Hi I have checked and did not see the subject discussed before. Tell me if i missed something. we are a young indie studio based in Cambodia. We released two puzzle games until now, "Numbees and the world of math" and Brainsquare (can see the screenshots below to get an idea) Numbees is pay for download with free side app to demo the game. Brainsquare is in-app purchase. As app developer we are still getting crazy to try to guess the correct approach that will be ok for players. Even after some experience feedback, it's still not obvious which choice is the best. And the developer part is sometimes pushing away the player part when trying to analyze the situation. So here i ask to people playing, what mecanisms of payment do you usually like/dislike: pay for download, in-app purchase ? What are the "hell no!" or the "yes it makes sense" system you experienced before? (i don't count the case of "polish full free without ads" awesome game that everyone wants to play ;-) ) What do you think? Rudy
For me, It's a yes if it's for extra content such as levels, to unlock full version of a game. It's a no if the iap is for consumables such as energy, things to speed up progress or anything that gives an advantage over other players.
If the game is really good and a one time IAP is necessary ill go get it. But If its like @cloudpuff said its a no for me too.
No double currency. No timers. No consumables. Yes unlock full game. Yes bonus content. Yes skin pack. Errrr, maybe remove ads.
Preferable I would much more prefer to pay outright for a game as long as it's reasonable. I don't personally care for the FTP model that much although it is used as a standard in most TCG games and such. If you cntinue to create games like you have then I would stick to the paid model with no ads. Ads are a true killer for most games that I own. It is tedious and annoying with something constantly popping up all the time trying to get me to buy it. my .02 thanks
Hey Rudy, very nice to see another SEA developer here. I'm from the Philippines myself. As a developer while there is a vocal minority that says they would rather pay full price to play, the truth is that the vast majority of players want free games, so we're forced to work with that. People who have reviewed our game Elevator Joe say thay they're happy with our usage of iAP so I can share with you the stuff that we did" 1)We use full screen ads very sparingly at the end of the round, every 3 rounds or so. 2)We also did a cute little thing by having a twitter bird onscreen that you can tap anytime to share on twitter, and your standard twitter and facebook sharing buttons at the end of a round (not really ads, but sort of related) 3)I think people's favorite thing though is the video ads care of Vungle. So with Vungle we request that players view an ad in exchange for Chibiyens (our currency). I think it's popular because it feels more "honest". You're asking people to view the ad in exchange for money, so it doesn't feel abusive. Your games look great btw, I'm excited to try them out!
Players always say they don't want IAP and will never buy IAP, but the games that are fun and have IAP gets tons of revenue in the end. So you gotta consider how to strike a balance between the two.
I have played a lot of ios games that have IAPs In app purchases are okay if the player has to purchase hidden chapters/ bonus conten or playable characters/ skins.. It's annoying when it is absolutely necessary to purchase ingame currency for upgrades to progress through the game, I would prefer that IAPs be there for upgrades though it should stop the player from progressing through the game Games like six guns requires players to keep purchasing to progress Yes I understand that freemium games need to make money But I prefer purchasing a game rather than downloading a freemium game... Anyway... Sometimes IAPs are usefull... In games like the dark knight rises where the player earns credits( in game currency) to upgrade their character... Purchasing credits to upgrade your character faster is what many people might want to do... Though its not really necessary because not upgrading your character doesn't stop you from finishing the game. A game should have IAPs but the player shouldn't have to purchase them A lot of games steer players towards IAPs and that's why people find them annoying... IAPs for me can be annoying at times.
The problem is that these items do not generate enough revenue to make a free to play game sustainable. This usually leads to the addition of in-app consumables. I don't like it but its just the nature of the beast currently.
Thanks for all the answers. Really interesting!! Especially the feedback about Vungle. For us we are considering to removing the in-app purchase of our last puzzle game and move back to the classic pay per download with free demo version. Seems in-app may match for some game, less for some other. Or we need to improve feature to our game also. Was wondering also, about the time in which the player is being suggest an in-app purchase. What is too early? What is too late?
