Hi guy's

I thought this would be a good place to start. Last week my first game a cocos2d multi directional shooter went 'live' on the app store.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tilt-tank/id494323726?ls=1&mt=8

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tilt-tank-lite/id492574745?ls=1&mt=8

There are two versions a lite with 3 levels and the fully with 14 levels. Both are supported by apples gamecenter. They are based on a tutorial by Ray Wenderlich.

I am a start out indie developer who is deffinately not an artist so I have utilised CC art available.

I am struggling to publicise the app outwith my facebook circle of friends. I have submitted 25 promo codes to various places but have seen nothing in return. Even the lite version isn't doing very well for downloads.

Is this just the game market in general or should I be prepared to spend money (haven't really got any free cash) on advertising to get the game out there??

I appreciate the game is not HD or anything amazing but it is addictive once you start playing. I am hopefully that should it be noticed it will actually do not too bad..

Any help would be extremely appreciated from this community.

James

I've been looking at App Store ranking tools, and I'm interested in making a rank tracker for my own use, but I'm hitting a wall to match the scope of what some of the online services have available.

To be specific, services like Applyzer and App Annie are able to pull the Top 1000 in each category in every store worldwide. How can we get to that data? The only real source of the ranking data I can find from Apple is the Top 300 for each category & store, through their RSS feeds. I'd love to be able to poll the rankings more often than once a day (App Annie), and I don't want to pay per app per month for Applyzer Pro to get hourly updates (and that's limited to 10 stores only).

I can't imagine they're going brute-force scrapes of the store itself to get this info, but it's hard telling sometimes.

Any idea how to access the Top 1000 by category by store?

My game is approved by the apple but the accelerometer is not working is my app. Here is the link of my app.

http://itunes.apple.com/in/app/the-plane-game-lite/id489110251?mt=8

This problem is occurring in my other too more apps which are build by using COCOS2D accelerometer code. Please help me out i have stuck here with no functionality. Here is my code. This is working fine in released code but not after approval from app store.


-(id)init
{
self.isAccelerometerEnabled = YES;
[self schedule:@selector(nextFrame:)];
}

[plane setPosition:ccp(newX,60)];
}

Flightless has just released its third title and first iPad game, 'AnimalBlocks', to the App Store. Following the launch of our first game 'Top Dog: Farmyard Adventures' (http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/forum/topic/5791) and app 'What Cocktail?' (http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/forum/topic/11489) we wanted to make something fun for the iPad. AnimalBlocks is a casual, fun spelling app for kids.

Thanks again to Riq, Steve and the other cocos contributors, and to Robert from Zwopple. Here are some details;

AnimalBlocks (US$1.99, Rated 4+)

Introduction:
AnimalBlocks is a casual, fun spelling app for kids. Drag blocks into place to spell words correctly from the AnimalBlocks dictionary. The dictionary contains nearly one thousand common words, including sight words, colours, fruit & vegetables, animals and much more!

AnimalBlocks features two sets of letter blocks: one wooden set in lowercase for legibility, and another illustrated animal set for fun. There is also a selection of custom backgrounds, including a beautifully illustrated set of animals by award-winning illustrator Ali Teo.

The screen is a true multi-touch surface - great for collaborating with many hands!

Why developers will find it interesting:
AnimalBlocks looks fairly harmless but there's a lot of work under the hood to make things work sweetly and intuitively. It supports all 11 iPad touches simultaneously within the interface and Box2D physics world, and uses a fixed-timestep physics implementation to keep the simulation running smoothly. The touches/interaction can be any combination of touches on blocks or fingers just sweeping over the table. The interface also supports any iPad orientation and the sound effects pan correctly depending on the orientation as well. There's also some settings to enable the user to change the friction and magnetism of the blocks, amongst other things.

Why users will find it interesting:
AnimalBlocks is beautifully designed and illustrated, intuitive to use and fun to play. It contains about a thousand words, supporting US and UK English dictionaries. It's a casual, fun game for kids, but has some grown up design sensibilities.

