Comments for The Fiction of Andrew Nicolle http://andrewnicolle.com Mon, 12 Jul 2010 03:26:06 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 Comment on Story Tracker – Six Months on the App Store by Paul.. http://andrewnicolle.com/story-tracker-six-months-on-the-app-store/comment-page-1#comment-51 Paul.. Mon, 12 Jul 2010 03:26:06 +0000 http://andrewnicolle.com/?p=230#comment-51 After having one game out for a few months at $1.99 we've just experimented with dropping the price to $0.99 (sales were low by this point so there wasn't a lot to 'break' with the experiment). There's definitely been a reasonably big uptick in sales since we dropped the price, but it's not immediately obvious if that's just the natural effect you get when there's any form of update (to the price or the app itself) or the price alone. We're currently working on a new game - more of an arcade pick up and play this time - and whilst a higher launch price would be favourable, given what's happening on the market right now we will almost certainly launch it at 0.99c for the paid version. After having one game out for a few months at $1.99 we’ve just experimented with dropping the price to $0.99 (sales were low by this point so there wasn’t a lot to ‘break’ with the experiment). There’s definitely been a reasonably big uptick in sales since we dropped the price, but it’s not immediately obvious if that’s just the natural effect you get when there’s any form of update (to the price or the app itself) or the price alone.

We’re currently working on a new game – more of an arcade pick up and play this time – and whilst a higher launch price would be favourable, given what’s happening on the market right now we will almost certainly launch it at 0.99c for the paid version.

]]> Comment on Story Tracker – Six Months on the App Store by Ryan Mitchell http://andrewnicolle.com/story-tracker-six-months-on-the-app-store/comment-page-1#comment-24 Ryan Mitchell Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:39:02 +0000 http://andrewnicolle.com/?p=230#comment-24 I wish you all luck. As with any market better products sale better. My marketing experiment is about to fire off April 1. I will see if it actually effects sales. As far as other platforms.. http://larvalabs.com/blog/iphone/android-market-sales/ Not exactly a motivator to put in extra time in multiple markets. My app requires hefty openGL-ES acceleration so I am limited to the iDevices from the start ;) Good luck! http://ryanmitchellgames.wordpress.com I wish you all luck. As with any market better products sale better. My marketing experiment is about to fire off April 1. I will see if it actually effects sales.

As far as other platforms..

http://larvalabs.com/blog/iphone/android-market-sales/

Not exactly a motivator to put in extra time in multiple markets. My app requires hefty openGL-ES acceleration so I am limited to the iDevices from the start ;)

Good luck!

http://ryanmitchellgames.wordpress.com

]]> Comment on Story Tracker – Six Months on the App Store by Diana http://andrewnicolle.com/story-tracker-six-months-on-the-app-store/comment-page-1#comment-19 Diana Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:40:07 +0000 http://andrewnicolle.com/?p=230#comment-19 I understand your point of view. And I think bringing Story Tracker to the iPad is a good move. Maybe you can create some buzz around it like "one of the first apps on iPad" (or something like that). Good luck!!! I understand your point of view. And I think bringing Story Tracker to the iPad is a good move. Maybe you can create some buzz around it like “one of the first apps on iPad” (or something like that). Good luck!!!

]]> Comment on Story Tracker – Six Months on the App Store by Andrew http://andrewnicolle.com/story-tracker-six-months-on-the-app-store/comment-page-1#comment-18 Andrew Fri, 19 Mar 2010 02:39:28 +0000 http://andrewnicolle.com/?p=230#comment-18 Thanks, Diana! I hope your game does well :) Honestly, I'd love to bring Story Tracker to other mobile platforms, but I just can't justify the time or expense right now, especially considering the iPhone currently has the largest userbase and most paid app purchases vs the other platforms. Even if my apps were to drift out of hobby territory (ie actually making money!), the return on investment just wouldn't be there for this particular app. I definitely agree though that if you're running a mobile-app business, you'd be mad to not consider releasing apps on at least Android. I've been thinking about porting Story Tracker to the Mac platform, but for now that'll have to take a back-seat to work on my iPhone game and updating Story Tracker to take advantage of the iPad's huge screen. Thanks, Diana! I hope your game does well :)

Honestly, I’d love to bring Story Tracker to other mobile platforms, but I just can’t justify the time or expense right now, especially considering the iPhone currently has the largest userbase and most paid app purchases vs the other platforms. Even if my apps were to drift out of hobby territory (ie actually making money!), the return on investment just wouldn’t be there for this particular app. I definitely agree though that if you’re running a mobile-app business, you’d be mad to not consider releasing apps on at least Android.

I’ve been thinking about porting Story Tracker to the Mac platform, but for now that’ll have to take a back-seat to work on my iPhone game and updating Story Tracker to take advantage of the iPad’s huge screen.

