App Battleground has emerged from the ash and wreckage of a failed app review site to serve a new, more noble purpose. Henceforth, App Battleground will serve to document an aspiring app developer’s journey to break into the app industry, from concept to final product, and (hopefully) beyond.
With this new venture, I hope to share with you the many failures and successes along the way and the insights gleaned during the journey. I will do my best to document each step on my path to the app store so that others can receive guidance and/or motivation to embark on their own app journeys. That being said, I hope to turn this blog into a mutual journey, not just one man’s quest. Together, we will acquire the tools and wisdom to break through the guarded gates of the app store and share our creations with the world. Who’s with me?
OK, let’s dispense with the metaphor for a bit. A little about me…
I am an average man with modest dreams of creating something that others will find useful, enlightening or enjoyable. That’s really the ultimate goal. Since its inception, the app store has made that dream a reality for thousands of people with big ideas and simple means. Is it possible for a man with minimal programming knowledge to create a full-fledged app that people will actually want to use within a few months time? That is what I hope to find out.
By trade, I am an SEO Specialist with more than 5 years experience in the internet marketing field. Most people view SEO as a notch above used car sales (I promise I’m not that type!), but there are many skills that I have acquired in this field that will be beneficial in this new venture, particularly as it pertains to app marketing. I am also a hobbyist designer, with more than a decade of experience using Photoshop and Illustrator. I have some basic coding knowledge , including HTML, CSS and some Javascript.
However, I don’t want to paint it as if I am a complete beginner in this field. I have been somewhat involved with apps for a few years, but mostly on the sidelines. I did complete a 2 year certification program for Casual Game Design at the University of California: San Diego Extension Digital Arts Center. During this program I received a good bit of mentoring on game design and development for mobile devices. The program was designed to teach all facets of game development, including art design and programming. I learned a little bit of actionscript, and how to use the Unity 3d SDK, but I never got to the point where I could build an app from scratch. In the program, we relied on other team members, some with more programming background, others with more art background, to fill roles of a dev team. I was more on the art and project management side of things, so I didn’t really dive deep into programming.
As part of the final project for this program, our team released an app into the app store, though it was far from complete. It can still be found here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hypnoticons-first-contact/id460251606?mt=8 We had plans to finish this project after graduation, but life got in the way for several of us on the team, and unfortunately it fell by the wayside. I’ve been waiting on the sidelines ever since, keeping up on the industry, but never acting… until now.
I am ready to get going again. This blog will play a role in holding me accountable and keeping me motivated during the journey.
Ultimately, I hope this blog becomes much more than just my journey. I also hope to gather insights on app marketing and app store optimization (a field that is of great interest to me considering my SEO background) and other tools and resources for indie devs of all backgrounds and experience levels.
I hope you stick around to see it through!
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