The point isn't about IUGO and how indie they may or may not be. I just think it seems like a very strange move to suddenly have a dev's name where there would normally have been a genre or theme. Imagine if it had said "best EA games", would that have been different?
I just wanna say that I realise that I probably shouldn't have raised the whole 'indie' question in my initial post. I accept that IUGO are an indie outfit and I was really trying to discuss the potential effect on the smaller 'bedroom' devs. My concerns were really a) devs are now used to having a (remote) chance of being featured by Apple in a certain number of categories but, without warning, one of them might now not be available to those with only a couple of games under their belt; b) Apple can clearly change the 'rules' without explanation (not complaining, just saying...) and c) wondering what the coming weeks might bring. Maybe we'll see an increase in feature opportunities - maybe this development is the start of something really positive. I'm surprised though that some people seem to have an almost child-like trust in Apple's motives and practices. It's business after all. I'm not saying that there's anything rotten at Apple's core, but it seems a little naive to automatically assume that there's some kind of total meritocracy at work. Where in the real world is that ever the case? I certainly congratulate IUGO and hope they see significant sales from this feature and also, I really don't want to detract from their success through my comments. It's become so competitive on the App Store that it's heart-warming to see any indie making progress.
frankly speaking we're not too happy about it not because we're jealous, not at all. we're happy if others succeed using fair methods (by having great games) what we really don't like is the fact that smaller "bedroom devs" stand no chance of being featured there. if someone has less than 6-7 apps - I don't see them being featured as they woulnt even have enough games to cover the space there... so basically - if you're a small dev, competing with bigger parties just became a bit harder... another thing that is seriously wrong is that there are no guidelines as to how be featured that way. not that "no guidelines" rule is anything new of course PS: I love the "bedroom devs" expression ! writing from my coworker's bedroom aka Spokko HQ
Why do you think you have no chance of being featured there? If you had a library of great games like IUGO, there's no reason that Apple couldn't pick you as well. IUGO was a very early adopter of App Store game development, and since late 2008 have pumped out quality title after quality title and it's great that Apple recognizes that. I doubt Apple cares if you're a "class 2" indie, "bedroom indie", "refrigerator box indie" or "multi-national corporation" indie. Chances are they were just kicking around what to feature this week and someone said "Hey, why not IUGO games?"
Well obviously it's business as well, but it's been widely reported that the App Store isn't making that much money for Apple anyway. If Apple were to raise their split of the sales I could see reason to complain. As it is, the service Apple is providing for the money their charging is certainly a good a deal as us micro-indies could ever hope for. Apple could of course have skipped the "Best of IUGO" feature but I fail to see the real problem here. "New and Noteworthy" and "What We're Playing" are both 100% up to Apple's subjective whims and no one seems to worry too much about this. It's not like the earlier "swinging games" was the most natural choice for a genre to single out either. In general it seems Apple are experimenting with different stuff to feature and for the moment they've decided to feature a prominent indie-developer. Obviously it could be a lot worse! I'm pretty sure EA and Gameloft would love to spend a substantial part of their war chests on ad-space in the AppStore if they were allowed. You ask where in the real world you can find true meritocracy at work? Well, it might not be the App Store but it's possibly as close as you'll get anywhere where real money is involved...
Interesting to see the different reactions to this. We were shocked and had no idea we were getting this kind of feature. We did not pay for this. Yes, we are a larger team than the smaller 2 man shops but we are DEFINITELY Indie. We've been bootstrapping and working our asses off for over 6 years in mobile. I think our feature is great news for smaller teams. It means Apple IS willing to show off a more obscure dev such as ourselves, and it could be you next week too. It would have been easy for them to showcase EA or Gameloft. Those guys are owning the App Store right now. Even though we have seen some success on the App Store, IUGO finds the challenges of the App Store to be very real along with you: Our IP is original and unknown, most people don't know who we are, discoverability is a bitch on the App Store...and we have NO advertising budget. Seeing as Apple is pretty tight-lipped about most stuff we'll probably never know why they chose us for that feature. But we for one are grateful and ecstatic about it! Thank you to all those who have wished us well and given us props. We'll return the favour when it is your turn!
the highlighted part is the essential here - if you are a small dev, or a team of say 2-3 people, chances are that you do not have a significant library of games. not even great games, just any games. the larger the team - the higher chances are that they produce so many games. agree ? also - what about new developers ? that had no chance to create such a library yet. they're completely out of the competition for that spot that's what I think is unfair. don't get me wrong - its a great thing for IUGO and I wish them all the best with it. they've made some great games and they simply deserved bigger attention. and there is NOTHING wrong with that. but other than IUGO - how many indie studios can get on this list ? Donut Games ? I honestly cant name more... so to sum up - what is wrong, is that for this extra of attention you need to have a bigger team, leaving small studios out of course we have to wait and see, Apple have their ways after all but if that feature is intended only for the bigger guys (bigger indies included here) - I really don't see a point in it PS: Spokko has 7 titles released, so in theory we might have a chance in it. but that doesn't change my stance on the topic. I still think it is unfair PS2: how big is IUGO anyway ? Im really curious
Features themselves aren't fair though, they're arbitrarily chosen by Apple. They always have been, and likely always will be. It's not uncommon at all to see games which are very similar to much better games get featured, and other confusing things. At the end of the day, shouldn't you be building your company to survive around Apple potentially never pulling your feature lottery ticket?
This thread reeks of petty jealousy. Apple's featured lists are a way for them to experimentally single out both old and new apps for some extra visibility outside the ranking system. The top 25 lists can be pretty boring when the same games are seen day after day carried by their momentum. TA itself is no different in that not everyone is going to agree that the games picked to feature on the front page are the most interesting. I'll take someone's honest, subjective opinion on what's worth featuring over a random lottery system, which would be pointless and probably just end up featuring brighthouse systems titles every other day. I'd love to hear from IUGO on how this pans out for them!
Very good advice, especially as new options are becoming available for the throngs of Windows developers & Flash developers to get in on the action. The number of apps will dramatically increase, so you had better find another way to get noticed.
