Make This Go Viral

[luniac]

I released the following app 4 days ago on google play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.iagg.wkla

It's a comedic trivia app about Kim Jong Il.
It's supposed to take advantage of the whole "The Interview" and SONY hacking situation for exposure and popularity.

I have admittedly not thought out the exposure process of this app.
I think it has the potential to go viral because of it's association with North Korea and all the news attention it's been getting.
I have an iphone version waiting for review at the moment.

I tried posting the game link with a comment on some north korean related youtube videos, a link on reddit, on my facebook(useless)... i tried paying to get reviewed on a huge android related site but got rejected because the app "provided no value to their customers", oh well...

I got around 200-300 dollars every 2 weeks to burn from my paycheck and i just got paid. What's the best way i can use it to increase my chances of going viral.

I'd be totally willing to split ad revenue 50/50 with whoever can make this go viral if anyone's interested.

In a way this is simply an experiment and learning experience(i do have a more gamey game in the works) but I really think due to the current North Korean climate, this might just have a chance to explode, the timing seems good. The app just needs massive exposure or justin beiber to play it haha

Can anyone make this go viral? Or give some tips on pushing the game in that direction? wise way to spend my 200-300 biweekly burn allowance?

Got some screens as proof of ownership:

 

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[James Turchetto]

That's your job to take action and find results, no one gets given valuable money making information for free, unless they happen to be a confidante of someone in such fortunate circumstances. There are numerous ways to advertise app installs and what not but whether you'd get any ROI is a different matter if you don't mind losing a little money and experimenting (and taking action in the process) to see what happens, then the market will decide whether they want your app or not.

My friend had a similar experience in the last couple of months and it just took off by itself after a little word of mouth spread through a community that needed and wanted the service he was providing. Not really sure your app provides either to be honest but I like being proven wrong.

Good luck.

 

[luniac]

That's your job to take action and find results, no one gets given valuable money making information for free, unless they happen to be a confidante of someone in such fortunate circumstances. There are numerous ways to advertise app installs and what not but whether you'd get any ROI is a different matter if you don't mind losing a little money and experimenting (and taking action in the process) to see what happens, then the market will decide whether they want your app or not.

My friend had a similar experience in the last couple of months and it just took off by itself after a little word of mouth spread through a community that needed and wanted the service he was providing. Not really sure your app provides either to be honest but I like being proven wrong.

Good luck.

I understand, I don't care about ROI at all right now, i just wanna try to make it go viral and see if anything sticks.

and yes im totally aware of the simplicity of the app, but so was the Fart App and technically Flappy Bird, or the I'm Rich App which was literally a single image of a damn diamond lol

At least this particular game is tied to the political climate, and has no bugs, and does provide some entertainment for a brief time. The app market is very interesting, complete turds can catch fire if enough of the mindless general public declare it to be popular, or some celebrity somewhere... same as with some music... like that bobby shmirda bastard lol

 

[Guest3722A]

google news jacking. then after news jacking i'd say get on the phone with 100 news stations to see if any would be interested in filling some air space with your controversial app. then, find 100 news writers looking for stories. get on the phone


why is your rep bank negative?

 

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[OnlineGodfather]

go on facebook and buy app installs pops into my mind right away, app reviews, optimizing app for the keyword(s) you want your app to rank in search on the market. These are the things i would look into at start. I guess there are many other things to look into so google is your best friend with this. Search for some case studies or things like that, from trusted sources.

 

[Charnell]

I don't think this has the ingredients to go viral (if it does, I'm an idiot [what else is new?]). The icon isn't bright/simple enough. The font isn't very appealing.

Beyond that, there's no social aspect. There's no way to tweet/share on Facebook a high-score. No way to compete against friends to guess what Kim is looking at, plus how is the replay-ability?

complete turds can catch fire if enough of the mindless general public declare it to be popular, or some celebrity somewhere... same as with some music... like that bobby shmirda bastard lol

Simple and catchy. You won't be hearing any music from Bobby Shmurda anytime soon though, he's probably going to prison for a very long time.

 

[Veloce Grey]

i tried paying to get reviewed on a huge android related site but got rejected because the app "provided no value to their customers", oh well...

That seems kind of a key line. You couldn't even pay them to review it.

Is trivia about overseas political leaders really fertile ground for apps? I'm sure they can make memes, news stories and occasionally a movie if you get James Franco and Seth Rogen to front it, but it seems a little bit one dimensional vs the competition which would include the many addictive app games and the many light news/quiz sites (e.g. Sporcle).

It doesn't sound like the kind of thing that would be widely shared or replayed compared to gaming apps in particular.

 

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[luniac]

thanks for suggestion guys, will look into it in the early morning at my day job(instead of doing my day job )

I can totally change the font and reupload an updated version.
The reason there's no sharing is because i tried to get this finished super ASAP.

