

Show HN: I built an iOS remake of that old windows game SkiFree - dave_chenell
http://thewaterbear.com/powder-released/

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dpcan
Me too (sort-of). On Android. 2 years ago.

[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.selticeapp...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.selticeapps.snowboard)

My stats: I only have a little over 21K downloads, and the non-ad version has
only made a few bucks. Ad revenue equates to a couple movie tickets every so
often I guess. Wrote it in Monkey-X for cross-platform functionality, but only
ever put it on Android for some reason.

I've done no marketing. Never been featured. My dad likes it. I'm 35. I get
sadder with every period I type.

EDIT: I wouldn't normally post self-promotion type stuff on HN, but I think it
applies here because I did write a similar game, coded it by hand, put in the
time, made my own silly graphics, but my stats represent the other 99% of us
game devs that rarely get featured and remain off the radar. Some call our
apps pollution in the app store, but those of us who legitimately write them
are proud of them none-the-less, even if they make no money, though we'd
honestly like them to.

~~~
pnathan
I think a big difference is your game isn't as graphically polished - the OP
has a buddy they work with and evidently knows more about graphics..

Also, last I looked at the numbers, iOS users pay more money than Android one.
(sigh)

I'll check your game out next time I'm looking for an android game!

~~~
dpcan
Thanks, I hope you get a chance to check it out. But I have to ask, and I know
art is subjective, but why do you find his art style better? I see cubes and
triangles. It's probably pointless, but I feel like, if I can see what
everyone else sees, maybe my art can get better. Or maybe that's impossible.

~~~
pnathan
Thanks for not taking this personally. I wish I could quantify verbally what
makes his art distinctively better. Part of it is that he's tapped into the
zeitgeist of iOS styling - the flat look, the muted colors with a heavy dash
of grey, the minimalism. That styling has heavily influenced current app
design across the board.

Looking at yours on the Play Store, some things stand out to my untrained eye:

\- Drop shadows on the title.

\- The trees don't look clean (and I have no idea how to dig into that).

\- The end scene fonts don't look sharp - they look kind of comic sans.

\- The configuration is accessed via buttons, instead of the standard Android
styling of the "..." button.

\- The icon's person graphics are both too detailed and not detailed enough -
they are in an uncanny valley of "eh".

\- There's no cohesion of colors: there are multiple shades of green; multiple
colors of buttons; multiple shades of blue. Multiple shades is fine, but for
UI elements, they are like different colored trim on a house for the same
things - window sills.

If you have a friend who is into graphic design, have them write you a
critique.

It also turns me off, hard, when apps have exclamation points in the title or
the "Free" word. It signifies cheapness for some reason.

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adnanh
Nice! Needs abominable snow monster though... :-)

~~~
seppo0010
And a keyboard [https://xkcd.com/667/](https://xkcd.com/667/)

~~~
binarydogs
Oh man! 9 year old me just flipped out. I can't believe you could actually
outrun him...

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aaronm14
Who is "we?" At first I thought you did the whole thing by yourself and was
going to say I'm always amazed by the people who can design and code,
especially a game. Seems impossible. Great stuff regardless how many people
worked on it though. That's insane you did literally no marketing and the App
Store picked it up like that, especially these days, congrats!

~~~
dave_chenell
Thanks I appreciate it. I do design and code yet I work with my friend Eric on
everything. I think working with someone is good for your product and sanity
:) We also got extremely lucky that Apple featured the game.

