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360iDev: Onboarding and the first 60 seconds
One of the most critical parts of any app is the onboarding process -- what it takes to get you interested in, educated about, and logged into an app or service. Developer Ben Johnson of Raizlabs provided a look at first impressions in apps in a 360|iDev 2014 presentation this morning titled "Onboarding and the first 60 seconds". Johnson notes that as humans, we're all pre-programmed to have first impressions based on a single quick glance at another person or thing, and the same is true when we're working with apps. Most developers devote a ton of time to the app and totally ignore the onboarding process, but the first impressions of an app are always important as many users will delete it if it appears confusing or has a difficult signup process. The first impression starts even before the app ls loaded onto a device -- as Johnson demonstrated, the App Store icon, screenshots, and even the messages used in screenshots are very important in terms of capturing potential customers and establishing branding. Users "window shopping" for apps often make their decision based on what happens when they first launch an app and see what Johnson referred to as the "Why should I care?" screens. Johnson used the IFTTT app's description screens as a positive example of how to describe what the app does before even asking a user to sign up for an account. A "skip" button is very important at this point, since some users may know already what an app does and don't care about the description. Johnson suggests that developers "ask nicely" when something is going to happen, referring to this as "The Pretty Please Prompt". More users tend to accept permissions if you let them know why you're going to be doing so. For example, if you want users to be able to share something with friends, ask them for permission to use the address book when they actually try to perform that function and not before. Tell users why the app needs permission and then actually ask for the permission, and they'll be much more likely to give the approval. Johnson also suggests that login pages be delayed as long as possible after launching the app or be made optional. If you really need for users to log in, don't throw it at them right up front. He'd also like to have developers standardize on a single format for login screens to keep them from confusing users. It would be much easier for people to log into a variety of different apps if each used the same basic user interface and labels. Sign In, Register, and Forgot Password are really the only functions that need to be used, and Johnson has gone on record as wanting all developers to adopt those labels. It's also important to do a "dress rehearsal" of app functions or gestures, but only if you need it. In other words, if you have a very intuitive user interface in your app, don't take users through all of the the different steps. Only 42 percent of paying users of the first version of Johnson's Free-Time app ($2.99) made it all the way through six pages of descriptions. Johnson said that they're not providing that "how to" in the next version of the app. Mailbox is an app that requires users to actually go through the gestures to learn them, which Johnson lauded as a great way to get people used to using the app's unique gesture UI. In other words, users actually use the app to learn their way around the UI. Johnson then displayed some examples of good, bad, and ugly onboarding processes. The ugliest was the iTunes U app, which he considered one of the worst because it appears to switch to another app during onboarding and requests permissions without describing why it's doing so. For the "bad" example, he chose ChitChat (see image at the top of this post). This free app makes a lot of requests for permissions, displays screens with no prompt except for a circled check mark, and forces a user through 11 pages of tutorial screens -- without a "skip" button. For the example of a good onboarding process, Johnson selected NPR One. The app launches with a "play" button that plays an audio introduction while showing potential users what's going on. All of this happens before requesting permissions and a signup. The first few seconds of using an app is very important to users, and Johnson suggests that you obsess about how to grab a user and get them to use the app. This is one case where user testing can really make a difference in how your app is perceived by your target audience. Be sure to visit TUAW tomorrow for more news about this year's 360|iDev conference.
360iDev 2014 starts off with a bang
Denver has been a host city for the 360|iDev conference for a number of years, and this year's event for developers is currently underway in the Mile High City. TUAW is at the conference to see what the best brains in iOS development are up to. Although there were some conference sessions yesterday, the event started in earnest today, and it launched with a bang with a keynote address that was definitely out of the ordinary. Surya Buchwald took the stage this morning for the opening keynote, and in case that name isn't ringing a bell, perhaps you know him better as Momo the Monster, VJ for deadmau5, the Glitch Mob, and Wolfgang Gartner. He's the director of innovation for Helios Interactive, creating immersive experiences for events and retail outlets. So what does this have to do with iOS development? Buchwald's keynote was ostensibly a talk about the creation of a generative art performance app, but quickly transformed into an amazing performance by Colorado-based art/music duo Polar Vortex. Buchwald has several fun visualization apps in the App Store that were demonstrated during the keynote and performance: MakeSpaceShip (US$0.99) and FiddlyBits (Free). This year's conference is being attended by 380 developers and app business types, most of whom were at the keynote this morning. As you'd also expect at a conference full of nerds, every name badge is equipped with an iBeacon that works with the official conference app. Want to know who's in a session with you? Just fire up the app and you get a full rundown on everybody in the room... or at least it's supposed to happen that way when the feature gets turned on. Let's just say the iBeacon functionality appears to be in currently in development, as it should be for a developer conference. We'll be back with more coverage of 360|iDev 2014 over the next few days.