You can read more about AnimalBlocks here:
http://www.flightless.co.nz/animalblocks

You can download AnimalBlocks from iTunes here:
http://www.flightless.co.nz/animalblocks/animalblocks-itunes-appstore

Sorry, we're not posting promo codes directly to the forum this time as they seem to be leeched by randoms. If you'd like one of the promo codes we're giving away just email animalblocks@flightless.co.nz and we'll see what we can do. Apologies if we run out!

Here are some screenshots of AnimalBlocks:

cheers,

Flightless
http://www.flightless.co.nz

http://www.flightless.co.nz/animalblocks
http://www.flightless.co.nz/whatcocktail
http://www.flightless.co.nz/topdog

Hey Guys!

I just wanted to let you all know that our latest game Deep Digger is now available on the App Store.

DESCRIPTION:

Deep Digger is an amazing fast puzzle game. Dig through different materials as fast as you can and activate the missiles to stop the dogs before they reach your home. Make your way exploding bombs, taking drills and eating carrots to get medals. Play around the world with amazing graphics,tons of visual effects, share your score through Facebook, Twitter and Game Center.

GAME FEATURES:

-Play around 4 worlds in 160 challenging levels!
-Collect all carrots in each level and get all golden medals!
-Use bombs, drills and missiles to stop the dogs.
-Lots of explosions and particle effects!
-Designed for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad
-Game Center Support
-Retina Display graphics
-Facebook and Twitter integration

GAME IMAGES:

GAME TRAILER:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3h2pJ34rSk

PROMO CODES:

3ER499TJW4TX
HK667E4AP4J3
AX6JRFXEWFEN
AF4HFKYEN69K
MNALK9KPRT7W

DOWNLOAD LINK:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/deep-digger-fun-action-puzzles/id473511876?ls=1&mt=8

If you download the game please give us an honest review. It will really help us on our development.

Thanks a lot!

Just jotting down a few thoughts -
This is an outline of a game description that I see very often now-a-days -
'[app name] reinvents the classic [some already existing concept] with a challenging (n) levels across (n) different environments with (n) varying game-play modes!'

Is this one of the factors as a result of an overflowing market, as in, are too many people following 'convention'/popular methods in almost everything they do?

I'm sure plenty of other members on the forum would agree that game design is supposed to be innovative, creative, new, inspiring, or at least somewhat decent.
Though that's not to say using already existing ideas can't yield an excellent new-ish product...
But it seems game 'design' usually defers to copying and as you could say 'implementing' existing methods and structure.
e.g. You might read a tutorial on game structure and choose a simple method, because everyone else follows that similar route.

I find even in many popular titles, in many different areas, they follow a range of common methods that don't necessarily appear the best to the the customers and other developers.

Are there conditions that we should attempt to be aware of in our own products that could actually in some, possibly only very minutely, affect our appearance and 'power' over media-users?

:)

jus' sum foughts aye lad.... jus' sum foughts...

Hello everyone!
I'm here to ask an important question about iPhone games with money built functions.
When I play some games, there are functions where you can buy game money with your real money.
For example, if you pay a dollar, you get 50, 000 game money in return.
How do I make those functions?
Thanks

Ok, not really a programming question, but these forums are really good for fast responses. Anyway i was just wondering how people do the stars in there app descriptions?? not the *** stars but proper stars, tried searching this but didn't know what to type.

Spindoku - Sudoku in a spin.

A completely new and unique way to play Sudoku.

5 skill levels ranging from Easy to Psychotic

Full statistics to track your progress

Sudoku has never been played like this before.

Introduction:
In Pinky's Challenge you control the character Pinky. The goal in the game is to drag him to the red box to complete the level. But you must avoid obstacles, since you lose if you hit those. The game starts out and easy, and gets progressively harder for each level.

The game has 20 levels, and it has high scores so you can try to beat your own or your friend's highscores.

Why developers will find my game interesting:
Umm... Because game developers like games, right?

Why gamers will find my game interesting:
The game is fun and challenging. Skill is needed, and you won't complete every level on your first try. The textures are cool (at least I think so), and the game has high scores. High scores extends the replay value, and it's fun to try to beat your friend's high scores. And best of all; the game is COMPLETELY FREE!

