In-app purchase fragmentation

 Marketing, Neil Rajah  4 Responses »
May 232012
 

It looks like Amazon has rejected Neil Rajah yet again, this time because it uses a Swarm virtual goods store. I don’t have confirmation on this yet, but it looks pretty likely. They approved the latest update for general devices almost 2 weeks ago. Yesterday I submitted a support ticket, asking if it was still in the queue to be reviewed for the Kindle Fire, because I hadn’t received any email telling me if it was approved or rejected. The response I got basically said “Apps sold through Kindle Fire should use Amazon’s In-App Purchasing API.” I asked for clarification, but I’m guessing this means that they rejected it for the Fire, but neglected to tell me.

This isn’t a big deal for me to work around. I already have a Swarm-less version for the NOOK tablets, so that version should work for Amazon as well (with the ‘go to store’ link switched to the Amazon link). That will be a lot less work than writing a new storefront screen, and integrating their IAP API. So I’ll probably make that change and submit it to Amazon again.

But the more interesting thing here, for me at least, is how this is another aspect of fragmentation. Yes, it’s completely optional, because I’ve chosen to list the game on all these different stores. But look at the variety of IAP implementations and requirements out there:

  • Google Play – They have an IAP system, but usually don’t enforce it. Although there have been some reports of them threatening to pull apps that use something other than Google Checkout for IAP
  • NOOK – They don’t have their own IAP system, and they don’t allow 3rd party IAP systems. So basically, no free-to-play games on the NOOK tablets until they come up with their own IAP infrastructure (and it’s not clear that they’re planning to)
  • Amazon – Recently released an IAP SDK. From the accounts I’ve heard, it is pretty easy to use. They’ll apparently allow 3rd-party stores for their general devices, but not for the Kindle Fire. Which basically means that it’s not allowed – by my metrics, hardly anyone is using the Amazon app store any more other than Kindle Fire owners

The takeaway for me – on my next game, if I want to list on these stores, I should plan to implement my own store, and abstract out the backend so I can use multiple IAP implementations. And then I should ideally implement Google Checkout, Amazon, NOOK (if they have something by then), and a 3rd party solution like Swarm/TapJoy/etc. for all the rest of the stores.

Neil Rajah updated on NOOK store with trial version

 Alternative Markets, Neil Rajah  No Responses »
May 172012
 

The NOOK store has a neat feature – you can upload 2 apk files, one for the full paid app and one for the trial version. They need to have the same package name and version string. Once the app is approved, the store listing will have options for buying, as well as trying out the free version. In the free version, if you launch the correct intent, it will take the user to the store listing where they can upgrade to the full version.

Since Neil Rajah was listed on the NOOK store, I’ve sold one copy every other day. While not earth-shattering by any means, that’s way better than my Bus Jumper results on the Google Play store, for example. So I think there is potential here for better sales. I figured that the $1.99 price makes people hesitate. Also, the game doesn’t look all that sexy in the screenshots, and I think I have a better shot at making some sales if people try it out first. So, I made a free trial version that has the first 5 levels. Uploaded that and an updated full version today. If it gets approved in a week, it should go live around next Wednesday or Thursday (that’s when they update store listings).

Will be interesting to see if this works :)

 Posted by at 8:58 pm  Tagged with:

Neil Rajah update

 Neil Rajah  No Responses »
May 172012
 

I just released an update to Neil Rajah. This has a bunch of bug fixes, and one new feature – the ability to unlock levels. I noticed from my Flurry analytics that the number of ‘level died’ events greatly exceeded the number of ‘level completed’ events. Also, there were some sessions where people tried the same level many times in a row, with each attempt ending in death. I saw at least one session where someone tried the same level over 60 times. I’m glad people are finding the game challenging and not frustrating. That’s more patience than I would have :) But it also felt like a potential opportunity. So now I have unlockers that you can buy from the Swarm store. These aren’t in the in-game ‘diamond store’, so you’ll have to get Swarm coins to buy these. Hopefully this won’t feel like a blatant money grab attempt. We’ll see. I’m hoping that someone will be enticed to spend some Swarm coins in the game to get past a level that he or she is stuck on.

I also started work on new levels, but that needs some more time and tuning. Since the unlocker code was ready to go, and I had several bug fixes that I also wanted to get out, I decided to release this.

The new version is on the Google Play store now, I’ll be updating the other stores later today.

 

Just Reboot re-reviews Neil Rajah

 Marketing, Neil Rajah  No Responses »
May 132012
 

I had stumbled upon deidein’s blog while looking for reviews for a different game. His ‘About the Author’ page instantly struck a chord – he’s in his 30s, works in tech, husband, dad, likes Android. Pretty similar to me :) So I asked him if he’d like to review my game. Well, he did, and the first review didn’t turn out so well :) The game was crashing a lot, and that left a pretty poor impression on him, as it should. I had just started to realize that my crash reports were indicating a couple of high-frequency crashes, so I decided that I needed to do a good bug fix update. I also started up a conversation with deidein, getting his input on how the game could be better. I didn’t implement everything he suggested, but it was all good advice.

I uploaded a new version with the changes, and asked deidein to take another look. Here’s his updated review. I think he did a pretty good job of covering the essence of the game. And the issues that he points out are definitely valid ones, that I plan to address, time and budget permitting :)

Neil Rajah reviewed on AppEggs

 Marketing, Neil Rajah  2 Responses »
May 112012
 

AppEggs.com was one of the Android app/game review sites that I had emailed with info on Neil Rajah. They recently contacted me and said that they liked the game, and were going to review it. As far as I can tell (mostly from just checking Alexa), AppEggs seems to be popular in China. So hopefully this will help expand my user base beyond India.

Here’s the link to the review. They even sent me a link to this nifty badge that I can use :)

This is the second such badge I’ve got, the first one was from Frugal Dads. I don’t think they mean anything at all – at the end of the day, it’s just some HTML code, and probably highlights the other site more than it does anything for me. Maybe I should make a separate page just to show off all my useless badges :)

 Posted by at 7:40 am

Neil Rajah trailer picked up by YogTrailers

 Marketing, Neil Rajah  No Responses »
May 112012
 

Go watch this video and listen to their commentary, it’s quite funny :)

The Yogscast are a couple of guys who post videos and podcasts about games. They’re very popular – over 180k followers on Twitter, to give you an idea. I’m not sure how they stumbled upon the Neil Rajah trailer on YouTube, but I’m glad that they did :)

 

 

 Older Entries  Newer Entries