...and it's not just a bias on my part. Yes I like my game... but lots of other people like my game. If they looked at the game and they didn't run the story, then that's good journalism. The way Hodapp handled the issue was unprofessional.
What I do... what I do is get revenge. The best revenge is success. So I am seriously considering building an iOS game review site if BOT is not a success.
Photics said: Dude, Hurdle Turtle... why are you defending them?
There's clear excitement with BOT.
Im starting to get tired of hearing you say that. Hurdle turtle has been featured for a while on the front page of itunes as well. so it must be a well made game.
Mrshoestore said: Well of course you probably think BOT is better, because you are making it. That is your bias.
And reviewers have a bias to the types of games they like and don't like.
Welcome to Earth and the reality of things. If they had a string of bad experiences with GameSalad games in the past, OF COURSE they are going to set up a bias that they all suck and move on with their lives. It's what you would do, It's what I would do. It's what people do.
+1
Dont blame touch arcade, blame all the people that do half ass games with gamesalad. Heck if i ran touch arcade i would be the same way, its a business.
...and it's not just a bias on my part. Yes I like my game... but lots of other people like my game. If they looked at the game and they didn't run the story, then that's good journalism. The way Hodapp handled the issue was unprofessional.
What I do... what I do is get revenge. The best revenge is success. So I am seriously considering building an iOS game review site if BOT is not a success.
I would be careful to not confuse "interest in your game" with "they like my game."
I love my game and I hope everyone else does too. But the fact of the matter is that some people probably won't. Maybe they did look into your game and didn't like it. Who knows?
Photics said: succeeded without a Touch Arcade review.
Ok, with that in mind... why does everyone continue to give two bits of damn about TouchArcade.
There are hundreds of sites that review iOS games, big and small. Infact, I only heard about touch arcade here. Yet it seems like it's the Mecca of game reviews.
A good marketing strategy NEVER focuses on only one place to market the product.
Don't forget, T.A reviewed Max Vector awhile back right?
Also, it's getting harder and harder, the games on the app store are 100X better than they were a year or 2 years ago, so getting on N&N is even tougher now than it ever was, and getting reviewed by T.A is just as difficult with all these new, and innovative titles coming out.
GamersRejoice said: Maybe they did look into your game and didn't like it. Who knows?
No, they didn't look at the game. Supposedly they didn't see the email. But instead of saying something like... "Whoops, my bad!" ...they went and insulted GameSalad and my work. That makes it personal for me!
Mrshoestore said: Ok, with that in mind... why does everyone continue to give two bits of damn about TouchArcade.
There are hundreds of sites that review iOS games, big and small. Infact, I only heard about touch arcade here. Yet it seems like it's the Mecca of game reviews.
A good marketing strategy NEVER focuses on only one place to market the product.
I tend to agree with this feeling, however TouchArcade seems to be a driving force that actually leads to more sales if you get a review. I got good reviews for Sketch Ball from a few lesser known sites, guess how much it helped sales? Zero.
I do agree though that it's important to market everywhere you can and not put all of your chips in one site.
I don't necessarily agree that T.A is the driving force for more sales, it depends on the title. I remember a title called "Squid Drop" was reviewed by them, but I never saw it top the 100 charts, nor the top 200 games. It was a cute game, but even a review by T.A was not enough.
GamersRejoice said: I tend to agree with this feeling, however TouchArcade seems to be a driving force that actually leads to more sales if you get a review. I got good reviews for Sketch Ball from a few lesser known sites, guess how much it helped sales? Zero.
I do agree though that it's important to market everywhere you can and not put all of your chips in one site.
Oh I agree 100%, I'm sure a good review on TouchArcade helps out sales... But to only go to one person and say "Please Love Me!" and expecting the person to love you because you only went to them... not happening.
GamersRejoice said: I do agree though that it's important to market everywhere you can and not put all of your chips in one site.
It's not about Touch Arcade being key to success to BOT. I thought it would be a fun thing to do... an exclusive preview! If they're not interested, don't reply... or reply stating that you're not interested. What you don't do is insult my work and my SDK.
Hodapp stated clear bias against GameSalad games. That's exactly one of the things BOT is about — fighting that bias.
I reckon you suck it up, pay to advertise on TA and all of a sudden they wont be able to do enough for you. Money makes the world go round. (I understand that this is not always practical)
capitalcarnage said: I reckon you suck it up, pay to advertise on TA and all of a sudden they wont be able to do enough for you. Money makes the world go round. (I understand that this is not always practical)
It's actually pretty cheap to advertise on Touch Arcade — and other sites like it. I have considered it.
capitalcarnage said: Do it man, that Hodapp fella will be buttering your bread and wiping your arse
Even if that's true... it's unethical. It's also why I decided not to pay for advertising on review sites. That line is too close. BOT is strong enough to stand on it's own.
Butterbean stated it correctly. Being featured by Apple is the best marketing, and I have a good marketing strategy to try and make that happen.
