The Little App That Could

With no development experience under his belt, illustrator Kyle T. Webster defeated the odds by landing his first iPhone game in the top 50 paid apps list last week. He credits a simple idea that is suitable for all ages and language independent, as well as the proven marketing power of social media, for the game's sudden jump into the top 50. By Wednesday of last week, the game arrived at position number 5 behind the classic puzzle favorite, Tetris.

With little to no money to spare for marketing, Twitter, Facebook, and numerous blogs were Mr. Webster's weapons of choice in getting the word out about the game. Thanks to the snowball effect that can happen with social media, along with early positive reviews for the game, an editor at Apple made the decision to feature the game on the homepage of the App store. Once this happened, "...things exploded," said Webster.

App review sites like Appsmile, AppModo, AppChatter, and TouchGen were also instrumental in pushing the game higher in the rankings thanks to very positive reviews and feature stories. MacWorld UK also provided greater exposure for Webster and 'White Lines' with a review and an interview.


'White Lines' is a deceptively simple memory game that asks players to redraw increasingly complex sequences of lines that appear on screen. Webster got the idea for the game while brushing his teeth. The sound of the brushing made him think of a paintbrush dragging along textured paper over and over again in quick strokes, drawing patterns of random lines. He took this idea to the drafting table and quickly laid out the design of White Lines, which stands out from other iPhone games with its black and white minimalism and 'Swiss' graphic design.

Peer Assembly, a development team in Ireland helped Webster finish the game. The entire process of testing the various builds of the app and communicating with Webster was handled via Skype and email. Webster is now designing a new version of the game with some different twists that will be released for Apple's much anticipated new device, the iPad. He is also designing two other games for the iPhone and hopes to have them in development by mid-April.

Pricing and Availability:
White Lines 1.1 is only $0.99 (USD) and available exclusively through the App Store in the Games category.