Gerball for iPad Released!
BlitzMax Forums/MiniB3D Module/Gerball for iPad Released!
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| At last I managed to release my first iminib3d game. Not an iPhone game, but an iPad game: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gerball-for-ipad/id364763220?mt=8 Must admit I haven't even tried it on a real device yet (only a simulator), but I thought the iPad launch was too good an opportunity too miss. I'll keep it as an iPad exclusive game for now and then will release it as an iPhone game in a month or so. If anyone here has an iPad (don't suppose there's too many), then I'd love to hear how Gerball plays on there. I can supply a promo code if needed. |
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| Congratulations, Simon. The only thing I would recommend is that the shadows be slightly darker, but you can see the end goal easily in the screenshot. |
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| That really great! You've got your foot in the door early so to speak, so I hope it goes really well for you :) Cheers Charlie |
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| Cool! Congratulations! (unfortunately I have no Ipad and no Iphone/Ipod so I can't be very useful...) PS: after looking at the images on the AppleStore I noticed there are no shadows under the ball or the objects, I think shadows add a more 3d sensation... The graphics seems very high detailed, better than the original PC version! |
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| How did you find the speed on the iPad for 3D Simon? Better than the iPhone, slower, faster...? Love this type of game, It will be a sure purchase when the iPad is released here in the UK. Good luck with the release! |
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| wohoo cool simon congrats please make some speedtests for us and tell as the results |
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| were doing a unified release game for iPhone and iPad too :) |
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| Congrats on the release! Must admit I haven't even tried it on a real device yet (only a simulator) oh man that is pretty dicey. Are you sure it's running at a good framerate? The polygon counts in the smoothly curving levels might be a bit much. |
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| Thats why its unified, if it runs well on the iPod its gotta run ok on the iPad :D |
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| Yep it runs fine on a 3G so should run fine on an iPad. |
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| ah so you have tested it on an iPhone, just not an iPad. I thought you meant you hadn't tested it on device at all. |
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| Congratz Simon! my iPad is on order (3G model... "Late April" as a concept makes me cry...) but I will try as soon as it arrives, can't wait! If it runs on a 3G and you've tried it in the simulator you should have no problems on iPad in theory, the only differences being it's a lot faster hardware (3g is underclocked to 412mhz, 3gs underclocked to 600mhz, an iPad is 1ghz run speed, dunno if it's running at full capacity or underclocked too), and the aspect ratio is a bit different, so a hardware test for speed on slower hardware and a software test for ratio changes and it should be solid... Any word on the next release of iMiniB3D? I'm about to start the iPad version of my current desktop project in the next month or so and you mentioned 0.4 possibly sneaking out at some point soonish? |
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| Sold any copies yet? I haven't played the game, but it looks like the sort of game that would be perfect for a motion controlled device like the iPad/iPhone. I imagine that it will do well, with proper marketing. |
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| My iPad is on order. This will be my first purchase, well done with the release. |
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| Smart move, Simon. I think this type of game will go down well on the IPad. Good luck! |
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| So far I have sold 1 copy - and I bought that! Must admit I was expecting slightly better but apparently the game has no visibility on the AppStore except for if you search for it - and I guess no-one is going to search for it if they don't know about it. There are a lot of developers complaining about the lack of visibility of their games for the iPad on the AppStore right now - iPad games are getting even less coverage than iPhone games. Will have to think about ways of marketing it - might have to release a couple of freebies to promote the game. |
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| Have you sent promo codes to iphone gaming sites? I would want to send messages to toucharcade, fingergaming, etc. to see if you get any response. Considering how good the graphics look, I would imagine they want to at least throw up a couple screenshots on their site. |
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| Word of mouth is really the best way to get some sales started in my experience. The higher your reviews (once you get reviews) the better it sells. I would second jhocking on recommending you send out as many promo codes as you can find places that will take them. Give them to your friends and family and have them post reviews to get a rating started. You may want to look into open feint integration or a home spun twitter/facebook post feature, it's scary how much people love pointless social networking posts... it makes me sad but it works. Also you can get some add space on some of the iphone game review sites pretty cheap if you're willing/able. Or you can look at getting some adds through admob or one of the other iPhone in app advertisers. The conversion rates can be pretty good there. I have 1 ad supported app that fills empty adds with adds for my other apps and it's gotten a decent return and doesn't cost anything since they would just be blank adds otherwise. Really it boils down to exposure = sales = more exposure/word of mouth = more sales. So encouraging people to spread the word is key. Also after it's been up for a week or so drop the price for a day or 2 and it will get picked up by things like appminer, and people will buy it because it's on sale, thus getting exposure so more people buy it when it goes back to the regular price... Frequent updates (but not bombing with trivial things), like 1 a month or so helps bump it towards the top of the recent release lists for some free eyeballs. If you spam updates though bad