What next?

Peter_OlafsonPeter_Olafson Member Posts: 301
edited November -1 in Working with GS (Mac)
I released Big Bart's Matching Game last week. 12 sales in two days, then zero, then Apple made it new and noteworthy and I shot up to one sale, then back to zero.

Zero sales since.

Almost 50 promo codes given away, Maybe 20 have been used. Approx 50 people downloaded it when I made it free for an hour to get attention.

Zero Feedback.

Created a public video of the game play on Youtube but even though I post it publicly no one ever seems to find my videos.

Zero views so far.

If you give away copies and codes on gamesalad and touch arcade forums and post videos of the game play and Apple thinks it's new and noteworthy and you get zero results....

What do you do next???

Pitty party at my place. BYOG.

Comments

  • TymeMasterTymeMaster Member Posts: 527
    Find something else to do that you're good at making money with?
  • Peter_OlafsonPeter_Olafson Member Posts: 301
    Lovely tone that doesn't address the issue. Thanks. The forums are becoming a bit negative lately.
  • TymeMasterTymeMaster Member Posts: 527
    Well lets be serious here, do you think every single person who puts out some apps will make money? If it was that easy, everyone would do it.

    It does address the issue, don't be down on yourself, just do something else. That isn't negative, patting you on the back and blowing smoke up your ass won't help either.

    After messing around with GS for a few weeks and observing the success (or lack of) here, I am coming to the conclusion that GS itself has a bad reputation and it is what drags you down :( Try Unity maybe, try learning Objective C (with cocos2d to make OpenGL easy). Basically try something else if GS has failed you.
  • Peter_OlafsonPeter_Olafson Member Posts: 301
    Did I complain that I wasn't making money? I just don't know how to get an app noticed when all the normal ways aren't working. I have a job. I'm not a kid. This is a hobby and I don't expect to get rich. I have other apps that are doing well. It's not my first. But it's just not getting feedback, negative or positive. I'm not craving smoke blown up my ass, just feedback even if it's hateful. You read a lot into my post.

    I am considering Unity. I think I could do far more interesting things with that since I'm using Softimage.
  • TymeMasterTymeMaster Member Posts: 527
    Join the crowd, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to success. I see apps that suck, and yet they appear to do good. Then I've seen awesome apps do nothing.

    Unity apps seem to have a ton of success (many #1 games built with it). One thing it has over Game Salad is speed, it is very fast (loading scenes).

    One clear problem with the app store is 250,000 apps. Imagine walking into GameStop, 250,000 games on the shelf, how do you stand out? You don't :( Its going to boil down to advertising in the end, you need to get the word out about your game obviously.

    Apple needs to go weed out the !@#$% apps, auto dialers, asian babes, ifart, ipuke, slideshow apps, and a ton of other !@#$%. I bet out of 250,000, only 50,000 are worth a damn.
  • Peter_OlafsonPeter_Olafson Member Posts: 301
    Yes. I get emails from companies offering to promote my game if I purchase their promotional package but I don't know who's legit. A little research is in order I guess.
  • TymeMasterTymeMaster Member Posts: 527
    Yeah due to the popularity of the iOS platform, there are probably a ton of scammers. But I'm sure you can weed out the trash :)
  • IsabelleKIsabelleK Member, Sous Chef Posts: 2,807
    As an economist, I can tell you few things (I'm not native english speaker, but I've hope that you understand everything):
    Your game (Big Bart's Matching Game) is a niche game. Adults under 30, and especially younger people like more dynamic games (action, adventure etc.). So you have to determine the target group of consumers. Maybe parents, kids? And start a marketing campaign. If your target group contains parents of younger chlidren, so you should write few information topics on specific forums (which has the biggest group users that belong to your target group). It'd be best if you write these topics not as a developer, but as a parent, who bought this game for his kids, and they love it.
  • Peter_OlafsonPeter_Olafson Member Posts: 301
    I understand. Thanks.
  • hrsmediahrsmedia Member Posts: 522
    The background graphic is nice. Do you shoot the cards? Maybe if it was a shooting game and a matching game?
  • Peter_OlafsonPeter_Olafson Member Posts: 301
    @hrsmedia

    Yes, you shoot the cards by tapping them with your finger and it makes a ricochet sound as the card spins around. There is no gun involved. I was afraid a lot of parents might be put off by that but now I'm wondering if it wouldn't have been a better idea to add a little toy gun for shooting at the cards.
  • BarkBarkCoBarkBarkCo Member Posts: 1,400
    I've made 2 apps and I would consider both to be successful (read: they made money).

