Is it worth fixing a bad game?

depends on the game.. maybe you can show what you have.

its hard to make a honest judgement right into the dark.

 

For us in a similar situation, we've decided it's worth giving things an overhaul for a (sort of) major update...not spending too long developing the update though. Then after that I personally would like to work on a new project most of the time...1 app is not enough on the store.

 

well, I have a bad game (actually not too bad). I call it bad cuz it's not fun though with polished graphics.
Now, it's under fixing and has got great improvement.
For my part, it worth fixing. Don't give up!

But as to your game, um....the character looks stupid and unfriendly. The color is dull. You have much room for fixing.

 

hmm well.. the game looks more than rough.. from my pov like an playable prototype /proof of concept rather than something to relase..


question here is if the gameplay is solid enough to warrant spending some serious money into this.

i assume you mean with redoing the assets that you want to hire someone who has the skills to really do something worthwhile..

so it up to you if you feel your idea is worth it..

at the end the best gameplay is worthless if its not put in a nice package.
especialy the iOS market is very visual oriented.


so though descision.. sometimes its better to let a dead horse be death.. and don't jump it all day long to get it running again.. i've seen several projects being poured in too many additional work without getting anywhere

since your game is very rough its an even more tough descision..

i would question myself if i would be even capable of making something of proper quality to alt least get some heads turning.

best of luck

 

you'd better find a qualified painter to change the character, really annoying.
And the background color makes me feel hot and dysphoric.
I still wonder how you will design the gameplay.

 

I would give a resounding "no", its not worth it just imo. You will see some games get featured after a large update yeah, but those are usually only the top dogs, or games that have seen some serious success at some point in their lives (or game companies with internal apple connections).

I think your option 2 is much better... remake the game, maybe add a new game play element here or there, and just release it as an entirely new game -- get another chance for getting featured, another chance for new release buzz, and just another chance at "making a splash."

The reality of updates is that they typically don't do anything for developers unless you already have a large user base -- remember that updates are targeted towards those who already own your game, not new customers. If you don't have a lot of people who already own your game, they aren't going to do much, if anything.

 

with enough reason!

 

If too much efforts, probably no. However, if you do make a significant update, you may leave a good impression for your current users.

 

It can be worth re-inventing your app, actually. Our app, Say What You See: The Collection had done alright in it's initial run, but no-where near as well as it's predecessor. The sequel was more ambitious, and we screwed it up a bit.

So we had a think about it, moved developers, and tore the whole thing down and rebuilt it from scratch. We fixed everything that was wrong with the old version, added some great new features, added a new mascot, changed our icon - pretty much everything was different but the core levels themselves.

The biggest change was going from paid app to a freemium app, which terrified us a bit.

Once we were all done, and extremely proud of the new app, we launched it last week. As we still had some audience, they spread the word about the new version. Suddenly, we started to shift. We used a few 'app of the day' services, word of mouth started to build, and In App Purchases started selling.

As I write today, 10 days after launch, we're currently the #1 Free App (yes, that's app, not game) in the UK. We're obviously really happy with that.

But the key thing was that we planned the revamp carefully, made sure we fixed what was wrong, and tested, tested, tested. We had to take a long, hard, honest look at ourselves, be objective about the feedback, and work like dogs for a few months.

But for us, it was definitely worth taking a second swing. If you still truly believe in the potential of your app, and you can afford the time/money it will cost to make it a AAA app, then I think you should too. If you're not 100% convinced in your heart of hearts that it will work though, I'd move onto something new instead.