What is the name of your company?
Vector Unit!
What are the names of your app(s) ?
We have 2 â€" Riptide GP [1] and Shine Runner [2] .
Introduce yourself â€" Tell us about yourself, your company, and how you got into developing mobile apps?
My name is Matt Small, I’m the Creative Director at Vector Unit.  Vector Unit’s been around for four years.  I started the company with my business partner Ralf Knoesel.  We kind of split design and other production duties.
We come from a console background, working at larger companies.  We decided to start Vector Unit because we wanted to get back to smaller teams, working on smaller games instead of huge 100-person AAA teams.  We started off doing a game for XBLA called Hydro Thunder Hurricane, and then moved into mobile because that’s where we saw the big growth happening.
How many people are on your team? And what are their roles?
Currently there are just 2 of us. Â I do most of the art and visual design, Ralf does all the programming. Â We kind of split the other tasks like game design and sound, and outsource the rest.
At what point did you decide you wanted to make apps for the iPhone?
Well we started working on Android actually, with Riptide GP.  We had a chance to do a game for NVIDIA, for their new Tegra devices, and that’s how we got into mobile.  But we knew as soon as possible we wanted to expand our engine to iOS, because the app community is just so happening.
One of your recent apps has broken into the top 50 of its category on the charts. Tell us about that app.
Both Riptide GP and Shine Runner have been in and out of the top 10 of their category (racing). Riptide GP is a futuristic jet ski racing game. Â Shine Runner is a swamp boat, moonshine smuggling game with a trading economy game built around the racing engine.
What was the best rank position that app hit?
Both games got up into the top 3 on racing at one point.
Were you surprised to see it reach that ranking?
We weren’t sure what to expect, but we certainly hoped they would get up there.  It’s tough because there are a lot of really good racing games on iOS, like Real Racing 2.  So it was pretty exciting to be up there with games like that.
For your most successful app, how did you come up with the idea for it?
Riptide’s probably our most successful app so far.  We wanted to do another water racing game, but we wanted to add characters and stunts, so that’s where the jet skis came in.  We also wanted the gameplay to be a little more accessible and easy to get into than Hydro Thunder, so we tried to design the tracks to make them easy to play â€" it’s not too hard to finish on the easy difficulties, but there’s enough challenge there on the higher difficulties.
How long does it take for you to write a typical app from start to finish?
Riptide GP took about 5 months, and Shine Runner took about 4.  It helped that we used the Hydro Thunder engine to start with, so we didn’t have to create all the water physics and everything from scratch.
What framework do you mainly use to program your apps?
We use our own engine, the Vector Engine.  It’s cross platform Xbox 360, PC, Android and iPhone.
How many lines of code does your app have and what programming language did you use?
Unfortunately that’s a Ralf question â€" and he’s not here right now 
 A lot.
What do you think was the number one thing you did that made your app successful?
Well with all our games we try to make them feel very polished.  We try to add a lot of visual flair to take advantage of the new hardware like the iPhone 4S.  We also spend a lot of time on controls, making sure the action of the game feels good and isn’t frustrating to control.
With so many apps in the app store, what would you say have been your top 3 ways and/or places to help market your app to gain ranking in the app charts, and why?
Mostly for us we try to get the word out early through PR to blogs and press, trailers on YouTube, stuff like that. Â We also spend a lot of time talking with our fans on Facebook and Twitter, and try to give them advance previews of new games coming out, to get people excited for launch.
Have you used any app promotional services, and if so, who, and how did they each work out for you?
We haven’t really.  We did a FireSale with OpenFeint with Riptide GP, and that worked pretty well.  We’re considering FAAD, but we haven’t pulled that trigger yet.
Are there any marketing services you have heard about that sound interesting that you have not yet tried? If so, whom or what, and why have you not yet tried them?
We haven’t tried any, yet.
Our readers are very interested on what kind of download numbers it takes to break into the top 50 of a category. Based on your peak app ranking, how many downloads were you getting daily on average?
When we were in the top 10 in racing we were getting about 1000 downloads a day.  Now that we’ve dropped off we’re averaging more in the 100′s.
If you had to pick the top 3 things app developers should always include in their apps to help with the marketing of their app to other users or something that helps your app jump up the rankings, what would they be, and why?
Man I wish I knew.  I think the answer is all of those things.  To get a jump you need to get the word out and try to concentrate it all at once.  Sales help for a quick jump, but that’s not a long term solution.  The trick is to make your games polished enough so that once you get noticed, you stay up there.
Obviously a promotion from Apple is probably the biggest single thing that can help your app. Â I think in order to get promoted, you need to have a game that offers something new, that makes the Apple hardware look great, and that uses some of the features Apple is pushing, like GameCenter.
What has been your largest sales day?
For each of our games, they were when we got promoted by Apple in New and Noteworthy. Â For Riptide our single biggest day, I think we got up around 4000 units.
Why did you decide to go free/paid?
We went with paid because that’s what we were familiar with.  But going forward we’re going to look more at free â€" we want to try it at some point at least.
Are you creating apps full time now, or do you have another job?
Yep, we’re still working.  We have a new game that will be announced at MWC next week.
What is it that excites you most about developing apps for the iPhone?
It’s such an exciting market, it changes all the time.  And the games are still small enough you can create games that can compete with the big players like Gameloft and EA, with just a small team.
Outside of your own apps, what are your 3 favorite apps and why?
Jet Pack Joyride because it’s perfectly simple and incredibly fun, Real Racing 2 because it’s so amazingly polished, and Sword & Sworcery because there’s nothing else like it.
Which app has wowed you more than any other, and why?
Jet Pack Joyride, because they packed so much game around a simple 1-touch game mechanic.
What are you working on next?
Can’t say yet, but we’ll be announcing it soon!
Any advice for up and coming indie developers?
Try to work in a space that isn’t totally crowded.  The world doesn’t need another Bejeweled clone.  Make sure whatever you create is tight and polished.  It’s better to create something small but perfectly tuned than to shoot for something huge in scope that’s a little rough around the edges.
If you could change one thing about the Apple App Store, what would it be?
I’d change the whole system of ranking being based on unit sales.  It’s kind of crazy â€" if you have a 5 star $3.99 game that sells 500 units, you get ranked lower than someone who has a 3 star $.99 game that sells 750 units.  I think the Android ranking system is actually better, because they take into account a lot of factors, like how much the app sells for, user reviews, etc.  It makes it easier for high quality, lesser known titles to be discovered.
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