In all things one must have the experience to understand what works and what does not. In my case the experience is from my app iBall Challenge .

In this app I got a huge personal success: positive consensus from many stores. Italy: 4.5 / 5 (20 votes), USA & UK: 3.5 / 5 (160 votes), Germany: 4/5 (20 votes). But it is also true that in China the votes were 2/5 and have never been able to raise the overall assessment. Of course, not to the levels of Doodle Jump: 5/5 (5200 votes) but I managed to raise an average of 2/5 to 4/5 since the upgrade of my app I've included a few essentials for a good evaluation .

The aim of this paper is to understand what must and must not have an app to get an affirmative vote

  • must be highly intuitive or, alternatively, to provide a tutorial. Many people experience an app, do not understand how it works and cancel giving an assessment of 1/5. No matter how it works if you wrote the app in a separate page of instructions ... you do not read it, and his vote 1/5 will weigh heavily on the overall judgment. In the case of iBall Challenge early voting has been heavily penalized by votes 1/5, but after an update which included a small tutorial initial grades 1/5 have greatly decreased
  • should encourage loyal users to vote for you. In iBall Challenge after the change before I had a few negative votes (are inevitable even for Doodle Jump) ... but also a few positive! What I did was to propose to vote for me after the fifth game with a choice yes / later. This has greatly increased the positive comments and reviews
  • should provide social mechanisms within easy reach. In iBall Challenge there is a profile page where you can log on facebook and twitter and there is a button "challenge" to challenge their friends. Following the statistics of my app on Flurry to me was that few people utilizzassero these tools, with substantial losses in advertising! What I did was make these features available on time when required. Like, put a button "share" in which only then ask the details of authentication on facebook / twitter. Or again: instead of explicitly press a button "Challenge" to propose it, if among the scores of friends do not see anyone. This is called the Internet Sign-in Continuity Pattern and is critical to promote their use.
  • must be simple but complete. The game should be easier for novice players but complex for veterans. The game should provide levels of difficulty, but this has not yet been realized ... the next update!
  • must be visually appealing. Never mind that the graphics are simple (see doodle jump) but must have its own style. A good approach is to create a graphic with the same nuances typical standard iPhone interface. A graphic with no shades transmits the absence of depth and three-dimensionality and gives effect to the whole thin. Remember, as a good graphic, that the shades must obey the laws derived from the positioning of a light source and the objects behave accordingly, otherwise the final sensation is not that due. This, alas, was not thought iBall Challenge and probably paid for the effect of "pot" of the game
  • must respond to a need searchable. If my app was a guide in Rome, sooner or later a tourist who goes to Rome would seek "rome iPhone" App Store and would discharge. But iBall Challenge those who seek him? Or do you know of a friend or you will not try an app like that ever. This is probably the biggest flaw of the game, unfortunately, unsolvable because it undermines the very nature of the app. In general, the games from this point of view app are more at risk because they live and impromptu publicity: without customers they would not.

And you? Have you tried my app iBall Challenge ? What do you think? Be forewarned that it does not work well on iOS4 (I need to update the app). The bad thing is that so far I have only received positive comments! Criticism I'd like, tell me what you think may be the problem! Discuss and comment!

Follow me many subscribing to my feed , or becoming a fan on facebook or mailing list (box on right).

  • Share / Bookmark