
How (not) to sell your iOS app - thestoicjester
http://stoicjesterstudios.com/2011/06/iphone-app-marketing-mistakes/
======
rkalla
Here's what DID work for you -- summing up all those failures into a well
written, entertaining and light-hearted article that is genuinely helpful to
anyone else in the iOS game.

Oh yea, and the front page of HN this time around.

It sounded like you got your hands wet in a lot of different things. That
doesn't necessarily mean you are going to retire on this game, but think how
many people are aware of you now and when you do Bullet Factory X (where you
skeet-shoot puppies and elderly people) you'll have that much more information
on how to promote the game or where to spend your time. It also sounds like
you had a successful working relationship with your sister (as an artist)
which is half the battle for any game title. So that's a big win right there
for your next game too.

I'm not that surprised as the lack of feedback from bloggers though. I think I
get 10 emails a day following the format:

    
    
      OMG, Super Games Factory, LLC has just released the
      most amazing game on the planet: Dish Washer!
      Wash dishes in amazing stick-figure 3D! Contact us for
      a free evaluation code!
    

It just wears you down after a while so ignoring something like Bullet Factory
isn't an insult, it just falls into the 'spam' category of garbage
announcements I'm sure most bloggers get every day.

Bullet Factory is a fun/simple concept, but it seems better as an ad-supported
title (it's too simple) than a 99 cents title when you compare it along side
other 99 cent titles I've seen in the app store. The bar is getting higher and
higher and unless I see something amazing in screenshots or a trailer, it's
not even worth the purchase barrier to entry for me to try it. Unrealized
value (purchasing a game for 99 cents only to realize I hate the gameplay
mechanics) is so frustrating to me, I'd rather just not buy something I'm on
the fence about.

I would take the low-sales-since-december-even-though-you-are-marketing as an
indicator that it isn't a high-demand game. Release a free ad-supported
version of it "Bullet Factory FREE" and move on to your next title. Keep track
of the download differences to learn a bit more about what worked, what didn't
and where the bar is.

That's not to say your next game or the game after that won't hit -- keep
pushing, you'll have a success and it will catch you by surprise.

They always do.

~~~
thestoicjester
I appreciate all of this.

The purpose here was to take a quote-unquote negative experience and spin it
into something hopefully helpful for other devs, and myself (hello, hn front
page).

The plan has definitely been in the back of my head for a while to release a
free ad-supported version. I just wanted to get this postmortem-type thing out
the door first, and it's been difficult to force myself to sit down and take a
hard look at how things went.

~~~
ymir
I would be very interested in some sort of summary how this HN post increased
your sales.

Seriously: we (Blade Polska s.c.) have been through this also. We did
everything according to common marketing wisdom about Tap4Two (even the
landing page! [1] and real-life video [2]) -- it concluded in 10-20 sales each
day. Mostly on the German Store.

We're planning runnig a facebook campaign targeted for Germans, spending all
the revenue game has made so far. We will share the outcome for sure.

Your game looks like a lots lots of work with 3d engine, very impressive. What
framework did you use?

[1] <http://www.tap4two.com> [2] <http://tumblr.com/x1a1pmizw9>

~~~
thestoicjester
Yeah, I definitely plan on follow-up posts with any changes that occur.

As for engines, I used cocos2d for all of the 2d (imagine that) stuff like
menus and the HUD. The 3d objects I made using blender, modified some code I
found online[1] to load them into the project, then pretty much just cobbled
together a physics and rendering engine by hand. Good times.

[1][http://iphonedevelopment.blogspot.com/2008/12/start-of-
wavef...](http://iphonedevelopment.blogspot.com/2008/12/start-of-wavefront-
obj-file-loader.html)

------
geuis
Here's my experience with a Hangover 2 app I released 1 month before the movie
came out. (it was taken down after Warner Bros sent Apple a C&D.)

1) Reviews are the most important things when you sell an app. I made the app
free for the first week or so until I had about 10 5 star reviews. DO NOT use
scammy tactics for fake reviews. Make sure your app is well polished for what
it does. If it's not, don't put it in the App Store.

2) Review reminders. Basically the user uses the app a few times and they get
a notice asking if they would like to review it. Include something like the
appirater class. Google that.

3) Built-in sharing options for Facebook and Twitter. These should link back
to the iTunes page for the app or to a custom site.

4) Setup bitly links for each sharing option. This helps in keeping stats
about where your app is being talked about.

In the first week or so I was getting 3000 downloads a day. When I hit my 10
review goal, I switched to $.99. It's disheartening to see that 3k number drop
to 20 the next day, but that's money in your pocket now. For the rest of the
month, I averaged 20-30 paid downloads a day.

Things not to do: There are lots of stupid people out there. They will leave 1
star reviews because they hear no sound. Their mute is on. Don't get upset
about these people.

Twitter is great for campaigning. Don't write bots that listen to the stream
for people talking about the movie that then follows them and does @Soandso
check out my Hangover2 app! Surprisingly, it actually works very well. It ran
for about 45 minutes and followed 400+ people. About 50 of them clicked
through (bitly again) and I think a few people bought it. However, Twitter
banned the account after 45 minutes. So, don't do what I did.

Don't write well polished apps that use sound clips from a big upcoming movie.
You might argue that it's fair use, but that doesn't mean crap when WB decides
to stomp on you.

