作者：Darren Gladstone

游戏邦注：本文发稿于2009年3月14日，所涉时间、事件和数据均以当时为准。

Joel Rosenberg这个名字并非家喻户晓，但如果你用iPhone来打发时间，有可能曾下载过他制作的有趣解谜游戏《Blocked》。这款颇费脑力的方块移动游戏售价为0.99美元。你是否对制作、营销和销售iPhone应用感到好奇？该游戏开发者Rosenberg（游戏邦注：他的全职工作是美国萨克拉门托出版社公民记者，夜间下班则是一名程序员）在PC World采访中对此进行了解答。以下是游戏邦编译的访谈内容：

Blocked(from iphone-reviews.tumblr.com)

今天我们只讨论某些小问题。你会在首款游戏获得成功后放弃本职工作吗？

虽然我的确很喜欢开发和销售首款iPhone游戏带来的乐趣，但我对自己现在的工作也很满意。

但是你确实在这方面获得了成功。

上个月，我的游戏很荣幸地在短期内位居榜首，当时的下载量是每天1万到1.5万次。但是，即便游戏还位列第10，下载量就已经急剧减少。两个月前，游戏每天的销售量只有5到15。因此，未来的情况还很难预测。

出现这种情况并不奇怪。游戏售价99美分，你能得到多少钱呢？

苹果分给开发者7成盈利，我大约能拿到69美分。

难道你没有重新规划下个人职业生涯？

我觉得要在App Store上获得成功需要优秀的设计和编程能力以及勤奋的工作，对于个人开发者来说，要获得稳定收入以维持生计还很困难。将来我可能还会制作iPhone应用，但如果我选择继续做这方面的事情，首要原因是我把它当成兴趣爱好。能赚到钱固然好，如果不能也没有损失，无需感到沮丧。但是，如果我的下个应用还能够获得这样的成功，或许我会改变自己的想法。

平心而论，你在这方面的表现还不错。

是的，我很幸运地成为因兴趣而首次尝试便获得成功的人。我的职业开发生涯已有十年之久，当时决定制作iPhone应用主要出于好奇。我想学习新语言，探索Mac系统开发。

这是你首次尝试新操作系统，制作《Blocked》花了多少时间？困难程度如何？

我在业余时间开发游戏，历时1个月的时间，开发时间介于40至80小时之间。从网页开发转向设备应用开发需要学习很多东西，但苹果在这方面做得很好，普通开发者能够在短期内得到提升。苹果有着一整套的教程、编程范例和文件，似乎正适合我这样的人看，也就是首次尝试开发手机应用而且有其他平台背景知识的人。我从这些可供慢慢消化的内容中学习如何制作应用。

开发的大部分时间花在初期和末期上。我想让界面简单精巧，所以在应用几近完成之时，移除了某些最初认为有用但最后却偏离游戏核心目标的特征。一开始便考虑和设计界面，开发末期审查性能和内存泄露，这才是真正的iPhone应用开发循环。

游戏在iPhone上不断崩溃是最大的问题。除了改善稳定性外，你还做了些什么？

倾听用户意见。尽管我为自己移除了某些功能感到高兴，但人们完成游戏后便会想要更多内容。目前《Blocked》共有100个关卡，我现在只能跟踪某个关卡是否已有用户通过。在下次更新中，我会添加移动次数统计，这样人们在完成游戏之后就可以尝试改善自己的记录。

谈谈游戏自发布后获得的成功。

《Blocked》于2008年9月初在App Store上发布。起初下载量适中，但圣诞节之后销售量剧增。我不确定《Blocked》出于何种原因而受用户追捧，但我知道积极通过广告、网站论坛、YouTube和Twitter等方式推广游戏使得销售量有所增加。

你花了多少钱来制作和推广《Blocked》？

因为我将开发工作都安排在业余时间，这部分几乎没有花钱。广告方面，不到1个月的时间内花了将近300美元。除了100美元开发者注册费用（游戏邦注：开发者在App Store上投放应用所需的费用）外，这就是我花费的全部资金。

系统后端的工作情况如何？应用审核过程是否麻烦？

成为应用开发者需要许多准备工作。你需要制作和收集大量认证和其他相关安全文件，才能对你的应用进行数字签名和加密，在各种手机上测试应用，最终将应用提交给App Store。去年夏天我提交应用时，开发者网站上提供的文件仍不足，但现在网站似乎更适合新手使用。提交应用之后，等待的时间可能会很漫长。尽管公司已经发布了应用规则和指导文件，但难保苹果一时兴起对App Store做出改动。

