Seven months ago, Billups Design launched Road Plates, a mobile game for the iPhone. The game received good marks from gamers and reviewers alike. Downloads of Road Plates over those seven months averaged roughly 10 daily. So we reconvened the development and design team to look at the game's current configuration and discover meaningful ways to improve it and increase downloads. This is a typical exercise here as it applies to maximizing traffic and conversion for our client web sites or as it applies to our Dynamic Digital Advertising clients' campaigns.

The first insight, and perhpas most important, was the idea that changing the name of the game could increase its exposure in the iTunes app store and search results placement for new shoppers. We thus decided to change the name of the app from Road Plates to Road Games.

Next we resolved to enhance the game experience itself in several ways. The most important might have been to create additional 'side-games' for the main game. As plate hunting on the highway (the game's main premise) can have pauses in action, players could now play spontaneous tile-puzzle games, or even a 'Road Games' version of Frogger.

We then went back into the game's narrative and looked for ways to increase the engagement with players by writing an amusing overarching storyline that capitalizes on the culture of the road and the humor of family vacations.

Finally, we went back into the game's graphics and upgraded every element, designing everyting to display razor-sharp in the iPhone 4 hi-res screens. The result was a clarity and crispness to the game's overall appearance that wasn't there before.

After the version 2.0 launch on iTunes app store three weeks ago, downloads are up 6-fold, averaging over 60 downloads daily. Most downloads occur here in the United States, but we are pleased to see that Road Games is being downloaded in countries all over the world from Austrailia to Saudi Arabia. (How they play it where no U.S. license plates exist on the highway, we don't know.)

Taking a road trip soon with your family or friends? Download Road Games and tell us what you think! We're planning version 3.0 all the time and your ideas could make it in!