360iDev: Riptide Games' App Store wins and losses
Because there are so many apps on the App Store, we often have a tendency to hear most about what are actual outliers on Apple's platform. It's very rare indeed, in fact, for the average developer to have either a giant hit or a giant loss, though obviously those games and apps tend to get the most press and become the most talked about. But for the majority of apps and developers on the store, those stories just aren't typical. Usually, the outcome of an app release is far less obvious: An app can do well at some things and not so well at others. Developer Brian Robbins of Riptide Games (who's done some speaking on the subject before) took to the stage at 360iDev this past week to do a run through his company's history, and go over what both worked and didn't about his company's many iPhone apps. He's had what we'd normally call both successes and failures on the App Store, but even Riptide's wins weren't perfect, and the biggest failures still let the company learn how to better do things in the future. In 2010, for example, Robbins said that he and his company came up with an idea they called "iLookGood," a mirror app that used the new iPhone's front-facing camera to actually work as a mirror. Despite its simplicity, that app did well and continues to grab downloads to this day, though it hasn't been updated in quite a while. But it wasn't all a success -- while the app did bring the company to spin off a popular version called iLookFunny, it also spawned a version called iArrPirate, which Robbins said was terribly unpopular. "Nobody likes pirates," he told the crowd of developers. "Don't do pirates." Robbins also said that he regretted that the iLook apps didn't have "a coherent strategy" -- they were just a silly idea that the company spun up into a brand. BopIt has been a relatively big success for Riptide -- Robbins had connections with the popular toy's makers, so when the time came to make an app for the brand in conjunction with EA, he jumped at the chance. And indeed, the BopIt games (which are now published by EA under Chillingo, but made by Riptide) have been one of Riptide's most steady brands, providing work for the company since the very beginning. But in making the first title, says Robbins, Riptide actually lost money on the property. He says he doesn't regret making the first BopIt game, as he gladly jumped at the chance to work with EA on a larger brand. But though the decision was a good one, it wasn't very profitable for Riptide. My Pet Zombie was Riptide's first really profitable title, and most App Store onlookers would probably call that one a hit (so much so that Riptide's next game, called My Pet Dragon, will use the same model). But Robbins says that My Pet Zombie had missteps as well -- it "didn't hit metrics," and he says the company could probably have followed up better on customer interest in the game. Ultimate Battle Zombies, a freemium game that Riptide released earlier this year, was the company's "biggest financial failure yet", according to Robbins. The original idea for the game was to team up with a major media network and make a game based on celebrity zombies, but at the last second, the idea was kiboshed by lawyers and their reservations, says Robbins. Riptide decided to publish the game itself, but "we shouldn't have finished it," he says. The game's goofy premise "missed its audience," according to Robbins, and the work that went into the title (which makes use of Game Center's asynchronous gameplay features) just wasn't worth it. But something good did some out of Ultimate Battle Zombies. Robbins and his team decided that instead of working remotely as usual, they would try to bring the team together and work in one place. After some research, they decided to meet up for two weeks in Florida, and at a cost of just around $12,000, were able to pull everyone down for about two weeks, having meetings by the pool and cooking all together as a group. Robbins admitted that a retreat like that probably wouldn't work for every company, and even Riptide only had everyone together for a period of about five days. But he says the experience was completely worth it for teambuilding, and any company with remote team members should consider an experience like that. In the end, said Robbins, developers need to be scrappy and work hard on whatever chances come to them. True hits and misses are actually rare on the App Store, despite how much we hear about them in the community every day. As Riptide's story shows, the majority of developers have to always deal with the good and the bad, and figure out how to best move forward when either happens.