~~~
DrJokepu
> Here's my experience with a Hangover 2 app I released 1 month before the
> movie came out. (it was taken down after Warner Bros sent Apple a C&D.)

Ouch. You're lucky they weren't total dicks and didn't sue you for damages.
You have to be very careful with copyright / trademark infringement,
especially if it's a clear case like this and you're clearly making a profit
on it.

~~~
checker
Even Warner Bros didn't escape this. They had to pay Mike Tyson's tattooist
for putting Tyson's tattoo on the dentist in the movie.

[http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/06/tattoo-flap-
settled...](http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/06/tattoo-flap-settled/)

------
greengarstudios
I'm an independent iOS developer. My paid apps have sold over 100,000 copies
at 99¢ or higher. In total, my iOS apps (including free apps) have been
downloaded over 7 million times.

I took a look at your app in the App Store.

Here's your problem: your icon.

The icon is the most prominent thing the user sees when first looking at your
app in the App Store.

Change your icon, and you'll get more downloads. Trust me :-)

Feel free to contact me if you'd like to discuss good icon design, or other
under-appreciated aspects of selling an app.

~~~
thestoicjester
Yeah, it's looking like a lot of people agree with you that the icon needs
work. You've been contacted.

I'm definitely not in love with it, but it's better than the other ideas I
had. The problem I was having was trying to depict the in-game action in such
a small space. 3D stuff just seems to get cluttered or lost.

Anybody have any suggestions?

~~~
stuartjmoore
An angled disc-bullseye exploding into pieces? The actual depiction won't be
as important as the graphical touches. Right now, your non-3D graphics are a
little amateur.

Also, can you make the balls a little more spherical? They're the main focus
of the game and the background kind of overshadows them.

Actually, why are they spheres and not discs? Discs would look better (more
traditional) and add difficulty when they rotate.

~~~
quux
Or even better, use spheres on some levels and discs on others (where it makes
sense.) definitely crank up the poly count on the spheres and anything else.

Here's a free idea. Let the user use any photo as the texture for the targets.
User just got dumped? Let him select a photo of his ex from his photo library
and blow her visage to smithereens!

------
biot
As you're not looking for any sugar coating, after watching the video showing
the gameplay you would need to pay me to want to play it. The reason is that
there is no "why" to it. Shooting low-resolution textured balls wasn't fun in
the late 80's, and I'm not seeing anything in the video that tells me it won't
just be a chore to play.

Is there some back-story to this game that is interesting? Are these spheres
of mutant gel being produced by the evil Dr. Klaus Scheitzenburger to turn
children into mindless drones so that he can take over the planet and only I
can stop it using my Mutant-b-Gone sphere blaster?

Oh, none of that? It's just a sphere popping game? There's no marketing that
can save that.

Now a killer back-story isn't a requirement, but it would help if it were
"juicy fun". There's some great advice here:
[http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2438/how_to_prototype_...](http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2438/how_to_prototype_a_game_in_under_7_.php)

~~~
Revisor
I would say it's missing a purpose, rather than a story.

Otherwise I agree. I can't speak for other gamers, but my time gets more
scarce as I grow older. And games without purpose were the first to go.

~~~
biot
Yes, 100% agree with you and that's a much better way of stating it.

~~~
platz
I'm not sure 'purpose' is the right word here. Truly what is the purpose of a
game? I don't think there's a trivial answer to the question, and I think
'story' is more fair. People care about stories. Stories generate meaning.