My second app will be much more legit, it got a facebook leaderboard and invite functionality, even screenshot button(maybe).
This kim jong app was very spur of the moment! but i did learn a ton about UI development and the publishing process since ive never done it before, so that's a big chunk of knowledge for me.




p.s. topherea my rep bank is negative cause i changed my profile image too much lol

 

[Guest3722A]

fwiw a few years ago I had an idea about creating a website called deathonproperty.com trying to ride the coat tails of the ghost hunters thing and I contacted coroners and police stations and a few others trying to locate info for real-estate buyers about if a property had a death on it. anyway, i dropped the ball but sometime over the last few months i had the morning news on and someone with a similar idea got mentioned and apparently they got tons of views to their cheezy website. just sayin

 

[smarty]

I think nothing goes viral in dictatorial countries or it's quite hard. people would fear for their life if they install something like this or make fun of the dictator. Maybe you can use Obama.

 

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[Vigilante]

Market it in Korean language in South Korea

 

[DST]

and yes im totally aware of the simplicity of the app, but so was the Fart App and technically Flappy Bird, or the I'm Rich App which was literally a single image of a damn diamond lol

At least this particular game is tied to the political climate, and has no bugs, and does provide some entertainment for a brief time. The app market is very interesting, complete turds can catch fire if enough of the mindless general public declare it to be popular, or some celebrity somewhere... same as with some music... like that bobby shmirda bastard lol

1. The simple apps you named were well executed
2. The "mindless general public" doesn't give a shit about if your game is tied to a 'political climate' or not


This is a shitty idea and even worse exectued, I'm not even gonna bother pointing out all the things that can be improved with the app. Its just not funny or entertaining... at all.

 

[Ses]

I´m sorry to say this, but this app looks horrible and outdated. Why didn´t you chose a newer form of layout and design? no one is going to waste 30 mb for this, not even with a 128gb sd.

 

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[luniac]

ur right guys, i think the most productive thing i can do now is just focus all my time on the actual game ive been working on for awhile.
I'm sorry to waste ur time, ur promotion tips and opinions will definitely come in handy when i release my actual game app, because that one i fully believe in and won't be embarrassed to promote it publicly, radio, etc.

I did learn 3 things from making the kim jong il game:
1)How to use most of the new UI features in the software i use.
2)How to implement ads into my game
3)How to publish on both google play and apple store

So it was not a waste of a month by a long shot, i will directly be using these skills in my little game that ive been working on.

Thank you all for being direct and to the point.

anyways, im at work 4 hours late... gotta get some shit done before im free to pursue my dreams again...

 

[michael40]

I am reminded of a tearful and very moving speech a North Korean Refugee made about the dictator there.

The focus when talking about North Korea has always been about the Kim Dynasty.
Movies, Books, Caricatures and now Phone Apps..
Just what they want.. publicity. (The fact that it is satire doesn't mean anything)

The real issue in North Korea are the millions and millions of people that are starving there and treated like absolute dirt.
They are forgotten in all this as usual. They are the ones that need to be focused on.

Perhaps then an idea if you are going ahead with this project would be to donate a certain percentage of profits to some organisation that works to help North Koreans.

http://www.helpinghandskorea.org/how-to-help/
http://www.libertyinnorthkorea.org/
http://www.hrnk.org/donate.php
http://www.northkoreanow.org/take-action-now/donate/

 

[luniac]

WELL PEOPLE IT'S ALMOST HERE!
After almost 1.5 years of intense work my first serious game app is finally finished, and i will be publishing on the android store this week for sure, with apple right around the corner.

I had a friend of mine hook me up with a short low production trailer

I don't know what's gonna happen when i release it, but whatever happens I'm gonna keep going until i have enough income to quit my day job.

I've shown beta versions to friends, strangers, forums and the reception has been almost universally positive, people want to play this game!

My artist also happened to be a former rap promoter and his recommendation is to focus the next 3 months on promoting this 1 game instead of releasing any more games. He called it "letting it breathe". His logic was basically that if a rapper releases a great single that he's worked on very hard for some time then it's better to focus on marketing it for awhile instead of continuing to release stuff. This way once the rapper becomes famous from that single, his fans will buy anything else he releases in the future, but if the rapper keeps releasing stuff before he's famous, then someone might not like one of his less worked on songs and never give him a chance again, without even hearing his hit single that he worked on for so long.

 

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[Formless]

Your game looks addictive as hell! Awesome!

 

[AntEmpire]

Your game looks addictive as hell! Awesome!

My sentiments exactly! Good job, Luniac!! I'll look for it on the iOS store.

 

[luniac]

thanks guys this game is my baby.

I'm currently advising my "trailer guy" to make a better trailer with more viral potential, aka
a) no mouse pointer
b) proper phone resolution
c) 2050 AD instead of AD 2050 LOL!!!


I've also had a facebook issue. The facebook leaderboard and sharing worked for me since my account is administrator of the app on facebook, but i didn't frickin realize that you need to acquire "publish_action" permission for the facebook app in order for anyone else to use those features!

