Rather spontaneously, I decided to put Smiles Drop on sale for New Years. So for a limited time (i.e. some time early Jan 2nd morning) you can grab Smiles Drop for the extremely reasonable price of $1.99 (save $1). That puts it in check, so you can buy Smiles Zen after that, and have paid the same price as buying full on Smiles. Well… you might save a penny buying separately, but still....
As the name suggests, I finally upgraded my WordPress, and am now running it off my “personal” hosting (as opposed to the biz hosting). Unfortunately, I was using a relatively ancient version (2.0.3) that lacks an export feature. The best I’ve been able to do was import the RSS feed. This means I lost all the comments (and my drafts). Ah well. So now after 3 years, it’s finally redesign time....
It’s been 2 weeks, and much has happened. As the topic suggests, Smiles Drop and Smiles Zen are now both available. $2.99 each, or save $1 by getting Smiles ($4.99). So yeah, in a way that means I technically have 3 games out. As for blog content, I’m half way through a post on what went in to creating the video. Actually I was half through the Friday of the last post, but got caught up in the fact that I could actually take it easy for a couple days… and I sorta haven’t gone back to finish the post yet....
I just finished up the other half of the game split a couple hours ago, “Smiles Drop”. It needs some testing first, but it should be off to Apple early/mid next week. So here we are. Just over 3 weeks after finishing Smiles. Finished a video, finished a web site, finished a press release, finished contacting the websites, and now finished my releases for the next couple weeks. Wow… I think I can finally take a weekend off now....
Part one of my rebellion against the iPhone price drop madness has begun. Smiles Zen, the standalone version of Zen is now sent to Apple. If everything goes according to plan, it will be released bright and early Tuesday morning. This time, I explicitly set the date. – – – – – – – In other news, a new review. http://osxreality.com/…/a-relaxing-matching-game-with-fun-graphics/ OSX Reality – 4 Stars. Incredibly favorable review. Their only beef was that they expect a price drop for it to be competitive....
One thing lead to another, and I updated the Smiles website. It now has a fancy header, and a bit of a hint at what I’ll be up to in the coming weeks. http://www.smiles-game.com It also seems my press release/pack was picked up by 1up. http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3169760 And that’s it for now....
And that about wraps up marketing week. After finishing and finally getting the video uploaded Sunday night, Monday began my marketing blitz. The day started well, with the almighty Tim taking the first initiative and sharing the video. http://www.indiegames.com/blog/… The rest of the Think Services network picked up on the FingerGaming review as part of the usual syndication. Game Set Watch | GamaSutra And continuing with Think Services, I entered the game in the IGF Mobile....
London, Ontario, Canada – November 12th, 2008 Sykhronics Entertainment would like to introduce, Smiles. A brand new game now available for iPhone and iPod touch. Smiles is a collection of 2 great games. Smiles Drop is an unconventional action puzzle game. Unlike many others, you don’t have to wait to make your next move. In addition, you’re not pressured in to making that move either. Play at your own pace. Make matches, break ice and rocks, twisting and turning your way to higher scores....
Final version of the Smiles video. It’s the short one again, but with me talking. Here’s your chance to hear and mock Mike. I’ve been getting a number of positive and amusing comments from the video. Such fun things as that I sound like an Infomercial host, and music sounds like “corporate training music”. Finishing this video has been an incredible hassle. Hard drives dying, frequent reboots, loss of WAV file playback in Windows, and YouTube difficulties....
So I’m still working diligently to assemble my complete press package. Putting the final touches on that video, writing the press release, e-mails, all that fun stuff. But as part of my procrastination routine, I’m hitting my usual list of sites. IndieGames, “The Sauce”, etc. And as I get to the iPhone gaming sites, I’m hit with this euphoric stupor. “Dude! That’s me!” “Duuuude! All them stars be yellow!” http://fingergaming.com/2008/11/smiles/...