~~~
Revisor
I can't speak for anyone else but for me purpose, if I distill the meaning,
means that I walk away from the game richer.

Eg

I have experienced an interesting emotion due to a story and the characters.
Or I have realized a principle thanks to an interesting strategy (happened to
me lately with Defense Grid - I realized I shouldn't build the longest path
possible but maximize the times an enemy walks around a defense tower; this
translates directly into books I'm reading now about featuritis and user
experience - minimize the number of features, maximize their usefulness).

I'm not a native speaker so maybe there's a better word for it that eludes me.

Edit: Story is definitely one (maybe the most important) cornerstone of
purpose!

------
alanfalcon
The game lacks the fit and polish that sells iOS games. Yeah, much easier said
than done (this coming from an aspiring iOS game developer). The advice to
change the icon is spot on. I'd also advise changing your screenshots (which
would probably also involve changes to the game graphics): all that grayscale
is very depressing, and the monospaced serif font for "Gyroscope Controlled"
is very bland and ugly. You want something more fun, possibly at a jaunty
angle, definitely using layer styles.

Your game screenshots scream "tech demo", which is no way to sell a game.

~~~
alanfalcon
Here's a quick (15 minute) mockup of what I'm talking about:

<http://imgur.com/o5sp1>

The iPhone graphic is swiped from a Kotaku article about iPhone motion
controls, and the arrows are kind of terrible, but this is the basic idea.
Frankly, the "Gryroscope Controls" is probably too techy for a screenshot ad
like this, the text "Motion Controls" would probably sell better with mention
of the gyroscope in the app description for those who realize what that is and
why it's better than what was available pre-gyroscope:

<http://imgur.com/7T9T5>

EDIT: Here's the PSD file if you want to copy the styles or anything:
<http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6692701/gyroscope.psd>

~~~
comex
Aw, please don't do that. I hate it when developers put flashy ad images in
the screenshots section; I look at that section to see screenshots, and those
types of images are distracting and annoying. There is plenty of room for
features in the description.

Maybe it's just me...

~~~
alanfalcon
I sympathise with you, but it's the only place a developer has to really get a
potential buyer's attention beyond the icon, so the real estate is too
valuable to give up! I think there needs to be a couple "raw" screenshots, but
many successful devs recommend using that space to it's fullest potential.

There's a really good article out there about this that I can't track down at
the moment, but here are a couple more that also drive the point home:

[http://blog.jeybee.com/post/3518620621/taking-the-
advantage-...](http://blog.jeybee.com/post/3518620621/taking-the-advantage-
with-app-store-screenshots)

[http://mobile.tutsplus.com/tutorials/mobile-design-
tutorials...](http://mobile.tutsplus.com/tutorials/mobile-design-
tutorials/app-store_screenshot-design_iphone-desig/)

~~~
comex
Well, I have to disagree. From that first link:

> Let’s take a look at an app that has done this well. Here we have Read it
> Later:

Look at Read it Later's page on a real phone and it's fairly terrible: the
text is way too small and you can't zoom in, and again, it makes it more
difficult to see what the app actually looks like, which is an important part
of my buying decision. (There are screenshots within the "screenshots", but
they are also rather small.)

For an easy comparison, Read It Later Free's page has only real screenshots,
and I find it nicer.

------
IanDrake
Just played it. Fun game. Here's what it's missing...

First time I loaded it the menu seemed sluggish. When I pressed buttons, the
button gave no feedback and I wasn't sure if the click had registered. I
understand there's loading time involved, but some feedback would be nice.

During game play when I "Shoot" there is nothing that displays a shooting
event. Balls just explode if my cross-hares are on it. That seems odd. Again,
a feedback issue.

Also the menu buttons seem smaller than needed and there are too many options.
If you could make it simpler that might be better.

Overall the game play is smooth and the gyro controls are cool. I think this
would make a really engaging first person shooter. Maybe shooting something
other than balls for points would be more fun.

~~~
thestoicjester
Cool, thanks for the feedback.

The menu buttons do have an invert effect when you tap them, but it might be
too subtle. There's also audio feedback when you tap a button, but that
doesn't help if you have your sound off.

~~~
IanDrake
Right. Most buttons I did notice feedback. It was mostly when I first entered
the app. Didn't see feedback on the button in the splash screen or the screen
immediately after (if I recall correctly). And yes, I had sound off.

