E-mail to friend: "Dude I just bought this zombie shooter called iBarbieFashionShow, check it out. Its actually really good, but I rated it one star just because I found a grammatical error, dur hurr."
Ever notice how paid games get better reviews than free games, somehow? If you look in the top 25 list for paid apps usually all have 4 or 4 1/2 star reviews. Most of the free apps have only a 3 1/2 star or even 1 star review. It's wierd. You'd think people would like free stuff more.
i think the problem is apple allowing people to give a rating without a review and that problem is further exacerbated by the ratings on deletion thingy mentioned before . if apple is going to factor ratings without reviews into the ratings system then maybe it would be better to ask for a rating when you update an application that would give more useful information becuase it would show how many people are keeping the app on thier devices. but i guess they would have to have those ratings go towards the previous version of the game since you are in the process of downloading the newer version and havent played it yet and that would get confusing i guess. they should do away with the rating without review thing. becuase those ratings are no help to anyone anyway it doesnt help the developer to improve the app and it misleads consumers. i dont think a lite version of an app is a bad idea i just think that you have to really put some thought into it though for it to help be any help
I'm prepared for this phenomenon, and I'll look at it this way: the free version is there to absorb disgruntled users and their bad reviews Since they got to try it free, they won't be tempted to buy it. Nobody will buy the paid app except those who already like it: a recipe for good reviews! (And I'll make sure the paid version's description prompts people to try the free one first.)
This is my kind of thread. Thanks to the devs for their candid opinions... I am only a user, and not a dev on this platform, and I remember the early review scheme irking me with people doing things like: rate 1 star, saying 'Should I buy this, click yes to agree...' Now from work on a different platform I've seen that sometimes your "free" products end up eating up a lot of your QA and development time, (and money...) The issue I see with the appstore is that it is mixing together the dollar store and the higher end customers, yet only listing as popular the 'dollar store' stuff, and some luckier apps that find broader support. Then some people have the fortune of being featured in some media story (a la Brushes), or some promotion. The main problem I have nowadays is finding the stuff I want, as people have mentioned. I see this a growing pains like when lists of web links became search engines...
does anyone hate it when people put one star for a reiew and then write 'rubbish, it crashes'. have they so much ignorance that they cannot reboot their device before launching the app then making a fool of themselves in writing the review and giving a bad image to the dev? rant over and yes, i do find that most paid for apps have better reviews but that's probably because they're charging for it so they put in so much effort, where as free apps can do it half hearted.
My biggest pet peeve is customers that slam an app with a bad review, but with a bogus reason - and you as the developer have no way to respond. For example, one of the first reviews for Xiangqi - Chinese Chess in the US claimed that the game "didn't follow basic rules" which was a load of nonsense and not backed up by any example. Sales immediately (temporarily, thankfully) plummeted, and I had no way to address whatever confusion that user had. Similarly, in Card Shark Solitaire, I occasionally used to get a user asserting that the game lacked some key feature, that it actually does have. You can take the following steps to minimize this stuff: 1. make sure that the app offers in game help; if you've never handed a game to someone that's never played it before and watched their reaction, you may be surprised at how many "obvious" things about game mechanics actually aren't obvious at all to the average person. 2. include a "contact author" button that launches mail, prepopulating subject with appname and version. I get a lot of mails that are empty or include randomly typed characters, especially for Bug Juice, which people like to hand to their kids, but also have gotten some really useful feedback, insightful bug reports, and feature requests. 3. include web link for "more info" where you can maintain a live FAQ to supplement any baked-in static help 4. create youtube videos showing how-to-play. ipos/itouch gaming isn't an arcade experience where novices can watch the experts play and ask questions Regarding the pros/cons of lite versions, done right, it should strictly be a plus. You have complete control over how much content you release. And you can always pull the lite version if you think it's hurting more than it's helping. My experiences with Karate Fighter have been interesting so far: My strategy: I purposefully delayed the release of a lite Karate Fighter build until I had a chance to refine the pay version (through free updates) thanks to the kind input of people in this forum. Then and only then did I release an initial lite demo. Keep in mind that a free app is going to generally get a lot more attention than a pay app (at least 20 times more downloads, on average), especially an "expensive" $1.99 title, and you want to make sure that the first impression is as good as possible. Results so far: - non US downloads have gone up. Folk that don't speak English are justifiably wary about plunking down cash on a non-localized app, and a lite version lets them confirm that the game will actually be accessible to them. - US buys of the full version briefly spiked. A well timed 'lite' release is a cheap way to promote/advertise a full app. Sales have since dropped to or slightly below the pre-lite levels, but it's too early to see if this is a long term trend, or the case of users hanging onto the lite version to try and master it before committing to an upgrade. Expect a lot of drive by 1 star reviews. Apple makes it really easy for people to do this, and so it's impossible to escape them. There are people that'll download an app out of curiosity and almost immediately delete it. Then you have folk that keep apps around a few days, before removing them. They may not be interested in upgrading, but they tend to at least put some thought into their rating. And it's funny, but some people give one star ratings by accident! Some of the most favorable text reviews for Card Shark, Xiangqi, and Hurdler (including a huge fan of the game that cornered the leaderboards for a while) have come from users that apparently don't understand the star system, and awarded those app a single star despite singing their praise. Where a lite version can help: - it's already been mentioned here, but having a lite version is a nice way to ensure that your full version gets mostly good ratings. Because people get to try before they buy, you avoid buys from people whose expectations weren't met. Where a lite version can hurt: - imagine you're at a restaurant, and see a delicious pie. You really are curious how it tastes. You may not be particularly hungry, but it sure smells good. If you are given a free sample, you've satisfied your curiousity. If you aren't, you might be tempted to buy it. Novelty entertainment apps fall into this category, but also some games. The bottom line is that with a lite build, you lose money from people that might have otherwise impulsively bought your app and then been disappointed, and you gain the opportunity to showcase your app to people that would have never bought the app without the chance to try it first.
Well, lord-sam, I see your point about the paid apps vs. free apps, but I think I disagree with why that is. I see a couple of main issues: * The balance of a good Demo app is a tough thing to get right. That said, most of the devs here get it right. So I don't think the problem is a bad effort from the dev most of the time. * Ports from other platforms. Users see something different and complain. * Prices get you the customers you want to get. Some software I use for work has a $25K per seat, + $5K software support charge a year. If you don't see the point of paying for it, you don't need it. Even though my wallet will feel it, I can't wait for the "free ride" to be over so that we can see real innovation here. (Not that there isn't innovation now. Just that depth requires effort, and people gotta eat...)
This thread is great stuff for someone who hasn't released, yet. I thought I knew what I was going to do, but now I've got some more thinking to do about it. Is it against Apple policy to link back to your AppStore page from WITHIN your app? Could you have a dialog come up after a certain percentage of the game is finished to let people go rate it?
We have had a link back to the App Store in our apps for a while with no complaints from Apple. For example, use this link format (just replace the id=#) to get directly to the review page for your app. This one is for our Hold On! app, which has many humorous reviews for your amusement. Code: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?id=284963359&pageNumber=0&sortOrdering=1&type=Purple+Software To see where this goes to in the iTunes store, click here. While there, take some time to read through the reviews. My son wrote Hold On! and put it on the store when it opened. It was our most reviewed app (free at the time) and we greatly enjoyed reading all of the reviews.
I'm very interested in how your stats have gone since this time, Stroffolino, if you are willing to share