360iDev: The case for 'fair pricing' on iOS apps
A few developers have talked before about the App Store's "race to the bottom" problem, and Joe Cieplinski has clearly been doing some thinking about the issue as well. In his talk at 360iDev this week, Cieplinski (a former English teacher and Apple Store employee who now works as a designer for Bombing Brain Interactive, makers of an app called Teleprompt+ for iPad) pointed out that back in the early days of the App Store, some developers decided to try and price their apps at Apple's lowest option of 99 cents ("I didn't get an email," he joked, "Were you guys consulted?"). A few of those 99 cent apps made millions of dollars, and Cieplinski says that other iOS developers wrongly decided that "99 cents must be the reason" for that success. As a result, 99 cents has become the standard for most App Store apps, with many other apps moving even lower down to free. At this rate, Cieplinski joked again, developers will soon be paying people to install their apps, and indeed, he said, that's already happening. So how can we fix this? Cieplinski says that most of the apps being sold for just 99 cents on the App Store are worth more than that, but "customers have been conditioned to think this is what your app is worth," and many developers are worried that if they move up to a higher price point, their users will revolt completely. But Cieplinski is also convinced that what's commonly called a "premium price" should instead be called a "fair price." Developers shouldn't be ashamed to charge customers what their apps (assuming the quality is high) are worth. Apple set this tone when the iPad arrived, said Cieplinski. When the iWork apps first appeared, they were priced at $9.99 each, and not only have those sold like gangbusters for Apple, but the pricing on those apps is meant to serve as a message to developers from Cupertino: "You can charge more than 99 cents," Cieplinski said. "Start doing it." He should know, too -- Teleprompt+ was released at a price of $9.99, and while Cieplinski calls early sales "modest," he said they actually increased over time. Most freemium and 99 cent apps see a large sales spike at release and then fall off precipitously, but Teleprompt+ saw a different curve, one that rose slowly but surely as time went on. So much so, in fact, that when Bombing Brain updated the app to version 2.0 with a significant redesign and new features, they raised the price to $14.99. And the real kicker: They saw sales increase. Now, this likely won't work for all developers -- Cieplinski points out that if you're going to charge more for an app, it better be a really great app, and you better have the resources (or at least be willing to put in the work) to do things like market your app to the right audience, provide flawless and responsive tech support, and update your app "early and often," making sure that it provides a lot of value to its users. But if developers are able to do this, they can not only charge a premium price, but they can demand a premium customer. Customers that buy apps at higher prices, said Cieplinski, are big seekers of value, and are willing to really use and become dedicated to the apps they invest in. If someone spends $9.99 on an app, they're more likely to use it again and again, and eventually love it so much so that they recommend it to everyone they know. Cieplinski's points are intriguing. It's hard to see the 99 cent price disappear from the store entirely -- there are definitely developers out there (and apps) that are meant to be more impulse purchases and relatively throwaway thrills. And there will always be developers ready to undercut their colleagues, in order to simply grab the largest audience possible. But Cieplinski did his best to prove that there is a market for "fair priced" apps on the App Store, and that developers willing to charge more for apps that are worth it will be able to reap higher rewards as well.
360iDev: Lessons learned from four years on the App Store
Andreas Linde is the developer of an app called WorldView+, which is designed to let you view webcams from around the world on your iOS device (we took a look at the app here). He released the app on Apple's App Store over four years ago now, and this week at 360iDev in Denver, he went through some lessons that he'd picked up working on Apple's platform. A lot of what Linde has learned echo what we've heard before from other developers: Polish and stability are extremely important when you're creating iPhone apps, because if a customer can't use the app for what it's designed for, it's just not going to be successful. Linde talked about how, when his app first arrived on the App Store, it was crashing about every one in 50 times. But as he did more and more work on it, the app now crashes only ever 0.01 percent of sessions, and that's a much better figure. One of his big recommendations was that developers look very, very closely at every single one of Apple's apps, both the released public apps from Cupertino (to see the design patterns and UI elements used), and the sample code included in Xcode's documentation, to learn just how it's all done. He also said that every developer out there should get a designer to work with, because "it really, really, really matters. Take your time, plan it early and find the right guy," said Linde. Linde also gave a few pointers on how to handle customer support -- he suggested to developers that "the customer was not always right." Obviously, developers shouldn't completely avoid customer requests, but Linde says that users don't always know what they want, and even when they send requests to a developer for a certain app feature or fix, it may not exactly be the one they'll actually use. Linde also suggested that developers do their best to keep support requests and communication out of iTunes reviews, where it often ends up if not otherwise handled by developers. Early on in WorldView+'s life, Linde created an option for in-app support, and he says that helped a lot in terms of getting support requests to him through the right channels. Linde also asked customers to rate his app directly, and he saw ratings go up substantially when he did that. "You can get better ratings just by asking," he told the crowd. Finally, Linde said he's still learning. He has gotten some press on the app, and that exposure has encouraged a few bumps in sales, but even he admitted that he's not sure how or why that coverage came about. So even as an experienced developer, says Linde, he's got quite a bit to still learn about how the App Store works. Linde's experience seems typical of a lot of developers out there -- there are certainly plenty of great lessons to have picked up from the App Store over its lifetime, and things are still changing so much that there's also lots left to learn.
