作者：Nicolas Godement-Berline

这是我们针对iOS游戏《Ski Champion》在App Store运营表现而撰写的第一篇经验分享文章。我和Gaël今年1月份成立了Majaka团队，我们从开发《Ski Champion》中学到的一些重要内容就是小型独立开发者“表现尚可”但并非热门大作的免费游戏究竟可以收获多少下载量。

《Ski Champion》于今年3月25日入驻App Store，发布两个月至今下载量为22万1724次。

我将通过下文解释为何我们认为这个下载数据就已经算是一种“成功”，以及我们如何优化游戏在App Store的呈现方式及从中获取的相关经验。

相关数据

*预算：约2.2万欧元

*开发时间：两个月

*4名开发成员：游戏设计师及联合创始人Gaël、图像美工及实习生Thibault、程序员及自由职业者Benoist、还有就是我这个联合创始人及总裁Nicolas。

*另有两名自由职业者帮忙制作额外美术内容。

20多万次下载量的意义？

虽然这绝不是什么惊人的数据，多数热门iOS游戏早已收获数百万次下载量，但并非所有的免费游戏都能在App Store收获20多万次下载量。例如，《Funpark Friends》发布5周安装量就只有6.8万次，还有一些免费游戏则几乎默默无闻。

《Ski Champion》在法国、意大利和斯洛伐克App Store跻身免费应用前25名，并在25个国家或地区进入免费竞速&运动免费游戏前10名。

这个数据已经超出了我们的预期，因此我们认为它取得了一定的成功。

这个成绩并非偶然结果

相信多数人都知道采用免费模式可以极大提升下载量。但正如之前所言，有些游戏即使免费也还是无人问津。所以我们认为自己应该是摸着了一定的门道，以下是我们总结的一些成功因素：

App Store优化策略

应用检索一直是开发者在App Store面临的一大挑战。多数用户在搜索时并没有特定的目标，他们只是快乐地浏览应用排行榜及列表寻找可下载的应用。以下是我们增加《Ski Champion》下载机率所采取的一些策略：

*免费模式：我们笃信免费是推动自然下载量的关键。

*遵从苹果所要求的20MB（3G/Edge）下载限制。

*标题：要简短而有力。“Ski Champion”很清晰地表达出了游戏内容。我们之前想过50多个不同标题，但认为“Ski Champion”更合适。

*应用图标：我们的图像美工Thibault花了一整周的时间设计图标。我们为此查找阅读了一些在线建议，重新设计了3次直到确信这个图标会脱颖而出为止。

*用户评价：在发布游戏首周，我们的亲友在法国App Store和其他应用商店为《Ski Champion》发布了70条左右的5星评价，这让我们得以提升游戏排名，从而带出滚雪球效应，增加了我们的日安装量。另外我们也为评价应用的玩家提供免费虚拟货币作为奖励。

*游戏描述：我们颇费了一番功夫才写出一份富有吸引力的应用描述。这次我们还是参照了同类游戏中一些热作的描述内容，并且请求Warrior Forums帮忙提一些意见，重复修改多次后才敲定了最终文件。然后将其翻译成法国和意大利语版本。值得一提的是，游戏在意大利和法国地区下载量分别占比35%和30%。

*截图：我们并非简单地将粗糙的游戏截图上传到App Store，而是精心制作了附有重要信息和优质画框的图片。

*绑定Game Center功能：这种做法带来了意想不到的好结果，使游戏得以出现在iTunes应用商店的多个Game Center支持应用列表中。

总结《Ski Champion》在App Store的呈现方式，我们就会发现玩家仅凭一点信息来决定是否要下载游戏。他们通常不会花一秒以上的时间去想到底要不要看应用的内容描述和截图，但只有经过这两个步骤，他们才能确定是否下载应用。