Also, when posting to HN. It would probably be best to organize an up vote
campaign. I'm not saying game HN to get on the front page, but getting some
initial up votes and comments will help you to get others interested in a
headline they might otherwise ignore in the "new" section.

------
exolab
I know how you feel. I invested a lot of time in a game that just isn't
selling. Nor is the free version. I mean what is wrong with free games? :)

I think sometimes we just fail to see that our games are really crap. I
totally fell in love with the idea of a real-time multiplayer quiz for the
iPhone. But nobody else did.

[EDIT]I am not saying your game is no good. I haven't really played it. More
of a general comment on how we may not fairly judge our own work[/EDIT]

------
extension
I'm trying to buy it but the app store isn't working right now. At any rate,
here are some ideas from an iOS developer with nothing shipped yet, for what
it's worth:

Be way more explicit with your branding and marketing about exactly what the
game is, right down to the name, if you're willing to change it. Looking at
the top charts right now, there are games that show you exactly how to play
just with the title and the icon: Fruit Ninja, Cut the Rope, Flick Golf, Feed
Me Oil. You want to be _the_ gyro shooting gallery app. So, something like
Gyro Shot or Gyro Shooting. It's sounds lame but it seems to work. It may also
give Apple a reason to feature you, since you are demoing a hardware feature.

I think you also need a more fun look. The game looks really drab right now. A
grey factory is not a terribly exciting backdrop and the balls are pointy.
Choose a look that you can execute at grade A level. This is where the
"glowing neon" look came from -- programmers who can't do art. Use shaders to
make the balls perfectly round and give them some sort of cool effect. The
screenshots should be attractive on their own.

~~~
extension
Ok, I finally managed to buy it and it's FUN! _Really_ fun. You've got a
really fundamental and addictive game here. If you are really the only one in
the app store doing it then you should be able to clean up. You just have to
pollish the look and let shoppers know what it is.

------
kolinko
Thanks for sharing.

A couple of details - icon (as someone else mentioned). Another thing is -
you're a textbook example of promoting "features", and not "benefits". Instead
of writing "Using Oscilloscope", which nobody cares about, you should've
written "The smoothest shooting experience there is (thanks to oscilloscope)".

Also: get a graphic designer. Your graphics are not that bad, but a good
painter could really make this app work much better. People buy good looking
games.

As for your trailers - they aren't that bad. As a tech person I'll say: wow.
It really looks smooth, I'm impressed. BUT most people aren't technical -
aside from the screen they should see a happy person playing, and they should
see someone really TILTING the device - now it's barely visible (perhaps even
exaggerate the moves so they can be seen on the camera). Look at one of the
Kinect trailers. You can't do as good, but you can get close. Oh - and
remember that there should be a link close to the end of the movie, directing
to the app store.

Anyway - these are just a couple of things for a good product / landing page.
Doing this alone won't increase sales though...

------
terhechte
Ok, I didn't actually buy the game, instead I had a look at what all your
potential customers see. Your screenshots are too gray and muddled, the game
doesn't look exciting on these shots. Have a look at top selling games (i.e.
Angry Birds), and how colorful their screenshots are. Your icon is not good.
It doesn't tell a story, it doesn't look fancy, it is not colorful. I'm
selling a couple of apps, and one think I'm sure of is that customers never,
ever, read the text description. They just have a look at the screenshots. And
they decide which apps / screenshots to check by your icon. I've,
accidentally, had a non working app (there was a huge bug in there for the
first 2 weeks which made it basically dysfunctional) reach huge sales (150+
sales a day) just because the icon was really, really beautiful.

The problem with the screenshots, of course, is that the in game content looks
to dull. I can't really say how you can improve it, but have a look at top
selling games.

------
stuartjmoore
The biggest change I've ever seen is when I changed one name from "* Lite" to
"Free *". Went from about 100 to 1,000.

Regardless, I stopped promoting my best selling apps and they sell exactly as
many copies.

~~~
delackner
Even switching to free is not enough to gain serious worldwide exposure. It
helps, but there's also an element of chance and just getting it in front of
the right people.

My current app hit #1 in a fairly major category (music) quite easily when we
switched to free, but in the rest of the world it barely cracked into the top
50 before immediately sinking again, mostly because no one knows it exists.
Still trying.

------
adjwilli
Yeah, I agree with @rkalla that this marketing anti-pattern summary will
likely prove to be your best marketing piece so far.