360iDev: Getting ready for apps on the Apple TV
Developer Michael Gile took the stage at 360iDev in Denver to talk about the next generation of iOS development: Apple TV app development. Apple hasn't officially released or even announced iOS apps on the Apple TV yet, but that hasn't stopped Gile and a community of jailbreakers from diving in and getting code running on it anyway. Gile started his speech with a prediction: "Apple TV 2 will be the biggest game console in history," he said. If Apple implements a way to play iOS games on the device directly, it'll have a gigantic game library -- it's already larger than many of the biggest consoles in history combined. Gile said he believes there's still space to conquer in the living room. Xbox, Netflix, and Roku have all made bids for setting up "set-top boxes." No one has brought about the kind of "grand strategy" that Apple likes, with a complete vertical solution for selling hardware, software, and entertainment content (through iTunes, and its install base complete with credit cards ready for purchase). The rest of Gile's talk was mostly demos of the code he's already gotten running on the Apple TV. He started off with the GLTeapot, a traditional "Hello World" kind of demo used for 3D developers. He then dived into the code, showing off the interface Apple has already included on the Apple TV system (though none of it is yet officially documented or available to developers -- this is all internal code used by the company to run the device). While iOS uses the UIKit framework to run most of its code, the Apple TV uses a "BackRow" (or "BR") framework, apparently a twist on the "FrontRow" application that originated back in the days of Apple's "experiment." This "BRKit" does have lots of the standard UIKit ties, though Gile pointed out there are still quite a few differences in both names and functionality. Still, he and the rest of the jailbreak community have gotten quite a bit done already. Gile showed off a navigation app similar to Apple's own app, though hooked up to his own applications. He was able to load up and play media assets (in this case, a trailer for Sony's Spider-Man movie), and he ran through a few other demos and functions of what the code was capable of. But perhaps the most exciting parts of Gile's talk were two things he wasn't able to show off just yet. He says he's grabbed the recently released source code for id games' Wolfenstein 3D and Quake and has been working hard on porting it over to the Apple TV's system, with a nice bit of success so far. Gile also announced that next month he'll be releasing a version of the popular cocos2D iOS development platform that will also work with the Apple TV, essentially making it very easy for cocos2D developers to get their games up and running on Apple TV without issue. Gile was quite enthusiastic about Apple TV development. He made it very clear he thinks Apple is going to go big on this iOS device in the living room, and he was quite serious about building apps for the platform in order to have them running and ready to go on day one. "I want to be the Trism of Apple TV 2," he said (referring to the original jailbreak game that made it big when the App Store first launched), and he invited any other interested developers in the room to join him in his quest. It's still unclear just how Apple will approach iOS development on the Apple TV, whether it will simply extend the current SDK the way it did with the iPad or instead offer up an entirely new way to control and code apps and games. But whatever Apple decides, it's clear Gile wants to be ready for it.
360iDev: Mike Lee talks about mariachi, project engineering and Appsterdam
Mike Lee, former Apple and Delicious Monster employee, is among the most dynamic speakers on the Mac and Apple circuit -- whether he's telling dirty jokes or waxing poetic about beauty and insanity, he's always entertaining and insightful about product development and Apple culture in general. Lee was in rare form at this week's 360iDev conference in Denver -- he took the stage in a full Mariachi costume, and that was one of the least weird things that happened during his talk. His main points on product engineering were all very insightful. Lee went through what he called the history of machines, starting with simple tools like sticks employed by our pre-historic ancestors. He then progressed from the assembly line era to the age of personal computers, and then onto nanotechnology and the future. Lee said that software and hardware have been moving ever closer together, and we're currently at the "dawn of the age of magic in computing," where hardware and software are virtually the same thing. Lee discussed Apple's "intersection of technology and liberal arts," which he calls redundant. The word "technology" is derived from the Greek words for both art and science. That led into a discussion about design, during which Lee said that users aren't necessarily dumb -- but developers should assume, for the sake of their software, that they are. "People are not ignorant or apathetic," said Lee, "but they don't know and they don't care about you or your app." Great products, said Lee, are 80% boring, but 20% crazy and revolutionary, and that 20% makes all the difference. He offered up the iPod as an example. It was dull and simple when first introduced. But over time, Apple solved one problem after another: "Where does the music come from? What about the Windows guys? No, really," joked Lee to laughter from the audience, "what about the Windows guys?" Lee concluded that quality is more important than originality. People, he said, are in love with their ideas, but the incredible implementation of a boring idea makes it much more appealing to its intended audience. Lee also briefly discussed cross-platform implementation. He said devs often ask him which platform they should develop for or if they