Well, I'll share my story as well. When I released DaVinci's Secret Machines I have to admit it was a bit rushed, and unfortunately did not have the time or resources needed to test on more than 4-5 devices. This led to the game shipping with some unfortunate bugs.

That said, it was featured in the New & Noteworthy section of the UK/Germany/Australia region, about 2-3 days after launch, which gave it a nice boost. The following week, it was featured in the Staff's Favorites section in the US/Mexico regions. That of course, gave it a nice kick in the pants as well, but never really pushed it up the All/Top Apps charts, just their specific sections (Simulation & Puzzle). I paid a few thousand for PR work, and not really sure how much that helped, as I feel that the PR company basically put some intern to work on my account while anyone with experience was working on the big name accounts.

After the feature was over, the sales plummeted, and they've been rather stagnant since. In the meantime, the game was fixed up and its in fine running form, though it could use an expansion.

Regarding turning the game free, we did that during the before-xmas days. I basically turned the whole portfolio free, and ended up getting about 10,000 DL's a day for DV during the 3 days of the experiment. Did nothing to the sales afterwards, so it was a fail.

I second the motion that things should be built with code reuse in mind. I build everything that way, and right now I have things I can re-skin and change up a bit and have a whole new game.

There's a decent article here http://smellslikedonkey.com/wordpress/?page_id=274 on piracy that should be read before you submit anything up to the store. It won't help you stop the pirates but it does help you avoid losing your cool.

@ Obiwahn - for Tiki Totems the ratio of people who got the free game and paid for the first in-app pack (.99) was 2-3%

@ Codemattic - dont have results from yesterday yet, but Tiki Totems Premium climbed to top 30 games spot at some moment (top 52 Paid overall), based on 1841 sales in US (for saturday). rest of the world brought another 1800 sales. the game didnt fall all that much (top 30 games -> top 35 games now) but as I said - no data yet. also the game was in top 90 grossing games in US

Does anyone have stats or knows an article on the success of in app purchases? E.g. how many people are buying bonus material for 0.99$?

@Codemattic: It's 2300 sales per day. Doodle Wars: Ship vs. Stick was ranked 35 in all apps (now 45, it is going down really fast).

Does anyone have advice for success with an app for a niche market? Obviously I'm going to try to market my app (a chess app - but not a chess playing app and not a game - I do not want to elaborate at this time) as much as possible in chess related media, but I was hoping someone may have experience dealing with a niche market. It seems most Cocos 2D apps are competing with every other game on the market or every other game of a very broad genre, but I'm looking to really target my consumers within the app store. Thanks!

@Obiwahn, "Currently ranked 35 in the Top 100 (very solid sales)." - what are the daily sales needed to be at 35. This is 35/100 in Apps, Games, or in a sub-category?

@Obiwahn ....... I'm still laughing .... but I shouldn't be , I have 7 more apps to go ! Congrats on Doodle Wars !

@Obiwahn

Congratulations on your success!

Another Doodle game just hit #1 free app overall in the US app store. Doodle Fly Made by a cocos2d dev too.

The App Store just has an insatiable thirst for Doodle games right now!

Based on what I've been seeing lately I think the "doodle" effect is still going on.

Its a bit like the gameloft "we-have-the-resources-so-lets-release-our-own-version-of-the-most-popular-genres" strategy but on a much smaller/affordable scale.

The demand is there in the appstore economy for doodle types of games, and they really like them. Not sure about the exact age group but probably mostly young'uns. Hardcore gamers may be getting tired of them but they don't have to buy them, they just moan about them.

Doodle games can be knocked up more cost effectively and quickly by indies. So if you want to make a fast(ish) buck, a doodle game might be worth a punt.

Just hope and make solid games. IMHO you need a big portion of luck.

I tried ads, had good reviews, etc. on the internet nothing helped. Just Apple features. They can boost sales a lot and create the famous "charts momentum".

I polish my apps a lot. Most are reviewed with 4.5 stars avg.

