Opetopic

Sales of IsoWords have continued to be awful… really awful. Yesterday 2 copies of IsoWords were sold, and 5 in total across all versions. I can’t do a “Week #2 in the App Store” type of post since iTunes connect is going down for the holidays, so I will delay that until the first week of 2010. The main reason I continue working on the 1.1. update is the nice reviews, especially the ones from other countries who appreciate the immense amount of work it took to localize everything:

“This is a good playing, modern looking and polished word search game, I’d highly recommend it!”

“This is a really nice twist on the word game “formula”. I’ve played games like Bookworm and others and this one sits nicely next to those on my iPod. Really love how the game plays and it’s really challenging. Not to the point of frustration though, I really can’t recommend this enough. If you’re a word game fan then get this, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.”

“I’m telling you, you’ll be crawling all over this damn cube like an ant on a honey jar. You can spend, well literally hours with just one game.”

“I write few reviews but felt that this game really deserves a line or two especially as I am not the greatest fan of word games. Have to admit I have been unable to put it down since downloading and the devs have done a great job with the statistics available. Well worth a few pennies and spot on for the tube of a morning.”

“Una applicacion muy buena y ahora también en Español. Muy re comendada para los hispanohablantes. Gracias por hacer Apps también en nuestro idioma. Y hoy (19 dic) esta free por el appvent calendar… GRACIASSS!!!”

“Einfaches, süchtig machendes Spiel.”

“El juego mas entretenido que tengo y tengo mas de 100.!!no paras es súper adictivo,entrenido 100×100.lo recomiendo a todo el mundo.yo me lo baje gratis y ahora te cuesta pero lo hubiera pagado Aguayo.gracias diseñadores.”

“Jeu prennant, bonne idée d’ appli.”

Unfortunately, reviews mean nothing when it comes to guiding the purchases of users.

Now that a good number of people have IsoWords installed (thanks to the Appvent, see previous post), I thought it would be a good idea to let everyone know where the game is headed. I definitely do not consider IsoWords done, and I have two large updates in progress. The current version of IsoWords is 1.0.3 because I just submitted an update that fixes a bug in the email challenges.

Update 1.1

• Cosmetic enhancements to some interface elements that were a little rough upon shipping 1.0, and improved sounds.
• Bluetooth/WiFi multiplayer with up to 4 devices simultaneously playing and with 3 modes of gameplay:
  1. Parallel: All devices play the same puzzle independently, and when the game is over everyone’s scores and words are shown for comparison.
  2. Battle: Everyone shares the exact same puzzle so that words can be found only once across all devices, and once a cube is removed from one device it is removed from all devices.
  3. Rounds: The game progresses in 10, 15 or 20 second rounds. In each round every player selects one word that will be submitted once the round ends.
• When you accept a challenge on Facebook, Twitter or by email, you will now have the option of responding to the challenger on the game over screen. This will send your friend the scores and word lists from both games so that he or she can see the final result.
• Global leaderboards! Everyone will now have their scores and words submitted to a global leaderboard so that you can see how your skills stack up to those across the world. There will be a leaderboard for each length of game play (1 min, 2 min, free play, …), as well as a leaderboard for longest words and highest scoring words. Further, if you connect the app to your Facebook and/or Twitter account you will see the top scores/words of all your friends.
• A half dozen other small features and bug fixes…

IsoWords participated in the Appvent Calendar this past Saturday, and I was overall very happy with the outcome. The English version of IsoWords was downloaded about 10,500 times, and all versions together were download about 12,500 times. In bar chart form all my sales look something like this:

If you look closely you might notice a small spike around the date 12/19.

Clearly this was great exposure, and lots of people have posted challenges on Twitter (in all languages), which is more great exposure. This got coupled with a nice review of the game at iPhoneInCanada.ca, and I dropped the price to $.99 so that there would be no obstructions to buying the game. Unfortunately, the next day only 49 copies of the English version of IsoWords were sold, and 28 copies of all other languages combined. It is also just barely hanging on to the top 50 position in the Word Games subcategory.

The Lite version of IsoWords just came out too, but it has not gotten many downloads, so I doubt I am getting many conversions from that. For reference, the Lite version is missing the 3, 4, 5 minute modes and un-timed mode, and pass and play can only be for 2 players. Also, challenges can be sent from the Lite version, but not accepted.

I’m nearing the end of my list of ideas for promoting this game, but I will keep updating my progress.

IsoWords participated in the Appvent Calendar today, and it was a total success from my viewpoint. Early this morning I set IsoWords to be free, and by the afternoon there were numerous mentions of IsoWords on Twitter and other websites. Some very nice things were said, including

IsoWords takes on the tested formula with a slight but very cool twist… A fun all around word puzzle wrapped in some pretty impressive UI. – Filip, creativeapplications.net

IsoWords climbed to #7 in the free word games and #19 on the free puzzle charts in the App Store. There have also been a ton of challenges posted to Twitter, and hopefully Facebook too. Unfortunately, a user emailed me to let me know that email challenges are not working, but I just submitted the update so they should be working soon.

Further, I made the Spanish, French and German versions of IsoWords free for today, and they have been getting some buzz too. In fact, a few challenges on IsoWords.es were posted to Twitter, and my girlfriend played them.

Tomorrow morning I will know just how many units were downloaded, and I will flip the switch to bring IsoWords back into the world of paid apps. I’m going to try to ride this wave of buzz as long as possible and set the price at $.99, down from $1.99, which is the price I feel it rightly belongs.

IsoWords has officially been in the App Store for an entire week, and so now it is time to reflect on everything that has happened. The sales have been absolutely abysmal, but I am not yet ready to concede that IsoWords is a game that holds no value to iPhone/iPod users (maybe soon though). In the first week IsoWords has sold ~100 units (not counting promo codes), ~25 of which came from the Spanish, French and German versions. 25% of sales might be seen as a triumph for localization, but the numbers are too small to draw any conclusions.

The most important obstruction to sales has been the lack of coverage in any review sites. I sent out emails a week ago with the app description, screenshots, videos and promo codes, but I heard back from only one, iPhoneInCanada. They agreed to post a review this coming Sunday (yah!), and I am really looking forward to that. I will post again to analyze what effect the (hopefully good) review has on sales. As for the other review sites, right now I am chalking it up to the volume of requests they receive everyday, and IsoWords slipping through the cracks.

Looking to the future of IsoWords, I am nearly finished with the 1.1 update, which includes more features of the “killer” variety, such as Bluetooth/WiFi multiplayer. I also have a cute idea of how to approach review sites to increase the chances of getting noticed. Once I have done this I will post again to talk about whether it succeeded or failed.

IsoWords.de

IsoWords.es

I forgot to post about this a few days ago, but the Spanish, French and German versions of IsoWords have all dropped in the App Store. The apps are fully localized. If anyone knows of iPhone app review sites that cater to Spanish, French or German speaking users, then I would be very interested in hearing about them. I also have a butt load of promo codes for these apps, and really no one to give them to. Just post a comment or hit me up on Twitter to get one (or 10).

IsoWords.fr