possible. a short description is usualy more than sufficient and decreses the need of scrolling to get to the screenshots on iphone ...slim and short text is alot more appealing that any lenghty description.. throw a text wall at someone and he will scroll happyly to the screenshots. and technical stuff like retina support may be important for most TA guys .. but does not warrant interest for the majority of casual player out there.. it just needs to look attractive to the general mass.. again personal preferences are always subjective not objective. and all that reading and looking up for a dollar or two sounds more like an investment in your case instead of an impuls buy which is the common ground stuff gets purchased. iOS is not compareable to the console market or pc gaming where people read lenghty reviews and watch endless video reviews to decide if they want to buy that game or not.. its not 60$ its 1$ and in this case the worst marketing the dev is doing to himself is ignoring the mayority of people who complain about their gfx style.. at least on this board where he started his "marketing"...
Usually I don't read, maximum the first lines. But I look for youtube video about the gameplay. Then I thoroughly check the screenshots, and I'm always angry if a landscape screenshot was uploaded in portrait. Then I check the reviews (best and worst ratings and its text). Then I hit the buy button or not
I agree that screenshots and icon are the first thing people look at and they should be the main attraction, but they're not the only thing. There are plenty of people who want to know how many levels a game has, if it uses touch controls or tilt controls, etc. That's why so many descriptions use bullet points, and the Puppysaurus one is the same. It's not too long, there's only one sentence introducing the game then a list of the most important features. That's perfect.
i would highly disagree that the text is perfect.. the introduction makes for me no sense content wise.. it does not tell me much at all about the game.. i could even argue that it misses some real desriptive points.. or just my lack of english language understanding.. "childhood monsters" .. and you collect kids? ;D the feature list is ok.. but thats not it..
of course you are alive.. i still think you did a good job on your marketing with the personal approach.. contact people in person.. going to events.. trying to reach out and get known.. i would not do a few things exactly like you do.. but in the end i think your way of marketing is an example that can be shown.. the problem was and still is imho 180 and not the efforts around it.. i would like to see what your next project is and how you put all the stuff you learned so faar into use with it..
I disagree, I am happy with the reception from the user base that our game has received, and it's actually been far more positive since we've recently released on Android (insert joke about "well that's because there's no other games on Android" here). I am still very proud of the game and play it almost daily, but the truth is even in the new version it doesn't demo terribly well and that all-important 1st impression is not as strong as I'd like. But it is good enough and resonates with enough people that I consider it a job well-done. Business-wise, it's got me some wonderful leverage behind-the-scenes (between my promotional work, and the strength of the game itself) that I do stand a chance to make some actual money yet.. As for the next game, I have certainly learned a lot since that game's development. At the moment, I am working on a pretty lo-fi game (simpler than 180) to break-in a new programmer and thus iron out a new pipeline (see my blog if you want details), but before the year's out I have a different "sure-win" game sitting in my head which will be very easy to get press with and should be a decent hit, if all goes according to plan. 'Cause you know, I am still trying to get my stuff made on the cheap /thread derailing over
Of course you disagree else you wont have pushed 180 so long.. If thats economical is a different story. Good luck with the hopefull not too lo-fi game
I want to add my input too! First off I love mr ugly. We've agreed and disagreed on stuff but while his points might be harsh and at times insulting they do have a truth to them and it is great feedback to take to heart. We've done similar things to what headcase did and while we also didn't get as many sales as we would have liked, but we got our name out there. We've made connections within the industry, met some powerful people, and generally had a great time. Do I consider it a failure? In some ways but I also don't consider it dead by any means. Angry Birds didn't succeeded until apple got ahold of it and personally featured it. Does that mean the company did a great job at marketing it or was it all apple? Marketing is extremely hard work and should not be brushed off if you ever want to see your game succeed. We are working on our next game and just like headcase we know there are lots of people paying attention and waiting for details on it. Why? Because wee established relationships with these people and they've told other people and so on and so forth. I can tell you that we will be running a contest soon that will drive up the sales of our first game and hopefully that will drive some residual sales if people like the game and talk about it. If no one knows about your game you cannot expect it to sell. That means you will need to spend money and time marketing. How you do that is up to you. Keep on keeping on mr ugly!
Poke & Prod me! I have a lot to say This is true and people need to realize this. An independent dev's early efforts in the app store should not necessarily be seen as "potentially profitable money-making ventures" but rather exercises in getting a fully-realized project out, ad likewise dealing with all of the fallout from that - now you are established, some people know you, you've got experience trying to hawk your wares. It's on you now to continue with that momentum and build on all aspects of that - getting feedback from the users, building the base, releasing updates, cultivating and continuing a dialogue with the media, and (most importantly) developing new & better software if at all possible.