should implement across mobile platforms. Focus on doing one well first, Lee tells them: "If you suck on iOS, you're really going to suck on Android." Then things went really off the rails: After a short delay spent dealing with a microphone feedback issue, Lee launched into an extended "mariachi" metaphor, complete with an actual mariachi band marching into the conference. He said that developers and anyone selling or marketing software must take the "boring" story of what their software does, and then add "the mariachi story." Delicious Library 2, for example, is just a database -- but it lets you scan bar codes with your iSight camera. Lee spoke about product engineering -- but he added a mariachi band, and promised everyone would remember it. And even the iPad 2 was a "boring" iteration of the last iPad, just thinner and faster, until Apple announced the Smart Cover and its magical magnets. At that point, Lee said, everyone in the room was thinking that "maybe my Mom would like that old iPad." And finally, Lee went into an extended pitch for Appsterdam, a venture he's trying to put together in Amsterdam for mobile and app developers. Lee suggested that not only is the Netherlands city a great place for developers and programmers to go and work, but Amsterdam itself is a great place for Americans to live, promising the audience at 360iDev that the country offered universal health care, net neutrality and even marriage equality to anyone willing to move out there with him. He even extolled the local library, saying, "it's like the library was built by Apple out of Ikea," suggesting that developers there come out and see it (and imagine their children growing up there). It was hard to tell how the developers in the audience felt about the Appsterdam pitch -- it seemed a bit out of place in the talk, and even Lee admitted that he was a little overenthusiastic about suggesting developers with families and other responsibilities picking up and moving to the Netherlands to code with him. But the talk was definitely entertaining and memorable. As usual, Lee demonstrated the frank, crystal clear insight he's known for.
360iDev: Designing iPad specific (and iPad-supported) games
Developer Gareth Jenkins's talk at 360iDev this week in Denver was about designing games specifically for the iPad. He made the distinction early on about two reasons you would design games (or apps) for the iPad. First, they're either iPad-supported, such as a game you designed elsewhere but are bringing to the iPad. Or, second, they're iPad-specific, a game made just for the iPad's unique screen, interface, and use case. Jenkins said he was sorry that we'd seen very little in terms of iPad-specific games so far. Most games simply borrow their interfaces either from other game systems or from the iPhone's much smaller touchscreen. But, as he reiterated many times in his talk, the iPad is different. It's not a game controller, or a phone, or anything else we've seen yet. The demographics are different, the use cases are different, and the use itself is different. He used his own game, Hyperion, as an example. Hyperion was developed at the 360iDev game jam last year, and the game involved a hex battle system that plays kind of like Risk with "some Pac Man-esque AI." The game really only works well on the iPad rather than the iPhone, and Jenkins says that's because your fingers don't cover up the tiny screen. Hyperion depends on multiple areas of gameplay, what Jenkins called "independent areas of action and interaction," where you're playing on one part of the screen but watching what happens on the other. Only the iPad's larger touchscreen allows for that type of dual movement. He also showed off a prototype that his company had worked on, which he called "a cross between Dragon Age and Dawn of War 2" that hadn't been made yet. The game involves guiding a group of four adventures through a top-down world in real time; one action bar on the bottom of the screen corresponds to the four adventurers, while another action bar in the top right deals with their skills and spells. The main part of the screen, as seen above, is used to draw real-time paths for the heroes to take, so players will be watching what happens on the main screen while pressing buttons on the bottom and side of the iPad. The idea sounds wild, but Jenkins said the prototype worked well. Even though the UI was relatively complicated (and he used World of Warcraft's extremely detailed UI as an example), the controls "mapped" well to how the player approached the game, and it's something that could only be done on the iPad's screen. Next, Jenkins gave examples of games that were "iPad-supported" -- games that started out elsewhere, but came to the iPad in either the same form or a different one. Mirror's Edge, Call of Duty: Zombies, Canabalt, and even the recent Machinarium were cited as games that recently arrived on the iPad, and made (mostly) solid use of Apple's tablet while not diverging too much from their original ideas (though Mirror's Edge was probably the exception in Jenkins's mind -- he said he was disappointed the iPad game played so unlike the console version). Finally, Jenkins gave some advice to developers thinking about working for the iPad: Just start doing it. He advised prototyping early and often for the iPad, and also consuming and analyzing other developers' work. Jenkins said he will often do things like taking screenshots and drawing all over them to point out what he does and doesn't like. He also recommended developers use the iPad for content creation, both for creating art and for doing things like using the iPad's synthesizer apps to create sound effects and music. Jenkins's talk offered up a lot of insightful commentary on just what it means to make and play an "iPad game." Here's hoping future developers make even more unique use of this definitely unique device.
