New app: Twang

[Zach Archer]

Hi everybody. My new app, Twang, went live today! It's free for the
next 24 hours, so if you have iOS 4 installed, please give it a try.
Hopefully it will make you smile! Here's the link:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/twang/id353688232?mt=8

And here's my first grainy video of Twang in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnCMg6MAu8E

-- Zach
http://zacharcher.com/

[Steven W Riggins]

Nicely done!

Did you do you own artwork?

Are you using OpenGL for the animations?

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[Zach Archer]

Thanks Steven! The artwork is all mine. It's my first attempt at
"serious" design, so thanks for the positive reinforcement ;)

99% of the visuals are drawn with OpenGL and texture atlases (even the
text). The exceptions are the UIControls in the settings screen, and
the UIScrollView / UIPageControl on the help screen. The UIScrollView
is empty, it handles touch events & dragging, then I reposition the
help pages in OpenGL. The UIScrollView caused performance issues, so I
cheated a bit -- the OpenGL frame rate drops to 30fps when the help
screen is open ;)

-- Z

[Steven W Riggins]

Well I think it is a fine job and you should give a talk on how you did things, like OpenGL! I'm trying to learn it and the process is slow going. I'm still at the rendering cubes level.

[Zach Archer]

I'd be happy to give a talk, and yes, OpenGL is very difficult! While
my first app (Metal Mouth) was in development, it took 3 solid days
before I was able to draw _a_triangle_ on the screen. I was overjoyed
when I finally got it working.

-- Z

[Mike Westby]

Zach,

Congratulations on your new app!  The graphics are outstanding, and no doubt it will be well received.

Mike Westby

Mike....@TimeStream-Software.com

2828 SW Corbett Ave.   Ste 140B

Portland, OR  97201

Cell: 503-709-2896

On Jun 21, 2010, at 3:44 PM, Zach Archer wrote:

[marleneZ]

What a great app - best of luck with it.

[Zach Archer]

Thanks! Twang has been in the top #5-#8 paid music apps for over a
week. I couldn't be happier.

-- Zach
http://zacharcher.com

[Brian Ramage]

Congrats! 

What did you do for promotion?

[Zach Archer]

Twang was a free download for the first 24 hours (more like 36 hours).
I did what I could to get people's attention -- posted to FaceBook,
Twitter, etc. This "seeded" a couple hundred copies.

I raised the price to $0.99, and there were a couple days of quiet
sales. I filmed a grainy YouTube video of Twang in action, which got a
few hits.

Suddenly, sales spiked. I don't know why it took a few days to catch
fire, but I'm guessing that interval is needed to get "good" at
playing Twang. Then the early adopters showed it to their friends,
maybe?

-- Z

[Calvin Rien]

I don't know if you noticed, but you were featured in the new section
of the iphone app store for at least a few days. That's a privilege
not granted to everyone and definitely bumps sales. Might be because
you were one of the few iOS 4.0 apps. Also, it's a great app that's
nicely polished, which helps word of mouth.

Congrats,
Calvin

[Zach Archer]

Calvin, I bet you're right! I'm not exactly sure when Apple promoted
it, but last week it was in "New & Noteworthy", and this week it's in
"What's Hot".

-- Z