Also, I would recommend finding a good graphic designer to help you out. The
icon for Bullseye Factory doesn't promise $1.99 worth of fun. Plus, I'm sure
you can think of something more creative than stripped balls in a perfectly
preserved yet empty factory. How about going along with the Jester theme and
making it some sort of a factory taken over by zombie clowns?

Your game is technically very impressive, but needs a good theme to sell it.
Looks at Nuts for instance. It's probably slightly less complicated
technically, but it has a funny, slightly juvenile name, cute squirrels, and
various alternative objectives.

------
ja27
It doesn't look like you've ever offered the full app for free. Have you
considered playing the "free for a day" game to drive some interest?
<http://appshopper.com/games/bullseye-factory>

Have you considered updating the app icon? It looks quite dark and flat rather
than fun and cartoony like many game icons.

I was a little surprised to see how non-spherical the balls look in your
screenshots. If it can still perform well with a more detailed ball model, I
would think that would help the look of the screenshots.

------
chipsy
Having successfully finished many bad games, while gradually making better
ones, here is my advice:

You can know from very early user feedback whether the game is going to
interest anyone as a product, but you have to stop believing in your game for
a moment, or you'll ignore the warning signs. The in-person pitch or demo lets
you pick up some details, but product releases give you broader feedback. Do
lots of both.

If, after pressing people in-person for thoughts, the feedback is
"hmm...well...i don't know...that sounds interesting..." the concept is wrong
and you need to start over. You should have something that gives people a
foothold to really discuss it and take ownership, or the subsequent marketing
efforts won't have much impact on anyone. Online, this is reflected in dead
silence. People look and then go away, or if there's interest, it's in
something not really related to the product's selling points, like the
technology stack it uses.

If there is a product there the volume of commentary will be much higher and
drastically more opinionated. From there it's a matter of managing the
conversation and picking the path that is likely to open the doors further for
the product - pivoting it if necessary. The feedback here is from other
developers, which means a heavy bias towards polish. Try to find deeper user
concerns instead.

------
jarin
Most of the time, it takes stops and starts, failure, heartache, and most
importantly years of work and some luck to make an overnight success.

Your Ask HN not making it to the front page? Probably just bad luck (there are
lots of good stories that don't make it to the front page). Game blogs not
writing about it? Probably just bad luck that they heard about other games at
the same time that they wanted to write about more.

I think there's a common feeling that there's just that one magic bullet
that's going to make you a success (that TechCrunch article, or that Touch
Arcade article, or if you can JUST get into YC or get that first investor). I
think all that stuff definitely helps, but from what I've seen the best way to
do it is to get a good amount of sleep, hustle your ass off 5-6 days a week,
and have a partner in crime (even if it's just a drinking buddy who works on
their own, separate projects).

I think you just have to pick up and start on the next project. The App Store
is extremely competitive, but if you just keep making better and better games
every time, something will stick. Just be sure to do some client work or keep
your day job in the meantime to stay financially solvent. :)

------
angerman
I wonder if this is the common theme among many of us who try to put apps in
the app store: figuring out what does not work. For our app: iEBT (which is an
interface to a server allowing you to track your euro notes:
eurobilltracker.com), we not only took a very tiny niche, but didn't think
about marketing either.

What we did was this: \- picked a somewhat hight price point ($2) This seemed
to use like the sweetspot, with what we could live and what we would expect an
honest buyer to pay. (who knows?!)

\- we wrote to the canonical forum, where we expected most of the potential
users. That resulted in an initial rush (two days after writing to the forum),
but it wasn't much at all.

\- the domain iebtapp.com was registered prior to publishing, but contained
nothing more then a simple "Something's coming this december" string. Watching
the server logs, there seemed to be some who were trying to figure out where
the link from the app pointed.

\- after some time, we wrote the current, very limited text on iebtapp.com.
Not even with images. That seems to have resulted in a minor increase in
sales.

\- with some text on the website, we thought it was time to do some
advertisement, and went with Google Ads. This too seems to have resulted in a
minor increase in sales.

And here's what we plan to do: \- add Appirater to the App. We have only a
very few reviews, and they are not enough to get any star rating on the
AppStore. Maybe this helps, who knows. I will closely watch this.