360iDev: How to make money from a free app
Developer Brian Robbins from Riptide Games gave a fascinating talk today about the apparent paradox of trying to make money off of a free app on Apple's App Store. Originally the App Store had only the two choices of a free or paid release. More recently, developers have a bevy of options for bringing in revenue even on free apps, including in-app ads, in-app purchases and freemium models, or even using "lite" versions of games to promote the paid versions. Robbins walked through a general overview of the models available and filled in the blanks with a lot of actual, clear numbers from his own company and its releases. Robbins first mentioned making free apps for portfolios and lite versions. Some developers will just put apps together to try to build up their brand or show off work for hire abilities, then release those as free apps for everyone to try. Lite apps are also a possibility, where devs can release free apps to promote their paid versions (or even promote upgrades via in-app purchase). But Robbins was unimpressed with the lite strategy; he said conversions to paid apps were basically a numbers game and not a really workable strategy. Many devs have been releasing free apps to try reaching a larger audience, then hoping that a larger audience would go for paid apps. "I don't personally believe that the lite version is a really good model going forward," Robbins said. Robbins was much more bullish on ad-supported apps, a strategy that his company has used to solid effect. There are a few different large ad networks on the iOS platform, the most high profile of which is Apple's own iAds service. But while Robbins said ads were a pretty stable way to make money (sometimes even earning up to $2 or $3 per CPM -- basically the number of clicks or views on a thousand ad shows), the "fill rate" is still a problem. iOS developers request ads from these ad networks all the time, but ad networks don't always have ads to show. "Fill rate" is the rate at which advertisers actually insert ads in an iOS app, for a user to see and a developer to make money off of. These fill rates are surprisingly low, no matter what ad network you're talking about. Even an established network like AdMob (owned by Google) only fills ads at a rate of about 80 percent. And that's high in the market; Robbins said other advertisers only filled at about 50 percent. Apple's own iAd service only filled at about 25-30 ercent. Outside of the US, said Robbins, the fill rate for iAd on apps was practically zero, and another developer in the audience said that when he tried to use full-screen iAds on the iPad, the fill rate turned out to be something like 0.01 percent. In other words, Apple is apparently having a tough time selling ads (something that we've heard before). However, Robbins also said that when Apple does sell ads, they are profitable. Last holiday season, Apple's ads were paying as much as $40 per CPM (though they've since been down to $0.90), and Robbins's set of ad-supported "iLook" apps take their biggest chunk of revenue from Apple's own service. The iLook apps have made over $53,000 for Robbins and his company so far, of which $26,000 came from iAds. Most of that came from a big Christmas boost last year. Robbins said the other networks paid less for shown ads, and he was surprised that networks have started to pay much less for games and a little more for non-game apps. iAds for Dove, for example, never showed up in his games, but he saw them all the time in his non-game photo apps. Finally, Robbins talked about the freemium model, which he and his company have since moved to using in a big way. The first game Riptide released under this model was Gravity Slide (a game actually prototyped at a previous 360iDev game jam). Since its release the app has pulled in 450,000 downloads, making up $14,000 in revenue from in-app purchases of level and content packs. The app has seen a 1 percent conversion rate (so 1 percent of people using the app have purchased something), but Robbins noted that among OpenFeint users specifically, that conversion rate more than doubled to 2.5 percent. Finally, Robbins walked through the stats on My Pet Zombie, his company's latest game, designed completely for the freemium model. This game uses "bones" as an in-app currency and has pulled in $53,000 in revenue though it's only been out on the App Store for a little while. In-app purchases made up $19,000 of that revenue, while ad campaigns and "incentivized promotions" (where advertisers pay for things like other app installs, or even getting users to watch a short video) made up most of the rest. Robbins also stressed the importance of metrics in freemium development, or the ability of developers to track and monitor just what their users are doing in the games and apps and how they're doing them. When My Pet Zombie first launched, said Robbins, it was only keeping users around for the first full week at a rate of 7 percent -- that is, after seven days post-download, only 7 percent of users were still playing the game. That kind of stat also led to a low conversion rate, which meant low revenue. But through some testing, Robbins has managed to get the seven-day retention figure up to 13 percent, with consequent revenue growth as well. He credited that growth to using metrics to figure out the audience, and he said he plans to grow the game even bigger in the future. Robbins's talk was really interesting, and those numbers he shared offer up some real food for thought for developers in this space. The freemium model definitely shows promise (which the "lite" app model is apparently lacking), and ad-supported apps look like a potential revenue boon for developers of free apps as well.
