Web-Geeks

Hello Everyone,
I’m pretty sure you know Michael Heald(http://fullyillustrated.com/), well you may not have heard of him, but he has probably done the graphics in some games you play… Michael Heald made the cocos2d logo graphics and graphics for the iPhone game Trenches… Well, recently I recruited him to enter a website theme contest for $10,000 on a website called Weebly… I would like to help him get more votes so, please, go to http://www.weebly.com/theme_contest/ and vote for In Touch with Nature by Michael Heald!

NOTE: you may have to create an account with weebly, I have an account and they have never spammed me or done anything I wouldn’t like them doing….

Thanks,
Techy

As many of you know, iPhone OS 4.0 was released today! It has many, many, many new features, including the long awaited multitasking! And 1,500 new developer APIs… Post a comment on your views on the iPhone OS 4.0!

Web-Geeks is now going to be focusing on more things other than just iphone development, so we created Zazu Studios, a division of Web-Geeks.. The website is currently being built… Web-Geeks will still be the same, just offering more topics like web development!

There was a thread on the cocos2d forum about success on the app store and I wrote a long post there, and I thought i might as well post it here:

Here are some tips that may help…

First off from a view of someone who buys stuff off the app store, one of the things that will make me not want to buy the game is bad graphics where someone google their graphics and cut them out…. DO NOT DO THAT! It makes the game look low quality and I can’t stand it… You would be well better off making them yourself or hiring someone, graphics is the main thing that gets people’s attention since thats the only thing you actually see during the game play.

Also I’ve seen some posts about freemiums, I think that it’s a great idea… Versus downloading a low functional lite version then buying the real version then deleting the old version… Also when you make a freemium, allow the person to play the full game minus some features… Dont so it like this: If you run out of virtual money you can’t play and the only way to get virtual money is to pay for it… Well then the user thinks that the game is just trying to suck the money out of you… Make it so its more like: You can upgrade your car and change it’s design if you have virtual money that you can get from playing or that you can buy… Take Eliminate for example from ngmoco… That game did a great job with the whole freemium thing… Or you can do a freemium like Blockoban where you get to try out some puzzles first then you unlock the rest from in app purchases…

I read this one while dog town studios was getting interviewed(http://www.dogtownstudios.com/insider/) and they make a great point saying: “- Any things that you wouldn’t or shouldn’t do when considering getting in to this market?

The only thing you shouldn’t do (which I know from experience) is to develop a game in silence and when you release it hope that it’s going to go off the charts without additional effort. Nope, it doesn’t work that way. As far as the game goes, look at your experience and don’t try to push the boundaries too hard by building something too complex. Execution is very very important if not key and even the most simple game can be the most beautiful thing on the AppStore.”

Thats one great point that you need to focus on… There are thousands of apps on the app store, so how on earth could you expect your game to become huge without anyone knowing about it?!?! Joystick Generals(abitofcode and Michael Heald) did a GREAT job of promoting their game, it kept all the fans involved by doing cutout pigs, awesome trailers, a nice website… You can tell that they worked very hard and it paid off… They had great programming and great graphics… I hope to see more games from them!

Also right when your app is released, submit to all the app review websites asap! Most iPhone/iPod Touch users are looking for something fresh and love review sites that do honest reviews, If you can get a good review from one of those website, then you have most likely boosted your sales by a bunch… Once your apps are a hit and your making a fortune, that doesn’t mean stop for a year, it means that your in the prime time and you gotta make all the apps you can during that time, although the apps need to be polished in order to stay “famous”…

Also keep in mind that addicting and original ideas really help, it introduces something new to the user and if its a good concept, you will get many downloads if you do some of the things I’ve already talked about above…

I hope this helps… I will be posting some more tips in the future