Personal conclusion: iOS development is really /a lot/ of fun. But I think we
need to change two things: \- More marketing. But not all at once; results
should be measurable. \- Niche markets, that are this tiny, can be a very high
risk game. (Especially if someone else, writes to the forum that he's going to
release another iPhone app and lets people sign up for the beta :-))

\-- [1]: see iebtapp.com

~~~
thestoicjester
I think the other common theme is that programmers don't think about marketing
until we need to.

------
allenbrunson
You mentioned posting to Hacker News before, and hey, I was the one guy who
left a comment! heh.

I also have an iPhone game in the store, but I've done a little bit better
than you have. I made about $8,000.00 in my first year.

Just echoing everybody else's comments: People are very reluctant to spend any
amount of money on a game without being able to try it first. You _must_ have
a free option to get them interested. In my case, I have a crippled free
version and a paid version. I started before in-app purchasing was available.
Today I'd probably go with "free but pay to remove ads" instead.

The mistake I have made is that I program too slowly (heh). Eight grand a year
for an app is not bad, if I could crank out a new one every three months or
so. The app store audience favors having a bunch of shallow apps, rather than
one big app you pour your heart and soul into.

------
unshift
a couple notes on the app store page:

the testimonial paragraph is awkwardly worded ("... a portal into a virtual
shooting gallery overflowing with beach ball-shaped targets just waiting to be
popped") and i can't tell how to play (or what makes it fun) from the
screenshots. it's gyroscope controlled, but what the hell does that mean?

i'm going to give the lite version a try, but the app store page totally
didn't grab me.

i thought "the heist" had a pretty good write-up and screenshot section, for
what it's worth. i usually just read the first paragraph and scroll to the
screenshots.

EDIT: i tried it, it's like an FPS where you shoot beach balls and twist the
phone around to aim. looks pretty well done, but not my bag (i hate aiming
anything by moving the phone)

------
aorshan
Wow that was a very interesting article. Thank you so much for the advice. I
am working on an app of my own now and my marketing plan was essentially the
same as what you did. I would have never guessed it would be so hard to get
people to look at an app.

~~~
thestoicjester
Yeah, but don't let my results get you down. Just keep in mind that whatever
you do, it seems like the App Store still involves a bit of luck.

~~~
xsmasher
I appreciated your article too, but I have a different opinion on the value of
luck.

The "big players" don't trust to luck when the release an app, especially if
they've poured in thousands in dev costs. They use paid installs to push onto
the charts, and then them momentum of the app takes over from there.

It's only the small fry that are scrambling around for a mention on
RandomAppBloggger.com.

~~~
thestoicjester
True... but I think it'd be hard to argue that I'm not a small fry in the App
Store.

But your point is well taken. I don't see EA writing blog posts like mine.

------
hxf148
Thank you for writing up your experiences. I hope that things improve. I've
experienced much if not all of the things you have gone through with
Infostripe <http://infostripe.com>. Was to be an iOS app but lives as a HTML5
one. iOS to return eventually.

I guess what I am saying is that you have to keep going, market, iterate, try
things and as said not give up. At some point hopefully your product will
begin to sell itself enough for you to improve or version 2 it.

------
seanMeverett
Chin up man, I've been studying behavioral decision making as it relates to
marketing "nudging" for years and am still learning everyday. The only thing
I've found that consistently works with any meaningful probability is being
different. Just like this post. Yet another iOS game doesn't though I do feel
the gyroscope is the most underutilized piece of hardware with the most
potential for ios devs...

------
follower
BTW the "Stoic Jester Studios Web Site" link on
[http://itunes.apple.com/app/bullseye-
factory/id408231799?mt=...](http://itunes.apple.com/app/bullseye-
factory/id408231799?mt=8#) leads to
<http://stoicjesterstudios.com/2010/12/bullseye-factory/> which is 404.

~~~
thestoicjester
Good catch. Updated.

------
tinynation
I looked on the App Store at the screenshots and as much as I wanted to like
it after reading your great article, it just didn't look like the sort of game
I would download (even if it were free).

The graphics are dreary and the screenshots don't make it look fun (or even
give me a sense of the gameplay)...

------
ecaron
tl;dr There is plenty of advice out there on how to publicize your iPhone app,
and all of it is worthless.

~~~
Apocryphon
So, is there counter-advice?

~~~
cageface
My counter-advice would be this: if you want to make money writing apps, get
consulting gigs and write them for somebody else.

