5 star ratings

[Rubicon]

Thanks for the compliment.

Originally Posted by nvx

For most of us still struggling to make even mediocre-quality games, it isn't a given that players will leave any comments, let alone positive ratings

Coupla things.
1) Don't put yourself down with negative comments like that. If others see it, it's hardly gonna help your cause. I went to look at your game and sure, it's not oozing features, but it looked ok to me. Be proud!

2) You have 3 good reviews on the landing page and that's really all you need. I've already seen a 4 and two 5's which tells me the game isn't shite. (And is in fact better than you made it out to be.) Now I know that, I'd buy it if the game looks like something I'm interested in.

As long as there's no bad ones, you don't need loads.

[Rubicon]

I was on about the archery game btw. I just went to look at your others and they all look decent to me.

We have an in-house job open...

[DistantJ]

Us indie devs don't have big (if any) advertising budgets, so people are kind of taking a leap of faith when they spend their money on our apps. If the number of stars is higher, it makes people feel safer and happier to click the buy button and risk a dollar or two.

Unfortunately, in life, people tend to feel more compelled to let the world know how they feel about something when they're angry, whilst if they are content with something they just happily use it.

This is why a lot of developers add a 'rating nag' system to try to get more of the users who enjoy the game to rate it. Usually the nag pops up after you've played a certain number of times, so somebody who dislikes it has usually given up by now, so they can target the people who do enjoy it.

There's no penalty from Apple whatsoever for a low star rating but the overall rating usually factors in when somebody is trying to decide whether to buy or not.

[EvilArev]

Originally Posted by psj3809

Yeah but look here as well, in the Promo section theres plenty of 'download our free app, write a review and the best review will be in with a chance of a $25 gift voucher'

So all the lemmings then write reviews about a ridiculous app such as 'Menstrual Calculator 2012' (okay made that up) saying how great it is just to try and win the gift voucher, depressing.

Right, that's also against the rules, just that Apple doesn't monitor every topic on every major mobile gaming site to look for such things. When you're trying to do it under their noses they'll most likely take immediate action.

[Jason Stark]

From a developer point of view I love honest feedback. You tend to learn more from the negative comments than the positive so don't be afraid to say what you really think.

Balanced and helpful feedback makes games better for everyone.

[Issac]

Originally Posted by David Phan

Be honest. You're not doing the developer a favor when you provide a 5 star review with minimal feedback. Be honest with your score and provide positive or negative (constructive) feedback. The biggest thing that helps and motivates developers is when they get honest and detailed feedback that they can act upon to improve their game.

Cheers,
DP

Originally Posted by Jason Stark

From a developer point of view I love honest feedback. You tend to learn more from the negative comments than the positive so don't be afraid to say what you really think.

Balanced and helpful feedback makes games better for everyone.

First of all, I know you are all probably really busy, so thank you for all of your responses.

Secondly, in response to the posters I quoted - the two reviews that I left on iTunes (under Atlier Fan), I feel, were honest. I had/am having fun with both games.
Also, I generally just like games. I feel that many of the other gaming sites are too negative for the sake of it, and it seems to attract and promote that type of attitude amongst their users.
To me it feels like there is a learning curve to touch controls, and to the intricacies of a new game, so I always give it time for me to learn before saying "the controls suck" or something as reactive and poorly stated. And, if there is anything I have learned, if an (iOS) game is released before it is completely ready, an update isn't far behind.

Long story short, I do like to contribute to the gaming community in some form - including being constructive about this and that; I just wanted to know about the ratings aspect. Thanks, everyone!

[DemonJim]

I agree totally that giving a player a reward for giving 5-stars is very unethical - am glad this is against the rules.

Besides, I want my average rating to be an honest reflection of the game's quality so I can judge whether people genuinely like it. That benefits me far more than a load of fake incentive-based 5-star reviews.

You have to remove bias from the equation, not just for fairness but so you know if you made a great game. Knowing what you did right or wrong helps you make better games in the future.

I can totally see though why devs state that "giving us 5 stars helps us improve the game!" because that's true. It's informing the player that it helps the dev sell more and therefore afford to spend time on updates, sequels and stay in business. I suppose this will bias the score up slightly, but is nothing like offering extra coins or powerups or something.

[schplurg]

Several games in the current top charts promise a bonus if you leave a review. Not sure if it specifies a five star, but I see a lot of reviews for Offroad Legends that say "Just doing this for the 500 points", and it's a 5-star.

OL is a decent looking game, but it's one of a billion side-scrolling car physics games. Suddenly it's number 12 on the app store (although it isn't so high on the grossing charts). I dunno, maybe it's just that good, not saying it isn't. Same with some other new games. 51,000 ratings for CSR racing? I mean it looks really nice, but seriously?

I'm surprised Apple allows this because some of these top games are not the top earning games for Apple. It seems like they'd want games that are making the most cash at the top of the list.

Lotta shenannigans on the App Store, or any other business for that matter.

[nvx]

Originally Posted by schplurg

Several games in the current top charts promise a bonus if you leave a review. Not sure if it specifies a five star, but I see a lot of reviews for Offroad Legends that say "Just doing this for the 500 points", and it's a 5-star.

OL is a decent looking game, but it's one of a billion side-scrolling car physics games. Suddenly it's number 12 on the app store (although it isn't so high on the grossing charts). I dunno, maybe it's just that good, not saying it isn't. Same with some other new games. 51,000 ratings for CSR racing? I mean it looks really nice, but seriously?

I'm surprised Apple allows this because some of these top games are not the top earning games for Apple. It seems like they'd want games that are making the most cash at the top of the list.

Lotta shenannigans on the App Store, or any other business for that matter.

I dont know about Offroad Legends, but seriously, you shouldn't underestimate CSR Racing.

I downloaded the game when it came out because I dig car customization and 'racing' like this (huge fan of "Fast and Furious" movies) and I've played it far more than I would care to admit

as a game developer, I could clearly see just how much effort Bossalien has put into every aspect of the game in order to maximize social and iAP

True, the actual game mechanics are extremely shallow, but everything else is designed very professionally with a lot of thought and love, and the game could have easily passed as a priced game (without the fuel and gold coin shenanigans)

Many of the reviews and ratings are left by customers who are truly and genuinely satisfied with the game.