但是你的这些努力都得到了回报。

是的，但这方面也最让我感到郁闷。我花了数个月的时间配合苹果解决银行信息问题，这才得到销售盈利分成。即使现在款项稳定流入账户，我仍旧无法将苹果每月提供的财务报告与不定时从世界各地银行流入账户中的金额对应。财务报告中使用各地的货币，而银行存款却是以美元为单位。因为不存在将二者联系起来的参考数据而且款项流入时间由各相关银行来定夺，所以很难有条理地整理账户。而且，只有当某地区总支付金额达到一定数量你才会收到这笔资金，因而数个月报告中的外币款项会一次性流入账户，这使得统计相当繁琐。并不是说苹果的系统不好，公司给开发者和消费者提供的服务令人称奇。我相信这方面的问题会逐渐得到改善，许多繁琐的过程会被移除。

对想成为iPhone应用开发者的人有何建议呢？

别以维持生计为目的进军App Store。现在已经有2.5万个应用，只有少数应用的盈利足够支撑起个人生活，更不用说整个团队了。我的建议是，别辞职开发应用。即便某个月的盈利很不错，也应该谨慎预测下个月的情况。

仔细研究App Store上的趋势。一两个月前，所有人都认为99美分将成为应用主流售价。现在看来，当人们在一堆99美分的应用中看到某款售价3.99美元的应用，他们会觉得这款应用更有价值，也更有可能付费购买。详细规划应用售价，在决定前先看下当时的市场情况。查看Pinch Media（游戏邦注：某手机分析公司）的幻灯片，那里有他们积累而得的宝贵经验。

而且，你需要考虑推广事宜。去游戏论坛看看意见或评论，向资深评论员分发优惠码。广告也很重要，每天花10美元在Facebook或Google上做广告，看能否让销售量有所突破。

除了盈利外，此次成功给你带来的最佳体验是什么？

我很高兴《Blocked》能够为众人所认同，朋友和家人曾跟我说过他们看到有人在街上玩这款游戏。看到游戏粉丝通过邮件询问过关提示或通过Tweet向好友展示游戏进程的感觉也很棒。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Confessions of an iPhone game maker

Darren Gladstone

Joel Rosenberg isn’t exactly a household name, but if you goof around on your iPhone, you’ve probably downloaded his addictive puzzle game, Blocked. The increasingly brain-busting block-shifter sells for $1. Have you ever wondered what goes into making, marketing, and selling an iPhone app? Rosenberg, an online citizen journalist for the Sacramento Press and coder by night, took the hot seat to answer a few questions.

PC World: Let’s get the big question out of the way. Will you be able to retire based off the success of your first game?

Joel Rosenberg: Although I really enjoyed developing and selling my first iPhone game, I’m happy where I am right now.

PCW: But you have had some success…

JR: Well, when I was number one for that nice little period last month, I was seeing 10,000 to 15,000 downloads a day. But even at number ten they dropped off significantly, and two months ago I was selling 5 to 15 units a day, so it’s hard to make predictions.

PCW: That’s not shabby at all. How much of that 99-cent sale do you get?

JR: Apple gives developers a 70 percent cut of the sales across the board, so about 69 cents.

PCW: You aren’t rethinking your career?

JR: I feel like seeing success on the App Store requires some good design and programming, and a great deal of hard work, but too much is left up to chance for a one-man development shop to earn a steady living. I’ll make another iPhone app in the future, but if I stick with it, it’s because I’m doing something I love as a hobby first and foremost. If it makes money, great. If not, well, there’s no loss or disappointment. However, if my next app is as successful as this one, maybe I’ll change my tune.

PCW: In the meantime, though, not too bad.

JR: Yeah, I’d fall into the category of the hobbyist who was fortunate with his first attempt. That said, I’ve been developing professionally for ten years or so. I decided to make an iPhone app mostly out of curiosity; I wanted to learn a new language and explore Mac development.

Creating a Game on a New OS

PCW: Considering this was your first time with a new OS, how long did it take you to make Blocked? Was it difficult?

