iTouch Review

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codegit

We have submitted our game (CrackShot) to the Apple App store for review about a week ago. From experience, those that have games in the app store, how long does it usually take for the review to be done?

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1 X Acer TravelMate 4270, laptop, XP PRO
1 X Dell Studio 17 laptop, Windows 7
1 X MacBook Pro 2,2 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB HDD, 9400M
2 X iTouch
1 X HTC Desire (Android 2.1)
iPad soon to be added

MrTAToad

The review by Apple ?  According to Gernot, its about a month.

codegit

Quote from: MrTAToad on 2009-Nov-08
The review by Apple ?  According to Gernot, its about a month.

Not good.  O_O
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1 X Acer TravelMate 4270, laptop, XP PRO
1 X Dell Studio 17 laptop, Windows 7
1 X MacBook Pro 2,2 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB HDD, 9400M
2 X iTouch
1 X HTC Desire (Android 2.1)
iPad soon to be added

kaotiklabs

Sorry. What dou you need in order to submit an app apart from the paid license??

I read that license is only for own developing/testing purpouses but is not enough for submision to the app store. I sthis true? Can you explain the submision procedure a bit?

Thanks in advance!
Vote Cthulhu! Because the stars are right!!!!
Ia Ia Cthulhu F' tang!

MrTAToad

The license fee is also for publishing to the App Store.  You need a different set of keys for doing that too...

kaotiklabs

Ok, so I understand that you only need to request the new keys before submiting the app.
Vote Cthulhu! Because the stars are right!!!!
Ia Ia Cthulhu F' tang!

mykyl66

I am dreading the submission process. Looks to be a total nightmare from what i have read.

However it is supposed to be faster nowadays. Some reports stating a couple of weeks and with recent reported changes stopping updated apps showing under new apps submissions for con updates should be cut down a huge amount.

Would be interesting to hear people experiences of how they get their apps known about as well.

In about two weeks we will start the marketing campaign and begin the leaking of information on numerous websites and hopefully build up some anticipation.

For this first game we don't really mind how it goes. It can sell 1 copy and we will be fine about that as its all a massive experiment at the moment.

Personally I can't wait to get onto the real projects up our sleeves. ;)

Part of the experiment is the actual usage of GlBasic itself and the pro's and cons of using it to develop what we are doing.
Main pros are the speed of development, the fact that we can compile to many platforms including our main platform of iphone/ipod touch development.

A negative is the fact that we have to do the development on pc. Means I have to have either windows on my mac (not something I like to have to do since moving to the mac 2 years ago) but its a minor issue for the benefits it brings.

looking forward to it all.

Mike


MrTAToad

It would be nice if GamePark hurry up and get their portal up and running.

The whole iPhone certification process is a real pain - got one a few days ago, and it wasn't the proper public/private key one, which means another day of waiting for a new one...

codegit

For us this first project is just an experiment. We have some big projects planned for the future. Having said that I am quite happy with GLBASIC for now and it seems to have done the job nicely.  =D
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1 X Acer TravelMate 4270, laptop, XP PRO
1 X Dell Studio 17 laptop, Windows 7
1 X MacBook Pro 2,2 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB HDD, 9400M
2 X iTouch
1 X HTC Desire (Android 2.1)
iPad soon to be added

Ian Price

The opening of GPH's portal will show exactly how development on the Wiz is going. It's been awfully quiet of late - I wonder if devs are deliberately withholding their apps, ready to sell them on the portal or are they just avoiding it and waiting for the Pandora. If the second option is the case, then the Wiz is dead and GPH with it, probably.
I came. I saw. I played.

Kitty Hello

In the German forums they said, that they wanted to drop the Wifi, but they were convinced to take a try on it, again.
I wonder why it's such a lot of work. I would write some summy-app store in php within a week or so. It's not that difficult, is it? And use paypal for the payment and done...

codegit

**** UPDATE **************

Guys it took 10 days from start to "READY FOR SALE" on the Apple app store.   :good:
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1 X Acer TravelMate 4270, laptop, XP PRO
1 X Dell Studio 17 laptop, Windows 7
1 X MacBook Pro 2,2 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB HDD, 9400M
2 X iTouch
1 X HTC Desire (Android 2.1)
iPad soon to be added

okee

Quote**** UPDATE **************

Guys it took 10 days from start to "READY FOR SALE" on the Apple app store.

