Swagsoft Co-founder Aldric Chang | App Development Contracts

ALDRIC CHANG | SWAGSOFT & MEDIA FREAKS | SINGAPORE
developer

 
Bio: Aldric is best described as an entrepreneur who has spent most of his life building businesses and spearheading creative projects. Based in Singapore, he runs MediaFreaks, an animation studio, alongside SwagSoft, a mobile development studio. Aldric’s previous clients include: Western Digital, Nokia, Hewlett Packard, Discovery, National Geographic, et al.

Jovan Johnson, app attorney: Does being based outside of the United States provide you perspective on development?
Aldric: It certainly does. We are exposed to a wider variety of culture and we get to see production from Asian countries like Japan, Korea and China in addition to the western countries. This gives us more ideas and perspective on graphical designs and game concepts.
 
Jovan: It’s difficult to make a splash in one market. How do you make yourself relevant in more than one market? 
Aldric: The best step forward is to ask a game publisher in the corresponding markets what their audience consistently looks for. Sometimes it’s just that little tweak that will help you get another country’s fans. 
 
Jovan: What has been your biggest commercial success?
Aldric: Our first iOS game called Lamebo vs. Zombies.
 
Jovan: Why do you consider it a success?
Aldric: We were really just testing out the market to see how easy or difficult it is to get traction on the iOS market. Previously we were just doing novelty and kids apps and that was really difficult to market. We had a theory that games were more competitive but easier to market than the other sort of apps as long as you had a quality product and wanted to prove it. So we created a game which basically just required a simple finger tap to prevent enemies from reaching you, but packaged it off with a wacky storyline and great graphics. To be honest, we were not expecting much, so we were pleasantly surprised when we rose to the Top 20 Overall in the US charts and some other countries at one point. It proved that you can make a game somewhat popular even as an indie game developer. What also came out of this was that publishers started approached us to work together on out future games. Financially, we have not hit the big gold vein yet. But the experience did give us some insight and more importantly, the drive to continue working hard. 
Jovan: What is your approach to marketing?
Aldric: For Lamebo vs. Zombies, we got lots of reviews from websites and gamers for our apps. We also made sure we had a funny intro video done. That helped for some early stage traction. And basically it was just that.
 
Jovan: You have worked with a large media outlet and created an app for its audience. How has that experience helped you?

Aldric: MediaCorp – Singapore’s TV network – approached us to do a couple of apps to engage their audiences. Those were basically photo apps where users can decorate their photos with all sorts of cutesy stuff. They were encourage to send in their pictures and upload it on MediaCorp’s Facebook page to win prizes. I think that having MediaCorp as a client certainly helped us gain more credentials as an app developer.

Jovan: What tips are you willing to share with devs seeking to create apps on behalf of established businesses?
Aldric: I think it is important to stand in the shoes of the prospective clients and understand why they really need and what their businesses need, and recommend solutions achievable through the apps. It is sometimes easy to recommend solutions the clients do not really need, or under-recommend solutions the clients really need.

SwagSoft

MediaFreaks

Lamebo vs. Zombies (App Store)  

SwagSoft on Facebook 

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