Insider secrets of a 72 Hour iPhone Developer Success Story

Remember that recent story about the 4 guys who were determined they could put together a quality iPhone game in only 72 hours and on top of that make it an iTunes AppStore success? (if not, check it out at www.dogtownstudios.com).

I have followed these guys, who call themselves Dogtown Studios closely since they started this venture. Not only did they pull off building a quality, fun, and addictive iPhone game from scratch in 72 hours. On top of that, they have managed to get it into most of the AppStores top seller lists in a matter of weeks.

Their game is currently in the top selling 100 of all iPhone games and apps on the AppStore (and climbing fast) among close to 150,000 others.
Project 72 AppStore Link

So, to my questions... Can anyone do it? Does it only take a few people, a good idea and 72 hours, to become a famous iPhone game developer and strike it rich in a market that is seemingly saturated and highly competitive? I have been fortunate enough to pick the brains of the boys from Dogtown Studios for some insider information that can hopefully help others that are interested in getting further in the business...

- Tell me about your success....

What we did was differentiating ourselves with a unique approach to building the game, rather than the game itself. We decided to show the world when and how we built it. In addition, we decided to build it in 72 hours. Of course we didn't want to just throw together any game. Our goal was still to build something unique but simple and very enjoyable. It worked and Apple decided to feature us, not once but twice.

You don't have to take that approach though. The way we see it, you can make it in three ways;

- Would you use any or all of these approaches in any project?

C wouldnt' be exciting for us, although we would use the help of advertising to boost the sales of an already successful title.

- Any things that you wouldn't or shouldn't do when considering getting in to this market?

The only thing you shouldn't do (which I know from experience) is to develop a game in silence and when you release it hope that it's going to go off the charts without additional effort. Nope, it doesn't work that way. As far as the game goes, look at your experience and don't try to push the boundaries too hard by building something too complex. Execution is very very important if not key and even the most simple game can be the most beautiful thing on the AppStore.

- Do you regret anything you have done during the process so far?

Becuase we didn't plan the project in advance, there were so many things we could have done differently. We don't regret the things we did, and we are grateful we did them because we learned a lot and we will be able to apply those learned lessons in the future. We obviously used method A. (which by the way wasn't planned either). But that's not all, the real challenge didn't start until after the game was released.

- Why so?

The AppStore is a mean beast and unless you have experience in taming it, do yourself a favor and do your homework. If you have someone with good analytical skills, ask them to help. A quick tip is to look at how the AppStore presents the information and setup milestones for yourself. Track, and compare results (sales and ranks) on a daily or even hourly basis with tools such as AppLyzer and AppViz. They will provide you with detailed data that I would say is of paramount importance. Have a plan, and a backup plan for how to reach your next milestone.

- What would a milestone be?

A milestone is a major event that will increase your sales and exposure. This can be publicity, ad campaigns and when you're title moves up to a new top-list in the AppStore.


I asked the boys what lists they monitored and after they explained it I put together these charts.

Basically your game is in 4 major categories.

These categories were then divided into the following milestone groups:

- So how did you tame the beast without any previous experience?

We were forced to learn or we would have no idea how to react to all the events that occured over time.

We monitored our rank and had a plan of what we needed to do in order to reach each milestone-group and individual milestone. These included in order of priority and there are some great names to get in touch with here: The most important lesson here is to make sure to coordinate your marketing efforts. A single instance of burst in sales will most likely not help unless you reach reach a target milestone. 

- How big was your budget for the project?

To make the game $0, only blood sweat and tears and drained brains. For marketing we have $6,000 of which $1,000 have been used for merchandise and some smaller test ad campaigns. The rest is a backup. We also have $30,000 in external funding ready as an emergency in exchange for profit sharing.

- So, can anyone do this?

First of all, we are not going to discourage anyone from attempting. It is very, very possible, and you don't even need much experience, and obviously you don't need a plan, but you have to have a passion, be different, and work hard. If you believe in your title, others will too. Don't give up! If you can't find a way to do the A. B. or C. approaches individually or in combination, I would strongly recommend you only pursue it for fun and learning purposes. And if you don't succeed the first time, leave the failure behind  quickly and try again!

- What are your next plans?

We are currently planning a very exciting project that should kick-off in a few weeks when we have perfected Project 72 and made it #1. I can't say much about it, other than it will go under the code name Project Unknown and if you are interested in learning about how to approach the AppStore, I urge you to follow our next project closely & live on our website, www.dogtownstudios.com.

Will the iPhone game that was built in 72 hit the #1 on the AppStore before the end of this week? I sure hope so, so that we can see more exciting games and insider information from Dogtown Studios.

Thanks guys and good luck!


Current Project 72 Ranking As of Writing, 12.11am, Fri Feb 19, 2010

#18 Games / Arcade
#21 Games / Action
#45 All Games
#80 All Games & Apps (Overall)