2.75 per 1k impressions isn't too bad, not great, but not too bad. You have to under stand the metric though. 2.4 million impressions a month, that might get you an half-hour to an hour of time on the site during peak hours.
Also just FYI, Hurdle Turtle is somewhat popular flash game that was ported to iOS. Thats why it's getting the attention it's getting, a lot of people already knew about it.
DreamLab said: Im starting to get tired of hearing you say that. Hurdle turtle has been featured for a while on the front page of itunes as well. so it must be a well made game.
To be clear... I think Hurdle Turtle looks like a cute and fun game. Yet, it doesn't seem to be a huge success like Bumps or The Secret of Grizzly Manor. So, to have a bias against all GameSalad games is a bad idea.
Dizko said: 2.75 per 1k impressions isn't too bad, not great, but not too bad. You have to under stand the metric though. 2.4 million impressions a month, that might get you an half-hour to an hour of time on the site during peak hours.
I'm thinking the monthly spaces are pretty cool. If I'm understanding it correctly, $750 for a month is pretty good. (There are other review sites with similar offers.) A little box at the top of the forum is a good spot. I'm not planning to advertise with them though.
It is often that great artists are the ones that hate their own work, and it's this attitude of self-criticism that allows an artist to evolve and to reach true success and create better work.
It is arrogant for an artist to assume that his work is the greatest, or better, and then expect others to be in agreement. This only leads to failure.
I'm not targeting... these are just words of wisdom from the back of a Bazooka Joe wrapper.
just to anyone that didn't take the time reading the last pages on the TA thread.
"I guess more than anything else I'm not really interested in this whole super-secret screenshot thing. It just seems unnecessary, especially with how fast the App Store moves. Get your game out there, get people interested, and if it's cool the press will follow. I think the only reason this thread has grown as large as it has is because how much you're leading everyone on with vague details, so naturally they want to know more, much like how for some reason there is an entire six seasons of LOST.
Anyway, to answer your points-
1. I didn't respond to your original email because you send it to tips@ not exclusives@. I've got entirely different email filters to handle different kinds of emails, with things sent to the exclusive address bumped up to the top of my priority queue. Since you sent your request in with the standard tips@ email it got filtered amongst all the thousands of other emails we get and I've spent the last week and a half in the midst of a cross-country move so I didn't actually see it until after you started posting in threads I was already following.
2. As I mentioned in threads before, I'd need a full time personal assistant to reply to every email we get. I try to respond to all exclusive offers, but if they don't get sent to the right email address they can get lost in the shuffle of press releases, iTunes receipts, and other random emails.
3. Most GameSalad games are not good. This isn't really anything against GameSalad, but it's generally safe to assume that if someone was serious about developing an iPhone game, they'd go the extra steps and use one of the many existing game engines that allow further customization than a basic game creation studio without being locked into all the weird things GameSalad has pulled over the years.
As far as providing content for our readers is concerned, frankly, we're overflowing with things to write about. Currently I've got a staff of one full time writer and five freelancers (with more on the way) and they're all busy constantly with all the goings on in the world of iOS gaming. It's not like someone is sitting on their hands waiting for an exclusive to roll in. Furthermore, just something being "exclusive" rarely makes it interesting, especially on the internet. This isn't the age of magazines where if we score a killer exclusive we'll get prime shelf placement for the entire month while all the competitors try to catch up... No, online, an exclusive just nets a [via TouchArcade] at the bottom of the article, assuming of course it's interesting enough for anyone to reblog.
It's in your best interest to get as much information out there as possible about your game, to everyone that might even be remotely interested. It's not like you're selling a photo from the paparazzi here, you're trying to get people to check out your video game."
Mrshoestore said: It is arrogant for an artist to assume that his work is the greatest, or better, and then expect others to be in agreement. This only leads to failure.
I'm not expecting universal agreement. BOT is not a game for everyone. It's a hard game. I imagine there are players that might prefer Hurdle Turtle. It's not exclusive either... people can play both!
However, there should be some common sense here. There was no critique by Touch Arcade editors, other than an insult towards GameSalad. That's the point of this thread.
Tshirtbooth basically stated that they only review the best games. I disagree. I see a bias towards retro games... like a Commodore 64 emulator or relaunches of classic arcade games.
I'm seeing room for a competitor. Even though there are a lot of sites, it's not really like I go to them to find great games. Price drops, yeah, but great games that I never played before... not really. The only example I can think of is Tiny Wings... and I would have found that at the top of the iTunes app store rankings.
I'm thinking that I should go and expand what I did with Critique... and to include GameSalad games.
The reason that Apple is succeeding is that they let everyone play. The developer program is very inclusive. A review site should work that way too. Why not... More reviews = more pageviews = more money!
Comments
http://photics.com/bumps-review
http://photics.com/tigerfish-review
...and it was fun!
...and it's not just a bias on my part. Yes I like my game... but lots of other people like my game. If they looked at the game and they didn't run the story, then that's good journalism. The way Hodapp handled the issue was unprofessional.
