UPDATE 6/27/14: We are now in the last few days of the judging period for the Publish Windows Contest. Tappy Dog also was declared the Microsoft's Best App of the Month for May 2014. The update freeze is almost over, had I pushed any updates before 6/30 I would get a 10% penalty from the contest. So I'll be able to get some fixes and tweaks in soon. I haven't seen the number of downloads I would have liked to see on this game. I ran a paid Ad Duplex campaign for Tappy Dog and it didn't perform very well. I spent ~$350 in Ad Duplex credit on this campaign. It generated about 100-150 clicks per day toward the end when I had a $40 per day spend.
But that is only half the story... You can see here the time period where I was essentially spending $40 a day for 11 downloads.
I also included Tappy Dog in my Windows App Hunt promotion. I'm giving away an Xbox One and a Nokia Lumia phone to celebrate my achievement of 1 million downloads of my apps on Windows Phone. Check it out, http://www.windowstherapy.com you have until July 14th to enter.
Tappy Dog is the BEST real-time multiplayer dog racing game on the Windows Platform.
Available from the Windows Store and Windows Phone Store (Requires Windows Phone 8.1)
Tappy Dog?
Tappy Dog brings the excitement of dog racing to Windows. Tap your way to victory in this racing game that is fun for the whole family. Reminiscent of the boardwalk and carnival horse racing games, we present dog racing, and rather than rolling balls into holes, you tap the tiles to move your dog. Green goes fast, yellow goes slow, red goes BACKWARDS!
Built for \\ Publish\
I built Tappy Dog for the https://publishwindows.com/ contest.
"Publish an app, win some prizes, and score bragging rights. Fans. Fame. Free stuff. Whether you’re porting an existing app or creating a fresh one, publish your Windows or Windows Phone app and enter for a chance to win..."
There is a global online competition which ends on June 1st, and there were events at over 60 locations worldwide, including the event I attended in New York City.
They awarded prizes in the following categories:
- Best Windows 8.1 App
- Best Windows Phone 8.1 App
- Best Cross Platform App
- Breakthrough in App Innovation and Design
It is a WinJS project the utilizes SignalR to support the real-time multiplayer action. I have a C# SignalR project running on Azure Websites which should provide easy scalability if my game becomes popular.
Windows Features
Not only is Tappy Dog a game, it is a game that is designed with the Windows Platform in mind. Specific features of the platform that have been leveraged by the game include:
- Live Tile Statistics Display
- Designed for Keyboard (A,S,D,F), Touch, Mouse or Pen input
- Share your stats and challenge your friends with the Share Contract
- Real-time gameplay powered by ASP.Net SignalR
- Metered Connection detection enters a low bandwidth mode to prevent unwanted data charges
- Hosting and scalability provided by Azure Websites
The Event
This event was held at Microsoft's Times Square office on a Friday and Saturday. We had plenty of coffee, tea and other beverages available throughout the event, we had pizza (With Toppings! [I love the hot wings pizza]), sliders and hotdogs were served, as was lasagna. There were healthier options available as well including a variety of salads and some dishes I would not be able to name. There was a live stream of cameras from other events around the world, but unfortunately we didn't have a camera. Xbox Music playlists were also available from other locations but not here. I also think I saw some cotton candy machines and fresh popcorn being made elsewhere but I guess I was in Times Square and could have had anything I wanted just outside the door, but at what price? :)My demo went well, I didn't encounter any of the error scenario's I am working to debug in my app, and I was actually able to juggle 4 devices through my demo! I had an ultrabook on the podium with me, my Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone, and 2 Surface RT's. I started my demo on the ultrabook and explained the basic premise and 'Windows' features of my game. From there I began connecting devices to the racetrack and handing them off to the judges and an attendee for an impromptu race which was a big hit. I've done multi-device demo's before and they can be VERY difficult to manage alone. Everything held together and we had a good time.
We have a Winner!!!
After the judges saw all of the apps and deliberated for a bit the results were announced. I won -
1st Place in the App Innovation and Design category!
For this I was awarded with a Nokia Lumia 1520 phone. A six inch 1080p display, 20 megapixel camera, and some of the greatest internals available on any Windows Phone. Not a bad prize. And I'm still in the running for the global competition.
Going Global
I don't plan to stop at New York City, I'm continuing to improve my app as we speak to meet the criteria being judged upon in the global contest.Performance/Public Appeal (15%): Based on overall App rating and the total # of downloads
To support these numbers I have created an AdDuplex campaign leveraging 1 million impressions I won from another contest from AdDuplex, the Every Phone They Make promotion. Instead of getting a phone, I was able to choose 1 million ad impressions as an alternate prize. I'm tweeting about my game and trying to promote it otherwise but that is always a challenge. It's tough to know how to grab some leverage.