My history:
1. Made a polished, fun game: Defend Your Phone. Sold like crap.
2. Made a polished, fun game: Black Matter. Sold like crap.
3. Made a polished, educational app: Imagine the Scale. Was featured (solid sales for 10 days) then sold like crap.
4. Made a polished, fun game: Doodle Wars: Ship vs. Stick. Featured by Apple. Currently ranked 35 in the Top 100 (very solid sales). Hope I won't fall down the rankings so fast this time.

IMHO you have to give the luck a chance. So my main advice is:
Optimize your production processes (e.g. reuse code/engine) to have a high game output.

And never forget the famous saying among game designers: “Your first ten games will suck — so get them out of the way fast.”

This is a very interesting thread. I have to say that I have bought a couple of apps because of this thread. Super Turbo Action Pig being one of them (fun game and graphics are entertaining).

I thought I would share my story and I would be interested in feedback as well. Last year I put together a plan to buy a Mac and develop a game for the iPhone. June 22nd I purchased a Mac Book Pro. Because of cocos2d I was able to get the game in the store by August. I did everything, the development, the art, the music and the promotion. It was tough and looking back I learned a lot.

The game I created is called Star Catch. The first couple weeks were ok only giving me 2-3 downloads a day but then it grew to 9 a day. I was excited until Apple changed iTunes and my downloads dropped to 0-1 day. I tried setting my game for free but that ruined my reviews. I have over 8,000 people who have played my game. By November I stopped updating and focused on spending time with my family over the holidays.

I have only made $130 since August. That is spread out over the world so I have not seen any payment yet. I am updating my game right now with cocos2d 0.99 and having a blast. I really like making games. My biggest problem is doing it all. A lot of people have given me feedback that I need to work on my graphics. I am actually a good artist but not a very good illustrator.

Thanks to everyone for sharing their stories. I think I am going to go back and re-read them.

I think being a graphics designer will get you more money than being an iphone developer

@abitofcode lol.

The info on Quattro's pitch is pretty interesting. Thanks for sharing that. 11 out of top 40 uses them and who knows how many used admob or another ad network. Only a few top ranked apps happen by chance anymore is my guess.

I still think ads are an expensive and impractical way for most of us to even attempt.

If it comes down to it, I agree investing in better graphics will still pay off the most. It's so easy to offshore work now that getting decent graphics is a lot less costly than people think. It's been mentioned many times before: icon and screenshots are what people see first. If they don't like the way it looks, they won't even bother clicking. It's been true since day 1 of the app store. We got Mini Touch Golf's splash/cover art designed for $50 in 2008. Then just shrank it down to make the icon.

Nowadays, I spend more on graphics but I got Sniper Strike's new icon redesigned for $50. I first went with a cheap route and just shrank my cover art down to size, but I think that cost me quite a bit by having an unattractive icon. Impossible for me to prove, but I think I didn't take full advantage of my opportunity when it was on New & Noteworthy.

@techy This book may help http://bit.ly/csu69s ;)

I would assume it does because some people say that they buy games since it has openfeint so they can get achievement points

Has anyone here found that integrating OpenFeint into their app has helped with sales?

I think someone could write a whole book about being successful on the app store :P

@abitofcode agreed!

This is by far the most interesting non tech thread on the cocos2d forums.

hmmm interesting...

we once tried to use advertising (back in may-june, using AdMob), spent some 100-200$ on it and we didn't see even a marginal spike in sales... nothing

so dunno, maybe that's a way to go... hard to say really, we don't have $10k to spend and try ;)

---

as for the freemium model - we're making a new experiment with it

we have Tiki Totems with In App purchases, got a nice number of downloads there, but nothing too spectacular (in $10k range). Apple approved our new update that adds another levels packs + a consummable level skip (the level skip is also an experiment). gonna let you know if additional packs receive any kind of attention once we know a bit about it

however, our real experiment is addition of a Premium version of the game, that packs ALL in app purchases available now and in future

so basically our step by step till now looked like this:
1) a Lite (16 levels) + Full (80 levels, .99) - earned some $3k in 3 months
2) just Full for free, 32 extra levels for .99 via In-Apps - had peak of >$3k a day, brought us a bit over $10k till now. Full got some 700k downloads or so
3) starts this night - free Full (80 levels, 2x32 for .99 extra levels) + Premium (144 levels + free future levels, .99 limited time offer, then 1.99 or 2.99)

we hope that from those 700k clients we'll get enough conversion rate to break into some paid rankings

More on that...this is the original email they sent me...