]]> Comment on Story Tracker – Six Months on the App Store by Diana http://andrewnicolle.com/story-tracker-six-months-on-the-app-store/comment-page-1#comment-17 Diana Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:54:34 +0000 http://andrewnicolle.com/?p=230#comment-17 Great post and thanks for the insights and your openness! We also published an iPhone game just yesterday. It is a very simple game called Baby Roulette (http://itunes.apple.com/de/app/baby-roulette/id361958476?mt=8). It is our first iPhone app and I am very curious how it will perform over the next days. We are also working on getting this game on other app stores/platforms, such as Ovi (Nokia), Vodafone360, Android... We mainly want to gain insights about different application stores regarding users, downloads, major downloading countries and devices. I think you shouldn't just focus on Apple. You should try to bring it on different platforms and maybe even build a mobile web version. In the end each app store is "just" a distribution channel and should not be your whole business model. Cheers, Diana Great post and thanks for the insights and your openness!

We also published an iPhone game just yesterday. It is a very simple game called Baby Roulette (http://itunes.apple.com/de/app/baby-roulette/id361958476?mt=8).
It is our first iPhone app and I am very curious how it will perform over the next days. We are also working on getting this game on other app stores/platforms, such as Ovi (Nokia), Vodafone360, Android… We mainly want to gain insights about different application stores regarding users, downloads, major downloading countries and devices.

I think you shouldn’t just focus on Apple. You should try to bring it on different platforms and maybe even build a mobile web version. In the end each app store is “just” a distribution channel and should not be your whole business model.

Cheers,
Diana

]]> Comment on Story Tracker – Six Months on the App Store by Ryan Mitchell http://andrewnicolle.com/story-tracker-six-months-on-the-app-store/comment-page-1#comment-14 Ryan Mitchell Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:17:39 +0000 http://andrewnicolle.com/?p=230#comment-14 Necromancer Rising was a HUGE amount of work 50k lines of code 1500 art assets ;) . But a work of love as I love making games and have for a long time. It got top ten RPG on game pro.. I am pretty proud of it. =) Don't do it is my answer on 99 cent. I have tried the 99 cent market with abysmal failure. 120k apps with most of them being there in that 99 cent range. Really being better then everyone else is the key as with any market. 0.99 devs come and go like the wind as they toss one app in and find it sells 100 over 2 months for enough money to take a date out to eat once... not worth the 200-500 hours business taxes / startup cost / etc.... I do believe the games are going to get better and those 99 centers will start to be a smaller share of the charts. Devs just cannot make games for 70 cents a sale and 1000 sales over a year... This device is amazing.. really amazing power in your hands.. nothing like a 3GS out there imo...back to the blog I have to enter todays stuff =) In 4 weeks some ad campaigns start up and if you watch the blogs I will be keeping everyone up to date on what is going on. If anyone ever has a question post them on my blog I like to type a lot and in terrible English... my first language ;P Necromancer Rising was a HUGE amount of work 50k lines of code 1500 art assets ;) . But a work of love as I love making games and have for a long time. It got top ten RPG on game pro.. I am pretty proud of it. =)

Don’t do it is my answer on 99 cent. I have tried the 99 cent market with abysmal failure. 120k apps with most of them being there in that 99 cent range. Really being better then everyone else is the key as with any market. 0.99 devs come and go like the wind as they toss one app in and find it sells 100 over 2 months for enough money to take a date out to eat once… not worth the 200-500 hours business taxes / startup cost / etc…. I do believe the games are going to get better and those 99 centers will start to be a smaller share of the charts. Devs just cannot make games for 70 cents a sale and 1000 sales over a year… This device is amazing.. really amazing power in your hands.. nothing like a 3GS out there imo…back to the blog I have to enter todays stuff =)

In 4 weeks some ad campaigns start up and if you watch the blogs I will be keeping everyone up to date on what is going on.

If anyone ever has a question post them on my blog I like to type a lot and in terrible English… my first language ;P

]]> Comment on Story Tracker – Six Months on the App Store by Andrew http://andrewnicolle.com/story-tracker-six-months-on-the-app-store/comment-page-1#comment-13 Andrew Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:33:49 +0000 http://andrewnicolle.com/?p=230#comment-13 Ryan: Those are some eye-opening numbers! Did you launch Necromancer Rising at 99 cents, or higher? Interesting the daily sales weren't higher considering where you were in the charts. I've been wondering what price-point I should launch my first game at? 99 cents seems to be the norm, but given those numbers, I'm thinking I should aim higher. Guess I'll have to decide based on how the game turns out! Thanks for the link to your blog. Some cool posts there, and your RPG looks amazing! Looks like you put a staggering amount of work into it :O Ryan: Those are some eye-opening numbers! Did you launch Necromancer Rising at 99 cents, or higher? Interesting the daily sales weren’t higher considering where you were in the charts. I’ve been wondering what price-point I should launch my first game at? 99 cents seems to be the norm, but given those numbers, I’m thinking I should aim higher. Guess I’ll have to decide based on how the game turns out!