发布预告内容

Majaka是一个自由集资的新公司，虽然我们也想多投入一些资源做好营销工作，但我们迫不及待地想试试免费营销手段究竟能否奏效，以下就是我们所采取的行动：

*Facebook页面：我们最初为Majaka设置了一个Facebook页面，而非自己建设一个公司网站（我们其实也不知道要怎么创建网站），事实证明这种方法很有效，很适合发布我们零碎的项目进展信息。

*新闻邮件：我们在游戏上线前通过自己的新闻邮件发布了预告消息。我们的邮件列表集中了过去数年搜集到的1300个游戏行业联系人地址。

*预告视频：这个视频总体上颇受同行的好评。我们将其发布在大多主流视频分享网站中，包括Facebook、Youtube、DailyMotion、Vimeo、Youku、Tudou、GamesTrailers等。我们为Majaka创建了一个Youtube频道以便今后发布更多视频内容。

*新闻媒体：不少游戏记者宣称自己讨厌PR机构，但很赞赏独立开发者，但多数游戏新闻焦点却还是大型的AAA游戏。虽然我们难以评估PR的直接效用，但至少我们所发布的3份新闻稿以及收到的一些评论确实能够让我们有内容同Facebook粉丝和邮件订阅者分享。对他们来说，Majaka和《Ski Champion》已经具有一定影响力。

我们发布新闻稿的媒体网站分别是：Gamasutra（它报道我们成立了新手机游戏工作室）、Pocketgamer以及RetroSports Gamer（它称我们的游戏视图和控制方式很特别，具有重玩价值）。

除了我们自己的人际网络，我们没有其他营销资源可助游戏获得这20多万用户。不过通过在自己周围的群体中进行这种小小的宣传造势，他们都下载了游戏并给予5星评价，从而引进了更多iPhone用户。

找到细分市场

我们制作这款游戏的原因之一是，我们发现自己在App Store难以找到一款体面的滑雪竞速游戏。这种题材似乎是个有待发掘的细分市场，也正迎合了当时欧洲滑雪季的氛围（游戏邦注：但游戏3月底发行时，欧洲滑雪季也几乎结束了）。

虽然滑雪并不像其他成功的休闲游戏那样具有广泛吸引力，但它在一些拥有滑雪传统的国家却颇受欢迎，例如法国、意大利、美国、瑞典、日本、瑞士。

价格调整

我们最近通过以下操作又让游戏获得了5万次下载量：

*游戏发布一个半月后，下载量逐渐降至平均每天200-400次。

*我们将《Ski Champion》转变为付费版本（先是0.79欧元，后来是2.39欧元），此时每天安装量不足10次。

*将《Ski Champion》变回免费模式之后，一周内的下载量就超过了5万次。

现在，将付费应用暂时转变为免费应用已经成为一个众所周知的提升下载量决窍。有不少网站追踪付费应用转变为免费产品的信息，并将这些优惠活动告知读者。而我们从中获得的经验是，免费转变为付费，然后再转变为免费的方法似乎也同样奏效。

如何获得更多下载量？

当然，有许多方法可以提升iOS应用下载量。但考虑到我们目前的时间和资源条件，我们决定排除以下几个途径：

*与第三方发行商合作（例如Chillingo、Clu Mobile等）：这种合作一般要数月时间才能完成，而自主发行游戏则可让我们直接与用户互动。

*采用条幅广告，或者通过奖励用户下载&评论方式为游戏作宣传：因为我们没有那么多预算。

*获得苹果推荐：虽然目前并没有什么锦囊妙计可确保苹果一定会推荐游戏，但如果在苹果有一定的人脉，或者拥有充足预算制作一款超群的应用也是有效方法。但这些资源我们都没有。

*利用Facebook Connect功能的社交优势。我们的主要目标是让游戏在滑雪季结束前早日面世，因此只锁定了核心功能，而忽略了其他功能。

*制作更优质的游戏。对于这一点，我已经没有什么好说的了。我们已经尽自己最大的努力做好游戏了。虽然市面上还有其他大把更出色的游戏，但我们还是“自家的娃”真的很不赖。