    The first app was a simple flashlight app with RGB sliders that let you control the color of the screen, as well as a brightness slider that, well, you get the idea...

    Some kid made a flashlight that had an easter egg that enabled tethering. Apple pulled this app after it sold a bunch, and I used a similar name for my app shortly after the original got pulled. Note: my app and screenshots looked nothing like the original's.

    This has grossed $2899.90 US in 52 days. Currently selling 15-20 per day.

    The second app was a soundboard app that used audio from the following TV interview:


    This has grossed $604.10 in 5 ⅓ days.

    Both had little to no traditional advertising. The only reason they made money is because there was existing hype on the internet. My next app will do the same, this time working with the hype surrounding another utility app that will no doubt be popular when it is released. I don't intend to produce a lame copy with a similar name, but rather a better version of what I know is being made already.

    My point, use other people's marketing/hype.

    Before everyone jumps on me for all of this, keep in mind that this is not so different from what made Tshirt and others successful, copying (the concepts of) popular/fun flash games using GameSalad...
  • Peter_OlafsonPeter_Olafson Member Posts: 301
    I looked at what was available in the way of abacus(es?) and found nothing very attractive so I made one. It has done pretty well. It's actually catching up with a very bad pinball game I made. By the time I was done with pinball I realised how bad it was... and it sold. A lot of effort went into Big Bart(mainly fighting gamesalad problems) and I thought this is it! Well... it's not. ;o)

    I've wondered about Angry Birds. I don't want to make an angry birds or anything like it but would like to use the mechanism of catapulting objects towards others to knock them down. I wonder at what point you end up with lawers knocking on your door though.
  • BarkBarkCoBarkBarkCo Member Posts: 1,400
    Well, as far as 'Angry Birds' goes, you can't copyright game logic, only graphics, wording and audio, so you wouldn't have any trouble with lawyers if you didn't use any of that game's resources...

    Making 'Pissed Prairie Dogs' would be just fine, even if the gameplay mechanics were nearly identical. Just avoid copying exact puzzles.
  • TymeMasterTymeMaster Member Posts: 527
    @BarkBarkCo - I'd be careful using audio or video that you don't have a signed consent form to use it. (not saying you don't have it, just pointing it out). All that audio is owned by the tv station that recorded it.
  • MotherHooseMotherHoose Member Posts: 2,456
    ah...sad...Peter...this game looks so well done! (as do all your projects ;)

    move it up higher on your web page...or create a separate page for it (especially in your app store discription)...consider a new domain name just for itself...(though the web search-engines don't rely on keywords as much as they used...use some anyway...like Educational game, Educational games...)

    also note that the video on your web page is in Flash...and since this is an iPad app...well vid doesn't show well on my iPad ;) ...youTube is free...and you could embed a youTube video

    IMO the icon doesn't represent the game play...would have preferred the western town pix or the play with cards pix

    rather than 50 indiscriminate promo codes...you might want to use them for reviews.

    did you sub-genre this one to Educational?...concentration/matching games are good for increasing memory skills...and therefore highly educational...

    do some promoting in the UK and Australia...etc...as the American wild-west theme is popular in other countries...

    if you update...IMO shot sounds should only occur on a match...something else for a miss?

    this looks worthwhile to spend a little promotional time on it!

    MH
  • design219design219 Member Posts: 2,273
    Hey Peter, I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but I just looked again at Big Bart's Matching Game on the App Store and the screen shots are not showing up. Maybe someone else can check and see if this is a problem for others: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/big-barts-matching-game/id390017957?mt=8

    Also, keep in mind that there are still nowhere near as many iPads as there are iPhones and iPod Touches.

    Hope it picks up for you, it sure looks good (still don't have an iPad).

    _________________________________

    DISTURBING NOSE JOB!: Nesen Probe is on the App Store. If anyone want's to try it out, codes are still available near the end of this thread: http://gamesalad.com/forums/topic.php?id=8097
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