Clearly there is a lot of debate about FREE+IAP vs Lite+Full. I personally hate the IAP system with regards to games like Dungeon Hunter 3. The first 2 were well made (especially #2) and with 3 it totally killed the trilogy. I must say I'm guilty of purchasing $1.99 worth of gems in Dragonvale when the breeding island came out. I had roughly 50 gems in need of 125 when the update came and I wasn't about to wait over a month to double breed. So i bought 50 gems and waited about 4 days until I had the last 25ish to buy the island. Dragonvale is the TOP GROSSING APP on the CANADA & USA store and it's FREE!! What does that tell you??? I think when you buy a game for .99 up to 5.99 that you should have ALL the game's features and future updates in the original price. No hidden fees for a secret map or new weapons, it really makes the game distasteful in the eyes of the consumer. Developers have a different opinion on it but they should cater to the consumer and not try to change how games should be made/sold/purchased. Psychologically when you see FREE in bold under the game's avatar there's no reason not to download it, until you start the game and love it and find out you have the purchase the ability to play more of it. There is a lot of debate in many game threads and this poll will allow us consumers to show the developers which system works better and which we prefer.
I don't like IAP unless it is implemented very well (think Bug Heroes) and doesn't hinder the gameplay at all, and if you can still comeplete the game without IAPs. I personally prefer the traditional Lite+Full because you don't have to re-download the IAPs if you delete the game and reinstall it later, etc.
Thanks for making a poll on this, will be interesting to see what the results are The 'Why' part though - the actual discussion - isn't that exactly what the other thread is for? Ideally the best thing would be to merge the threads together of course. More importantly though, I'd like to post this poll on the Gaming side if that's cool, to see how TA posters feel in general on the issue.
I think having a single IAP to 'go full' is ok. Apart from that I prefer to directly purchase a full version, though I tend to buy stuff that I'm already looking forward to or have seen a good review. I would guess that most people prefer to try-first in some form or another, maybe us developers are 'different' when shopping for games? Off topic @OP: your signature says about Game Center Achievements being a requirement for you. Do you feel the same if only a leaderboard is present?
How about a third choice..."I don't care"? I've bought many games and apps using both models. However, as a dev, I don't plan on using any IAP. I see a lot of games that abuse it ("$49.99 for 100,000 coins!" etc) and I think other people do as well.
Though not terribly common yet, with iOS 5 developers can store these purchases in iCloud. So if you have to re-download or use multiple devices you shouldn't need to do anything to keep your purchases as they are tied to your iTunes account. Hopefully this becomes more common as iOS 5 development adoption continues.
Unfortunately for devs I don't download those games that are leader board only. I need achievements! I've been spoiled with Xbox Achievements and PS3 Trophies for too long to slip away from being rewarded in game. Personally I think any dev would be crazy to leave out achievements/leaderboards from here on in yet I still see plenty of awesome games without GC support which really bugs me. (ex: battleheart) Ya ya ya some of you think I'm being dramatic and that achievements aren't necessary, but I will argue til I'm six feet under that having achievements are very important. The real question is, why WOULDN'T a dev want to reward a player for playing their game?
Yea I know the discussion is elsewhere, maybe the poll can be merged, maybe it can't.. whatever, this is just to get an idea on how many people prefer one over the other. They can discuss it here or there but for the most part the other thread holds the bulk of the discussion. You can post the poll anywhere you like, there hasn't been a heck of a lot of feedback on it but do what you please
In-app purchases can work really well and it would actually discredit some games NOT to have them. I'm talking games like Jetpack Joyride and Temple Run etc, where there's an in-app store that you can buy things with virtual currency, and if you want to get stuff quicker you can pay real money for more virtual money. In those kind of games the in-app store gives something for players to work towards and it gives the option for the lazy people to just buy what they want. And no cost is too much to offer for a coin pack (re: the $50 for 100,000 coins statement). Developers aren't doing anything wrong offering that to players. Very rich people play games too. Cases where I've seen bad in-app purchase systems are in Triple Town and Mini-gore. Triple town you have to wait a ridiculous amount of time in game to get more turns or pay for more (unless you go well enough every game to earn enough virtual currency to support your next game). Mini-gore had characters that you could ONLY buy with real money, no option to earn virtual currency and buy with that. in-app stores like in Temple Run and Jetpack Joyride can add a lot of longevity for the player which is a good thing for both player and developer.
Yea Jetpack Joyride does IAP very well. On the flip side Halfbricks other game, Fruit Ninja, does Lite+Full very well. It definitely depends on the gameplay and how it's implemented. In this market it surely appears that if you want to try to make any money, you'll have to go with at least one of those two options unless you're a big company and/or have a well known game.
Freemium does seem to be frowned upon by most gamers and devs, it tends to do well with the farmville types though. Of course I prefer lite+full.
Exactly!!! Achievements are way easier to add than actual game mechanics, and they keep the player engaged longer Game dev 101 methinks...
