by Annie | Oct 27, 2011 | Game Design
We released Pop & Dodge on the App Store about a week ago. No marketing, no launch parties, just put it out there. The result? Pretty much as expected, Pop & Dodge is nowhere to be found on any featured or top 25 lists. In the wake of the release, we’ve been doing a lot of marketing catch up work, submitting the game to different blogs and review sites. A few, including Tech Vibes, have agreed to post reviews. But how much will that help in getting our game out there? According to the lessons learned from other indie app developers, likely not much. It takes high production values, lots of content, and a wickedly good game to sustain the buzz it takes to keep people coming back to your game. And with our 3-week production cycle, we just didn’t quite make it there. However, this is just the beginning. We’ve learned a lot from MotionMaze and Pop & Dodge, about gameplay, tech requirements, and our market. We have a firmer grasp on our goals and limitations and take our lessons with us into our next...
![App Store Coming to Mac OS]()
by Annie | Oct 21, 2010 | Game Design
Looking for a new game? Or a cool widget? Look no further than the App Store on your iOS device. And soon, also on your Mac. Apple announced yesterday that it is bringing the App Store to the Mac. Yeah, so what? For developers, it means easy centralized distribution. The App Store provides a greater market for distribution, especially for small development companies or individual developers with little or no marketing budget. For consumers, the Mac App Store will bring more competition for casual games, reducing the average price while increasing the quality and choice, not to mention the ease of installing and updating applications. Consumer reviews and ratings will drive otherwise unheard of developers and games into the App Store’s featured or top apps lists, which in turn leads to more exposure and downloads. Matt Rix, developer of Trainyard, showed just what landing in Apple’s featured apps can do for exposure and sales. Half a million downloads since September 30th. Pretty phenomenal for one guy with an idea. Soon, similar stories will become more commonplace as the App Store comes to the Mac, bringing with it infinite possibilities for developers and exciting new apps for consumers. Buckle your seatbelt. The App Store is coming to Mac OS within 90...
by Annie | Apr 9, 2010 | Adchievements
We’ve all been there – large conference with thousands of people, exchanging business cards with anything that moves. Then, shortly thereafter, sorting through and tossing most of said business cards because you can’t remember who the person was, much less why you’d ever need to contact them. Chitchat was nice, but the business card is trash. Well, now imagine that as you sort through your new business card collection, you find one that makes you laugh out loud, one that that you can use as a tool, or one that communicates the card holder’s skills. Behold: creative business cards! I don’t know about you, but if I found one of these in my wallet, there’s a good chance I’d hang on to it and show it to other people. Talk about good...
