Star Fusion was released on 26th July so its been available for a full week now. I want to share with you the download statistics and the promotional efforts I have made so far.
Star Fusion Download Statistics
| Date | UK Sales | US Sales | Free Downloads |
| 26th July | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 27th July | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| 28th July | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 29th July | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 30th July | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 31st July | 0 | 0 | 0 |
So, a total of seven people have bought Star Fusion and ten people have used a promo code to download the game for free. Clearly I have some work to do in order to increase the number of sales. I have to say that even though these sales are fairly dire, the thought of 17 people playing Star Fusion is an incredible feeling.
Promotion
I’ve only really scratched the surface when it comes to promotion but I have put in some effort. Here’s a list of the activities so far…
- 26th July: Two promotional codes published on twitter to celebrate the launch of Star Fusion
- 27th July: Review request sent to 148Apps along with a promotional code
- 27th July: Promotional Post created on iPhone Dev SDK forums along with 4 promotional codes
- 27th July: Review request sent to Touch Arcade along with a promotional code
- 27th July: Two more promotional codes published on twitter
- 27th July: Review request sent to TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog) but didn’t include a promotional code this time
- 30th July: Added Star Fusion to game list on cocos2d for iphone website along with 4 promotional codes
- 30th July: Review request sent to AppVee along with a promotional code
- 30th July: Review request sent to Touch Reviews along with a promotional code
So what worked? Well, I published 16 promotional codes and from the download statistics above only 10 have been used. I’ve published 8 codes to forums, 4 to twitter, and 4 to individuals (review sites). The only constructive comment i’ve had back has been via the iPhone Dev SDK forum. It’s a little early to tell but I think at this stage it’s fair to say that posting to forums gives the best response. None of the review sites have got back to me yet.
Reception & Feedback
I’ve had a few positive user reviews on the iPhone App Store . One of the comments was particularly useful since it offered some constructive criticism. Obviously i’ve shown the game to as many people as possible so i’ve had feedback there too. General consensus seems to be that the game is enjoyable but lacks replay value. I’ve also had some negative comments regarding the graphics and science behind the story.
Next Steps
I’ve listened to what people are saying and i’m currently working on a Free update for the game (I’ll write a separate post about this soon). My aim is to add some more depth as well as refining some of the existing gameplay elements. I’ll also be adding some more polish to the graphics. It’s certainly been an enjoyable experience so far and i’m feeling positive about the steps I can take to increase sales. Money is only one aspect of creating games though and I think the biggest draw for me is the idea that one day i’d see someone I don’t know playing one of my games. How great would that be!
Thanks for reading this post. Here are some promotional codes to download Star Fusion for free from iTunes. Enjoy!
49KMPWAHJ64X
7646MLNRE3EJ
A6RKH7YEEL73
KXJAAFKKNE4P