Gravity Ride has released our first application, TFRs an aviation/pilot utility for checking Temporary Flight Restrictions. It is a niche app and wasn't made with Cocos, but we are heavily using cocos for our game projects and wanted to share a couple things with the community here.
Overall the release went very smoothly and was approved first try. After reading apples human interface suggestions/requirements I thought for sure it would get kicked back for some reason or another.
The big 'snag' we hit was after it was approved, we saw it's status 'Pending Contract'. We were completely unaware more steps were needed to complete our 'paid application' contract. After completing the steps, we noticed it was not an automated instant process. After reading more it can take 'up to several weeks' for contracts to be approved! Ouch. Luckily we completed the contracts on a Thursday and by the following Tuesday they were approved. So just a reminder for any new developers about to release your first app, go triple check in itunes connect you have free and paid application contracts completed so you don't run the risk of having a release sit there awaiting contracts.
One other note was we had set the availability date way into the future so once approved we could set it to the day of approval. We read this was a good idea because a lot of applications were showing a date when submitted instead of when approved. Even setting the available date to the release day, the date was still set at approval day even though it took another several days to get contracts approved. That sucks because the app was buried instantly 4-5 pages deep :/ Oh well live and learn. I'm still unsure what I could have done to avoid that, other than ensure contracts are done prior to app approval.
Anyway, if there are any other pilots in the cocos community, shoot me an email and I'll give you a promo code. You can check out the app here:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=330192352&mt=8
or our website:
Thanks to the cocos community as I've learned a ton from you all beyond game making and the great cocos2d engine.