Here are some screenshots from Pinky's Challenge:
(I'm sorry if the screenshots are a bit too big. Not sure why that happened.)

You can download Pinky's Challenge from iTunes here:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pinkys-challenge/id466320503?l=nb&mt=8

I really appreciate all of the help I got from other cocos2d users here.
This is the first game I've made with Cocos2D and submitted it to the App Store, so any feedback is greatly appreciated! I would also be really happy if you would write an honest review of Pinky's Challenge in the App Store, report any bugs to me, and maybe tell your friends about my game. :)

Hi guys,

Just thought this might interest some of you:

http://www.slideshare.net/distimo/pricing-for-success-app-industry-trends-and-best-practices

(Gets quite interesting after slide 20)

color + shape is a matching game that requires quick thinking and fast reflexes. Move the puzzle blocks around the grid with your finger, and try to line up four or more blocks that have the same color or same shape. Chain multiple matches to increase your score multiplier and recharge your "move" meter! Compare high scores with your friends using Game Center.

How To Play
Touch anywhere on the puzzle grid and drag your finger to move blocks. If you move a block off one side of the grid, it will reappear on the other side, so use this to your advantage. Match four or more blocks of the same color or same shape to make them disappear. Sequential matches will boost your "chain" counter, giving you more points per match. Each time you move a block, your "move" meter will decrease. When it is empty, that means game over! Keep it charged by making quick matches.

Screenshots

Check it out on iTunes!

Here are some promo codes for those who are interested, but don't have a dollar:

FYMRYEMK4XH3
3LJRMARWPFPT
3PTWE77WEXH3
J9WWXMAM76WM
MHL3MLFWEEAA
HP9YFKMRME9J
LMRPNKTTN7AH
TT34LRNY9M4W
9JW9X3T6NFXH
JYWTYXA7EMMR

Mayday Timeattack

Used cocos2d and cocoslive.

Available on the App Store!!

Sadly in the app store korea, I can not see it T_T

Enjoy and try if you can break the record!

Hi,

I have finished reprogramming one of my apps that didn't became a success as I longed for it :)
I moved everything from plain cocos2d programming to box2d, added physics and more things.

Should I remove the older app, and just add the new version as a new one with the same name? That way would it get more attention as all new apps do, or should I just release a new version and forget about it?

Can it be done?

really, check the AppStore - there are hundres of games submitted every day. 90% is crap. But 10% is a really nice games. They all goes right to the botom of the top. Check any of cocos2d games shared here - 99% not even in the top hundred (this means you get 5-7 sales ped day).

Even "Feed me oil" with the all EA Chilingo power goes down now.
AppStore is extremely global market, so only 1 of 1000 will reach the audience attention for the shor period of time.
AppStore also provides very limited and expensive marketing tools.
So hope you are a realist in you expectations.

Hi everyone,
Firt of all, this post is not directly related to cocos2d, but I'm posting this here anyways.
So, I've been developing in a team with my brother, but then he got a job as a Windows programmer and now I'm the only one.
I'd like to change my name now because it doesn't make any sense to call yourself 'Wanner Brothers' if you're alone. And also, I'd like to be more flexible.
So, what now? How do I change the App Store display name? Do I have to create a new Apple ID and buy a new developer account and go through that whole thing again? Or is there any other way?
Thanks!

I've been lurking on these forums for a long time. Thanks to Riq for putting this awesome framework together, and for everyone in the community for sharing and helping!

I'm preparing to release my first game in the app store, hopefully by the end of the month. I have essentially no budget for marketing my app, so I'm hoping to choose keywords and categories/subcategories for my game that will allow it to show up in search results as much as possible.

Is it considered bad practice to include popular games in the same genre in order to allow people to find my game? For example, if my game was a tower defense style of game, I could put Fieldrunners, Plants, Zombies in my keywords.

Also, are there certain games subcategories that I can choose that will help to improve the visibility of my game?

Does anyone have any other advice for a new game developer?

Thanks again for this great framework and community. It's been great getting outside my enterprise development bubble to experience game development for the first time.