Thanks for the link to your blog. Some cool posts there, and your RPG looks amazing! Looks like you put a staggering amount of work into it :O

]]> Comment on Story Tracker – Six Months on the App Store by Ryan Mitchell http://andrewnicolle.com/story-tracker-six-months-on-the-app-store/comment-page-1#comment-12 Ryan Mitchell Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:30:58 +0000 http://andrewnicolle.com/?p=230#comment-12 lol forgot to post a link to my blog if your interested http://ryanmitchellgames.wordpress.com/ Or Click on my name. lol forgot to post a link to my blog if your interested

http://ryanmitchellgames.wordpress.com/

Or Click on my name.

]]> Comment on Story Tracker – Six Months on the App Store by Ryan Mitchell http://andrewnicolle.com/story-tracker-six-months-on-the-app-store/comment-page-1#comment-11 Ryan Mitchell Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:28:56 +0000 http://andrewnicolle.com/?p=230#comment-11 Hey there. I have been making games for over a year on the device with the latest being "Necromancer Rising". One hell of a one man effort. Sales from that top ten ranking RPG on gamepro could not support its dev cycle either. Thank goodness I did it as a hobby. I even stood at 17th place overall and was featured in Hot New Apps... The 0.99 price point is insane. Sadly users do not realize how they are limiting future games if all they buy are stick fighter wars play for ten minutes and get stick fighter in a skirt wars. Skipping what could be an EXCELLENT 4.99 or 2.99 game which would provide 100x the enjoyment time. Interesting times. To any future devs no matter the market it is hard. My warning Keep it a hobby!!! At 17th place in RPG I was selling 200 a day but that dropped off QUICK as the next new shiny app came out. What was crazy is with all that placement and 17th place is only 200 sales a day? .. wow. how could anyone support a team of people. Check out my game.. it took a TON of work and now I am selling it for 2.99!.. While getting reviews that are trying to compare a 2.99 app to a 60 dollar console game made with a multi million dollar budget.. amazing really. Anyway not a rant. I am not complaining really as this is still my best option to get my work out there. But as soon as something else gives devs a better shot Apple beware.. really.. Here is something I whipped up on my blog when someone was asking why I did not sell it for 0.99.. which I recommend no one do.. the sales numbers do not make up the fact you get less then 3 quarters a sale from apple. Just for reference for all here is some FUZZY math. 1 Man team Minimum 60k salary ( That is tiny for the talents required ) 30% to apple = +18k ~30% to the tax man = +18k Dev costs = ~5k Insurance = 12k Thus profits needed to cover total cost: Project time @ price = Sales required 12 months @ 0.99 = 118,000 sales required 6 months @ 0.99 = 59,000 sales required 3 months @ 0.99 = 29,500 sales required 2 months @ 0.99 ~ 14,750 sales required 1 months @ 0.99 ~ 8,000 sales required Might be interesting might not .. Check out my blog for more on my experience as I trudge through the swamp with you ;) Good luck all and have a GREAT day! -Ryan Hey there. I have been making games for over a year on the device with the latest being “Necromancer Rising”. One hell of a one man effort. Sales from that top ten ranking RPG on gamepro could not support its dev cycle either. Thank goodness I did it as a hobby. I even stood at 17th place overall and was featured in Hot New Apps… The 0.99 price point is insane. Sadly users do not realize how they are limiting future games if all they buy are stick fighter wars play for ten minutes and get stick fighter in a skirt wars. Skipping what could be an EXCELLENT 4.99 or 2.99 game which would provide 100x the enjoyment time. Interesting times. To any future devs no matter the market it is hard. My warning Keep it a hobby!!!
At 17th place in RPG I was selling 200 a day but that dropped off QUICK as the next new shiny app came out. What was crazy is with all that placement and 17th place is only 200 sales a day? .. wow. how could anyone support a team of people. Check out my game.. it took a TON of work and now I am selling it for 2.99!.. While getting reviews that are trying to compare a 2.99 app to a 60 dollar console game made with a multi million dollar budget.. amazing really. Anyway not a rant. I am not complaining really as this is still my best option to get my work out there. But as soon as something else gives devs a better shot Apple beware.. really..

Here is something I whipped up on my blog when someone was asking why I did not sell it for 0.99.. which I recommend no one do.. the sales numbers do not make up the fact you get less then 3 quarters a sale from apple.

Just for reference for all here is some FUZZY math.
1 Man team
Minimum 60k salary ( That is tiny for the talents required )
30% to apple = +18k
~30% to the tax man = +18k
Dev costs = ~5k
Insurance = 12k

Thus profits needed to cover total cost:
Project time @ price = Sales required
12 months @ 0.99 = 118,000 sales required
6 months @ 0.99 = 59,000 sales required
3 months @ 0.99 = 29,500 sales required
2 months @ 0.99 ~ 14,750 sales required
1 months @ 0.99 ~ 8,000 sales required

Might be interesting might not .. Check out my blog for more on my experience as I trudge through the swamp with you ;)

Good luck all and have a GREAT day!
-Ryan

]]> Comment on Story Tracker – Six Months on the App Store by Rosie http://andrewnicolle.com/story-tracker-six-months-on-the-app-store/comment-page-1#comment-10 Rosie Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:32:01 +0000 http://andrewnicolle.com/?p=230#comment-10 Nice graphs! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Nice graphs!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

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