Looking for ways to improve your mobile app? Here are a few ideas you can use to make your game stand out. Some of them are easier than others and you'll have to weigh the costs of development versus actual downloads.
1. New and Fresh Content
If your game is already in the app store you might want to consider adding a new theme or level to your game. This could be as simple as adding a new item or as complex as a whole new storyline. Keep it simple though as updates should probably take no longer than a week to develop.
2. Social Achievements and Leaderboards
Adding leaderboards and achievements can make your game just that much more addicting. Be creative what you use for achievements and make sure they are attainable. If you are looking for a way to use OpenFeint on the iPhone check out the tutorial on this site.
3. Add a Save Feature to Your Game
Depending on how complex your game is this could take a while to implement. However this is probably one of the more important features you should add. Most people want to be able to close your app and not lose their progress when reopening. Check out the game state tutorial if you are looking to implement this on the iPhone.
4. User-Generated Data
This takes the social aspect of your game to the next level. The ability to create objects or levels can be added to most games. Obviously this requires and editor and some way to share content over the internet which makes this improvement a bit costly. However, adding user-created content could generate a buzz about your game and provoke more purchases.
5. Port Your Game to Multiple Platforms
At the moment this is not an easy task but putting your game on another platform could greatly increase sales. We're working on a framework that makes the job of developing on multiple platforms much easier and I believe Unity 3D has taken this step as well. If you are in the early stages of development this may be something to look into.