经验 & 总结

对于我们的下款游戏，我们还是会采取一些《Ski Champion》已证实可行的做法——尽早开展营销活动，优化App Store呈现内容，支持Game Center等等。我们鼓励玩家注册我们新闻邮件并取得了一定成效，现在我们已经有4500名粉丝，而游戏发布前则是1300个粉丝。这4500名粉丝就是我们下款游戏可推广的对象。

但另一方面，我们还需要注意以下两点：

1.通知：我们所搜集的邮件地址尚不足这20多万用户的2%，我们无法与其他广泛玩家直接沟通。这真是一种资源浪费！我们下次将寻找更好的互动方式，例如植入服务器通知系统，以便我们向玩家发送短信。

2.App Store的本土化操作：我们重新编辑应用描述并不是什么问题，但如果不进行应用更新就无法再增加新的支持语言。目前我们只发布了英语和法语版的应用描述，认为我们事后可以通过iTunes Connect再添加其他语言。但我们错了。我们在推出1.12版本前可以添加意大利语，但得推出1.2版本时才能再添加德语和俄语翻译内容。

回顾过去经历，我们还发现自己原本可以做得更好，尤其是在回报玩家方面。我们本该支持他们与好友共享游戏，让他们成为Facebook粉丝，成为Majaka在Twitter上的粉丝，注册Youtube。因为急于进入市场，我们当时忽略了这些内容，但未来一定会尝试这些做法。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

How Many Downloads For a Free iOS Game ?

by Nicolas Godement-Berline

Reprinted from Majaka.net

This is the first in a series of 2 posts where we analyze how Ski Champion performed on the Apple App Store. In this post, we take look at download numbers. The next post will focus on monetization. Be sure to follow me on Twitter (@NicolasG_B) to be kept posted.

Ski Champion can be downloaded for free here.

Gaël and myself started Majaka in January this year. One of the key learnings we wanted to take away from making Ski Champion was how many downloads could a small, independent developer expect with a free game that does * just okay * without being a hit.

Downloads were very frontloaded, aside from a recent peak

Ski Champion shredded its way into the Apple App Store on March 25th. Two months in, and the game has now been downloaded 221,724 times (and counting).

We will now explain why the team at Majaka considers this figure a success, how we optimized Ski Champion’s presence on the App Store, and what lessons we learnt for future titles.

=> Sit back, grab a cup of mulled wine, and enjoy the ride !

First some data
We know our beloved games industry peers are always thirsty for juicy, accurate development stats-and they should. So here is what went into the making of Ski Champion:

•Budget : ~ €22 000

•Development time : 2 months

•4 team members working in an office room:

◦Gaël, game designer, co-founder

◦Thibault, graphic artist, intern

◦Benoist, programmer, freelance

◦Myself Nicolas, co-founder & President, really just there to water the plants

•2 freelancers for additional art (incl. our notoriously over-the-top fall animation)

200K+ downloads. What’s the verdict?

It’s not a *stellar* number, mind you. The most popular iOS games regularly hit several millions downloads. But not every free game on the App Store gets 200K downloads either. Funpark Friends had 68,000 installs in 5 weeks. Others go absolutely unnoticed despite being free.

Ski Champion ranked top 25 free apps in France, Italy and Slovakia, and  Top 10 free racing and sport games in 25 countries.

All in all, the figures certainly exceeded our expectations so we consider it a reasonable success.

Was it purely random?
It’s no secret that offering a free App will boost downloads tremendously in itself. However, as stated above, some free apps do get unnoticed so we like to think we must have been doing something right (remember, we are French and therefore cocky). Looking back, we attribute our download numbers to a combination of several factorsthat we will attempt to list below:

App Store optimized
App discovery is a key challenge for developers on the App Store. Many (most?) usersaren’t looking for anything in particular, and blissfully browse the charts & lists for apps to download. Here is how we increased the likelyhood that someone stumbling upon Ski Champion within a list of other apps would actually go ahead and download it :

•Go free. We believe this is the absolute key driver of organic downloads
•Fit the build size under the 20mb limit imposed by Apple for 3G/Edge downloads.

