Looks awesome. Was this developed with Corona? I only ask because it says you are a test driver. Congrats and hope your game does well, I’m sure it will. [import]uid: 31262 topic_id: 17769 reply_id: 67971[/import]
Hi Aaron…
Yes it is a Corona game. Our license is under my business partner’s user account. This login is just my forum login.
edit:
Which I’m obviously accidentally logged in on right now…oops.
[import]uid: 10150 topic_id: 17769 reply_id: 67980[/import]
Hey again,
Played a little last night but then got caught up with work. It’s very impressive - I’m hoping to get a chance to play more tonight.
I will also try to leave you a review in the next day or so, although it will be in the Australian store so not quite as useful as a US review I’m afraid 
Peach 
[import]uid: 52491 topic_id: 17769 reply_id: 68071[/import]
Thanks a ton Peach.
Glad you like it so far. An Australian review would be awesome. We are performing well there in the ranks.
Can you recommend your top app to me and I’ll return the favor. [import]uid: 9492 topic_id: 17769 reply_id: 68085[/import]
Hey again,
Just found out I’d purchased it with my US id by mistake. (Normally purchase with AU only.)
Will still leave you a review although I’m sorry it wont be in Australia >.
As to my own apps, if you felt like checking out Burger Cook, that would be appreciated (It’s my newest, the art is great, done by Biffy Beebe.)
Will leave you a review shortly - sorry again it’s not in AU.
Peach [import]uid: 52491 topic_id: 17769 reply_id: 68114[/import]
Hey Peach…
Congrats on the New and Noteworthy listing for your burger app.
Also…
I wanted to ask you…In your game…how did you link directly to the rate it page on iTunes rather than the general app page? Do you have a code snippit?
Thanks!
Syn
PS:
Thanks for the good review you left on Riddenhurst. [import]uid: 9492 topic_id: 17769 reply_id: 68292[/import]
Hey,
Thank you - hadn’t seen that previously!
No worries RE the review.
For the rating thing, absolutely, right here - http://techority.com/2010/12/07/how-to-add-a-rate-it-button-to-your-iphone-app/
Peach [import]uid: 52491 topic_id: 17769 reply_id: 68325[/import]
Synthesis,
I’m very impressed with your work on this app. Anxious to hear how sales are going. I’m just getting started with Corona (having switched from GS). I’m working on an adventure point-n-click game as well. Several months to go on this. Any advice you can offer would be awesome.
Blessings to you. [import]uid: 114717 topic_id: 17769 reply_id: 76955[/import]
NICE game…! Great Job…Synthesis
I’m also looking at developing a point n touch adventure, style
game(s), maybe we can get a tutorial going on this subject
by some of the more experienced coders to get us up to speed
Or maybe just some hints, as to what direction to move toward
or resources to look at…
Congrats Synthesis…wish you all the luck…!
sharp1959
[import]uid: 107633 topic_id: 17769 reply_id: 76973[/import]
Hi Miller and Sharp…
Thanks for checking out Riddenhurst and I’m glad to hear you like it.
Any advice?
Well…brace yourself because these aren’t easy to build…at least Riddenhurst wasn’t. The bigger the story, the bigger the endeavor. It seems to never end on the development side.
So first advice is…keep scope simple but engaging. And make it expandable. If the game takes off…then you can update it regularly and keep it going. If it flops, you can tie it up and move on to the next one.
Second point to make is that our most negative feedback is with regard to our navigation. Many hate it and get lost and confused. So my advice is…make sure you navigation is as ABSOLUTELY as intuitive as possible.
Third point is, make sure there are optional hints. Many gamers want to go on an adventure but they want their hand held along the way being spoon fed the story. While others want it as challenging as possible. So to find more success, you must cater to both.
Last point…make it engaging. By this I mean it needs to be fun, beautiful AND as interactive as possible. The adventure gamers are HARD to please and Big Fish has placed the bar high in this genre and the adventure gamers are very used to their style. So if you break the mold…it has to count…otherwise they will rain hate down on you in your reviews.
Adventures are hard to do. They almost all need database integration (and advanced API) and they have a LOT of linkages and details to track. There is a TON of room for errors/crashes…such as missing waypoint links, incorrect data tracking, etc.
So that said…they can be profitable…and fun to make. We aren’t making as much as we hoped but sales have picked up after our last release to a respectable level. We are getting about 50-60 downloads a day on average since Christmas. Before that…it was about 15-25/day (after the initial release bubble).
I’m not sure if I will do another one anytime soon. They take a ton of time to build and if they flop…you can’t get that time back…but you could say that about any app. The haters tend to hate hard on adventures if they don’t like them. You will either get 1 star or 5 stars in your reviews. The gamers tend to love or hate you.
So good luck with your adventures. Keep them simple but fun and I’m sure you will find some success in there. Adventures seem to be a bankable genre if you can satisfy the appetite. Also…I read in a Big Fish article that 60-70% of adventure gamers are women…so keep that in mind.
[import]uid: 9492 topic_id: 17769 reply_id: 77013[/import]
im making my own adventure game for a 3 months now and wanted to check on competition) but 3 dollar price stopped me from buying it, i think its too much for an app [import]uid: 16142 topic_id: 17769 reply_id: 77017[/import]
>>3 dollar price stopped me from buying it, i think its too much for an app<<
Good grief.