~~~
corin_
It's not unlike the decision of doing a startup or working for someone else.
You can either settle for a typical paycheque, or you can take a gamble, which
might see you create a huge hit, or might flop and bring no returns.

~~~
cageface
I'd argue that you're playing longer odds in the app store. At most startups
you'll be pulling down _some_ kind of salary at least. Keep in mind that the
median revenue for iOS apps is < $1000 and that at this point you're going to
have to invest quite a bit of time to produce something good enough to attract
users.

~~~
corin_
Depends what stage startup, not neccesarily earning a salary if you're just
starting it yourself, and either living of savings or a day job.

------
helipad
I suppose a lesson that you might have learned is that doing things the
expected or accepted way is not always the right answer.

As you alluded to, releasing pre-Christmas and pitching bloggers with free
promo codes is so common as to render it useless unless you're remarkable
about it.

------
jholloway
Not to be rude, but I think the best way to sell your iOS app is to make a
really good one.

~~~
Tomek_Kopczuk
While it seems logical, it's not completely true.

If your great game gets lost down the charts before it's seen, then your
success relies on people finding it using App Store search and your keywords.
From my experience nobody does this, except for Utilities.

Having a really good app helps it stay on the top, but not necessarily get to
the top at all. We've seen pretty poor games get to the top (and usually
falling down quickly) and great apps never making the top (due to ie. poor
shots or description).

It's not that simple.

------
kenjackson
Great comments this time around. I'd buy the game if I had an iOS device.
Looks truly fun. I agree with others though that the icon can be improved. I
found the trailer very good.

------
joshwa
From watching the video, your game actually seems like it has a pretty fun
core mechanic.

Go play Fruit Ninja, and then go hire the best artist you can afford. (and put
fruit ninja in your keywords!)

------
fastfinner
on a tangential note - "This was not the easiest thing in the world for me to
sign myself up for, seeing as how I usually tend to avoid going places where
there are likely to be people (not a big fan). However, somewhat bizarrely, I
do enjoy public speaking, so I decided to give it a whirl."

I thought I was the only one that behaves like that!

------
dawsdesign
C'mon man, this is targeted to FPs people. You need a better reticule than
that!

------
PartyDawg
This article/blog post is wrong. None of the reasons listed had anything to do
with his app store success.

Word of mouth was there: and it was 'don't bother'. If it's an app or game
that people have to have, most of these techniques would have yielded
different results.

Except for a few: like submitting to websites for review... most of them are
looking for cash for reviews, so you get what you pay for.

I haven't seen any games that topped the list that were not worthy of chart-
toppers... If games or apps like this were chart-toppers, then the chart
wouldn't be worth much.

------
J3L2404
'Most of the major iOS gaming message boards have a section where developers
are “allowed” to announce the arrival of their games. This is convenient for
gamers as they can just avoid this one section altogether.'

Stoic Jester indeed!

Nice overview of app marketing wasteland. I went thru much the same and the
needle never moved, or not very much at least. My new approach is to give away
a free version that is slightly hobbled but still useful and use that base of
users to launch other ventures.

------
nobody_nowhere
Newsflash: "if you build it they will come" is bullshit. It's dawned on your
that you're not getting your message out.

Now what?

1\. Buy ads. It costs about $0.00001 to show an ad banner on mobile. $0.01 to
buy on a click basis. $10k to get into the app store top 25. Do the math.
Minimums apply.

2\. PR: meet/call or otherwise contact the people who can get your message out
and convince them how cool your game is. Or pay someone who can do this for
you.

3\. ?

Marketing is hard work, get busy!

~~~
wankerrific
I would add to the above comment that it helps to use the KISS principle for
marketing - (No not Keep It Simple Stupid).

I'm talking about KISS the band!

You basically need to tell yourself that you made the Best F--ing Game in the
World and use that to fuel you past all the disappointments in the marketing -
cuz it IS hard work and there is no magic bullet.

Also, you should be using this game to build up an "installed base" for your
next game. Get fans on facebook. Build up a mailing list. Have a way to
message existing users. etc.

One last thing, since I'm on my soapbox, is that I think this whole $0.99/unit
business model is somewhat unsustainable and really works to the advantage of
the big publishers and against indies. It really is in the best interests of
the publishers to keep the accepted price point at $0.99 because only _they_
have the economies of scale and connections to move enough units to make a hit
- or if it isn't a hit to just move on to the next title.

