The App Store Video shows an app in action, letting users see what they can get from it in a visually engaging way. Apps and mobile games can benefit from including videos on their app store listings, as a good video can help improve conversions. For today’s App Store Spotlight, we look at Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs, an augmented reality version of the popular mobile game. How does Angry Birds AR use its App Store Videos to market the app?
On the Apple App Store, Angry Birds AR features a video showing the game in action. It’s filmed in portrait mode, as the game is played in portrait mode and Apple requires App Store Videos to use in-app footage only.
The video shows the game played in augmented reality, including backgrounds set in parks, bus stops and a living room. While these locations are not entirely scenic, they illustrate how the game can be played in augmented reality wherever the user may be. AR functionality allows developers to include real footage in their App Store Video, since it is showing actual gameplay. This is accompanied by upbeat music and sound effects from the game, which sets the tone for users and establishes continuity even as the scene changes.
Additionally, the App Store Video shows multiple tower structures for players to launch birds at, several different birds they can launch and how the towers can collapse. This showcases the game’s variety of stages, challenges and bird types so players can see the range of puzzles and tools they’ll have. App Store Videos give developers an opportunity to demonstrate this range of levels in a more immediate way than screenshots or descriptions do.
On the Google Play Store, Angry Birds AR uses a featured image before the video that shows the Isle of Pigs in landscape. Google Play videos are all in landscape mode, since they’re played through YouTube.
The video uses the same footage as the Apple App Store video, except it is placing a portrait mode video on a landscape screen. The video is not altered to fit the screen, leaving instead two large black spaces to either side. When viewed on an Android device, the video portion takes up a sliver of the screen regardless of how the phone is held.
While it is not uncommon for Google Play videos to show footage from a portrait mode app in a landscape video, these often include additional assets such as character art, backgrounds or text emphasizing the features. This keeps the video visually engaging and uses the entire screen, rather than leaving the video condensed and half-blank.
Google Play videos are not restricted to in-app footage, so Angry Birds AR could use additional video footage and art elements to enhance the video. For instance, an animated introduction could set up the story of the game, or it could use live action footage to show people interacting with the pigs’ fortresses and launching birds at them.
An analysis of competing apps shows how other videos for augmented reality games design their App Store Videos.
On the Apple App Store, Stack AR is an augmented reality game competing with Angry Birds AR in the casual AR game market. Its video shows the game in action, alternating between augmented reality footage and non-AR in-game footage. Its music score uses a more relaxing melody than Angry Birds, positioning the app as a casual game to wind down with. This is also shot in portrait mode.
Stack AR does not have a Google Play equivalent, but the developer has a non-AR Stack app. While this is also a portrait-mode video on a landscape screen, it uses a green background that matches the game screen to fill the space.
On Google Play, Monster Park AR uses a portrait mode video that shows multiple dinosaurs and monsters that players can encounter. Like Angry Birds AR, these include multiple locations, as well as scenic spots like state parks. It includes text on the bottom of the screen that describes the game’s features, such as the photo and video features.
Angry Birds AR has an App Store Video that works well on the Apple App Store, as it demonstrates the multiple features, levels and tools the mobile game provides while using only in-app footage. On Google Play, the video does not fill the empty space made by placing a portrait mode video on a landscape screen. App Store Optimization often requires creating different assets for each store, due to the different rules and presentation styles the stores have. This is a good instance where designing different videos can make a difference.
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