Daily Update for Sept. 12, 2011
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes, which is perfect for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.
Mac developers: 360|MacDev conference scheduled for December
360|Conferences, the company that hosts the popular 360|iDev iOS development conferences, is now reaching out to the Mac development world. They're launching a new conference, 360|MacDev, and the premiere event will be held December 10th and 11th in Denver, Colorado. 360|Conferences felt that it was important to get into the Mac development conference gig, since the C4 conference has been terminated and WWDC not only sells out quickly, but seems to be focusing more and more on iOS development. They're starting small and short with this event, so if you're interested in attending you'll want to get registered soon. A deal for early bird tickets ($200) expires on Friday, September 24th, and after that date the registration cost jumps up to $300. You might want to consider attending the conference and then taking a ski vacation at the many resorts just a few hours away. If you'd like to showcase your Mac development mojo, the Call For Papers is open. There's a Facebook page and a LinkedIn Event for the conference, so you can get more info about 360|MacDev as the event date gets closer. TUAW will be covering the event as well, and we look forward to talking with the stars of the Mac development world.
TUAW's Daily App: Star Fighter X2
Star Fighter X2 is a brand new App Store release that actually started development way back at the 360iDev Game Jam that I attended in April. Developer Dan Byers originally began the game as a tank combat title, but with the help of some other programmers and artist Mike Berg of We Heart Games, it's become Star Fighter X2, a two-player iPad space combat game that has you trying to shoot down real-life opponents with the help of power-ups and health drops. You can check out the video above to see how it works. You just use one touch to control your ship (two, if you turn on the manual aiming), and then it's just a matter of maneuvering in and out of the way to try and grab goodies and/or avoid opposing fire for as long as you can. The first ship to run out of health loses the battle. The game is simple, but the cool graphics and smooth, intuitive gameplay make it worth a look if you've got some ready and willing players around. Plus, it's pretty interesting that the foundation for the title came from that all-night party a few months ago. If you have an iPad and an opponent to shoot at, the game is on the App Store right now for US$1.99.
Hands-on with Max Adventure from Imangi Studios
Keith Shepherd and Natalia Luckynova are the husband-and-wife team that make up iPhone developer Imangi Studios, creators of the popular Harbor Master iPhone game and its iPad cousin. I got to meet them both at the 360iDev conference a few weeks ago, and they kindly showed me an as-yet-unnamed game that was still in the early stages of development. They said it would be a little while until they unveiled a trailer for it, and then this week they sent out the trailer above. The game has been named Max Adventure, and Imangi Studios tells us they hope to release it a few more months from now. The version I played at 360iDev was very early -- the menus were still in bits and pieces, and there were no real missions or text yet implemented. But the story was told to me: the protagonist (Max, apparently) is a kid who lives in the suburbs, and when all of the parents get ported off of the planet, it's up to him to save his friends (and eventually, you'd assume, the world).
360iDev: Hands-on with Freeverse's Warpgate HD and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
We got to play two of Freeverse's current and future offerings this past week at 360iDev. Warpgate HD was the first -- it's out now on the App Store, and is due out for the iPhone and iPod touch. It was originally designed for the iPhone, but it ended up being a good fit for the larger device, so they readied it for a launch release. It's a fun title, although it doesn't quite take full advantage of the bigger hardware yet; as you play the space trading simulation, you get the feeling that there could probably be a little more to it on the iPad. It's still a fun title, though. We also got to play their upcoming Pride and Prejudice and Zombies iPhone game adaptation, and being that we've been buddies with Freeverse ever since they were developing games for the Mac, we talked a little bit with them about their heritage and how their recent merger with Ngmoco has affected their outlook. Read on for more.
360iDev: Game Jam creations
Tuesday night at the 360iDev conference in San Jose, around 60 developers gathered in a room on the eBay campus around 8pm as security locked them in for the night (one developer joined the group via Skype -- that's him on the big screen above). Their goal? A game jam. Before 8am the next day, they would put together working prototypes of games, either based on their own ideas, or revolving around the night's theme of "Tiny." Not all developers were there to make new games -- a few were there to work on current projects or offer up their help to others. But up until 2am and beyond (that's about when I chickened out and let them work), the room was full of developers punching away on their keyboards, writing code, designing art, and, well, developing. I originally thought that it was just a lark; a fun project that gave everyone an excuse to spend the night on the eBay campus. But no, this was serious stuff -- apparently at least one App Store game has its origins in past game jams at these conferences. So while developers were just testing their skills at putting their ideas into motion, it's possible that we may see some of these prototypes show up on the App Store eventually as working products. After the break, we'll provide a look at what a few developers were up to at Tuesday's game jam.
