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Show HN: Monster Coloring Book, my first App just launched. What do you think?

monstercoloringbook.com

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Re: Show HN: Monster Coloring Book, my first App just launched. What do you think?

#61

Post by Brajeshwar »

marakas wrote: post #55
tomerico wrote: post #38

If sales won't go so well, or if you would like to try a different marketing approach, you might consider this: Instead of asking for money upfront, you should give the app for free with a few sample monsters. Then you can provide the full package with in-app purchase. The logic behind it is that it will be easier to convince the parents to pay for it, after their kids love it. Another reason - with a $2.99 price poi…

I am not convinced that kids will nag their parents enough to make them pay to upgrade - I suspect most parents will just be happy to let their kid play with the free version.

I doubt that you're a parent. No fault of yours. But here is what happens. Your kid will play the free version and then she will master the free part. You'll see that she enjoys it and you won't hesitate paying for the paid version or the in-app purchase upgrades.

Here is a video of my daughter playing the Racing Penguin - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaF6dPiJ-NM

She went through the free version in a zippy and kept playing it over and over again. I took her iPad, disable Restriction and bought the paid version.

Re: Show HN: Monster Coloring Book, my first App just launched. What do you think?

#62

Post by huhtenberg »

marakas wrote: post #55
tomerico wrote: post #38

If sales won't go so well, or if you would like to try a different marketing approach, you might consider this: Instead of asking for money upfront, you should give the app for free with a few sample monsters. Then you can provide the full package with in-app purchase. The logic behind it is that it will be easier to convince the parents to pay for it, after their kids love it. Another reason - with a $2.99 price poi…

I am not convinced that kids will nag their parents enough to make them pay to upgrade - I suspect most parents will just be happy to let their kid play with the free version.

Regarding "nag their parents" -- be careful, be very careful, you are treading on sore thumbs here. If my preschooler starts nagging me about IAP prompted by whatever ad mechanism that is in the game, the app gets promptly deleted and it gets 1 star rating and a review with a warning to other parents.

As I said in another comment, while I do not like to say "no" to my kid, I really hate him being used as a pressure point for milking parents for IAP money. If your app is respectful towards the parents, I will gladly pay you and probably more than you think.

Re: Show HN: Monster Coloring Book, my first App just launched. What do you think?

#63

Post by m_eiman »

crgt wrote: post #49
huhtenberg wrote: post #45

I have a gentleman who is into this sort of thing and I've played through most of AppStore apps with him. They fall into exactly two categories - shorter games that are shallow in their content with low re-playability and longer, more elaborate games for older kids. And I can tell you with certainty that 3-5 year olds is an under-served market. With regards to the app (the paid version of it) - it looks promising, bu…

Thanks so much for the feedback. Always nice to get a counterpoint to the sunshine and roses you hear from friends, family and the like. Regarding: a) Performance. Very disappointing to hear that you are experiencing lag. We did extensive device testing on iPad 1, and while we can't get the app to perform like it does on iPad 2 (SJ wasn't kidding about 7x graphical performance on the iPad 2), we did think we had gott…

Regarding a), it's slow on my iPhone 4 too (free version of the app). Takes a second to fill in a field when using the paint bucket.

Re: Show HN: Monster Coloring Book, my first App just launched. What do you think?

#64

Post by BasDirks »

"Monster Coloring Book is like fingerpainting without the mess."

Mess is good! :D But it looks fun and the monsters are nice.

Tip: increase the contrast of your navigation items. My parents/grandparents can't read that too well.

Also: maybe aim your pitch at the user instead of the parent a bit more.

Re: Show HN: Monster Coloring Book, my first App just launched. What do you think?

#67

Post by zarprey »

m_eiman wrote: post #63
crgt wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks so much for the feedback. Always nice to get a counterpoint to the sunshine and roses you hear from friends, family and the like. Regarding: a) Performance. Very disappointing to hear that you are experiencing lag. We did extensive device testing on iPad 1, and while we can't get the app to perform like it does on iPad 2 (SJ wasn't kidding about 7x graphical performance on the iPad 2), we did think we had gott…

Regarding a), it's slow on my iPhone 4 too (free version of the app). Takes a second to fill in a field when using the paint bucket.

Yes, this is something we're still working on and hope to improve in subsequent versions. Most coloring book apps only allow you to fill or paint and if you are able to fill the number of areas is pretty low. We decided to go for doing everything and although it's working well (we think) we're continually seeking ways to improve the speed in that area.

Re: Show HN: Monster Coloring Book, my first App just launched. What do you think?

#68

Post by smiler »

One thing to consider (and I'm not in the colouring book market), but....

Are you planning other colouring books? Some parents may not want their kids colouring in monsters and may prefer other types of colouring in.

Little girls might want to colour in princesses with lots and lots of pink...

Are you going to focus on monsters forever or are you going to expand it?

Re: Show HN: Monster Coloring Book, my first App just launched. What do you think?

#69

Post by crgt »

smiler wrote: post #68

One thing to consider (and I'm not in the colouring book market), but.... Are you planning other colouring books? Some parents may not want their kids colouring in monsters and may prefer other types of colouring in. Little girls might want to colour in princesses with lots and lots of pink... Are you going to focus on monsters forever or are you going to expand it?

This app is going to stay focused on Monsters - but we will consider branching out with other coloring apps if we have enough success here to warrant it.

Re: Show HN: Monster Coloring Book, my first App just launched. What do you think?

#70

Post by crgt »

_mrc wrote: post #53
huhtenberg wrote: post #45

I have a gentleman who is into this sort of thing and I've played through most of AppStore apps with him. They fall into exactly two categories - shorter games that are shallow in their content with low re-playability and longer, more elaborate games for older kids. And I can tell you with certainty that 3-5 year olds is an under-served market. With regards to the app (the paid version of it) - it looks promising, bu…

(c) absolutely - compare with Drawing Pad, where you can purchase colouring books in app. It has a config option to hide the IAP store, which avoids all the awkward questions. I don't mind purchasing additional content in a premium app. If the app is good value by itself then additional sets for $3 a pop is fine. But I don't want my kids to see this option - as far as they are concerned, the app has what it has, and…

We're big fans of magic, so we will definitely consider this. ;)
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