What I do... what I do is get revenge. The best revenge is success. So I am seriously considering building an iOS game review site if BOT is not a success.
http://toucharcade.com/2010/08/17/bumps-review-–-drop-em-like-theyre-hot/
Dont blame touch arcade, blame all the people that do half ass games with gamesalad. Heck if i ran touch arcade i would be the same way, its a business.
I love my game and I hope everyone else does too. But the fact of the matter is that some people probably won't. Maybe they did look into your game and didn't like it. Who knows?
There are hundreds of sites that review iOS games, big and small. Infact, I only heard about touch arcade here. Yet it seems like it's the Mecca of game reviews.
A good marketing strategy NEVER focuses on only one place to market the product.
Also, it's getting harder and harder, the games on the app store are 100X better than they were a year or 2 years ago, so getting on N&N is even tougher now than it ever was, and getting reviewed by T.A is just as difficult with all these new, and innovative titles coming out.
http://toucharcade.com/2010/08/03/two-retro-inspired-games-–-max-vector-and-amor-the-unicorn-keep/
It's a GameSalad game... but it's a retro game. HA HA!
I do agree though that it's important to market everywhere you can and not put all of your chips in one site.
Apple N&N is the #1 force to drive sales.
...probably why I'm still single
Hodapp stated clear bias against GameSalad games. That's exactly one of the things BOT is about — fighting that bias.
(I understand that this is not always practical)
Butterbean stated it correctly. Being featured by Apple is the best marketing, and I have a good marketing strategy to try and make that happen.
Yeah N&N is the best, if you have a compelling game, it can skyrocket your app to the top 100
You're OK though, so I'll help you...
http://buysellads.com/buy/detail/29776
One of my friends says I'm too ethical to succeed in business. Maybe he's right, but I'm not about to change.
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/547625
Yeah, I think BOT is better
Hurdle Turtle has a great retro style though.
It is often that great artists are the ones that hate their own work, and it's this attitude of self-criticism that allows an artist to evolve and to reach true success and create better work.
It is arrogant for an artist to assume that his work is the greatest, or better, and then expect others to be in agreement. This only leads to failure.
I'm not targeting... these are just words of wisdom from the back of a Bazooka Joe wrapper.
"I guess more than anything else I'm not really interested in this whole super-secret screenshot thing. It just seems unnecessary, especially with how fast the App Store moves. Get your game out there, get people interested, and if it's cool the press will follow. I think the only reason this thread has grown as large as it has is because how much you're leading everyone on with vague details, so naturally they want to know more, much like how for some reason there is an entire six seasons of LOST.
Anyway, to answer your points-
1. I didn't respond to your original email because you send it to tips@ not exclusives@. I've got entirely different email filters to handle different kinds of emails, with things sent to the exclusive address bumped up to the top of my priority queue. Since you sent your request in with the standard tips@ email it got filtered amongst all the thousands of other emails we get and I've spent the last week and a half in the midst of a cross-country move so I didn't actually see it until after you started posting in threads I was already following.
2. As I mentioned in threads before, I'd need a full time personal assistant to reply to every email we get. I try to respond to all exclusive offers, but if they don't get sent to the right email address they can get lost in the shuffle of press releases, iTunes receipts, and other random emails.
3. Most GameSalad games are not good. This isn't really anything against GameSalad, but it's generally safe to assume that if someone was serious about developing an iPhone game, they'd go the extra steps and use one of the many existing game engines that allow further customization than a basic game creation studio without being locked into all the weird things GameSalad has pulled over the years.
As far as providing content for our readers is concerned, frankly, we're overflowing with things to write about. Currently I've got a staff of one full time writer and five freelancers (with more on the way) and they're all busy constantly with all the goings on in the world of iOS gaming. It's not like someone is sitting on their hands waiting for an exclusive to roll in. Furthermore, just something being "exclusive" rarely makes it interesting, especially on the internet. This isn't the age of magazines where if we score a killer exclusive we'll get prime shelf placement for the entire month while all the competitors try to catch up... No, online, an exclusive just nets a [via TouchArcade] at the bottom of the article, assuming of course it's interesting enough for anyone to reblog.
It's in your best interest to get as much information out there as possible about your game, to everyone that might even be remotely interested. It's not like you're selling a photo from the paparazzi here, you're trying to get people to check out your video game."
-Hodapp (TA editor)
However, there should be some common sense here. There was no critique by Touch Arcade editors, other than an insult towards GameSalad. That's the point of this thread.
Tshirtbooth basically stated that they only review the best games. I disagree. I see a bias towards retro games... like a Commodore 64 emulator or relaunches of classic arcade games.
I'm seeing room for a competitor. Even though there are a lot of sites, it's not really like I go to them to find great games. Price drops, yeah, but great games that I never played before... not really. The only example I can think of is Tiny Wings... and I would have found that at the top of the iTunes app store rankings.
I'm thinking that I should go and expand what I did with Critique... and to include GameSalad games.
The reason that Apple is succeeding is that they let everyone play. The developer program is very inclusive. A review site should work that way too. Why not... More reviews = more pageviews = more money!