The conclusion of our exclusive look at indie iPhone development. The real-life success story of Rhock & Rholl Studios is a must read for any indie development team.
Storm Attack [App Store]
Storm Attack Lite [App Store]
The Release
4 months, too many Mountain Dews, and countless Team Fortress 2 sessions later, the day of reckoning was finally upon us! We were exhausted from a full week of last-minute tweaks and obscene amounts of testing, but we were ready.
We set up a screen-share/voice chat during submission (cute, yeah?), double-checking each other to ensure no mistakes. When it was over, I kind of expected a wave of relief to wash over me. A wave of something certainly whapped me square in the face, but it definitely wasn’t relief.
It was worry. And more stress. Even playing through Mega Man X 1 & 2 the next day couldn’t fully calm me.
A word of wisdom to current iPhone devs: marketing is not something to be left to the last second! While we were good about doing some market research early, I should have been out in public towards the start of development, as the limited pre-release hype came a little too late.
But let’s get to the goods. “How great were the first week of sales, Mike? You’re writing this for an app site after all, you must be rich!”
I wish. Our sales were flat-out depressing. From everything I’d read, and everything I’d seen, this was normal, especially as the App Store continued to get more and more crowded. My hope was that we’d be the exception, that our game would be so good that it’d buck the trend. I should have known better. I’ve learned a few things from trading stocks – the greatest lesson?
“Hope” is a 4-letter word.
Regardless, I did have a plan – a few reviews in the works, some ads out there – but I *knew* that we were in trouble. Big trouble.
I’ve got a friend who works at a restaurant. A few days after release, during a visit with my family, I told my parents that I was going to apply as a wait assist and hopefully climb my way up to server, as they make pretty good money off tips, although the work is tough. Reality was finally here. No more delusion juice for Wiizy. Time to face facts – your dreams ain’t gonna come true, boy.
But not so fast. Something was about to happen, something that I know I will remember for the rest of my life, regardless of where we’re at a month from now.
The next day, I was plopped on the couch, working on some marketing stuff. All of a sudden, Sean hopped on AIM, dropped an expletive, and told me that we’d been featured by Apple!
Sean’s not one to lie. I yanked out my iPod and tuned my interwebs to iTunes. Sure enough… Storm Attack was featured on two separate lists! This was too real to be a dream. I felt my vision go a little fuzzy, and briefly thought that I was going to wake up. Luckily, I was in fact conscious. This had actually happened. Out of hundreds of recently approved apps, Apple had chosen to feature an indie game developed by two kids who had been friends since junior high. We were unbelievably fortunate. Now, we were ready to Rhock & Rholl.
Sales immediately shot up. Press reviews started trickling in. The common theme – “Crazy fun, crazy addictive.” We’d just caught a break. An enormous, gargantuan break.
The Present
It’s been a few days since we got featured. Storm Attack has now broken into the Top 100 Arcade and Puzzle games in the US and other countries. As I write this, it’s #56 in Puzzles, #93 in Arcade (US store). It’s been steadily rising in both, although the Arcade category seems to be a tougher nut to crack. Sales have continued to rise every day. We’ve got some more reviews coming out soon… and hopefully even more that I’m not aware of at this point.
Still, I have yet to recoup the initial investment. Barring some catastrophe, however, I’m pretty sure we’ll hit that goal in the near future.
The Future
We’ve begun drawing up plans for an update to Storm Attack, with the major features being two new games modes and an advanced difficulty setting. Other goodies planned as well… but I’ll let you use your imagination.
Further out, the future for Rhock & Rholl studios is murky at best. We’ve got some ideas for new games and even more enhancements to Storm Attack… but at the end of the day, we still need to eat and pay rent. So the question becomes: Can we really make a living off iPhone games?
I’m not sure what the answer is, but I’m guessing we’ll find out in the coming months.
The Take-Home Point
This thing began as a shot in the dark. I’m gonna start sounding melodramatic and a bit cliché, but everything I’m about to say is true. Storm Attack really was the last chance at a dream. Regardless of how it turns out, I’m glad we did it, and proud of what we put out there. I wouldn’t want to go through my life wondering what could have happened – I’d rather do it and find out. While things are definitely looking up right now, it’s still possible that everything could collapse in our faces… but at least we took a shot!
Mike
Rhock & Rholl Studios
support@rnrstudios.com
If you’d like to comment – your message will be redirected to my account, and I promise to respond!
Fun Facts!
Sean specifically requested to be taken out of the design credits, but don’t let him fool you – he definitely had his hands in the design cookie jar!
Storm Attack was not the original name for the game. The original title was Block Buster, which was later changed to Block Storm. Both were no-go’s due to trademark reasons. Honestly though… I’m happy we settled on Storm Attack – definitely the most intense of the three!
I love video game music! The Java version of Storm Attack primarily used music from the Mega Man and Mega Man X series, with a few songs from the F-Zero and Metroid series. Additionally, we had some sound effects from Sonic the Hedgehog and EverQuest (EQ players will no doubt remember the “DING!” sound that played at level-up – that was our old Full Clear sound!). Obviously, those audio pieces couldn’t be put into the commercial version. While I was shopping around for the iPhone songs, the guiding theme in my head was “Could these be used in a Mega Man game?” – I think it worked out pretty well.
I get a lot of comments about how awesome the in-game music is. I had tons of issues trying to figure out the best and most cost-effective way of procuring songs. You’d be amazed at how expensive some of this licensing stuff can get. I eventually stumbled upon GMP Music (http://www.gmpmusic.com) through a Google ad. Yes, I’m plugging them, but they deserve it. They’ve got loads of awesome music, and the licensing is dirt cheap compared to other services.
I attended the University of Minnesota, graduated in the spring of 2009, and was the manager for the men’s track team during my entire 6-year tour. Yes, the manager… not fast enough to be on the team… but I did drop a 49.83s 400m – get off me. The track guys gave me a ton of support, and provided me with my first layer of market research. I knew I had something good going when we’d be sitting in airports and I’d hear somebody say “Hey Wiizy, can I have your laptop? I wanna play your game…” They were part of what kept me going, and they’re still a part of it today.
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