Nice, when i registered I got the Apple welcome email and they were saying
that they'd got the review time down to 14 days, which i took with a pinch of
salt but it looks like it's improving.
Android: Samsung Galaxy S2 -  ZTE Blade (Orange San Francisco) - Ainol Novo 7 Aurora 2
IOS: 2 x Ipod Touch (1G)

codegit

#13
The biggest problem that most of are going to face is the marketing of the game. The iPhone market is completely flooded with apps and games and getting noticed is extremely difficult. I have also realised that alot of the developers out there are using extremely suspect methods (like using their PROMO codes) to create false accounts and thus giving THEMSELVES lots of reviews with 5 stars. Getting into the apple "NEW AND NOTEWORTHY" category is extremely important and only the really devious know how to do it. Apple, I believe do not disclose how it is achieved. So all very interesting and chances of success are small. But having said that, if you can figure it all out, there is still money to be made. We are up against some real SLEEK and unscrupolous marketing men and getting a piece of the cake away from their clutches is not going to be easy.  :O :O
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1 X Acer TravelMate 4270, laptop, XP PRO
1 X Dell Studio 17 laptop, Windows 7
1 X MacBook Pro 2,2 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB HDD, 9400M
2 X iTouch
1 X HTC Desire (Android 2.1)
iPad soon to be added

fjsantosb

#14
Hi there,

Congratulations for your hard work!
Nowadays, AppStore is flooded with apps and games (as you say), some of them, really bad and not polished (Apple seems that don't care about quality of apps and games lately).
You need to do, some hardwork again, to give your application some extra exposure; that is what i do.
1. There is a lot of websites about iphone games / apps, you need to talk with webmaster to try to get some review for your app; most of them never will answer to your e-mail; some will do for a few $; others will do for free. Anyway, you always can go to forums of this websites and talk about your game. (If they accept to do a review, you will have to send some promo codes).
2. This may seems a bit tricky but... Give some promocodes on big forums (like toucharcade), exchange it for reviews on itunes (give about 10 or 15 promocodes and you will get 25% reviews, that, will definitly improve your sales).
3. Do a website for your game and a video too, its important that people can see app before buying (i mean see somebody playing, not only static images).
4. If you are enough lucky, Apple, misteriously, will promote your app on some category (Noid was on New & Notheworthy category). It's really a mistery, how Apple select this app, but definitly, improve your sales.
5. Do a lite version, sometime after app release (about a month). That will give you visibility of your app again. This lite version must have a clear button (BUY), which link you with to the paid version of application. Normally the conversion rate is about 2% to 5%, which means each 100 people who download your lite application, about 2 to 5 will buy the paid version.
6. Create twitter, myspace, facebook, etc to promote your application, some people will follow you, and some companies too, so you can get in touch with them. (twitter preferred).
7. Google Adword, Banner, ads... Normally dont work very well, i mean your cost will probably be superior to sales.
8. Its obvious but... Do more applications!, if you can have some applications selling at the same time, you improve your benefits.
9. Try to avoid 0.99$ 'technique', cause you never could drop this price and people loves 'on sales', on some interesting dates (like christmas), which improve your sales.
10. Have luck, its, of course, an important factor too.

This above methods and some luck, give you a decent of downloads daily for sure.
I think hard work is about 80% and luck is about 20%.
Now, i am almost finish my second game which will be available first week of december.

I wish you work and luck!

King Regards, fjsantos.
Francisco Santos Belmonte founder of Tip Tap Games.
Website: www.tiptapgames.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/tiptapgames
Facebook: http://dld.bz/dYVd
iPhone News & Sales: www.gamesappetizer.com