Hi there!

The new game 'Joorky Fly' has landed in the App Store!
Take a look.

Hope you like it!
Please rate the app.

Promo Codes:
Please rate the app.

4WNXYENKXM93
9WJEENLNFN9R
6FYXTT7MN43X
TFA66E7N9JNW

• http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/joorky-fly/id439496092?mt=8&ls=1

Hi guys!
Now i have few ratings, at my app on iTunes.
But i can't see them?
How long does it takes to view the ratings at my app?

It is going to be tested by apple?

Please, write back.

I searched the forum but I couldn't find any threads on this topic – excuse me if there are and I missed them.

I thought it might be interesting to share some statistics and other data on how our users are playing our games. I'm not talking about sales data and totals – I know a lot of people are hesitant to share those – but rather things like median session times, percent of players who keep coming back for more, et cetera.

To start off, in case anyone else is interested, I can share some stats for Yacht Dice Games (my yahtzee "clone"). I use Flurry to track statistics since my last major update, and here are some stats:

Active users: 63%
Median session time: 4.8 minutes (I think this is quite good, but I don't have much to go by)
Players who play more than once per day: 60%
Number of sessions with at least one completed match: 89%

My game can be played using either the same rules as yahtzee/kniffel or with Scandinavian (yatzy) rules. Since I have a big following in Sweden 73% of matches are played with Scandinavian rules, 20% with yahtzee rules and the rest with Maxi Yatzy rules (which I included as an IAP because some users were requesting it – about 3.5% of users have bought an IAP).

Interesting tidbit: According to Flurry, users of my game are much more interested in News, Travel and Lifestyle apps than the average user (10 times more interested in News apps), and less interested in other games.

Anyone else care to share some stats?

I published by first iOS game, Wall Warrior on the App Store a couple of days ago:

App Store Link
Website Link

The game is a retro styled game similar to Arkanoid or Breakout, with some new features and ideas included. I used Chipmunk for the game physics after first starting out with Box2D. Hopefully it's as fun to play as it was to develop :)

The aim of the game is to clear the level by destroying the level blocks. Most levels have a path of bricks behind the paddle/bat to provide protection against losing the ball. You control the paddle by sliding your finger left and right, anywhere on the screen. You can also tilt the device to control the direction of the ball when it's in motion. Bonus points are awarded for collecting coins and for any path bricks left when the level is complete.

I'd appreciate any feedback anyone has. Here are 10 promo codes for the game that can be redeemed in iTunes:

Y7HJ4LY6KJNE
AHPKHMXWM7M9
N4EKRAM77HPW
ALHNYPNMFNY6
F6HTP4AK6K9M
JA9PAP9HXNFT
ENX6YM3AAXYT
PYRW3H4RRXKR
W6P4K934HRHM
RY3AK69M3WMK

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone on the forum and in the #cocos2d-iphone IRC channel on Freenode, and of course anyone who's contributed to the Cocos2D Codebase. I think the Cocos2D community is great :)

Thanks for reading,

Raizor

Hey guys,

I have been working on an app that will create a sprite sheet plist for you from an already stitched together sprite sheet which are often found on places like Google Images. I was looking for something to do this for me and couldn't find anything so thought I would make something quickly.

Currently it will load in an image and allow you to set parameters about the width and height of frames, it will then split the images to individual files for you (only if you want) and also generate a plist which is in the cocos2d sprite sheet format.

Just wondering what you guys think of this idea, hopefully it will save developers some time in the future having to manually crop out frames to put into other applications that generate plist files.

Here is a very early version screenshot, http://bentrengrove.com.au/SpriteSheetGeneratorScreenShot.png

I am going to add a grid onto the image to show what is being cut, currently the app only supports frames that are all evenly laid out and are evenly sized. In the future I may expand the splitting capabilities to read in an already generated plist and cut the images up accordingly.

I am hoping to get it to a sellable state that I can put on the mac app store for a very low price.

Anyway let me know what you think.

Thanks, Ben

HI guys,

Can someone please suggest how to add buy now link to my application?

Thanks a lot!!