JR: I’d say somewhere between 40 and 80 hours over the course of a month or so in my free time. There was a bit of a learning curve in the transition from Web development to device development, but Apple has done a great job getting the average developer up and running quickly. Apple organized a set of tutorials, sample code, and documentation that seemed to be directed just to people like me: developers from other backgrounds who were trying their hand at mobile development for the first time. Those bite-size chunks helped me learn just what I needed in order to get my app started.

I spent most of my time in the beginning and final stages of development. I really wanted the interface to be simple and polished, so as I neared completion, I removed features I initially thought were useful but ended up distracting from the core purpose of the game. The proper iPhone development cycle should start with a lot of thought and design of the interface, and end with a good look at performance and memory leaks.

PCW: No bigger turnoff than constant iPhone crashes. Besides improving stability, what else have you been doing with your game?

JR: Listening to customers. Although I’m glad I cut some features, people really want ways to extend the game once they’ve completed it. Blocked currently has 100 levels, and I’m only keeping track of whether a level has been completed or not. In my next update, I’m adding move counts so that people can try to improve their records after completing the game.

Success on the App Store

PCW: Let’s talk about some of the success you’ve had with the game since it launched.

JR: Blocked hit the App Store in early September 2008. I had a modest amount of downloads at first. And then, right after Christmas, sales jumped. I’m not sure what led to Blocked’s being chosen as a staff favorite, but I know that once I started actively promoting it through advertising, Web forums, YouTube, and Twitter, I saw an increase in activity.

PCW: How much did it cost you out of pocket to get Blocked off the ground and spread the word?

JR: Since I did all the development in my free time, essentially zero. When I was advertising, I spent around $300 over the course of just under a month. That’s about the only money I spent, besides the $100 developer sign-up fee required to put apps on the App Store.

PCW: How does the back end of the system work? Is the approval process a pain?

JR: There’s a lot of work to get through when starting up as an application developer. One has to create and gather a slew of certificates and other security-related files that enable you to digitally sign and encrypt your applications, put your app on any development phone(s), and finally submit your app to the App Store. The documentation was a little lacking when I submitted my app back in the summer, but checking out the developer site now, it looks a little kinder to the uninitiated. After submitting your app, the waiting period can be long, and even though they’ve published rules and guidelines for applications, you’re at the whim of Apple when it comes to getting on the App Store.

PCW: But then you get paid.

JR: Yes, but that’s also my biggest frustration. It took several months to iron out banking information with Apple and start seeing money from my sales. Even now that I’m seeing regular payments, it’s almost impossible to correlate the financial reports I get from Apple every month with the deposits that are sprinkled into my account from varying worldwide banks at unpredictable times. The financial reports are in the local currency, but deposits are, of course, in U.S. dollars. Since there are no reference numbers to tie the two together, and since they come in at the discretion of the corresponding banks, it’s difficult keeping the books organized. Also, you get paid only when amounts in a particular region exceed a certain total, so several months’ worth of reports and figures in a foreign currency will be represented by a single payment in an amount that’s hard to identify. It can be a little difficult to rein in. That isn’t to say that Apple has a broken system. It’s amazing what they’ve been able to accomplish and provide to developers and consumers. I’m sure it will continue to be improved over time, and a lot of these wrinkles and processes will be ironed out.

Tips for the aspiring iPhone developer

PCW: Any advice for would-be iPhone app developers with an idea?

JR: Don’t go into the App Store expecting to make a living from your efforts. There are currently 25,000 apps available, and very few make enough to support someone, let alone a team. My advice is, don’t quit your job. Even if you see a good month, be wary of assuming what you’ll see the next.

Read up on App Store trends. A month or two ago, everyone thought that the 99-cent model was going to be the dominant price point for applications. Now it’s been suggested that when people see a game that costs $3.99 among a sea of apps that cost 99 cents, they think that it intrinsically holds more value and are more likely to purchase it. Choose your price carefully, and see what the state of the market is before you do. Check out Pinch Media’s slide show that aggregates their experiences.

Also, you need to think about promotion. Hit the gaming forums and ask for opinions or reviews. Give out some promo codes to reputable reviewers. Advertise! Try spending $10 a day for a week on targeted Facebook or Google ads to see if you get a bump in sales.

PCW: Besides the money, what has been the best part of this experience?

JR: It was pretty exciting to see Blocked receive recognition—and to get word from friends and family when they spot someone playing it on the street. It’s been great hearing from fans who ask for hints via e-mail or tweet their progress through the game to their friends. (Source: Macworld)