Sorry, but all of those icons are terrible. I wouldn't want to buy a game with such an unappealing icon. The concepts are weak and the execution is below par.
I think that's a great idea. The skull in the screenshot (with the hat) would make a much better icon than the current skull icon. I really don't like the writing on the current skull icon, since it detracts from the image. Also, To the dev--> I don't think many people buy/don't buy a game because of how the icon looks. People pay much more attention to the screenshots when deciding whether a game looks interesting. There are great games with lousy icons, and horrible games with nice icons. Good screenshots and a gameplay video: that's what sells!
I agree about the game play and screen shot, so yes maybe the icon is not all that important. We just wanted to convey more of the essence of the game than what we currently have. We like the skull and love the suggestions for the skull from the image above - only thing we wanted to avoid was confusing users by the icon as being an iDracula or dark sort of game when we are really naval themed. As for the haters, thanks for the useless comments. As I said, if you think you can do better, by all means send something along and we will use it if it is indeed so much better. Thanks to the rest of you for the great suggestions! I'll be sending out some promo codes to the best comments soon.
I think the skull with pirate hat does convey the essence of your game...the jolly roger is a pretty recognizeable symbol of piracy and thus ocean going vessels, if you wanted to have a ship in there just to enforce the whole naval aspect, you could have the lower 1/4 or 1/3 of area be of a blue ocean with white sailed frigate and fade that into the skull pirate image looming over it...? I think a choice of icon is important...to me it's like a mini poster for your game and is the first graphical image anyone will ever see of it while browsing new games...so if it's attention getting and/or graphically appealing, you might get more curious clicks from people.
I have to disagree slightly with Gekkota, the icon catches the eye and it needs to stand out in a sea of buttons in order for the potential buyer to click and view the screenshots.
I guess it really depends on the source buyers use to locate potential games. I mainly use websites like Touch Arcade, Pocket Gamer, and Appshopper to keep up with new releases, so icon appearance matters very little to me. I will check out a game based on the information and discussions on the various websites. On the other hand, maybe there are a lot of buyers who browse through the app store listings, and therefore an eyecatching icon would be more of a factor in getting people to click on it. I understand your point, PhagoCychotic. I guess not everyone is a Touch Arcade member!
I like no.3, but it doesn't suit the game. It looks rather romantic with the sunset and all. At the same time, I think the icon should be a ship silhouette, just not against a sunset. Maybe a ship silhouette with a silver skull visible on one of its sails.
