Silver Skull Game

Weekend Price Drop!

2009-11-13T10:36:00.000-08:00

To celebrate our latest update being submitted to Apple we are dropping to price of Silver Skull to $1.99 from $2.99. The new update will have improved high score performance and much more complex levels beyond level 20. Enjoy!!

An check out this hilarious pirate clip from SouthPark!

AMAZING FAN'S ARTWORK....KEEP THEM COMING!!!!...and check out newly released V1.3!!!!

2009-11-07T09:46:00.000-08:00

V1.3 is OUT in APPSTORE - check it out now!

2009-11-04T14:50:00.000-08:00

AHOY!!!! We've just released V1.3. check it out in AppStore!
-more action,
-improved levels,
-we've balanced Armory costs and Port costs (Wenches and Rum),
-added bonus screens when upgrading the ship or winning Port bonus!

You can now “gamble” more with taking you chances with buying sexy WENCHES and drinking bottles of RUM in the Port.

Write us back….and THANK YOU for your continues feed back!

Get some taste of the best PIRATE Game...for HALLOWEEN!!!

2009-10-24T12:38:00.000-07:00

Here are some action shots from the game from our loyal Fans:

Silver Skull Update 1.2 LIVE in the App Store!

2009-10-19T22:07:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the fact that our new update has gone live we have dropped the price again to $0.99! We have tinkered with some of the finer points of the game including weapons prices in the armory, the placement of certain bonus items and treasure in the maps as well as improving the port experience for users.

All of these improvements are meant to make the game a little easier for first time players since we were noticing that some players were finding it too hard the first time they played. You can check out the new version of the app here.

We also changed our icon per the suggestions of our users in the icon survey we conducted on Touch Arcade.

For all of you South Park fans here is their take on the pirate theme!

Silver Skull Lite is Live!

2009-10-08T15:07:00.000-07:00

After over 3 weeks of waiting and one rejected lite version we finally have Silver Skull Lite live in the App store! Now you can be the captain of a pirate ship, destroying ships and capturing booty while spending money in the port on weapons, wenches and rum! You can download the free version here...and check out the video below:

And to celebrate the approval we have also lowered the price of our Paid version to $0.99 for the next few days (link to iTunes).

We love your feedback so please leave a review in iTunes or send us an e-mail here.

Help Us Design Our New Pirate Game Icon

2009-10-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

Our new pirate game, Silver Skull, just went live in the app store several weeks ago and we have decided to change our icon for the next update. We have a few options but are always open to any new ones you suggest or can come up with! And we will give out 5 promo codes to the best suggestions or submissions we get.

See the choices below:

Option #1 - Existing Icon

Option #2 - Anchor

Option #3 - Ship silhouette

Option #4 - Letter S

Option #5 - Anchor with Blue Wave

Option #6 - Letter S with Blue Wave

Please let us know in the comments which one you like or send us some ideas here of what you think would work better. We are happy to use any icon anyone comes up with provided it is original and you can provide a 512x512 size for Apple.

Our Pirate Game is Getting Owned by App Store Pirates!

2009-10-01T10:19:00.000-07:00

When we launched our first iPhone app iCombat several months ago we found an incredible rate of piracy, with almost 60% of total users using cracked copies 30 days in (80+% during the first 7 days). The piracy issue and how we chose to deal with it became such a big topic at the time (see Gizmodo post here) that we eventually decided to make our second title, Silver Skull, a pirate game - literally.

We thought creating an app where the player is the pirate would be clever somehow but one thing we didn't quite consider was that this game too would be cracked! Of course it seems obvious that it would be but when we saw the spike in Pinch Media unique users last week we were surprised. Had we been covered in a major blog, been featured in iTunes or maybe been tweeted about by Ashton Kutcher? Hardly. Our pirate themed game had been pirated, how ironic.

The frustrating thing this time is that, unlike with the iCombat release that enjoyed strong press at launch, Silver Skull has been covered less and so pirated users, if we calculate as the difference between iTunes sales and Pinch Media usage statistics, comprise a disproportionate percentage of our users.

Early stats about how pirates are owning our new app:

85% of current users are using cracked copies (1 week after going live)
7 of the top 10 entries in Google when searching under "Silver Skull iPhone" are links to cracked sites
15+ tweets in the last 7 days linking to cracked copies in Twitter
15x jump in unique users when the first cracked copies went live(off of a small base though)
Rapid sampling of game. Usage analytics tell us that most of these pirated users don't play deep into the game.

