I don't think Aerial Antics had a poor business and marketing strategy ... I think that it just doesn't appeal to very many people.
My strategy was to occupy a niche previously pioneered by games like Pilotwings and Lunar Lander ... a small niche I know but it seemed like the right time to fill it again since it'd been about 10 years since there had been something like it (for a good reason apparently). I then took that niche gameplay and fit it into a Marble Blast formula since Marble Blast was working well for Garage Games and I really wanted Garage Games to publish the game so I taylored it a little to suit their existing audience.
The fact that the game received so much attention from press and publishers I think shows that I wasn't way off base with my assesment of the market playing field. Obviously those on the business end of things agreed with me ... but in the end players didn't care that there was a gap in the market.
The playing field was shaped the way it was because flight games like Aerial Antics and even Pilotwings really don't sell that well. They simply don't have a broad appeal so you'd have to advertise the heck out of it and get millions of downloads in order to get a decent number of sales.
I don't see any other similar games which were relatively more successful. Pilotwings being a Nintendo launch title in both cases with few other titles to choose from at launch had the best shot of any game like it to succeed. Aerial Antics could never have a shot like that. Furthermore Nintendo has re-used all of it's old licenses multiple times since the launch of the N64 but has yet to bring Pilotwings out again ... and there could have been new versions ... even refurbished versions of the originals for both Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo DS.
Saying it could be turned into a success within 4 months if done properly is a bit ridiculous at this point. I've been working on it for 3 years ... I think that at any given time it could be done properly. All it might take is a single day's worth of work to make it sell respectably. The last update I did people had no complaints. Where to go from there I'm not sure yet.
When I began on the game it seemed quite simple to me as well. Identify a gap in the market and fill it with a fun good looking game. I did that ... it's not so simple.
If you took Aerial Antics before we released it and something like Love Chess I think it's safe to assume both seemed quite marketable to their respective audiences. After seeing what both accomplished in their respective markets it's easy to understand why Love Chess sold well and it's mind boggling why Aerial Antics did not. How many people were surprised by it's low sales numbers?
If it were 'done properly' in 4 months it'd be sheer luck.
Hindsight is 20/20 etc etc...
My strategy was to occupy a niche previously pioneered by games like Pilotwings and Lunar Lander ... a small niche I know but it seemed like the right time to fill it again since it'd been about 10 years since there had been something like it (for a good reason apparently). I then took that niche gameplay and fit it into a Marble Blast formula since Marble Blast was working well for Garage Games and I really wanted Garage Games to publish the game so I taylored it a little to suit their existing audience.
The fact that the game received so much attention from press and publishers I think shows that I wasn't way off base with my assesment of the market playing field. Obviously those on the business end of things agreed with me ... but in the end players didn't care that there was a gap in the market.
The playing field was shaped the way it was because flight games like Aerial Antics and even Pilotwings really don't sell that well. They simply don't have a broad appeal so you'd have to advertise the heck out of it and get millions of downloads in order to get a decent number of sales.
I don't see any other similar games which were relatively more successful. Pilotwings being a Nintendo launch title in both cases with few other titles to choose from at launch had the best shot of any game like it to succeed. Aerial Antics could never have a shot like that. Furthermore Nintendo has re-used all of it's old licenses multiple times since the launch of the N64 but has yet to bring Pilotwings out again ... and there could have been new versions ... even refurbished versions of the originals for both Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo DS.
Saying it could be turned into a success within 4 months if done properly is a bit ridiculous at this point. I've been working on it for 3 years ... I think that at any given time it could be done properly. All it might take is a single day's worth of work to make it sell respectably. The last update I did people had no complaints. Where to go from there I'm not sure yet.
When I began on the game it seemed quite simple to me as well. Identify a gap in the market and fill it with a fun good looking game. I did that ... it's not so simple.
If you took Aerial Antics before we released it and something like Love Chess I think it's safe to assume both seemed quite marketable to their respective audiences. After seeing what both accomplished in their respective markets it's easy to understand why Love Chess sold well and it's mind boggling why Aerial Antics did not. How many people were surprised by it's low sales numbers?
If it were 'done properly' in 4 months it'd be sheer luck.
Hindsight is 20/20 etc etc...