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《涂鸦跳跃》开发者谈应用获得成功的6个原因

发布时间:2012-04-13 18:22:33 Tags:,,

作者:Peter Kafka

开发者们都希望能够利用iPad来以更高的价格出售应用。但是,专注于出售99美分的软件也能够让你获得成功。看看Igor和Marko Pusenjak的经历就能够明白这一点。

igor-and-marko-pusenjak(from businessinsider.com)

igor-and-marko-pusenjak(from businessinsider.com)

这两个兄弟通过苹果iTunes商店出售的热门游戏《涂鸦跳跃》或许已足以让他们成为世界上最成功的iPhone应用开发者之一。

当然,这也让他们二人赚到大笔金钱。

他们的公司名为Lima Sky,只有他们两个成员,公司就位于他们在纽约和克罗地亚的家中。此前,有个兼职的美术人员帮助他们完成游戏的美术设计。最近,他们开始同自由职业者签约,帮助他们完成业务开发之类的工作。

他们是如何实现这种成功的呢?

正是游戏的优秀让他们获得成功,《涂鸦跳跃》确实是款很有趣的游戏。但是,iTunes中有数十万款应用,所以从如此多的竞争者中突出重围同样重要。

doodle-jump(from businessinsider.com)

doodle-jump(from businessinsider.com)

以下是本次访谈的关键概括内容:

1、开发者的首要工作是开发出优秀的应用,其次才是营销。Igor不断提到许多有关iPhone、iPod和游戏的博文。被Gawker Media的Gizmodo提到确实对应用的成功很有帮助。他们近期开始同一家PR公司合作,但是在此之前,游戏的营销完全靠他们自己。

2、善于利用iOS系统。在iTunes应用商店发展早期,获得更新的软件会进入商店的“最新游戏”列表中。所以,Pusenjak利用了这个机制,推出许多免费的更新。去年苹果取消了这个机制,但是Pusenjak也找到了新的推广方法:与其他小型开发商合作开展营销绑定,比如《Pocket God》开发商Bolt Creative。Pusenjak在他们的游戏中使用来自Bolt产品的角色,对方也是如此,这样两家公司就可以互换用户,同时获得成长。

3、寻求帮助。Pusenjak知道获得用户关注的最佳方法是吸引决定iTunes推荐应用的苹果雇员。与其他零售途径不同,EA这样的大型开发商无法用钱在iTunes商店中购买他们想要的曝光位置。这对兄弟并不认识苹果的雇员,但是他们通过自己的好友获得了所需的邮件地址。Igor向该负责人介绍了自己和应用,数周之后,《涂鸦跳跃》获得了苹果推荐。

4、取悦用户。尽管苹果并不会为频繁更新应用的开发者提供奖励,但是Pusenjak用户会很欣赏这个举动。背景和角色等免费更新能够提升应用的销量,所以这对兄弟每数周都会更新应用。他们并不确定为何更新会激发销售量的增长,但是他们有预感:更新让《涂鸦跳跃》的用户有了更多玩游戏的理由,这会让用户更频繁地告诉好友他们喜爱这款游戏。

5、专注。Pusenjak兄弟想要制作一款全新的游戏,他们也计划将《涂鸦跳跃》移植到其他平台上,比如谷歌Android手机操作系统以及微软和索尼的游戏主机。但是他们目前还没有实施上述计划,因为他们将全部的时间和精力都投入到改善现有游戏和推出更新内容上。只要《涂鸦跳跃》还能够保持目前的销售趋势,他们就不会进行新项目的开发。

6、幸运。乐队组合Jonas Brothers的认可也对游戏带来了积极影响。

游戏邦注:本文发稿于2010年4月5日,所涉时间、事件和数据均以此为准。(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

Meet the App Store Millionaires: The Brothers Behind Doodle Jump

Peter Kafka

Developers are eager to use the iPad as a chance to sell more expensive apps. But you can do just fine selling software at 99 cents a pop. Just ask Igor and Marko Pusenjak.

In the last year, the two brothers have sold 3.5 million copies of Doodle Jump, a simple and addictive game, via Apple’s iTunes store. That accomplishment may make them the world’s most successful iPhone and iPod touch developers.

It has certainly made them a lot of money.

The Pusenjaks’ company, Lima Sky, is a two-man operation they run out of their homes in New York and Croatia. A part-time illustrator helps them out, and they’ve recently started contracting with some freelancers for help with tasks like business development. But that’s about it for expenses.

So after Apple (AAPL) takes its 30 percent, the Pusenjaks have cleared more than $1 million a piece, before taxes.

How’d they do it?

A good game helps a lot. And Doodle Jump is a bunch of fun. But iTunes has more than 140,000 apps competing for users’ time and wallets, so breaking through the clutter is just as important.

I sat down with Igor Pusenjak last week to talk about his success, and you can see the interview at the bottom of this post. It’s a long clip, because I really like hearing Igor talk. But if you’re rushing to crank out new apps for the iPad, you may be time-pressed. So here are some key takeaways:

Developing a great app is the first part of a developer’s job. Marketing it is the second. Igor politely but repeatedly approached any and all blogs that wrote about iPhones, iPods and/or games, and used a story at one site to gin up interest from another. Landing a mention in Gawker Media’s Gizmodo was particularly helpful. The brothers recently started working with a PR firm, but until then, they did all the marketing themselves.

Work the system. In the early days of the iTunes app store, developers who updated their software would move to the top of the store’s “most recent” chart. So the Pusenjaks pushed out lots of free updates. Apple put that kibosh on that gambit last year, but the Pusenjaks have figured out a new promotional technique: Marketing tie-ins with other small developers, like Bolt Creative, which makes Pocket God. The Pusenjaks feature characters from Bolt’s game in theirs, and vice versa, and the two companies send customers back and forth.

Ask for help. The Pusenjaks knew that the best way to get attention would be from Apple employees who decide what apps to feature at iTunes – unlike other retail outlets, big players like Electronic Arts (ERTS) can’t simply buy preferred placement in the store. The brothers didn’t know anyone at Apple, but a friend of a friend did, and gave them an email address. Igor sent a note introducing himself over the transom, and a couple of weeks later, Doodle Jump got a feature slot.

Please your customers. Though Apple doesn’t reward developers for frequent updates, the Pusenjaks’ customers do. It turns out that free updates – new backgrounds, new characters, etc. – correlate to sales spikes, so the brothers continue to do them every few weeks. The brothers aren’t exactly sure why updates equal sales, but they have a hunch: An update gives Doodle Jump users another reason to play the game, which translates into another chance to tell friends how much they like it.

Focus: The brothers would like to work on a new game, and they’d like to port Doodle Jump to other platforms, like Google’s (GOOG) Android mobile operating system and Microsoft’s (MSFT) and Sony’s (SNE) game consoles. But they haven’t done any of that yet because they spend all their time tweaking the existing game and pushing out new updates. As long as Doodle Jump is selling – and it has been downloaded more than two million times so far in 2010, Igor notes – they can’t justify moving on to something new.

Get lucky: An endorsement from the Jonas Brothers doesn’t hurt. Even if you don’t know who the Jonas Brothers are. Igor explains in the video below. (Source: All Things Digital)


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