I've met and spoken with some of the "instant successes" in Flash gaming. DTD, Filler, etc. From the little bit of discussion I had, I got the impression that they didn't really have any profound understanding of how or why the game they made became hugely popular. Mostly, they were benefiting from right-place-right-time effects, from being relative outsiders to gaming, and from having just enough skills to do the job.

Basically, trying to crank out games quickly isn't really a recipe for success. It is a good starting place for creative ideas, though. You can start a project with one thing in mind, build it up to a certain stage, leave it a while to think about, and later come back and iterate on the whole concept.

But if you are looking for reliable success in games, the time spent is way more important.

I want all developers happy and if his vision of happy does not include marketing, this may make him better off.

That said, if you want to make money in software, you will eventually need to commit the sin of marketing. Repeatedly, with much work even predating 1.0.

iPhone development needs marketing, too. Bad news, though -- it is all Apples garden and you are a bug in it, tolerated only to the extent the iPlant needs pollenization. The user base is being taught apps are worthless and to expect massive churn. This expectation cuts the knees out from under developer originated marketing, which can take years to get right. Plus, low unit price means advertising is hard to get right, and low perceived value means users cannot be bothered to install apps from outside the AppStore.

I thought a game development business is alway a long term endevenor and that one should not expect great profits or huge crowd of roaring fans straight away.

Granted, I developed games for three years and have not seem to attracted any players. However, my games tend to suck because I have a tendancy to abandon projects as soon as I see new pasture ground. Coupled with no easy way to distribute my games, it is a killer.(Try making a window executable for your game written in a esortic programming language on a linux machine!)

However, I think I am onto something with my tetris-like game. 5th version of the game is supposed to be tommorow and I have not abandoned it yet. If only I can find an easy way to distribute my game to window users then I'll be golden.

I downloaded Gumdrops and played it on my iPod Touch.

It seems like a game with potential, but I see the rating in the App Store is currently 2/5 stars.

I would recommend that you interview people who have played the game and learn how to increase the enjoyment of the game play.

You might be surprised. If you can improve your games and bump up your rating to 3/5 stars, you might find many more downloads.

Thanks for your informative posting. If your apps earn $1/day with your current rating, it helps you and other app developers know they need to achieve a higher star-rating to be profitable.

It's too bad they didn't make more money. There's something about the App Store and a lot of other marketplaces of the era that is unnervingly volatile, irrational, fleeting, and unpredictable (and not in the same way markets are supposed to be these things).