One More Thing 2012

Posted 12 years, 30 weeks ago.

These are the notes I took during the talks at the One More Thing conference in 2012, including the slides which I’ve collected into one convenient place.

Igor Pušenjak (Lima Sky)

• Apps are digital snacks
• “Just one more game” appeal
• Don’t limit PR to just the big guys. Email everyone.
• Be persistent and excited: why is your app special?
• Cross promotion
• Connect with players and include social media

Winter Wong (Tapatalk)

• Only show “rate me” pop up to people who use a lot (50th time).
• Don’t show when the app crashes (reset the counter).
• Turn off the rate alert remotely if there is a known bug causing crashes.
• If rating is poor:
  • Update frequently, rolling out features and bug fixes
  • Rating is reset for each release
• If rating is good:
  • Update less frequently to accumulate ratings.
  • More ratings = better sales
• Crowd source translations (Crowdin.net)
• Use DCMA Guardian to help send takedown notices if your app is being pirated.

Adam Kirk (Calvetica)

Download the Slides

• “Power” or “Simplicity”, not both.
• The quality of your app is your marketing.
• If your app isn’t getting talked about, open Xcode and make it better.
• Release soon and often.
• If your icon is clickable on Facebook, then it’ll be tappable on the App Store.
• Releasing solid frequent updates sells more apps.
• Building a lot of low ranking apps does not compare to having one high-ranking app.
• Charging less has never helped to sell more.
• Tinker/Learn
• Big emphasis on PASSION

Kepa Auwae (Rocketcat Games/Hookchamp)

• Review sites love niche games.
• Get a forum account on GameArcade and talk about your game.
• 99c price point only works if your game is for a wide audience. Otherwise make it $2.99
• Don’t do updates. Do another game instead.
• Updates only add sales with >100,000 users
• Don’t release a game right before Christmas, publishers rule the charts at this time.
• Set all your promotions to hit in the first few days of release (Max 3)

Shaun Inman (Fever/Mint/Last Rocket)

Download the Slides

• Identify failures, correct as you go.
• If you encounter a problem you can’t handle, unplug (Ludum Dare).
• “Failure is only failure if it’s allowed to stand as the last step in the process.”

Dave Howell (Air Sharing)

• Trademark your name and icon.
• Submit while testing & localising “What’s New”. Check the “Hold for Developer Release” checkbox.
• Don’t cheat to use private API methods, this can get your license revoked.
• Don’t enable behaviour after Apple’s review.
• Don’t change behaviour based on Apples IPv4 range.
• Discoverability is tied to keywords, name, icon, description, screenshots.
• Influence the influencers.
• PR, ads, social media.
• Get featured: study featured apps and follow their example.
• Adopt new iOS features, even if it doesn’t make a lot of sense. This helps you get featured.
• Advertise to Apple employees (this apparently didn’t work).

Julian Lepinski (Pano)

• The best way to motivate a designer is to do your own design.
• Copy copiously (not in the bad way, though).
  • No settings in-app (Apple)
  • Communicate clearly with customers (Panic)
• Talk about your app.
• There still aren’t a ton of great apps out there.
• Talk to your users.
• How Not to Die - Paul Graham
• Don’t stop (and don’t slow down).

Raphael Schaad (Flipboard)

• Design is like chess: you kill a lot of pawns before you get to the king.
• It’s all the small things that matter.
• Don’t be bitter

• Team up.
• You’ve gotta ship.
• Ideate with everybody. Execute with a great team. Release with booze.

Matt Rix (Trainyard)

• Build something to learn your tools.
• When others are being featured or reviewed, just keep improving your app.
• Luck - none of the factors for getting reviewed are actually random.
• Be prepared to capitalise on your big moment.
• Do your research on the App Store.
• Delight your users.
• Include easter eggs in your app (this will help with people talking about the app).
• The amount of effort it takes to develop and easter egg compared to the amount of effect it could have is huge.
• Determine your personal goals and write them somewhere you can see.
• Work towards your goal every day.
• Work on projects you enjoy, projects that excite you.

Justin Williams (Second Gear/Elements/FuckingNDA)

• Do what you love (even if it means “selling out”).

Q&A

• “We don’t care to develop for users who don’t have taste” – Adam Kirk, re: Developing for Android
• “If it’s not a feature or a platform you’ll use, then don’t develop for it.” – Shaun Inman
• “Pubishers can accelerate success, but not cause it.” – Matt Rix
• The brand you’ve built around your app or your company is on of your most important assets.
• Advertising apps doesn’t work (everyone seems to agree on this).
• The best advertising you can do is to try to be featured by Apple.