I agree with the people, who are saying, that the games have the right amount of content for the price. But I have to add, that gameloft just updated Modern Combat with a "bug fix", that includes, that you don't have to have UPNP to play it. So I disagree with the people, who were saying, that big dev's don't do ANY updates if there are bugs.
this is why you should boycott the larger publishers/developers.. * bugs are bugs - they should be fixed regardless of cost, delays etc.. thats the policy that most indie developers have. updates in regards to feature improvements should not be expected; but if they happen - it should be a bonus for the consumer. most of the larger development houses also out-source their development efforts - which means supporting them is also difficult. i for one; would fix bugs and release updates as fast as i possibly could. a good user base, with faith that you can be a respected developer is what drives me to do this in the first place. NOTE: * especially if they are not being consumer friendly and push out buggy software and refuse to fix them!
That is sick they also did that with the chinese listen to mobile1up we should boycott the big devs to show them how it is in the AppStore, join the Indy revolution now!
I suppose neither of you charges money for the games you advertise. Wait, that's not true, you are just hypocritical.
the best devs are bolt creative and regular stormy. after a year they are still updating and pocket god has had 30 content updates
No, I absolutely will not boycott the larger companies -- they make the best games and they're the ones pushing iPhone gaming forward with full, polished games. If a game isn't playable, large dev's will update to fix them, but most games released by large dev's start out far more playable and complete than 90+% of the games released by indie developers ever become even after tons of updates.
Ya, but is pocket god really a full game? Is it really all that involved? Can it even compare to GTA or N.O.V.A.? For me the answer is no. I wouldn't pay more than $.99 for it even with all the updates. The initial releases of GTA and Nova are both better, more entertaining, and worth more.
not always! i can recall a number of "branded" applications with big labelled companies behind them that are absolutely shocking quality. some examples include the sega genesis emulation cores, or classic remakes of games to the platform. you don't have to go back far to see that. are they buggy? probably not - but, are they truly playable? or are they just riding on expired brands? granted - some larger players are doing good quality stuff; but so are a number of indie developers. we first started on the iphone with game and watch implementations that were so "close" to the originals people were confused we were endorsed by Nintendo. of course; Nintendo got word of it and they quickly acted to protect their intellectual property (regardless how i personally see their claims). the first edition of retro gamer to include iphone reviews had only one set of games with a 90+ review - it was in fact the game and watch series. next to it was pacman, a classic game with 80%+ and the CEO of namco saying indie developers ruin the market.. so much for that when they get worse reviews. Apple has a review process for a reason - they catch most of the basic issues. some of the most successful games have actually been the most simplistic of games. it really varies depending on what you expect as a consumer tho. you cannot please everyone however, so some people will always be upset you put a horrible number for bad quality for indie developers - and i seriously don't agree. 14 and 15 year olds releasing software for the first time may not be the highest quality - but some indies (including myself) have been writing software for 20+ years.. i am sure most of the bigger companies are using outsourced engineers in india, china etc where the average age of their programmers are low and their experience would rarely be over 2-3 years. keep that in mind when considering how your games are written and what you expect from a quality perspective. i'm a programmer doing it as a passion; my day job is boring management
as i said; it is about expectations. Apple has made a great platform for consumers to get cheap software. it wasn't long ago that you would be forced to paying 50-60 USD for a very detailed game.. indie software would be a minimum of 5 USD. in a way; apple has ruined this for developers, but they make it up with volumes.. just think how developers feel when they want to support android, windows mobile or symbian - and users now expect everything at 99c yet they don't get the same sales volumes as they do on the iphone.. you'll find a number of companies going bust under these circumstances.
So why don't you stood up for your game and against this race to the bottom trend and put the pricing you think your game deserves? Firemint's did it for real racing and activition is doing it for Cod zombies. I believe that if a game is good enough people will still patronize it even of it is not 99cc.
i have - i refuse to put a 99c price tag on our game and watch games. we had it there as everyone else was before; we put it up to 1.99 - which we believe is the true value (they are simple, addictive repetitive games); and people like them. we noticed no difference in sales between 99c and 1.99. we have some larger titles in the works - and they wont be 99c we also sell desktop versions; which have a different pricing structure. apple allows volumes; so, the end result can be feasible.
I suppose I went a bit overboard. I have purchased several indie games I enjoy, and there are lots of small developers that have made great projects. I just haven't understood the outright hatred for big companies and their products exhibited by some TA posters. I do agree there have been some bad games by big companies as well -- Mass Effect on the iPhone was absolutely a cash in and a let down. But Gameloft overall has made good games (Gangstar, Nova, and Star Defense especially in my opinion,) but are constantly reviled, and there's a reason GTA CW won awards on the DS and PSP -- it's a fantastic game, and the iPhone version is the most fun I've had onmy iPhone -- yet some posters arbitrarily call it trashbecause Rockstar is a big company. They then hold up these little postage stamp sized, shallow games as the pinacle of iPhone gaming just because they'remadrby indie developers. Anyway -- I think iPhone gaming needs the big companies in order to grow, but a mix of big and little is great.
That is good, the race to the bottom trend is not helping the industry. When rockband was released by EA their facebook page was slammed by peolple echoing "Why is this not 99cc? "
i'm a grown man - i can handle it this i don't understand either. indie developers can suck too. it has nothing to do with the size of the company; but really the attitude the companies have towards their customers. i like my customers, i frequent these forums to get feedback and ideas on how to make it better for everyone what i am more concerned about is when CEO's of large companies ditch on the indie developers who clearly are much more skilled than the people these companies hire and dig up dirt instead of trying to work with the indie developers and capitalizing on the skills available and making everyone happy. i've personally been doing many mobile projects over the years - in many cases, i've had my "indie" game taken, new art/audio and then rebranded as the official version for the platform. those were the good old days. agreed - definitely.