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theOnliest
Just a quick note: if I turn the audio off and then tap "Main Menu" in the
settings screen, the audio turns back on. I like the game!

~~~
dave_chenell
Thanks I appreciate it! I will definitely fix that in the next update.

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joeblau
For 200k downloads, I would think there would be a few more ratings on the
app. My app Orb has about 2000 downloads and about the same number of ratings.
I do like the game graphics quite a bit and I love the simplicity.

[1] - [https://joeblau.com/orb/](https://joeblau.com/orb/)

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Chanie
This looks gorgeous. On a related note you can get the original game too -
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skifree/id588839086?mt=8](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skifree/id588839086?mt=8)
Not as pretty though :)

~~~
Andrenid
I don't know how they can say they're the "official" one, or use the original
assets, when the publisher of it has nothing to do with the original SkiFree
author (nor is there any mention on the original SkiFree page about it having
an iOS version). And then on top of all that, to charge money for it when the
original is free: [http://ski.ihoc.net/](http://ski.ihoc.net/)

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tmuir
Does anyone know the process Apple uses to decide to feature an app?

Is there a process completely separate from initial approval that goes through
every new app, or does it just come down to piquing the interest of someone in
the approval process?

I'm not trying to take anything away from this game, or its developers, but
this sort of success in the first week from a developer with only one other
app in the app store seems akin to hitting the lottery.

~~~
maqr
I've heard from a few people that they've been selected for featuring during
the approval process. I haven't been able to verify that, but it sounded
plausible.

The only method that I'm aware of that Apple gives for promotion is to contact
them at appstorepromotion@apple.com. I've never gotten a reply from them, not
sure if anyone else has, but that's the official address.

Another method that seems effective is networking with important people at
Apple. I know of at least two instances of apps being featured based off of
knowing the right people at Apple, but I'm not sure the best way to find those
people or to get their attention.

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basicallydan
Super nice, dude!

I made a port (rather than a remake, like yours, with fancy new graphics ;)
for the web which works on mobile:
[https://basicallydan.github.io/skifree.js](https://basicallydan.github.io/skifree.js).
It has the monster and snowboarders.

Yours is much prettier though :D Nice work and well done on the success!

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beering
There's a constant background noise in your homepage video that doesn't seem
to be related to what's happening in the game. Is that intentional?

~~~
dave_chenell
Yeah, its the sound from the game, a sort of white noise to add atmosphere?
Real music and sound effects will be coming in an update :)

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nether
The default skis carve like crap, can I rent some demos?

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henningo
Well done! Just one thing I noticed, the speed is mph and the distance unit is
meters. Would be nice to change speed to km/h.

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levindixon
Looks great! Reminds me of
[http://www.mythicmtn.com/](http://www.mythicmtn.com/)

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percept
Nice game! (Yes, soothing and stressful.)

BTW I got a "Welcome back (some name)" message on the first play.

~~~
leviathan
You do realize this is the Game Center message and not actually from the app?

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lawl
Sadly no iOS here. Did you include the monster? Because it sais endless. I
hope that's just to trick people.

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dougdonohoe
Reminds me of Intellivision Skiing

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Smackouze
I really like the game and the graphics, but what kind of license of Unity3D
is it ?

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jbrooksuk
When you jump, it still shows the skid marks. Other than that, this is
awesome!

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8557056
Ingemar's Skiing Game was one of the best versions...

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Synergyse
Nice game! Screenshots are missing for iPad in the App Store

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himanshuy
Congratulations! What platform did you use to build it?

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dave_chenell
Thanks! It was built in Unity3D

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micro_cam
Will you be releasing an android version?

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simplexion
Can someone explain something to me. When using a cross-platform engine, like
Unity3d, why don't developers release it on more platforms? Is it difficult to
do so? Is it a lot more work to release on other platforms?

~~~
dave_chenell
Yeah, Android version is coming soon, hopefully before the end of Jan. I did
use Unity3D, and while it is very easy to port, releasing on two platforms can
be time consuming for one person while I'm freelancing fulltime. Dealing with
tracking bugs, IAP, GameCenter, Google Play, optimization, Screen sizes etc
adds up. Also I lack an android device at the moment for reliable testing.

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petekistler
awesome visual design, and the physics of carving through the snow is super
satisfying/addicting. great job man!

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patrickambron
Absolutely love the game! Well done!

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hsx
Oh man, this takes me back!

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thoughtpalette
Gorgeous UI and artwork!

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bonesquad
#powdertothepeople

