Rocketcat Games - IAP to unlock characters and pets in their games Tilt To Live - IAP to unlock another game mode Where's My Water - IAPs to unlock Swampy levels and others Rovio - FB and IAP to unlock additional levels I suppose this isn't directed at you in particular nightc1 but the devs/games I mentioned above (which I can add many, many more) are some of the most popular and/or respected on TA and all use some sort of business strategy to keep going. These companies, no matter how indie, are still a company that need visability to remain in business to keep making games for US. Rocketcat have mentioned that if the Mage Dungeon doesn't perform well they will be leaving iOS for good. That's it. If that happens there is no one to blame but ourselves for letting it. I work in web/mobile marketing and know firsthand that every Monday I need to report performance and quantify why our customer or revenue graphs are moving in a specific direction. If we are not performing well week-over-week, we can't just say 'Oh well, we'll get them next time.' There may not BE a next time. You need to strategize and think of what you can do to make those numbers increase. In this case it was giving away 99% of their game for FREE in the hope that you like it and will tell your friends. Look, I'm honestly not trying to convince anyone of one thing or another, we all have our opinions and that's perfectly fine. Just don't attack Craneball for trying something to help them stay in business and say it's sneaky or backhanded. I'll post all over my FB wall, on Twitter, whatever I can possibly do to make sure Craneball, Rocketcat, etc. always have a home on iOS and can keep our little community alive...
And you'd do that no matter if the game gave you levels for doing that or not. I'm assuming those aren't companies that are paying you for Marketing support as well. As long as a dev fits in with my views and makes great games I have no problem spreading the word. I'm just a serious gamer. My rep as a gamer is all I have to go by. Same for those I've come to see as the regular posters here among the sea of developers and marketing companies. Of course when a dev threatens to leave iOS... how can a customer feel confident buying their game knowing they may not be around to support it? I think it's a catch-22 to mention how bad your company is doing. I guess the hope is a groundswell of support. I could go buy a few of the Rocketcat games I don't own... but I'm 100% against IAP (not it existing for those that want to make a game super easy or whatever but me spending money on it). There has to be a ton of content in a game for me to buy it knowing some content is behind IAP (like the expansions in Galaxy on Fire 2, it's a huge game.. it was worth the cost knowing I won't get the expansions). I was pretty cheesed off when I played and loved the demo for Where's My Water then bought the game thinking it would be as generous as Rovio is (I mean there are 10 sets of levels in the original Angry Birds alone)... and instead there was just a very limited number of levels with the rest locked behind IAP. I have not purchased any additional levels in Where's My Water and despite liking Where's My Perry in demo form, I won't buy the game at all. I'm old school. Package up a game with all the levels and let me pay for it and have access to every level in the game without needing facebook or heck even an internet connection. And I'm on unlimited data.. so it's not the data costs that get me. Let me unlock every level through playing the game and I'm even more cool with it... crap I'll probably even market the game for you like I have spread the word so much about Extreme Road Trip 2. Marketing is a tricky deal. I don't envy folks trying to make a decent living on a flooded iOS market let alone trying to market them while still trying to reach people in a legit way. Yet the other markets for portable gaming are so small it would be pretty easy to fail hard at that.
There is nothing the matter with iap unlocks for levels THAT DIDN'T COME WITH THE GAME. I despise iaps in general; and am very vocal about it. On the flipslide, why would someone think additional game content, added after release, has to be free? There are devs who lock out game content that WAS released with a game via an update, requiring iaps to re- unlock it. Or changing a full featured game into freemium. Not dropping the price to free and letting things be, but changing the entire game model. :cough Everplay cough Hothead Games cough: I'll focus my wrath on those who deserve it. If you bought Where's my Water? have you lost any game content through updates? No? Okay then. That should be the end of that. There are enough games released full of bugs as it is. Additional content for a 99 cent game isn't a right; it's silly to think so; but most importantly, comparing situations like that in Where's My Water distracts from the ABUSIVE iap tactics that should garner more attention.
I hope it didn't sound like I was bashing you, and I haven't even played Fishballs or whatever thread I'm in. I actually haven't even read theough the thread; it's hard to do anything but skip around on an iPhone. Where's My Water came with no iaps IIRC and the same set of unlocked levels. Then they added levels for additional purchase. The problem you might have had is that the Lite version kept adding new levels as time went on. But anyways, whatever. Just don't buy that new Evertales game coming out; that company is a bunch of shysters. They TOOK AWAY my purchases and replaced them with freemium crap. If a band comes out with a new record and it tanks, but I bought a copy, I still have my music. In my closet I have nearly 100 unsold copies of the album I put out when I was in a real band. It's copywrited, and I (jointly) own the rights to the music. Maybe I should confiscate all outstanding copies and sell each song as a single? I still say, if you have trouble making a living developing for ios, don't screw over your customers. It's only even possible because Apple allows it. If you can't make money, for god's sake, do what everyone else has to. Find a diffrent line of work! Success is not guaranteed.
