Tweaking

It has been about 5 weeks since 10-Up was listed in the Windows Store and now it's time to start the tweaking process. I recently read a blog from successful app developers, reminding me that I should be tweaking my app often. These tweaks aren't particularly major app updates with new features, but can also be changes to keywords, descriptions, screenshots and more.

With that said, this will be a part of my regular process to try and keep the app up-to-date. Not being able to dedicate full-time like hours to the app, it is difficult to keep up with the competition. These small tweaks will be important to keep up in some way.
So the focus is to TWEAK.

Top 100 !

After one week of being on the market, 10-Up has cracked the Top 100 Paid Apps in the Games category at 97th spot.

10-Up also has the top spot in New Releases for Games Category.

I look forward to continuing to make 10-Up a great app and improve the user experience.

Let's keep this thing going!

Post Release: 10-Up

After a successful launch with the 10-Up Facebook page gaining good interest among my friends, family and community, I decided to change my focus from app development to marketing the app as best I can.
The primary communication about the App is through the Facebook page with other avenues including my development blog and my website. Now I need to try to expand out beyond people I know (as many do not have Windows 8).

Get 10-Up here:
 http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-au/app/a2800a17-ebac-4542-b2c4-c99d28f5d9db

First I went to some technology companies to see if the app could be found on the app store and I managed to download the trial version of the app on some Microsoft Surface Pro's.


Next I managed to get the app featured on The Video Game Island's web page - and I am currently reaching out to more gaming websites for reviews or features - I will reveal these as they respond.

The next few major steps I would like to pursue is to write up a press release template for gaming sites to consider covering the app, create both a walk through video and just a promotional video and finally, reach out to international markets where Windows 8 machines are more popular and the Windows Store market is larger.

I will now await any feedback from all customers and take on board as much as I can to continue to develop the game and ultimately work towards releasing it for other platforms such as iOS and Android.

As one measurement of performance I have set a 10-Up target to get to the top 100 in the Puzzle sub category of the Games category. Over the week I have improved from about 800/3000 in the Windows Store to approximately 500/3000 in the Windows Store. Below you can see the app listed on the first page of the newest games.

10-Up in the Windows Store

This has all been possible with the help of family, friends and supporters of the app and I would like to thank all of those who support my app and also myself, particularly my partner who helps me stay focused and positive on this journey.

10-Up Released on the Windows Store!

As of the 11th of July, 2013, the 10-Up app was officially released on the Windows Store.

It took about 7 months of on and off work in my spare time, thought into functionality, gameplay, graphics, music and marketing and it finally was approved. 

If you follow this blog, download the app to see what I've been posting about most frequently as of late.

http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/10-up/a2800a17-ebac-4542-b2c4-c99d28f5d9db

10-Up on the Windows Store

Watch this space to hear more about the steps taken following the release of the app and a progress update.

Ro.

Third Time's a charm!

After cleaning up some minor issues and also adding in a feature my app is going in for certification for the third time. Version 1.0.3 of 10-Up will hopefully be the first release and I'm looking forward to any more feedback from the Microsoft Team in the Content Compliance.

If you're like me, the certification and marketing take almost as long as the development, spending extra time on graphic design for your promotional images as well as putting in time to consider your market and price point. Further to this, there are a bunch of privacy statements to consider and other certificates as well.

All in all, I've learned that when developing something like a game or app, you must consider the market side of things as well.

I'll post once I get the app certified. In the meantime here is one of the promotional images used!

Sprites

For the design of this game it was decided to create characters to represent numbers to give the game some life. All arithmetic buttons have a bubble like feel to give the game more of a flow to it. It is important that the game be identifiable to the audience when they see the game and to differentiate it from a standard number type game. A single puzzle in itself may or may not be difficult depending on what numbers are generated - it's random, but collectively the challenge is to beat the puzzle as many times as possible within the amount of time given.

All design has been created with vector based graphics, giving me the ability to adjust the image files for the game with ease.

Here is a look at the sprites for addition and multiplication:

 Characters

In the previous post I revealed the Logo Character designed for the game and this time, we will reveal other characters designed for particular numbers. 

Numbers between 0-9 have had characters created with different colors and different facial expressions to make them unique. The idea behind this is to also give a visual aid to the user as they play the game. Color matching can be quicker than reading the actual numbers. For example, combining two characters of the same color with a division will generally result in a 1 - or in the case of this game, an orange character.

By introducing these characters we add some personality to the game.

Now without further ado, here's a sample of some of the characters from 10-Up !

To see more of the characters, they will be made available on the games Facebook page - Remember to 'Like' the page to support the development of this game !

In the next post , look forward to some of the sound effects and music compositions made for the game.