A development anecdote

•The title: Simple but efficient. “Ski Champion” leaves no doubt as to what the game is about, and delivers a strong promise. We considered over 50 different titles, but in retrospect it was by far the better one.

•The app icon: our graphic artist Thibault spent an entire week on our icon. We readonline advice. We started over 3 times from scratch until we were confident ours would stand out proudly

We looked at our icon among some of the best, most eye-catching ones

•“Rate us!” : During the release week, our friends & relatives gave Ski Champion about 70 5-stars reviews on the French App Store, and in other stores as well. This definitely had forceful impact on boosting our ranks, which in turned snowballed and raised our number of daily installs (thanks again, pals!). We also rewarded players with free in-game currency for rating our app

Some players thought they * had * to rate Ski Champion with 5 stars to get the 20 free Ski Pass. Hopefully they liked the game too !!

•Game description : we took great pain to write an engaging app description. Once again, we benchmarked the top apps in and out of our category to see how the big boys did it. We then kindly ask for a critique of our copy on the Warrior Forums, got great feedback, and iterated several times until we were happy with the final copy. We then translated it into French and Italian (grazie, Lorenzo!). Italy and France accounted for 35% and 30% of our downloads, respectively.

•Screenshots : Instead of just uploading rough in-game screengrabs (graphic quality was never a priority anyway), we made compositions with impactful messages and nice frames.

•Implementing Game Center had the nice, unintended effect of featuring Ski Champion in the various lists of Game Center-supporting apps on the iTunes storefront.

So, to summarize on Ski Champion’s App Store presence, we now understand that players make their download decisions based on a very small set of information. They take less than a second figuring out whether they even want to check out an app’s description and screenshots. Only after this 2 steps process do they decide to download the app.

Most players do not even go past this step. Make sure they do!

Pre-release teasing

Majaka is a new and self-funded company. While investing into marketing is something we would like to do more, and sooner rather than later, we decided to see how far free marketing techniques could take us for Ski Champion, our first title. Here are the actions we carried out:

•Facebook page : we initially set up a facebook page for Majaka in lieu of a website(well, also because we had no idea how to make one). It proved a very effective channel to feed our entourage with small nuggets of information on our progress

We posted mostly status updates and pictures, and shared those on our own personal walls to encourage our friends to “like” the Majaka page.

•Newsletter : we teased Ski Champion prior to its release through our newsletter, “The Purple Diaries”. Our mailing list was assembled from 1300 personal or games industry contacts collected over the years.

•The Trailer was overall well received by our peers. We posted it on most major video sharing websites : Facebook, Youtube, DailyMotion, Vimeo, Youku, Tudou, GamesTrailers, etc. We created a Youtube channel for Majaka to post more videos later on.

•Press: PR are hard, unfair… and ironic : game journos claim they hate PR agencies and love indie devs, yet most stories are about fully-fledged AAA titlesfeaturing bondage nuns and bazookas. So is it even worth the hassle? While direct impact of PR is hard to measure at best, at least our 3 press releases and a few reviews we got helped us “make news” that we could in turn feed to our facebook followers and email subscribers. To them, Majaka and Ski Champion were a thing now.

◦Gamasutra: Ex-Arkane, Virtuos devs found new mobile studio

◦PocketGamer : 6/10. There’s a chilly kick to the gameplay that turns Ski Champion from a wonky oddity into an entertaining imitation of something that looks a bit like skiing. (cough cough!)

