My first blog post on #AltDevBlogADay is about the AppStore being a gamble. In this blog post, I will continue where my story left off.The App Store is a gamble, so what should you put your money on? The question continues, and will hopefully find some answers.
So, our company finished a game recently, it’s called “Absolute Instant” and it’s now available on the app store.
I am going to let tweets do the talking:
We are shocked because someone (that’s not us, or our friends) made a thread about our game on TouchArcade and people were talking about it. And then my boss is constantly Google-ing “Absolute Instant”, and all of us get so excited when we hear people writing reviews about it. There were good reviews and bad ones (mostly from the Japanese). There was one review in Japanese that described our game so bad, that one of the readers became intrigued and went to buy our game. So there really is no bad publicity, huh.
More tweets a conversation between me and my friend from the Philippines: (our conversation was mostly in Tagalog, so I will include translations)
31wpm: (My boss said our game has been pirated)
Google “Absolute Instant”, and you will see links to IPA download sites, they are mostly in Chinese, why they even gave our game a Chinese name, “巅峰时刻” (no idea how to read those words).
lendegracia: (that was quick)
And yes, sometimes, piracy can be a form of flattery. Because they liked our game enough to jailbreak it and share it to the world. Er..
31wpm: (they are so nice, they are helping us promote)
And hopefully, if our game is good enough, we will get our fair share. Hopefully.
Our company tweets too:
Most of the comments I received on my previous blog post about marketing. It’s not enough to just make an app, a game, that is good. You have to market it, and you have to market it well. Listed above are some of my bosses marketing efforts. Also our game designer also drops by all the Taiwanese and Chinese iPhone apps forums and starting threads and leaving comments. And one good thing about promoting it locally, the readers would say, “支持國產的遊戲” (which I think translates to, support games produced by your own country…? Okay, my Chinese is terrible), and they would proceed to buy it.
And the most exciting news we heard over the weekend, through luck, effort and divine intervention:
We are featured this week on the New and Noteworthy list for both Apps and Games. More stats:
All Games: #169
Top Arcade: #54
Top Action: #63
Game Center by Popularity: #83
The numbers are changing as we speak.
In our pep talk email from our boss, he mentions one very important thing, “Making the chart is one thing, but staying on the chart is another.” So still more marketing, more updates. Everything we can to keep our game rising on the list.
At the end of the day, there is not definitive answer that Arcade Shooters are the way to go, but for one thing, they were much more easy to market than our previous travel app.
Well, this is the story so far.
P.S. To all the nice people who have left comments and good advices on my previous post, thank you.
P.P.S. Game spiel:
Mobili Studio presents a new breed of shooting game designed base on iPhone’s unparalleled controls.
DRAG the circular region to move the fighting jets.
TAP anywhere to teleport out of enemies’ attacks.
SHAKE to drop a black hole bomb that sucks in all enemies’ bullets, even the smaller enemies!Features:
•Unique teleporting gameplay (only possible on touchscreen!)
•3 difficulty levels
•2 characters with different attacks
•5 stages with bullet hell bosses
•Over 30 different enemy types
•Various magical attacks from special enemies and bosses
•Compatible with Game Center
•Built-in tutorial
•Awesome HD graphics
•Fast paced and adrenaline rushed musicEnter the war zone and conquer the Celestians using the breakthrough technology Terrestrians discovered – Absolute Instant (A.i.)! With this newfound power, the oppressed gained the ability to TELEPORT in the sky, and swore to end the centuries long battle…
P.P.P.S. Please support our game :) We also have a Lite version available. Please and thank you.
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