Some suggestions on optimizing the release plan for iOS & Android games

Release date is the most important time in the game life. The outstanding release program can bring a solid initial user, you can get a favorable position, the best result is, through the first 25 list (top list) to obtain natural flow. Bad publishing can only bring you bleak prospects, and you need to invest more in the user's cost to get the same results. Publishing is the key to success for small studios and independent developers who don't have tens of thousands of users to get their budgets.

So how do you build a successful distribution plan?

The outstanding distribution plan is by no means accidental. They are a common product of rigorous planning, equivalent marketing, PR, and engineering technology. Vulnerabilities and other problems can spoil a good release plan, but knowing your market can avoid that. iOS and Android take a different approach to handling exposure. This is the release goal: to motivate the game to target millions of users. We collect suggestions and tips on the distribution of each platform through a variety of resources, including views from Stanford Gsb:video Games mailing list, designed to help you build a successful release plan.

Pic from gamasutra.com

The goal here is to focus on exposure. This goal is achieved in a variety of ways.

To start planning the release of the game, you need to know the specifics. In terms of exposure, iOS and Android are very different.

Exposure of iOS platform

On the iOS platform, there are two main ways to get exposure that can bring significant downloads.

The main exposure driver for iOS is the top 25 list. Your goal is to move into these lists: they are a powerful driver of natural flows, even if you only get the top spot in Games > strategy. It seems that only downloads can advance the ranking of this list. The general view is that squeezing into the top 10 will help you get the 50% downloads you need to maintain the standings, and the top 25 will help you get 30% downloads. While these are rough figures, this is a good indication that it is not enough to be in the forefront of the list.

But another tricky but more valuable way to gain exposure on the iOS platform is to get the coveted Apple recommendation. You might say that it's unrealistic to see this as a goal, but the potential rewards are what makes this goal worthwhile. While it is entirely up to the Apple employee to get the recommendation, the following points are OK:

* It is necessary to make beautiful games.

* Set the game to free download mode can effectively improve your chances of winning.

* Don't forget, Apple doesn't make these choices out of charity: Their goal is to make money. If they think your game is going to make a huge profit, your chances of getting a referral will improve dramatically.

* Finally, binding the Apple API (game State note: like game Center) can give you a little advantage.

The exposure of the Android platform

The exposure of the Android platform is quite different, reflecting Google's history as a search company. Like Apple, Google play brings many natural users to the top 25 list and recommended locations, which are key goals of the release plan. But unlike Apple, these variables collectively determine the Google Play market rankings:

* Application Store optimization (ASO, similar to SEO)

* Daily Active user calculation (DAU)

* Click Installation rate

* Unloading rate

This reflects the second driver of Android's natural exposure: search. Your goal is to establish your brand name (such as "Angry Birds"), or the distribution plan for optimizing applications based on popular search terms such as "Physics puzzle games". Let's talk about the specific distribution skills of each market.

Pic from gamasutra.com

Release work for iOS

You can't control the recommended position, but you can control one point: your position in the top 25 list. The only key element here is the amount of natural downloads, or paid downloads. You want to get as much downloads as possible, which is usually in the first week (game Bang Note: If not the first few days after the release). Here are some tips to help you maximize the impact of your release.

News media

By making some early preparations, you can let the media comment on your game and give you a valuable exposure, which can create social media topics and bring in lots of downloads. To get the media to comment on your game, you should contact them at least 2 weeks before the release. When talking to a media person about your game, be sure to prepare for it beforehand. For messages sent to promotional channels, the following points can improve your chances of getting coverage:

* Contact them: Tell the reviewers that you have read and appreciate their coverage of similar games.

* Get their attention: tell them the uniqueness of your game.

* Meet in person: If you are in the same city, meet them and present the presentation to them.

* Do sales work: Explain why your game is perfect for their users.

* Agreement: Give them promotional code, let them visit your game in advance, ask them if they are interested in commenting on your game.

* Negotiate restrictions: So their comments will be released when the game is online. This can drive traffic.

* Don't be shy about paying: because of the number of games submitted, a lot of high quality comment sites will start charging for Game rankings. If you can afford it. You might as well do so.

Expand the scope of activities

Next, you need to create the topic of the game a few weeks before the release. Be sure to tell your Twitter and Facebook fans that a new game is coming. Start sending screenshots and even YouTube trailer videos: Small-scale content for fans to share is the perfect "elevator lobby" opportunity for the game.

When the release date arrives, all members of your social space need to know about the situation. You may wish to post this many times in your Twitter message bar on the same day. Publish this on your Facebook page and pay for all fans to promote the game. Talk to fans about the game and let them follow up on any loopholes or problems. Be sure to thank the fans who downloaded the game and commented on it. Finally, with the help of the right friends and family, let them give the Game 5 star rating. It takes a whole day, but it can boost social media, increase downloads, and possibly get a large number of 5 star ratings. This is critical for successful distribution activities.

Paid access

If you are looking for additional driving factors and have a certain amount of money, consider buying traffic for the first week of the issue, or even on the day of issue. This requires planning ahead of time, usually at 0.5-1.5 USD/per installation, but this can give you extra advantage to help you squeeze into top 25. Deciding which paid ads to buy is a big problem, and it takes a long time to explain the problem, but here are a few points:

* Daily Free Application of recommended Web sites and applications can bring you a lot of exposure in 1 days, the cost of a one-time collection. Very suitable for the date of issue.

* Large advertising campaigns from mobile advertising providers can sell you unlimited downloads, but with relatively high costs and minimum budget standards. If you're going to take advantage of these people, make things bigger and do it in the first week of the release.

* Self-Service banner ads are the most authentic, but usually only after a number of optimization cycles. Best suited to maintain the list position.

Android Release work

Frankly, the "iOS Release work" section also applies to the Android platform. Two platforms have many similarities in distribution, but remember that we have different goals to implement on Android. On the iOS platform, our goal is to get as much downloads as possible and keep moving forward. On the Android platform, it's more advantageous to get a small quantity of quality downloads (they don't usually unload content). Here we discuss some of the major differences based on the above strategy.

News media

This is basically the same as before, but in addition to the popular "games and apps" media, you will probably want to track the Android blog site. Compared to iOS users, Android users pay more attention to bloggers, and the significant traction in these areas can provide generous feedback. To get their attention, you can use the similar media tips mentioned above, but I suggest you not to be so focused on sales. These people are usually more independent than the company, so consider them as Android fans rather than business people.

Expand the scope of activities

Like the closely connected Android blogging community, Android has a solid online community in forums and Google groups. Be sure to make contact with these communities before the game is released: ask for their feedback and comments when making the game. When the game is ready to be released, sharing content with these communities will give you strong support, in addition to the expanded range of activities mentioned above.

Paid ads

Unlike iOS, it is often counterproductive to launch large paid advertising campaigns on the Android platform when publishing works. The goal of the Android platform is to find high quality users who will probably not unload your game, so your best move in paying ads is to start small activities that optimize the user community before expanding. This is different from a huge sensation at issue, and you should maintain or improve your ranking over the long term through paid advertising. Long-term activities that work together with a large advertising provider or in a self-service advertising model are two of the most appropriate ways to achieve this goal.

Summary

Whether you're distributing content on iOS, Android, Facebook or the Web platform, thinking ahead about the release plan will give you a prominent advantage that other competitors don't have, and hopefully the content of this article will help you.

Via: Game State/gamerboom.com