I had to submit my app for approval to get that permission, facebook will get back to me in up to 5 business days... It's ridiculous that i even need to do all that just to post scores and share scores...

I even had to link a privacy policy just for that one single permission! found some template online and put it on my blog... hope it all works out.

 

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[RogueInnovation]

Maybe you wanna attatch it to someone famous, give them a cut and tweet it out, put their name on it

 

[wilddog]

Maybe you wanna attatch it to someone famous, give them a cut and tweet it out, put their name on it

Bruce Campbell's "Zombie Crisp"

I like it.

 

[luniac]

Maybe you wanna attatch it to someone famous, give them a cut and tweet it out, put their name on it

"Justin Bieber loves crisping some zombies whenever he gets the chance!"

 

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[beatgoezon]

Wow great work on the new game, looks like it has great retention value, what platforms do you plan on launching for?

 

[luniac]

Wow great work on the new game, looks like it has great retention value, what platforms do you plan on launching for?

android/ios, gonna test the waters.

 

[beatgoezon]

android/ios, gonna test the waters.

That's great bud I wish you the best of luck with the launch!

 

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[luniac]

That's great bud I wish you the best of luck with the launch!

you too man

 

[luniac]

android version out!
whohooooo!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.iagg.zombiecrisp

 

[luniac]

goddamn it man... just hit the most annoying fricking setback...
Apparently APPLE has changed their submission policies on february 1st so all app submissions have to be in 64bit... I haven't heard about it until today while trying to prepare the iPhone version for submission.

The good news is that the software i use(UNity3d) is hard at work with lots of updates at least regarding this update.

The bad news is that i bought several plugins from a provider called neatplug which i liked because they were nice when answering support questions, but ALL OF A SUDDEN THEY ****** DISAPPEARED!!! they haven't answered a single question in 3 weeks on their support forum and now 1 of my plugins refuses to load using Unity3d's new 64 bit build system, and another plugin has some annoying bugs it shouldn't have... Im pretty goddamn pissed right now, thats like 200 bucks i spent on their plugins.

This sucks. Im considering going back to another provider called prime31 which i originally passed up on because i didn't like their very short support answers that didn't help much if you were really stuck... i picked good support of a smaller provider vs crappy support of a more popular plugin provider.... but now of course the small provider lost their one ace up their sleeve, their ****** support !

I was so close to getting my game out on iPhone... its like god himself made it a mission to stop me lol...wtf...

Guess ill just have to bite the bullet and figure this prime31 plugin crap out, i am more experienced now so maybe i can do it... i pray to the lord that neatplug support will appear out of nowhere but its not looking good.... sigh... gonna have to spend more money again, life...

rant over....

I will never give up, this just makes me want to succeed even more to prove the universe wrong, beat the probabilities....

 

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[beatgoezon]

Hey Luniac, I'm very sorry to hear about that, yea the 64-bit update thing has caused some problems for many developers.

Unity is working on a solution and will update their platform to make games compatible, in the mean time don't let it discourage you. Something similar has happened to me too recently, a major roadblock, but like you said, Dont.Give.Up.. Ever...

Keep going man, remember the potholes and brick walls are there to keep out those who don't want to work for it... Keep going bud...

goddamn it man... just hit the most annoying fricking setback...
Apparently APPLE has changed their submission policies on february 1st so all app submissions have to be in 64bit... I haven't heard about it until today while trying to prepare the iPhone version for submission.

The good news is that the software i use(UNity3d) is hard at work with lots of updates at least regarding this update.

The bad news is that i bought several plugins from a provider called neatplug which i liked because they were nice when answering support questions, but ALL OF A SUDDEN THEY ****** DISAPPEARED!!! they haven't answered a single question in 3 weeks on their support forum and now 1 of my plugins refuses to load using Unity3d's new 64 bit build system, and another plugin has some annoying bugs it shouldn't have... Im pretty goddamn pissed right now, thats like 200 bucks i spent on their plugins.

This sucks. Im considering going back to another provider called prime31 which i originally passed up on because i didn't like their very short support answers that didn't help much if you were really stuck... i picked good support of a smaller provider vs crappy support of a more popular plugin provider.... but now of course the small provider lost their one ace up their sleeve, their ****** support !

I was so close to getting my game out on iPhone... its like god himself made it a mission to stop me lol...wtf...

Guess ill just have to bite the bullet and figure this prime31 plugin crap out, i am more experienced now so maybe i can do it... i pray to the lord that neatplug support will appear out of nowhere but its not looking good.... sigh... gonna have to spend more money again, life...

rant over....

I will never give up, this just makes me want to succeed even more to prove the universe wrong, beat the probabilities....

 

[luniac]

Of course man of course
Im currently at a little get together at a bar for a coworker whos leaving after 5 years and guess what all the conversation is about... work work work... lol...

Never give up. Never surrender!