On a good day, Simon Read makes around £5,000 from his iOS hit New Star Soccer. Speaking at the Develop Conference last week, the New Star Games founder might have modestly put his App Store success down to luck, but a healthy chunk of the development community turned out regardless to hear Read, Hello Games’ Sean Murray, and Relentless Software boss Andrew Eades discuss the pleasures and pitfalls of iPhone development. Here, we list their most pertinent advice on how to make your first iPhone game.
Do: Give players a reason to keep playing
Simon Read “You can play [New Star Soccer] for two minutes and make quite good progress but you can also sit down for hours and get some real achievements - win a league or get into a World Cup. You can have some fun but you’ve also got a much longer, deeper game as well. That’s why people seem to be so hooked on it.”
Don’t: Rely on old console game development processes
Andrew Eades “When we made Quiz Climber, we came from that very process-driven, console triple-A background so that’s what we applied. We spent a horrifically large amount of money making Quiz Climber - I mean a huge amount of money for what it is. The budget didn't match at all. So our next game doesn’t have any production staff and doesn't have any real project management - it's as if we’re building prototypes in our spare time. We’ve been kind of doing it as if we didn't have resources, and we’ve got to the point now where we’re quite happy with what we’ve got and we’re going to apply resources. So I think we learned the hard way that you can spend a lot of money making iOS games using the old-fashioned console process.”
Do: Take the platform seriously
Sean Murray “For me, iPhone was just ‘poo gaming’ – games you play when you’re having a poo. That mindset’s changed over time and I’ve come to really appreciate it. There are actual gamers on iPhone. It was just that before, I viewed it that way because a lot of the games were crap. And you think it's not possible to do something worthwhile on that platform.”
SR “I think there was a kind of stigma around iPhone gaming, similar to Flash gaming, and I think the key mistake you can make is to not respect the audience and not make something that you’re proud of. You want to make something that people will enjoy for long periods, not just a two minute throwaway thing.”
Don’t: Get pricing wrong
AE “We started making a game aiming for 69p but during development we realised that that wasn’t going to cut it and we went free-to-play. We still had this really old-fashioned view of pricing - comparison pricing, and showing value, and all of these things that are successful in the console world. We tried the same kind of comparison model, so we shipped a £1.19 premium version with no ads and a free version which was identical but had ads. The ads put people off, and Apple hated it and didn't feature it because of that. £1.19 is ridiculously expensive compared to Angry Birds for 69p. That’s the point, because we’re pushing people to free. But we didn't realise that on iOS no-one compares like that – it’s either free or it’s not.”
Do: Have a post-release plan
AE “I thought that it was something so obvious that I was surprised when we released a game that no-one knew how to update, [with no] post-launch plan. We kind of sleepwalked into delivering a game which, while I think it delivered, didn't have that kind of plan for success, or what we would do in the months after launch, which I think is essential for iOS.”
SR “I’m keen to keep updating [New Star Soccer] at the moment because there are still loads of ideas that I want to put in the game, especially while it’s successful. I’d like to stay up there. As a one-man team you can respond to the fans and do what you want – even last minute you can change it.”
Don’t: Rely on Apple to help you promote your game
SR “The hardest thing was to get Apple to actually respond to my emails and feature it for me. It happened last week but I don't know how, and no-one told me it was going to be featured. [New Star Soccer] has only been successful in the UK so now it’s about trying to repeat that success across Europe, in the States, South America – I need Apple to help me do that and they’re not doing it. As an indie, that's tough; unless you network and get a contact who’s willing to help you then you’re out on your own.”
Don't: Use a publisher
AE “Don't use a publisher if you can possibly help it. We come from a background where we’re used to partnering with publishers, and I think we had more faith in that model that we should have had. There are great people out there doing great jobs who can help promote, but it’s very hard to get above the noise. To be successful like New Star Soccer requires a great product and word of mouth, and no publisher on this earth could do that.”
SM “I think that there’s alot to be said for Chillingo, who will send out mail blasts and cross-promote and stuff like that - I know that doesn't necessarily mean the game will be successful, but equally it gives it some sort of chance. Whereas some people will bring out games and do nothing.”
Do: Think like a publisher
AE “You have to understand what you need to do in order to get installs, and that means you need to understand what a publisher would be doing for you and what the metrics should be. I know how to generate 50k installs in a month now because I did it. I know how to do that and if I then had the right virality and retention mechanics in my game then that would be the seed I would use to then push it further. You can multiply that by how much you have to spend. You have to reserve significant cost to spend on marketing activity.”