We work with EA, Gameloft, and Lima Sky, the creators of Doodle Jump.
Just a quick stat for you:

The #1 ranking paid app in the iTunes store gets about 20,000 – 30,000 downloads a day!

We run media plans for 11 of the top 40 ranking paid apps and 13 of the top 25 top grossing apps.

Your app has a really good rating which will only help with marketing and ranking.
With the right targeting and our campaign managers optimizing your campaign, I assure we can be successful with marketing your apps.

I was speaking to someone at Quattro Wireless (bought by Apple recently) and they said they can get any app into the top 100 below is the details they sent me......as you can see if you have $10k spare then it can be worth while \, apparently there are a lot of top 100 that use them, Doodle Jump is one of them

Below are a few media plans for different budget levels and their expectations. These are all based on my knowledge of this space. Actual results will vary depending on the app itself.

$3,000 budget @ $0.10 CPC rate:
· Testing period: $200 a day for 3 days. This will allow us to test our network to see where we are getting our best results.
· Burst period: $800 a day for 3 days.
o $800 @ $0.10 CPC = 8,000 clicks a day
o 1 – 10 % conversion rate = 80 – 800 downloads a day
o 80 – 800 downloads a day = Top 75 – outside top 100 ranking

$5,000 budget @ $0.10 CPC rate:
· Testing period: $250 a day for 3 days.
· Burst period: $1,416 a day for 3 days.
o $1,416 @ $0.10 = 14,160 clicks a day
o 1 – 10% conversion rate = 147 – 1,416 downloads a day
o 147 – 1,416 downloads a day = Top 35 – outside top 100 ranking

$10,000 budget @ $0.10 CPC rate:
· Testing period: $250 a day for 4 days.
· Burst period: $3,000 a day for 3 days.
o $3,000 @ $0.10 = 30,000 clicks a day
o 1 – 10% conversion rate = 300 – 3,000 downloads a day
o 300 – 3,000 downloads a day = Top 20 – 100 ranking

These plans do not include the viral downloads you will receive once you start moving up in the rankings.

I thought I might share my "success"... I've had Kollide on the app store for a couple of months although the sales have been really low, but as soon as I put it to free, Ive gotten over 1,000 downloads in 2 days...

Here are some tips that may help...

First off from a view of someone who buys stuff off the app store, one of the things that will make me not want to buy the game is bad graphics where someone google their graphics and cut them out.... DO NOT DO THAT! It makes the game look low quality and I can't stand it... You would be well better off making them yourself or hiring someone, graphics is the main thing that gets people's attention since thats the only thing you actually see during the game play.

Also I've seen some posts about freemiums, I think that it's a great idea... Versus downloading a low functional lite version then buying the real version then deleting the old version... Also when you make a freemium, allow the person to play the full game minus some features... Dont so it like this: If you run out of virtual money you can't play and the only way to get virtual money is to pay for it... Well then the user thinks that the game is just trying to suck the money out of you... Make it so its more like: You can upgrade your car and change it's design if you have virtual money that you can get from playing or that you can buy... Take Eliminate for example from ngmoco... That game did a great job with the whole freemium thing... Or you can do a freemium like Blockoban where you get to try out some puzzles first then you unlock the rest from in app purchases...

I read this one while dog town studios was getting interviewed(http://www.dogtownstudios.com/insider/) and they make a great point saying: "- Any things that you wouldn't or shouldn't do when considering getting in to this market?