People pay more for a burger.
If you were sweeping floors for 3 months, how much would you expect to receive for doing that? [import]uid: 108660 topic_id: 17769 reply_id: 77019[/import]
its the point of choice, for a 3 bucks i can buy 3 games or pack of games or 3 dollar game
average customer will probably choose best solution(pack)
i can live without 3 bucks, i just seeing this like an average customer [import]uid: 16142 topic_id: 17769 reply_id: 77020[/import]
Hi dark…
Checking out other apps is good. I bought a slew of adventures to see what worked and what didn’t. I bought $6 ones and $1…mostly to see what made a $6 adventure worth $6.
I recommend doing the same. Not all $1 apps are good and not all $4 apps are good.
I might also mention…our download counts more than doubled at $3 than at $1. I chalk that up to perceived value.
However, if you charge $3 or more…I tend to feel that there should be a substantial amount of depth to it or a compelling reason for it.
We felt that there were several hours of game play in Riddenhurst, so a $3 price tag seems validated…at least to us.
Also…price points for iPad are different that those for iPod…and most of our sales come from iPad.
And $3 for an large adventure seems reasonable. I paid dropped over $100 for the 3part Myst series way back.
[import]uid: 9492 topic_id: 17769 reply_id: 77029[/import]
thanks for sharing synthesis
can you tell me how much time was put in Riddenhurst and how many people worked on it? [import]uid: 16142 topic_id: 17769 reply_id: 77030[/import]
We have nearly 6 months put into it so far…full time. I did about 90% of it and my business partner coded about 10% of it. And we are only about 60% complete.
60% is graphics, 30% is navigation linkage and story overlay and 10% is the game engine.
So all in all…I say an adventure like Riddenhurst is probably about a 1500-2000 hour investment. [import]uid: 9492 topic_id: 17769 reply_id: 77032[/import]
thats a lot of time) i hope to finish within a three months, but then i dont want to make another for some time, better to make a few other genres) [import]uid: 16142 topic_id: 17769 reply_id: 77034[/import]
Thanks Synthesis,
This info is very helpful. I think we should start an Adventure Game forum for folks to post their success/failure stories. FireMaple would be great to hear from as well. I’ve been very impressed with his work on Grisly Manor and the upcoming Lost City game.
I know Grisly Manor was released on 10/15/2010 and to date has sold over 100,000 units at various price points. I believe it started at about $2.99 and has been $0.99 at times. Current price point is $1.99.
Biggest complaint I can see on the reviews is that it is TOO SHORT!
That’s a good problem to have though, in my opinion. It means the audience wants more. I’d rather leave them begging for more, than giving up. Like you said, release more as the audience demands it.
The project I’m getting started on is based on a best selling children’s book series with over 35,000,000 books sold. So I hope the audience brings a bit of demand to the game, but there is no guarantee. Readers don’t always convert to game players.
I’m also curious what marketing strategies you have put in place that have worked.
Thanks,
Chris (the balder half of the Miller Brothers)
TheMillerBrothers [import]uid: 114717 topic_id: 17769 reply_id: 77049[/import]
Sythesis,
I forgot to ask. How many screens of artwork had you completed at the time of release? I know Grisly Manor released with about 55 images total. [import]uid: 114717 topic_id: 17769 reply_id: 77051[/import]
@Miller.
Yes, Grisley Manor sold a lot of copies. On his initial release, Joe cracked the top 100 on iTunes. He made a big splash initially. I don’t think his Android sales have done much…maybe 3-5K. He was very successful on Amazon for a couple of reasons (as far as I can tell). He got exclusive access from Ansca when the amazon store first went live. He was the Guinea pig app for Ansca and Corona. Therefore he had zero competition on there. Additionally, he was selected by Amazon as a free app for the day. I think this is where a large number of his downloads came from.
To do it on your own is tough. I’m not discounting that Grisley manor is a solid game and a solid effort by Joe. He struck a nerve by making a simple game that young and old can enjoy. Not to mention…it has a spooky icon and he timed his initial release at Halloween…which I am sure helped out in his early success.
I will be interested to see if his Lost City hits a home run too. I hope it does. But the appstore has just gotten more and more difficult with each month that goes by to get the attention of the market with new titles - IMHO.
Our own sales strategy is based on synergy. We have a handful of pay titles out there with a strong user base that updates regularly. We are now focused on putting some free apps out that are ad and inapp supported in order to get download counts higher and to broaden our user base - and our app portfolio’s exposure. Then we are trying to cross-market our entire catalog between the apps. I have read that 40-50% of new sales come from in-app recommendations (more games sections or in-game ads). Gamers and app users don’t dig for apps. They shop the top 200 or impulse buy from an in-game ad/recommendation or take a recommendation from another user (seeing a game a buddy is playing).
There is no secret recipe out there. Either lightning strikes or it doesn’t. You just have to hope you have your antenna pointed in the right direction so that the lighting hits you rather than the 1000s of other antennas out there trying to catch the same bolt of lightning.
Just my 2 cents.
EDIT:
BTW: Riddenhurst has 100’s of image plates as it is a free to walk around game…not a sequenced slide show. [import]uid: 9492 topic_id: 17769 reply_id: 77056[/import]