ANALYZING SUCCESSFUL APPS
Before you start refining the usability and/or gameplay details of your app, it will be best to start by seeing what's out there. You should analyze how others have done it within your intended niche, as well as with apps outside of it, but that may share similar feature sets. This section demonstrates how to perform competitive research for your apps.
COMPARING TO “ANGRY BIRDS”
Considering the most popular mobile game thus far is a good place to start. As shown in the following figure, “Angry Birds” is a casual puzzle game where players sling shot birds at pigs that are perched on structures, trying to knock them over.
Released in December 2009, it's been downloaded more than 200 million times on all platforms (including special and theme editions), and has more than 12 million sold just on Apple's App Store.
Almost everyone these days wants to know how to achieve some of the same type of success that “Angry Birds” did (or better) with its record 275 days at Number 1 for the core title, and other lengthy reigns at Number 1 for special editions. When you start seeing the name of an app referenced in television sitcoms that are all about pop culture (such as The Big Bang Theory), or plush pets at major toy retailers, it's probably doing okay.
“Angry Birds” was one of the first games to be shown off in the new HTML 5 (http://chrome.angrybirds.com/), is possibly ...
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