onsdag 24 oktober 2012

DiceFeud for Windows 8 submitted to Windows Store

Time flies when you're having fun. The last few weeks have been busy and I haven't been able to do much work on DiceFeud. However, Peter Drougge, has been hard at work on the Windows 8 (or Windows Store) version of DiceFeud and the app was submitted for approval five days ago.

Peter has done pretty much all of the development himself, with help from Dennis Skantz and me and DiceFeud now has three contributors.
The API is of course the same for both the Windows Phone and Windows 8 version but the look and feel of the Windows 8 app is quite different from the Windows Phone version and it has been a blast to watch the progress.

We were hoping to have the app approved in time for the world wide launch of Windows 8, but it doesn't look like that's gonna happen. In a perfect world it will be out in the store on october 26, (normally the process takes seven days) but Microsoft said apps needed to be submitted on the first days of october to have a chance since these are busy days for them.

Where does DiceFeud go from here?

When the Windows 8 version is out, we need to think about what to do next. Sadly, I haven't been very active promoting the app lately so the number of downloads has dropped radically even thought there are hundreds of games being played every day. Since this is my first app, I didn't know what to expect, but it is clear to me now that you have to be very active to keep the interest up. When the app disappear into abyss of apps on Marketplace, your only option is to market the app yourself. I think DiceFeud is a pretty decent app, but word of mouth only does so much and the Windows Phone community is still to small.
So, here is what lies ahead for DiceFeud:

  1. Pick up marketing of DiceFeud again. Contact WP7- and Windows Store sites and blogs and try to make them notice the app. Use Facebook, Twitter and whatever to mention DiceFeud. If you like the game, please help out. A DiceFeuder will never walk alone!
  2. Add missing functionality to the Windows 8 version. Most urgent is the chat functionality which we didn't have time to finish yet.
  3. Put a little polish on the Windows Phone version. The Windows 8 version has animations when rolling the dice and a few other nice things which we will implement on the Windows Phone version as well. The statistics will be more extensive, with a monthly top list. Hopefully this will trigger people to play even more. There are a few tiny bugs to fix and people have asked for a shake-to-roll feature.
  4. Start on an iOS version of DiceFeud. This is something I really look forward to and hope to get started on  before year end.

Tomorrow I will be at the grand nordic launch of Windows 8 in Stockholm. I hope there will be beer.

/John