Why we are not that concerned that our app has been pirated:

Rate of piracy declines rapidly. iCombat showed us that piracy rates trail off the more time the game is live (dropped to below 50% after 3 months). Since pirates are very early adopters, they tend to cycle through apps quickly. Novelty is the rush not free.
Piracy boosted paid sales. Our sales nearly doubled in the days following the release of the cracked version.
Any attention is better than no attention. It has become increasingly difficult to get noticed in the app store so having users, any users, is better than nothing (see our full post on this here).
Lite version is going live soon. This should deflate much of the push to pirate as again, pirates are more focused on sampling, not long term usage.

Update 1.1 Promo code giveaway

2009-09-30T13:15:00.000-07:00

To mark our update 1.1 going live we are giving away 15 promo codes to the users who post the name of their favorite pirate game (iPhone, PC or other) or movie in the comments below. To ensure that you get a code please leave something original, ie other than Pirates of the Caribbean because that is our favorite! Check out this clip:

Please remember to leave your e-mail in the post or send us a message at games@theapplicationfarm.com indicating which post was yours. Thanks!

Silver Skull Update 1.1 LIVE IN THE APP STORE NOW!

2009-09-28T21:58:00.000-07:00

Check out the new and improved Silver Skull now with 30 levels, improved map layouts, and better global high score performance. To celebrate the approval we have dropped the price again to $0.99 for a limited time.

Get it now before we bring the price back up to $1.99 as more updates will be coming VERY soon!

Silver Skull SALE this Weekend

2009-09-25T07:04:00.000-07:00

To get the word out about our PIRATE game and celebrate our submitting version 1.1, we decided to drop the price this weekend to $0.99. The SALE begins NOW and will end Sunday so get it TODAY!!!...

SNL: Pirate Convention

2009-09-24T07:43:00.000-07:00

Thanks for participating in the promo code contest, we received some great cheesy pirate jokes. Most reminded us of this SNL clip below:

Thanks for all your Great Comments and Reviews!

2009-09-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

We have been live in the App store a few days...tand user feedback has been great! Thanks to everyone for your valuable comments, questions and GREAT reviews!!!...really guys – we are listening and want your input. If you like the game – please let your friends know…we are running a special introductory price as more level and updates are coming soon.

Our first user posted video!

2009-09-19T14:57:00.000-07:00

We hope this is the first of many fan videos posted on YouTube, check back for contests where the best user generated demo of our game will win some booty!

Talk Like a Pirate Day promo code Giveaway!

2009-09-19T06:47:00.000-07:00

Hey guys our game just went live and today is Talk Like a Pirate Day so we thought we would give away a ton of codes to our new game! We are giving away 20 promo codes to the best comments today that either have a pirate joke or other pirate phrase...

For help you can try out the pirate translator or find some jokes here.

Update: Some of you didn't leave your e-mail details so i can't send you promo codes - please e-mail us at games@theapplicationfarm.com for your promo code if you posted below!

Silver Skull is live!

2009-09-17T22:36:00.000-07:00

We just got word from Apple an hour ago that SS has been approved and now we are waiting to see it propagate online. Although approved we won't really be able to sleep (if at all tonight) until we can download the game and make sure it works as we planned!

So excited that Apple approved our game in time for Talk Like a Pirate Day on Saturday (tomorrow) so it is just about getting the word out before the weekend! We will be having a video contest soon so get ready and try taping your games of Silver Skull.

Also we are working on the next updates so send us your feedback once you have played as well as your suggestions for future updates!

About Silver Skull

2009-09-13T12:38:00.000-07:00

You are the pirate captain of a small ship and crew, navigate through 30 levels destroying ships and collecting coins and booty.

As you collect more coins you will be able to buy weapons and ships, all with the hope of conquering the infamous pirate galleon Silver Skull for yourself. You have to be careful though to keep your crew happy, so make sure to treat them to wenches and rum whenever you can!

Screenshots:

Silver Skull includes:
- 30 challenging levels
- Port where you can buy wenches and rum to get game tips, bonus items & lives
- Armory where you can trade ships and weapons
- Bonus items including: floating gunpowder barrels, fireballs, ship cloaking and more
- Campaign & skirmish mode with level selector
- Global high scores

So buy Silver Skull today and pillage the high seas. As a famous pirate once
said: “Make a black flag and declare war against all the World!”

FAQ

2009-09-06T21:56:00.000-07:00

Pirate Yoda answers to questions he will have so ask away!

Silver Skull submitted to Apple!

2009-09-05T12:40:00.000-07:00

After several weeks of minor bug fixes and last minute tweaks we finally managed to submit Silver Skull for review! Word is that the process takes two weeks so hopefully we will be live as planned for the international Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19th.

We are super happy with how the game ended up and look forward to getting your feedback in the next couple of weeks and months to make the game better! If you have ideas for levels, map names, new weapons or anything else let us know and we will try to incorporate it into the next updates...