Hi, my game SteamPunk Hockey was accepted by Apple and is available on iTunes:
http://itunes.com/apps/steampunkhockey

It incorporates Cocos2D, Box2D and OpenFeint. This is my first effort at iPhone games and my second game coding, which was in Flash/Director.

Development required learning enough about Obj-C, basic AI, Euclidian geometry, and how to split gamepiece classes out from the main gamelevel file :P
I worked mainly between October-December while learning Obj-C and writing a business plan.

I'm nearing completion of v1.0.1 which fixes a tunneling issue and adds animation to the obstacle sprites.

Having Cocos2D only made this possible in a reasonable time without using 3D game authoring tools. It's a really impressive framework. The community is also great and I wouldn't have understood and completed the project as quickly without your help.

Game speed is throttled back to 30fps to save battery power on the player's device. My device for dev and testing is a 1st-generation iPod Touch.

Other than that I used JIRA and SCM on a 1st-gen Mac Mini to do the development.

Here's the blurb!

Wherein we describe the modern electrical marvel that is SteamPunk Hockey

Hockey re-imagined with the finest of Victorian technologies!

No expense is spared to bring you the newest electric entertainments of our modern age.

Featuring meticulously hand-rendered brass and crystal instruments of precision, SteamPunk Hockey remakes an old tradition into a modern experience for young and old alike!

Control the virtual electric and magnetic properties of your paddle to score upon the opponent’s goal with your choice of game disc.

A single player experience for a moment’s diversion from your worldly troubles, a startling twenty-three levels with more on the way.

Propelled by the Cocos2D engine and featuring physics-based play. SteamPunk Hockey is also OpenFeint Enabled.

• Single-player
• Constructed for the elegant iPhone
• 23 levels premade
• Endless random levels after 23rd.
• Two paddle sizes
• Three disc sizes
• OpenFeint Leaderboards

Screenshots:

I was just wondering if it is still necessary to keep changing the release date so when apple finally does approve it the release date isn't weeks in the past. Does any one know if that is still necessary?

Thanks

Hey guys,

I am obviously just being stupid here, but why for US app store sales, is the Customer price for an app $0.99 and the Proceeds $0.07 ?

What exactly are the proceeds? I have read through the PDFs on iTunes Connect but couldn't exactly see what this means. For UK prices, the figure is 0.36 GBP when the app sells for 0.59 GBP. (Tier 1).

Can anyone explain why US proceeds are only $0.07? :)

Hi
My first app has been rejected today for private API usage with no precision. I'm using 0.81 version of cocos2D but i'm pretty sure it's not cause of that. I'm also using isimulate sdk which i forgot to remove in distribution product (sic). I think that's the problem but I'd like to know if somebody faced the same problem ? I don't want to send my binary and wait 10 days to be said the same thing...

I'm proud to announce that Moonlights has just reach the app store.

Demo video and all links available from here : http://www.bonuslevel.org/moonlights/

The dev started 4 months ago, the game was submitted a week ago and
has been approved today.
Thanks to riq and cocos2d community for this framework and the great
support.

I'm working on promoting my new game, and I have an update currently under review with Apple. I'm curious if I generate a Promo Code before the update is approved, will it still be valid after the new version is released? I'd hate to send "dead" codes to review sites before the new update is released.

Can anyone confirm that Promo Codes continue to work after an update?

Hi,
I'm looking for sale data on the app store, as I am putting together a pitch to form a small development studio. I've done plenty of google'ing and I've found a couple.
I'm looking for good and bad experiences mainly game related, any bookmarks you have stored would be much appreciated.

There is one really good article I read recently but cannot find it again, it was a small studio which had made a number of games and published details on how long each project took in man hours and the return made. If anyone knows of it please could you post a link as it would be most appreciated.

Here are a few that I have found and were fairly interesting -
http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/16/iphone-app-sales-exposed/

http://gigaom.com/2010/01/12/the-apple-app-store-economy/

http://www.streamingcolour.com/blog/2009/03/09/the-numbers-post-aka-brutal-honesty/

http://www.markj.net/iphone-hit-tennis-sales-stats-marketing/

Thanks Dave