The only thing you shouldn't do (which I know from experience) is to develop a game in silence and when you release it hope that it's going to go off the charts without additional effort. Nope, it doesn't work that way. As far as the game goes, look at your experience and don't try to push the boundaries too hard by building something too complex. Execution is very very important if not key and even the most simple game can be the most beautiful thing on the AppStore."

Thats one great point that you need to focus on... There are thousands of apps on the app store, so how on earth could you expect your game to become huge without anyone knowing about it?!?! Joystick Generals(abitofcode and Michael Heald) did a GREAT job of promoting their game, it kept all the fans involved by doing cutout pigs, awesome trailers, a nice website... You can tell that they worked very hard and it paid off... They had great programming and great graphics... I hope to see more games from them!

Also right when your app is released, submit to all the app review websites asap! Most iPhone/iPod Touch users are looking for something fresh and love review sites that do honest reviews, If you can get a good review from one of those website, then you have most likely boosted your sales by a bunch... Once your apps are a hit and your making a fortune, that doesn't mean stop for a year, it means that your in the prime time and you gotta make all the apps you can during that time, although the apps need to be polished in order to stay "famous"...

Also keep in mind that addicting and original ideas really help, it introduces something new to the user and if its a good concept, you will get many downloads if you do some of the things I've already talked about above...

I hope this helps... I will be posting some more tips in the future

Has anyone following this thread ever had (even close to) such an experience using Admob?

Not here (see my earlier post in this thread). But that probably only indicates that I'm incompetent at writing single-line ad copy (or else so unwittingly good that I attract even people who had curiosity but no intention of buying).

Part of the problem is that AdMob has a $50 minimum for funding a campaign, and the money gets depleted very quickly. For your typical indie developer whose entire project budget consists of the $99 spent for the developer program membership, that's a very expensive experiment if you want to try several different campaigns to see what works.

It's no doubt very costly.

They were stuck at #38. It took at least 12.6k installs to go up to #9. If they can even stay at #9 for 1 extra day after the ads stopped, they've gained an "additional" 12.6k installs over their previous #38 spot. That lowers their 87c / player cost by 1/2 to 43.5c. I know rankings don't actually work like that and there's no good historical data on app ranks to see how long they were able to maintain rank. If they slowly declined down to 38 again over the course of a week, they could've gained an additional 30-40k users further lowering their cost per player acquisition. Since TowerDefense Zero uses ads to make money, it could be justified.

My guess is that it's not worth it, but it's hard to know for sure. TowerDefense is an awesome game. I've had it ever since the paid version came out and played it several hundred times trying for the top spots. They could've had some conversions or managed to acquire some repeat players recouping their cost.

I read the AdMob article, and it made me laugh. It says
"iPod touch targeted campaign Cost-Per-Download (CPD) of $0.87"

So the developers paid about $12, 876 to get there free app downloaded 14, 800 times! Hardly seems like a sustainable business model.

What I found even more telling is that the this case study was posted (and I assume performed by) Admob itself... Hardly speaks well or the cost effectiveness of AdMob if this is the best case study that they could come up with.

Please let me know if I misunderstood something, but with these numbers I am not sure why anyone would use Admob.

EDIT:
Based upon the Fairmedia article, it does seem *possible* to recoup your spending *if* your app stays in the top list for a while, although I am not sure how many indie developers can fork out $5k to $20K to get in the list in the first place. So to me it seems like it is just another way for the big boys to game the system even further. Also, in the the article they are talking about recouping the investment based on a 20% conversion rate, which is far higher than average according to other posts I have read about Admob conversion rates.

Question: Has anyone following this thread ever had (even close to) such an experience using Admob?

The article DonomoGames links to doesn't tell the entire story though. I don't think all they did was AdMob campaign to get up in the ratings. They were running other marketing at the same time. That's a great game.

looks interesting - thanks for the link!

Oops. Not sure what happened in my post!

http://blog.admob.com/2010/02/01/remedy-for-falling-rank-promote-your-app-with-advertising

The Fair Lady Media post is a good one as well.