The game lacks the fit and polish that sells iOS games. Yeah, much easier said than done (this coming from an aspiring iOS game developer). The advice to change the icon is spot on. I'd also advise changing your screenshots (which would probably also involve changes to the game graphics): all that grayscale is very depressing, and the monospaced serif font for "Gyroscope Controlled" is very bland and ugly. You want something more fun, possibly at a jaunty angle, definitely using layer styles.
Your game screenshots scream "tech demo", which is no way to sell a game.
The iPhone graphic is swiped from a Kotaku article about iPhone motion controls, and the arrows are kind of terrible, but this is the basic idea. Frankly, the "Gryroscope Controls" is probably too techy for a screenshot ad like this, the text "Motion Controls" would probably sell better with mention of the gyroscope in the app description for those who realize what that is and why it's better than what was available pre-gyroscope:
Aw, please don't do that. I hate it when developers put flashy ad images in the screenshots section; I look at that section to see screenshots, and those types of images are distracting and annoying. There is plenty of room for features in the description.
I sympathise with you, but it's the only place a developer has to really get a potential buyer's attention beyond the icon, so the real estate is too valuable to give up! I think there needs to be a couple "raw" screenshots, but many successful devs recommend using that space to it's fullest potential.
There's a really good article out there about this that I can't track down at the moment, but here are a couple more that also drive the point home:
> Let’s take a look at an app that has done this well. Here we have Read it Later:
Look at Read it Later's page on a real phone and it's fairly terrible: the text is way too small and you can't zoom in, and again, it makes it more difficult to see what the app actually looks like, which is an important part of my buying decision. (There are screenshots within the "screenshots", but they are also rather small.)
For an easy comparison, Read It Later Free's page has only real screenshots, and I find it nicer.
It's definitely not just you. As a customer, I get quite annoyed when a screenshot tries to explain how the game works, as it becomes confusing which parts of the graphic are the game itself and which are not.
I will agree that this is the best advice on this thread:
- Icon looks really bad, needs to look hot.
- The gray graphics make it look unfinished.
- The balls should be nice and round. You have some pretty powerful hardware to work with now, I don't see why they look like they have only 20 faces...
- Fonts don't seem right.
I would also like to add:
- Most iPhone 4 owners didn't buy their device for a "gyroscope" and I'd go as far to say they don't know what it is.
- Are there any other tilt-controls you can add to open the doors for 3GS owners?
- The screenshots don't really paint a picture of what the objective of the game is. Why is it fun? Just a bunch of balls in a gray world does not look fun.
Anyway, I hope you get a lot of good advice and can start selling some copies.
SlideToPlay's shot [1] at the very top of their review is probably the point where everyone stopped reading the review and left. In the AppStore you are up against "Cut the rope" kind of polish, and that's a plank set very high. First impression really matters and the game fails to make it, hence all the problems.
It's horrible to think back and remember that I went out of my way to go for a "gritty" look, way back before I was even considering thinking about the marketing angle. There's one lesson well learned. I'm definitely going to take this advice to heart. Thanks!
I don't think the gritty/old timey look is bad, but I think you could push it further to sell it as such. I think you could go a long way by adding SOME saturation back into the world, and tinting things a bit sepia for an aged look. I'd still leave the bullseyes full saturation, though, as they really do pop right now. If you want to keep things feeling deliberately old timey and worn, adding a little bit of aged film overlay would go a long way (some decent examples of this type of aging, though fully black and white instead of just partially desaturated, can be seen in the games PB Winterbottom or Limbo).
Out of curiosity, what led to the bullseyes being spherical instead of cylindrical?
You could make people "feel" the gyroscopic movement even more by having the UI's movement be slightly delayed from the player movement, like it's following behind on a rubber band (see: first person games which have helmet art, like Metroid Prime on the gamecube). You wouldn't want to make it too crazy since it has to be usable, but adding a little feeling of sway to the surrounding chrome, tied to gyroscope moves, would probably go a long way towards making it feel less mechanical and more fluid.
Sorry for the armchair art direction by the way. If I am accidentally coming across as an asshole, please know that it is not intentional! I like the concept for the game AND for the visual direction and it made me interested enough to crack open Photoshop and start playing around. I don't know if my ideas are particularly noteworthy or if they actually manage to improve anything, but it's what came to mind when looking at the game. Hopefully no offense is taken!
You're definitely not coming across as an asshole. I know a lot of assholes and I hardly ever see them mock-up screenshots for strangers. Very much appreciated. The screenshot is definitely food for thought.
Btw, I feel like I should have a good answer for why the bullseyes are spherical and not flat... but I don't. More to think about there...
I guess if they're spherical they're consistantly difficult to hit, even if you play spinning animations on them. However, if they're discs, and they rotate on X or Y, their size as a target will fluctuate. I made that mockup with just aesthetics in mind, but changing the shape from spheres would definitely have gameplay implications.
The PS mockup is really beautiful. That's a game I would buy on sight for 99 cents, and get for $1.99 if there were significant good reviews to back up the visuals. The look of the bullseyes in particular are fantastic.
A gritty look that is purposeful and well done would enhance a game that is already good. However, if the basic game mechanics aren't fun then you're just "polishing a turd" (see page 2 of that Gamasutra article I linked to elsewhere).
Your game screenshots scream "tech demo", which is no way to sell a game.