Well, its 10 days later and I still am trying to play this AppStore game. I just submitted the first new update that I mentioned which addresses a couple of the main suggestions I have heard. The main problem that I’ve noticed is that you simply need to understand the 4 rules of gameplay to fully catch on and completely enjoy the game. This is also true on games that have caught on like Trism. I did stress this in the AppStore description but now I decided to make the help instructions show the first time you play the game. I also made the help 3 pages so it has bigger text and has a page for poker hand cheats.

I added to the game a new ‘speed’ game mode as that was the favorite part of the game by some of the beta testers who reached it (about level 9 in the regular game). I also added a ‘Hard’ difficulty as the early levels are just not a strain with the amount of time you have once you have played it quite a bit. And finally a pause button is now available on the game play screen and the hand selecting and sliding was improved.

 I also submitted a ‘Lite’ version that removes the new settings for difficulty and game mode and only allows 3 levels. We’ll see if having a ‘trial’ type program really does spark sales. I am a firm believer in Trial versions, so I guess in following the AppStore rules, this is how they want to handle it.

 I had submitted the game to numerous review sites and did get a couple really good reviews but none of the game specific sites decided to cover it(yet?).  In fairness there are a TON of big ‘name’ games coming out right now, though less so right when it came out. At this point it appears that unless you had already built up the hype and are a ‘version 2’, or your developer is a big name like Atari or ngmoco, or your game is 3d, well you don’t quite get as much of a nod… Somewhat understandable, but it does make it hard to get any kind of ‘internet buzz’. I have done promotion code giveaways and google ads and other promotions, and have good reviews from customers who did purchase it. So… hopefully with my new upcoming submissions and the Lite version and more promoting I can turn this thing up.    

And the one true way to get more sales on the AppStore is to get sales. Make the Top100 list and your golden. Swim up there with all the good releases coming out and you’ve done something.  And with Apple controlling the prime ad and feature spots in AppStore and those mostly reserved for the same big names, its hard to figure out the real tricks.

 It definitely is a different game…