No problem. I didn't see it as a bash, just your view. My view of Where's My Water was as a consumer making the purchase after the game came out. I didn't realize at the time that 2/3's (or so?) of the content available would be locked and only available through additional purchases. They did make a few levels free here and there... but I just was of the mindset that I bought a game and I should be able to unlock the content. Additional levels like that if not bundled in for free should be spunoff into an additional game... but that's my view as someone that sees no value at all in IAP and refuses to purchase anything through IAP. Rovio just sort of spoiled me. Look at Angry Birds (the original) sometime... 10 sets of levels in the game (one is for finding golden eggs I think, but I still count it). I can unlock and play any of them by playing the game. They made other games separate, and I was fine buying pretty much everything they had at the time and every game that they've released since. As for Fish Heroes, they locked some levels behind facebook stuff... so if you aren't on facebook or don't want to annoy your friends then there's content you won't get to play. I don't mind when devs do this with in game currency which I can also earn through playing the game... but actual levels being locked is just not cool IMO.
Umm... the original Angry Birds have levels locked behind FB as well like I mentioned in my post above. Check out the Ham 'Em High set. The fourth page of levels is only unlocked by 'liking' them on FB. Many of the other AB games do this as well...
Your right. I just checked the 4th page of the 5th set of levels and it asks for facebook likes to get three more levels. For giggles, I clicked the link it brought me to a page about signing up and stuff but then I went back to the game and the levels were unlocked. So facebook ISN'T required to get those levels. I didn't actually have to do anything but touch the link to get them. In Fish Heroes... folks said you had to log into facebook to get the extra levels. Rather than go on trust alone, I just downloaded the game and launched it. I found where the extra levels were. There are 3 sets... 1. Twitter - Required twitter account to get extra content, no way to bypass 2. Facebook "like" - Allows levels without login 3. Facebook'sign in" - Required to sign in to Facebook for the extra levels, no way to bypass So, there's actually more content locked behind the sign in stuff than I realized... though like Angry Birds, there are three levels unlockable through just touching the link without having to do anything... it's not exactly true for the other 2 sections of levels. ... I'm going to drop this... it's not a crusade against this specific dev and I've said plenty already. Locking content behind Twitter & Facebook and requiring a login is such a kick in the nutts to those of us that don't want to be on those services or don't want to share our information. It makes it hard for me to want to support devs that do this, though yeah in the case of this game I didn't pay for it... so it shouldn't really matter... same for my support of the dev shouldn't really matter if they do stuff that I disagree with or find annoying. Be cool...
All free games? Let me point you in the direction of a little gem called Solomon's Keep. There have been free games on ios longer than there has been facebook/twitter integration, iads, and iapps.
I agree with you, re: spinoffs; for a different reason though. Where's My Water has a model similar to Angry Birds, done differently. It's as if they released Angry Birds, Rio, Seasons, etc. in one app, with the original being the one you paid for. MY problem is that the filesize grows while the content I intend to pay for doesn't. So we are in agreement, for somewhat different reasons. That reminds me...when I first saw an FPS map pack sold as DLC, I was like WTF? Traditionally, the big mutoplayer FPS's came with level editors, and there were huge numbers of superb levels available for free. Heck, if Half-Life didn't come with a free editor, there would be no Counter Strike or Portal, both made by fans. Dedicated, smart fans. I am used to the old days of buying REAL expansions for PC games, though. Then again (and I do this with console games as well), I would wait a year or so and buy the Collector's/Gold edition, which would include the game and all expansions. But gaming is going backwards, and, I've said it before, but I feel another industry crash coming. I mean, I buy a game know and I'm given a reciept or plastic card with a code...doubleyou tee eff! Even in mobile, it's pretty obvious there is an ios app bubble growing. Conpanies will leave ios? No ****. 4 years ago there were a couple new games a week released, good/bad, paid/free. Now, there has got to be a thousand. And Cryptids-style pre-determined outcome Flash Farming Screensavers should effing be banned.
....and free yet again! Never played it but has good reviews. But reading all the banter about the Facebook crap earlier in this thread.... I don't know.
FB integation is bull. Every friend I have on Facebook has, at some point or another in my life, actually been a FRIEND (or family member, gf, etc.). none of them havemany interest whatsoever in ios gaming, with the exception of a few people who play "...with friends" games. If I like something on Facebook, it's because I think some of my friends will also be interested...after all, it is a SOCIAL platform. Thankfully I don't think apps spam your friends anymore...in fact, I just recieved an email informing me of my eligibility as part of a class-action lawsuit against Facebook, for spamming people's walls or whatever their called as "sponsored links". God I hate FB...I wish I didn't just reconnect to it, because now I can't leave. i'm running into to friends I had thought had moved away; more importantly, I'm getting invites to real life events (well, mostly artsy and music-related events) theough FB. I wish I could be invited through some other method, but god forbid anyone uses email anymore.
Greyskull: You are hater of FB and now for this reason. Are you hating Fish Heroes too? Or I missed the point?
