We're looking into releasing a free version of our latest iPad game, and are considering not including retina graphics (the paid version would have retina). The main reason is just to keep the download size under the 50 MB OTA limit. Has anyone else done anything similar? If so, what was the user reaction?
As a potential customer (who seemingly obsesses with retina ), I see absolutely no problem with that. Think about it... while you're showing off your gameplay with the free version, retina graphics could act as a reward for your paying customers. That said, I think it would be best to mention that the full version has retina graphics in the free version's app description.
A lot of users do not read the description. They may not like the graphics because they are low res, so be put off buying the paid version. If you are using a free version to entice users into a paid version, you have to make it appealing. Excluding the Retina graphics will probably have the opposite effect.
You could put some screens (the main menu as an example) retina-ready but keep the big one not with a big flashy sign saying 'retinasize this for only .99'.
I don't really see much benefit in excluding retina. I see a lot of lower reviews on games that don't have retina graphics. Do a lot of iPad users have have a 3G data plan anyways? I personally don't know anyone with a 3G iPad, but many people with a wifi iPad that prefer to have a data plan on their phone instead.
I wouldn't do it. You'll severely hamper their first impression (and, as others have stated, noone's gonna pay attention to the non-retina demo vs real-deal...)
You say this is a iPad game. I think it would depend on how many iPad3 users you have, since that is where the Retina graphics are being used. iPad 1/2 users won't see any difference.
well the first question would be what game are you talking about? flockwork? did you try to optimize the usage of retina assets for the normal version or this you just added every at x2? juding from the screenshots the artstyle would allow you to optimize alot there.. add texture compression and you should have no problem squeezing the normal version under 50 megs..
