My last blog post - made nearly 2 months ago - was pretty cheery and optimistic. I had just released latest game
Pollywog, and it quickly entered the Top 100 Racing Games in the US. Nothing but lollipops and sunshine from now on! Right?
What I failed to mention is that the Racing category, although highly competitive in the top ranks, is actually one of the least populated categories on the App Store. Breaking into that top list takes around 30-50 sales a day, and since
I gave away 30+ promo codes on the first day it was simply math that got me into the top 100 - not sales.
Total worldwide sales for
Pollywog after its first full month on the App Store: 261 copies. That works out to around $300 CAD, for 5 months work. Considering that apps rarely get more popular after the first month, and that most of these first 30 days landed in December - when sales are typically 2X-10X normal levels, I've conceded that
Pollywog is dead in the water. Bad but apt pun. The trend report for yesterday shows zero
Pollywog sales (that's a zero with a 0). If that doesn't drive the point home nothing will.
Despite poor sales, people who've actually bought and played
Pollywog seem to like it, and review sites that actually reviewed it seemed to like it. App Advice called it
"One of the best pick up and play titles in the App Store.". So why the flop? This is mostly speculation and I don't want to turn this into a post-mortem but I think it came down to just a few things...
Too cute for its own good. Pollywog's difficulty ramps up pretty quickly, and the game is very difficult by the time you hit the last tier (
if you hit the last tier). The graphics and overall presentation on the other hand are decidedly G rated. Basically, the people who might enjoy it the most aren't likely to even try it simply because of how it looks, and it's a little too hard-core for people who actually like how it looks. I experienced a similar problem with my first game
Pinch 'n Pop! - I didn't learn my lesson then, but I surely have now.
No online features. Pollywog was initially designed as a "see how far you can get" game with random obstacles along the lines of Doodle Jump or Canabalt (and hundreds of other similar games). That style of play naturally lends itself to online high scores but I didn't want to release yet another game in that category. That genre of game play just comes down to twitch+luck, and I decided early on that
Pollywog would have more depth, require skill, memorization, problem solving, etc. That decision lead to a level-based design that can be more satisfying to play, but it limited my online/social options. Once you beat a level with a perfect score there's not much more you can do - having high scores where the top 100 players all have the same score isn't very exciting. Although I did draft a bunch of ideas for online achievements and challenges the development time (read: cost) was prohibitive for the first release, and unfortunately is even more prohibitive now.
Visibility. If there's one thing every developer knows about the App Store it's that people buy whatever's in their face.
Pollywog was released during the single biggest release cycle on the App Store to date. More games, and more importantly, big-name games, came out in December 2009 than any month previously. Many smaller releases simply got drowned out. Review sites were inundated and many sites that were eager to review my previous apps simply passed over
Pollywog. This was frustrating to say the least.
Pollywog also got no love from Apple. Both of my previous apps got featured at one point or another in different countries and in different sections of the App Store, but
Pollywog was literally nowhere to be seen almost immediately after release.
Before ya'll give me the "marketing is your problem" speech I just want to say that I've tried and failed with various marketing techniques over the past year. Ads are money pits (or black holes). I'm active on forums/twitter/youtube but apparently I'm not contagious. I use a paid press release service with a wide reach but see little return. I've dropped prices, given stuff away, and taken part in indie-dev-love-ins just to get a day of press. I even considered getting some 3rd party marketing help but every proposal was sleazy and/or borderline illegal.
The other argument I'm likely to hear is that my apps just plain suck. That might be true, but I'm confident they suck way less than some apps that sell way more. Sucking has nothing to do with success on the App Store - proof in point: My app
flOOid released as an experimental half-joke with zero marketing and once described as "a stupid app for retards" is currently outselling my games. Welcome to the App Store - bring your own horseshoes.
So there's a nice downer to start your year! With that off my chest I can say it's not
all doom and gloom. I'm continuing work on my next game and collaborating with other indie developers on some new marketing schemes. I might even make enough money on the App Store between now and March to pay for that iPad thing Steve Jobs is forcing on us.
Blog
but I'm pretty happy with the results. Check out the Pollywog trailer for a sampling, or have a listen to the official Pollywog theme song.