things happen (delays on acceptance, getting bumped from new release lists all together etc...) so try to trickle your features out rather than giant updates. Also I think you're probably caught in the iPad crush, everyone and their mother is trying to get their iPad version out at or around launch to cash in, but that means there's too many apps, and not enough iPads sold yet. Lots of people are holding off for the 3G so there should be a second wave of users when that launches with fewer apps getting dumped on the store at exactly the same time. You might consider making it iPhone/iPad hybrid unless there's a reason it can only run on iPad since there's about a zillion iPhone's out there to each iPad right now... Plus it's a much easier sell to people who do or will own both, even if it's limited to 3Gs. Dunno how your physics affect it, but I was getting great framerates back with 0.2beta on my 1st gen iPhone when I was testing so you could open a big door there. You'll have my cash in hand as soon as my iPad arrives, first purchase on device I promise :0) |
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| Use twitter as much as you can. My sales jumped when I started getting a following on twitter. |
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| I'll echo CodeGit about Twitter, it's a great way to give your games exposure and also allow you to communicate with your fans. Cheers Charlie |
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| to simonh: in your site (www.supergerball.com) there is no link to ITUNES! I think you should update your site... (ps: personal opinion, your site seems....'very old skool' style, I think more dynamic content/images/video could grant more interest! And you have more than 60 videos on youtube...) Edit: the price has dropped from 4.99 to 0.99 USD - I noticed it in an italian blog (www.ipaditalia.it - here they wrote about 'discounted applications'...of course Ipad in Italy (and the rest of the world) is not still available so why already discount the application????) |
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| Well things picked up yesterday - I sold two at $.99! (was that anybody here? If so thanks!). I've just taken a look at a top 100 list and strangely found myself at No. 72 - so either I've sold a few more today or you really don't need to sell many to get into the top 100! Thanks for all the support and advice by the way - I appreciate it. |
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| wow! cracking the top 100 is impressive! way to go! re degac: discounting the app causes price monitors (like that italian site) to take note of an app, which gives you lots of free exposure, which usually gets a lot of downloads and more word of mouth for more exposure etc. The price can go back up at any point, but they only notice if a price goes down. So you can introduce an app at $5, discount it to $1 for a week to get sniffed by the automated watchers as an introductory price, then bump it back up. If you introduce it at $1 then bump it you get no exposure because the price never drops... |
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| Congratulations. |
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| Ok, just bought it, played a couple of levels - a bit difficult for me :) But, it ran really well on my iPad 64gb!! I'm sure my kids will fight over this game when they get home from school. Left you a 5 star review. Congrats simonh! Did you have to modify the iminib3d lib to run on the iPad? |
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| Must admit I was expecting slightly better but apparently the game has no visibility on the AppStore except for if you search for it - and I guess no-one is going to search for it if they don't know about it. There are a lot of developers complaining about the lack of visibility of their games for the iPad on the AppStore right now - iPad games are getting even less coverage than iPhone games. Will have to think about ways of marketing it - might have to release a couple of freebies to promote the game. Thats the problem with AppStore everybody on there has been saying that for ages its the high paying apps that get the most coverage. |
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| Joe - cheers, I appreciate the review. Yes I had to modify the iminib3d lib slightly - I changed the Graphics command so you could specify your own resolution. |
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| Finally got an iPad today (released in the UK today), and got to be about the 100th person to play my own game! Quite pleased with how it runs on an iPad, just one or two minor issues that I was unaware of before playing it on an actual iPad. The iPad is a really nice device though. Definitely keen on developing more apps for it. |
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| Many people I know assumed I was going to rush out and buy an iPad the day it was released, because many people I know seem to think I'm some Apple fanboy because I have both a Macbook Pro and an iPhone. The more I hear about it though, the more inclined I am to go buy an iPad. |
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| Your last update for gerball for iPad fixed the couple glitches I was seeing, it's been rock solid since then for me. It really is an odd device to own. It will either be loads of fun and then forgotten on a shelf like so many other gadgets, or it will wind it's way into your life in ways you'd never suspect. I am no longer in need of a new laptop because the iPad is good enough in a lot of ways, and actually way better in many others. It has taken over almost everything I used my iPhone for around the house. I'm actually reading a lot more since it simplifies the little hassles of getting a book out, finding your place, putting it away etc, and the device is always just right there. I could easily live without it, but it still has a very useful place is my life, which is a position no other device has ever really been in for me before. |
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| I think its just a leisure device. For that, it excels better than anything else in the world. It's a great photo album, music player, movie player, browser and generic email/chillout device. |
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| I prefer to play all my iPhone games on my iPad. Feels right, more real-estate, faster execution. It has almost replaced my iPhone with the exception of making phone calls. It's the first device I pickup when I get home from work. It's more than a leisure device; it's a way of life :) |
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