360iDev: Mike Lee on changing the world with engineering
Former Delicious Monster and Tapulous developer Mike Lee (who now works for the mothership at Apple) took the stage to start off the last day of 360iDev in San Jose. He gave a wildly rambling speech about what it means to be an engineer and why programmers should not only make the best programs they can, but actually commit to changing the world for the better. Lee's speech was probably the most broad, and least technical, of the whole conference. While other speakers had covered using Core Data in apps or how to make the most money on the App Store, Lee spoke about his work with the Terrorist Watch List, the beauty and insanity of Van Gogh's Starry Night, and why he has to convince himself that he is really as cool as everyone says. As you can probably tell already, it was a heck of a thing to see. About halfway through the speech, summarized as best it can be below, Lee stopped flipping slides and just talked candidly and from the heart about his apps, his work, and his life. Read on for more.
360iDev: The future of Jason Citron's OpenFeint
OpenFeint's VP of Engineering, Jakob Wilkerson, took the stage here at 360iDev in San Jose to talk about something most people might not have expected: Game Center. Ever since Apple's official social gaming network was announced last week, the question's been in the air about what will happen to all of those unofficial gaming networks, of which OpenFeint is the largest. Wilkerson took the news in stride, however. As CEO Jason Citron told us last week, OpenFeint isn't going anywhere, and as you can see from their chart above, OpenFeint still believes that they can build more social game services, in the form of OpenFeint X, on top of Apple's official offerings. Wilkerson talked about Game Center in terms of potential; he used examples from OpenFeint to explain how implementing leaderboards and friends lists in the right ways can really open up player interest in a game. OpenFeint often talks internally about bringing, both, hardcore and casual game players into the fold, and their different online features target those various audiences. We also got a chance to talk to Citron again regarding his thinking about OpenFeint so far, and what the company plans to do when Apple unveils its official plan. Read on for more.
360iDev: Ansca Mobile's Corona SDK
There are always a few SDK vendors lurking around any developer convention, and 360iDev is no different. However, unlike a lot of programs that work as a go-between for the iPhone Software Development Kit and some other language ("middleware," in developer-speak), Ansca Mobile isn't worried about their SDK at all. While there was a bit of a scare about non-Apple development kits earlier this week, Ansca assured us that Corona SDK is good to go; it allows a developer to write up an application directly in Corona with Lua (which is very similar to ActionScript), and then the app will deliver an iPhone, iPad, or even an Android application that is ready to go on the App Store. What does this mean for us gamers? It doesn't mean much -- there's not a lot of difference between a game written in Flash and ported across (like TapDots, out on the App Store right now) and a game written natively in Apple's Xcode, according to the Ansca folks (who actually worked as engineers on the original Flash Mobile implementation). The difference is much bigger for developers, though; they basically have to write just one app, and they can then port it across to another platform in just a scant few hours.
360iDev: Marketing and promotion on the App Store
To start off day 2 of 360iDev here in San Jose, California, Henry Balanon hosted a panel to discuss the marketing and promotion of iPhone and iPad apps. Panelists Brian Chen of Wired, Rana Sobhany (author of "Marketing iPhone Apps" from O'Reilly), Doodle Jump creator Igor Pusenjak, and Playhaven's Raymond Lau held court and spoke to developers about how to promote and market their apps, both, with the press and on the App Store. The suggestions ranged from the broad ("have a good idea") to the specific ("Use the What's New section in the App Store to promote your other apps"), but over the hour or so, the panelists came up with a lot of solid advice for developers looking to get the word out about their App Store offerings.
360iDev: Saurik on the mobile application market
Jay "Saurik" Freeman took the stage here at 360iDev last night to explain the mobile application marketplace. The entire mobile application marketplace, that is. Most people wrongly perceive the App Store to be a simple user-and-developer relationship, but in reality, it's a much more complicated place, with lots of inputs and outputs for time, money, and work. You can see the big picture of his chart above -- the "user" is the faceless woman near the middle, and the "developer" is the bearded man to her left. But everything else is a company or a connection that Saurik spoke about. Saurik runs the jailbreak app store Cydia (which has over 10,000 packages available, hundreds of which for a fee, on which they've pulled in over $1.3 million so far), and so he's closely interested in almost all facets of this relationship chart, and how money can flow from users of all kinds to developers across the world. In an entertaining and very insightful presentation, he basically walked the audience through his chart and, piece by piece, gave a wide-reaching overview of how the mobile app marketplace works today.
