cocos2d for iPhone

A fast, easy to use, free, and community supported 2D game engine

1. 

   Blue Ether
   Member

   Hey all. I'm happy to announce (belatedly) that Metaversal Studios' latest Iphone release made with Cocos is now in the app store. Cocos is a joy to develop with and I look forward to keep using it!

   App Store link

   

   Bad Apples is a turn-based puzzle game that adds a whole new flavor to the classic match-three formula established by "Bejeweled". Matching three or more identical fruits in a row or column "juices" the fruit, removing it from the board and putting it towards meeting your juice-making quota. But "Bad Apples" stand in the way of your success: match too many of these fruits, and it's game over!

   Make enough good juice and you'll earn power-ups like the cherry-tomato bomb and the blue cross berry; make enough bad juice and you'll start to see super bad apples that eat away at your score even faster!

   Don't let a fruit column fill up or the whole thing will rot into Bad Apples! An occasional crusher-fruit will fall from the tree to help you clear out unwanted pieces, but move it wisely; it destroys the piece beneath it after each move and can ruin a perfect combo beneath it -- or cause a super bad combo to occur above it!

   Featuring 25 puzzles and a never-ending arcade mode, this game will entertain even the pickiest puzzle player. The first expansion pack (purchasable from within the game) unlocks two new difficulty settings, timed mode (which requires you to think fast!), 25 additional puzzle levels, and a brand new enemy to contend with!

   Key Features:
   * Familiar "swap-two-pieces" game mechanic, but you don't have to make a match every turn
   * "Shake to drop fruit" adds tree-shaking fun to the game but can be disabled for play during bus rides and earthquakes
   * "Crushers" change the board after you've moved, so you have to plan ahead
   * Expansion packs with new puzzles and features keep the game fresh
   * A delicious and important part of a healthy diet
   
   
   

   Posted 2 years ago #
2. 

   Techy
   Member

   Looks very cool! Nice graphics! I will check it out!

   Posted 2 years ago #
3. 

   Techy
   Member

   WOW!!! You released this 6 days ago and it has 114 ratings?!?!? How did you manage that!

   Posted 2 years ago #
4. 

   Codemattic
   Moderator

   really cute artwork!

   Posted 2 years ago #
5. 

   XyrisKenn
   Member

   Wow, that looks really cool!

   Posted 2 years ago #
6. 

   Blue Ether
   Member

   Techy: The app is "freemium" which means it is a free app that allows users to upgrade to a full version using the store kit. We are also currently advertising using our other free apps. So, we have been getting quite a few downloads and also reviews (though many are from the 1-star uninstall jerks.

   We've had over 40,000 downloads worldwide since Bad Apples was released less than a week ago, though only 12% of those have come from the US. For example, the app is currently the #1 free app in Singapore and is also in the top 10 puzzle games in the UK, Netherlands, and Taiwan. We're having the best upgrade ratios so far in the US and Netherlands though.

   It always seems to be the case that our games do much better overseas than in the US, which is strange to us since we are an American developer. Has anyone else experienced this?

   Posted 2 years ago #
7. 

   PhilM
   Member

   Congrats! Really like the design & characters. Will give it a try this week.

   Its interesting to hear how the freemium model is working for devs. Some users seem to love it, others seem to be not so keen.

   Good luck with your game!

   Posted 2 years ago #
8. 

   jptsetung
   Member

   Hey the game is featured in "new and noteworthy games" on the us store, that will certainly help.
   Impressive number of downloads for a one week old game.

   The reasons why an app will work more in some countries are very obscure. I guess it depends on the differences of culture for a very small part. Actually in the app store, small differences can have huge impacts. And one your user base is more important in a country, as you promote your new apps, in older apps, you go on being more visible in the same countries again and again.

   --

   The problem with freemium model, is that it's still not very well known among iPhone players. As there is not a "LITE" in the application title, they exepct a "really free" app and when they realize they need to pay for the full version, they uninstall it and give a 1/5 rating, and sometimes an angry review.

   And that's a pity because freemium allows them to upgrde without the need to download a new app, which is a very nice improvement.

   For the developer revenue point of view, I think freemimum is not as efficient as lite/full version. First of all, you get more visibility being featured on paid and free lists. Many players (who have the means to buy a lot of apps) will directly buy the full version without trying the lite version. And finally, that's quite silly, but do you know why many players update from lite to full version ? Because they want to turn this ugly "LITE" icon on their iPhone into a fancy full version icon, and you can't change the icon with freemium model :). I got this from players feedback on my freemium game Blockoban.

   Posted 2 years ago #
9. 

   Br0ken
   Member

   @ jptsetung; nice insight mate thanks for sharing. I'm in the process of making my first game, it'll probably be free since it's a game for learning rather than a game for earning lol

   @ Blue Ether; lovely game, well done buddy. How many people in your team and what was the time scale if you don't mind me asking?

   Posted 2 years ago #
10. 

    Blue Ether
    Member

    @jptsetung: Interesting thoughts on the freemium system. I was told that's what we were doing, so that's what I did! We'll see how much success we get out of it. So far it's not doing too bad, though with our current conversion rate it will take a very large number of total downloads to make much money. I hadn't noticed we made it onto New & Noteworthy until you mentioned it! That's very cool.

    @br0ken: Thanks. We originally worked on Bad Apples as a Flash game. It's hard to make a good estimate on the iPhone version, because so much of the game design, graphics, and sound were worked out during the Flash phase, and the work on that was really spread out while working on other projects.

    When we committed to doing the iPhone version, we had one artist working for 2-3 weeks adapting the Flash graphics to the screen size, putting together the sprite sheets, and making some new assets. I did all the coding in about six weeks, plus an extra 2-3 weeks part time implementing the Store Kit for the upgrade and of course play testing and fixing bugs. We also had part time work from two designers for menu layouts and graphics and to make a custom font for the game, and about a week from our sound guy checking and tweaking the Flash sounds.

    Posted 2 years ago #

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