An app with everything but sales

Surprised to hear how many of you think this game is "good looking." This game is not good looking. At best it's got a half-baked 1980's look.

I have this game as well - I think I purchased it because it was on a top iphone/touch game list on gizmodo, or some other place. It is really fun, but it is difficult. I am somewhat surprised it isn't selling better because I could see a lot of interest in the game.

However, take a look at the games in the top 20 list (or even the top 50), Orbital doesn't have a lot in common with most of the top games.

I just think they need better marketing and promotion through key websites.

I have this game, and there's probably two things keeping it from success.

First, it's hard. If you think it looks like a kids' game you haven't played it. Expect high scores of something like "5" or "10" until you get good. The App Store is full of easy games that make people feel good about themselves, and any app that's actually a challenge takes a kicking.

Secondly, it's not an original game. It's a clone, and there are other clones too of the same game. Theirs is the best clone, and the prettiest, and the gravity mechanic is just what the original was lacking in my opinion. But there are still at least two others out there that do almost exactly the same thing, and this one was the last-to-market too.

Seriously, do you hear makers of Tetris clones bellyaching about low sales? "But mine is the shiniest Tetris in the App Store!" Nahh, not cutting it. If you're gonna be a clone, be the FIRST, not the third, and if you are the third and don't see sales, well, that's life.

This app game looks seriously dated. It looks like a video game that came from the early 1980s.

Perhaps it hasn't sold well since it may not be really that good, despite what reviewers say.

The developers must have taken 7 months to write this because they are beginners. It shouldn't take a seasoned game developer that long to write this app.

Found this came a couple days ago. Played the free version for a few minutes, then promptly bought the paid version to support them (even though I still only play the gravity mode).

I'm sorry. I paid for the game and I don't understand where the buzz is. It's nice but not hypeworthy. IMO it is a little too hard for casual gamers and too boring for the cracks. I bet a lot of people loaded the lite version and did not feel the urge to upgrade. Just my 2 cents.

I will take the blog post and reviews at face value and assume its a good game. It is also a very nice-looking game (even though the rasterized look is not unique.)

Had this game been released a year ago, it might have been a big sales success. But as Clinton says, visibility is incredibly difficult now. I think developing a great game is simply not enough- the game concept has to somehow be unique and eye-catching, otherwise it will sink into oblivion. More/better App Store organization will only do so much too- a little app icon and small blurb is still not enough to really sell your product.

Lite versions will not make up for it either, when everyone has a lite version. You have to give people a reason to write about your game as well as a reason for people to REMEMBER it, then the lite version perhaps will help seal the deal and turn some of that exposure into sales. My iPhone is filled with a bunch of games I still haven't tried, stuff that I downloaded because it looked interesting and worth downloading a lite version, but not interesting enough that I really remembered the game later (since my springboard is full.)

The sheer scale of the Store and the number of new releases mean that it is incredibly difficult to achieve any visibility. Apps rely to a huge extent on their "real world" visibility to make an impact. By this I mean if you are an established company with a retail store and/or a known web presence, you already have two good places to advertise your app. Think of something simple like a Cab/Taxi company as an example. It is easy for, say, a simple booking app to do well. (OK, they are probably free, but my point is the visibility aspect.) If you are a small startup with something innovative, you have disappeared into the depths of the App Store in no time. I got totally hooked on a brilliant little game called Shove. Bought on a whim and I have recommended it to many, but it needs to be searched for by name it is no buried so deeply. Would further sub-categories help? Periodic cleanouts which force developers to submit a newer version?
Regarding piracy, I do believe that most iPhone users, certainly in the UK, are "high-end" contract holders and probably a better class of person - sorry . . . erm . . perhaps better calling them less likely to tinker and try illegally acquired apps and more likely to just pop it on the iTunes account without much thought. The problem will possibly increase as the iPhone becomes affordable to those with . . . umm . . . a larger moral grey area.

To an ardent gamer this game is probably a snap. To a relatively new Touch owner and a non-gamer, I read the instructions a couple of times and wound up deleting the app. Their first sentence in the instructions is something about "you are here because you were too stupid to figure it out on your own", so they might consider more detailed instructions for the newbie. I deleted it without flaming, but clearly no one else could figure it out either. If I must work that hard figuring out what to do, I'll spend my time on an app that is more productive. My gaming experience involves playing something a few times, but keeping it on-board to go back to later. I am certainly not going to live and breathe a 99 cent gaming app the rest of my life.

Rant OFF

I looked at this game when it came out, but overall it looks like a pretty version of the old animated ending of sesame street, you know, "One-two-three-four-five, six-seven-eight-nine-ten, eleven, twelve," and that really turned me off. There's something about it that looks too complex for little kids, but too childish for adults. That's my take.