◦RetroSports Gamer : The view and controls are unique and the built-in replay value with medals, unlockables and leaderboards are staples of iOS games I enjoy

At the end of the day, other than within our own network of friends and acquaintances, there’s no way our marketing efforts reached 200K people. However, by building up the tiniest hype among our entourage, we made sure many of them actually downloaded Ski Champion and, more crucially, gave it a 5-stars review. This in turn helped convert many iPhone players.

Find a niche

One of the main reasons why we made Ski Champion was because we simply could not find a proper downhill ski racing game on the AppStore. It sounded like an underserved niche market, that also tied in rather well with the Winter skiing season in Europe (although the sun already shone quite nicely over most of Europe by late March, when the game got released).

While skiing may not have such a broad appeal as the most sucessful casual apps out there, Ski Champion definitely enjoyed particular success in countries where the discipline is the most popular : France, Italy, USA, Sweden, Japan or Switzerland.

A price-point experiment

Finally, we recently got an extra, unexpected 50K downloads by doing the following :

•A month and a half after launch, downloads had gradually decreased to an average 200-400 daily installs

•We turned Ski Champion into a paid app (€0.79, then €2.39) and got less than 10 installs per day

•Upon turning Ski Champion free again, we registered over 50,000 downloads in one week. Booyah !

This is clearly a downward curve and we expect download volumes to rapidly decline to their former levels. Nevertheless, an extra 50K players is nothing to sneeze at !

Now, the practice of temporarily turning a paid app into a free app to give downloads a short-lived boost is fairly well known. There are news aggregators all over the web keeping track of paid apps turning free, and feeding those deals to their readers. What we learnt is that it seems to work both ways. It will be interesting to see how the trick turns out a second time around (hint: we suspect it  *will* work, just not as well)

Could we have gotten even more downloads?

Why, of course. There are many means available to drive installs of iOS apps. However, given the time and ressources available to us, we intentionnally kept away from most avenues, such as:

•Work with a third-party publisher (Chillingo, Glu Mobile, etc) : these deals typically take months to complete and self-publishing the game meant we had direct access to users (well, in theory. We’ll get back to this in a minute)

•Advertise the game through banners or incentivized downloads & user reviews: we had no budget for that.

•Get featured by Apple : this is the holy Grail. There is no surefire way to ensure Apple will feature an app, but having connections at Apple and budget to create an über-polished app are certainly the way to go. We had neither.

•Take advantage of an exisiting social graph such as Facebook Connect. Our main focus was to get the app out as soon as we could, and before the end of the ski season. We elected to focus on the core features and strip off most extras.

•Make a better game, doh ! Well, what can I say ? We did our best with what we had. We stand by our baby, even though there are of course legions of better games out there.

Lessons learnt

For our next games, we will definitely pay attention to what seems to have worked with Ski Champion: start marketing early, optimize App Store presence, support Game Center, etc. We incentivized players to subscribe to our newsletter, with decent results : we now have a 4500 people fanbase compared to 1300 before launch. 4500 people that we can promote our next game to.

On the other hand, we are kicking ourselves in the lycra-clad leg for overlooking the following 2 things:

1. Notifications: Make the math: we collected the email addresses of less than 2% of our 200K+ players. We have no way of communicating directly with the vast majority of the rest. What a waste! We will have to find a better way next time, such as to implement server notifications allowing us to send short messages to players.

2. App Store Localization: It’s okay to edit exisiting App descriptions, but you cannot actually add a new language without an app update. We launched Ski Champion with only French and English descriptions, thinking we could always add other languages later  on through iTunes Connect. We were wrong. We managed to fit Italian before the 1.1 update and have German and Russian translations waiting for update 1.2 (thanks Ji & Denitza’s mom!)

In retrospect, there are many other things that could have strenghtened our position as a games publisher. In particular, we could have offered more reward opportunities to our players : share app with friends, become a Facebook fan, follow Majaka on Twitter, subscribe to Youtube channel. We elected those out to be faster to market, but would definitely like to try them in the future.（source:gamasutra）