Overview
Digital App Development
Devices and Platforms(Operating System)
| Apple | Phone, iPad, TV, Mac |
| Phones, Tablet, TV | |
| Amazon | Tablet, TV |
| Microsoft | PC |
Complexity means much time and costs to develop an app, challenging is big, but the reward is great
Before you start self-service app publishing
- Have a clear view of what is your app about?
- Will you work alone or in a team?
- How much money are you planning to spend on one development?
- Are you planning marketing initiatives with your app?
- Free or Paid? Trial or In-App Purchase?
- iPhone/iPad only? Android devices? PC and Mac?
- Sketch the workflow of the entire project
- Plan a schedule and due dates for each task. Set each commitment as outputs
Do a personal assessment?
- are you techie enough to learn and manage how to create your account and app settings at the developer’s site of apple, google and amazon?
- can you install SDKs like Xcode, Android Studio?
Option A - submitting your content to other’s app
| Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|
| No technical skills required | Mostly available for story books |
| No upfront costs | Revenue share |
| No need of Mac for iOS publishing | No marketing control |
| No need of particular tools | No branding control |
| Faster to deliver | No code control |
Option Kwik - you create your own app
| Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|
| Your can design app | Requires specialized tools |
| No revenue share except 30% collect from stores | Initial costs are high |
| Full control of your marketing | More complex to setup |
| Full control of your code | |
| Full control of your brand |
The Story
- Everything is about a story!
- Understanding your acts and plot points
- Be carefull about “classic” stories: why another one?
- Example: Amelia and the Terror of the Night
Web links
- https://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/five-plot-point-breakdowns
- http://kwiksher.com/blog/2012/01/25/its-not-about-features/
example
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http://kwiksher.com/blog/2014/02/11/introducing-storyline-review/no longer available
Icon and naming app
-
the most important assets
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you can register the name of your app months before releasing it.
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Everything is about ratings now. PR are OK, Reviews are nice, Ratings are MUST!
-
http://kwiksher.com/blog/2014/02/09/introducing-publishing-services/no longer available
Target Audience
- Have a clear “persona” of your user?
- Age, gender, time of reading, devices etc
- “Persona” helps to set art direction(mood) of illustrations and audio and difficulties of interactions and activities
Guidelines
Apple Review Guidelines, Privacy policy and Children’s Online Privacy Act
- Your children’s apps can not have web links to external sites, including yours.
- Your children apps are better not to have in-app purchase or Ads
- Parental page
- How are kid’s app developers communicating to parents
web links
- http://blog.momswithapps.com/2013/08/20/how-are-kids-app-developers-communicating-to-parents/
- http://www.iubenda.com/blog/guide-coppa-mobile-apps/
- https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/privacy-and-security/children%27s-privacy
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Online_Protection_Act
Quality Control
- Amazing illustrations but what are your weakness other than illustrating/drawing?
- Animations and interactive activities that enhance the experience?
- Professional narration and sound effects?
Avoiding “design on the fly”
- Traditional linear
- Non-linear: what defines the sequence?
- Game oriented: collect pieces and move accordingly
- Example: This Monster(linear), Stolen(mixed), Stranded(non-linear), Monsters VS Robots(linear-game oriented)
Designing Scenes
- Thumbnail each scene
- board each scene
- Each PSD is a scene.
Example
- Shows intro animation
- Read to Me / I Read options
- Shows witch playing
- Witch is thinking
- Allow users to switch languages
