The state of misery of being an app developer!

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by Syndicated Puzzles, Feb 22, 2013.

  1. Syndicated Puzzles

    Syndicated Puzzles Well-Known Member

    Would like to start an ongoing list of how miserable it can be, being an app developer. If others could post their miserable experiences and discoveries I think it would be cool to keep this list going.

    I will post the first one.

    One of our complicated apps was copied by a chinese company right down to the layout, functionality, text, app name and previous bugs that we finally got rid of in our latest version.

    Their app hits the store and timed perfectly our app gets flooded with fake 1 star reviews. Of course their app gets these perfect 5 star reviews form users that only bought this app.

    Man I wish my mom didn't teach me any form of morals so I could behave like this!
    Just amazed at how aggressive the competition behaves just to get more sales. Nasty!
     
  2. baris

    baris Well-Known Member

    Jul 30, 2010
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    How/why would they copy the bugs!? Do you think they got the source code somehow?

    This sounds like something you should (or am I being too optimistic?) be able to get Apple to intervene in, so good luck.
     
  3. DannyTheElite

    DannyTheElite Well-Known Member

    Oct 13, 2012
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    Area 51
    Wow. This was why I decided not to try developing.
     
  4. KennyK

    KennyK Well-Known Member

    Really? That's why? I just couldn't be bothered :p

    Anyway, maybe you could report this to Apple? Regardless, best of luck for your app Syndicated Puzzles.
     
  5. Syndicated Puzzles

    Syndicated Puzzles Well-Known Member

    The app uses the track pad to sign documents. The limitations of the track pad itself cause everyone to hit the same snags developing anything that uses the trackpad. We are moving in on 100 apps on the mac app store now so we are used to duplicate apps appearing. Not really complaining too much about the copying as much as the behaviour of the competing developer. If you are first to market you will get copied if the idea is good.

    Having a real app in front of you makes it a whole lot easier to create a copycat app. The reference points lead you to solutions.
     
  6. DevonMiller

    DevonMiller Member

    Nov 12, 2012
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    Got links to your app and their app? I'm curious to read if the negative comments use proper English or not. A lot of the fake reviews are usually easy to pick out since they're generic reviews often times with broken English.

    I imagine they just hire people to start flooding the reviews. You can probably do the same via Fiverr.
     
  7. MarcJay

    MarcJay Well-Known Member

    Oct 12, 2012
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    Wow. Full on nuclear attack. Dirty. I assume effective?
     
  8. Syndicated Puzzles

    Syndicated Puzzles Well-Known Member

    Don't really want to get into a flame war. Our app has clawed its way back today. The written text reviews for some reason have all disappeared. I think enough people clicked on the Report A Concern button and Apple removed the bad reviews (single review and the ones that didn't even make sense.
     
  9. Appvism

    Appvism Well-Known Member

    Feb 9, 2013
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    Sorry to hear that, i too would like to check between the two and see, do you have links? If something like his happened to me, i think i would email Apple about it.

    With regards to your post title, i am still in the process of building my first game so after i've released it i'll provide my feedback! (Yeah, not very optimistic about my game in terms o sales and downloads!!)

    Cheers
     
  10. afriday11

    afriday11 New Member

    Feb 10, 2013
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    You should give apple a call and report all this. They would probably take action against the offending party. China doesn't exactly have a clearly defined idea of protecting intellectual property.
     
  11. battletictactoepro

    Jan 29, 2013
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    Copying other people work is nasty and not good but copying is unavoidable in this digital world. I am not saying that copying is ok. I am totally against it. I am saying it to encourage people to still develop their ideas and not afraid being copied by other people. The key is to be the first come up the idea in the apple store. But of course the idea and the app must be really good so it's not easy copied by others.

    My friend developed a very successful app and of course his app was copied by many including one big famous company. But since his app is first with that kind of idea, his download and income are not affected by other similar apps.
     
  12. One interesting issue about this is the marketing aspect. A lot of people advocate brand and game awareness at the earliest possible stage (start of a project). If you have a very unique idea, one of the difficulties would be to protect the idea so that you can be first to market whilst at the same time generating interest for downloads and to get people excited about your concept.
     
  13. Syndicated Puzzles

    Syndicated Puzzles Well-Known Member

    The Mac App Store at the moment is kind of like a village of 12 people. The inbreeding of ideas is getting to the point where every single day the same apps appear over and over again. Brand new concepts are a tough sell in the real world. People need to be able to digest creativity before they are willing to buy it. Apple isn't rewarding the creative developers (enough) especially on the Mac App Store. They tend to constantly feature the same apps over and over again. Some apps have had 10 + features and apps that have tried to push the new get ignored. Pretty sad if you think rewarding creativity will move the stores forward.

    The first to market advantage is realistically a three to four week window at the moment if an idea is successful. Some studios are sitting in copy mode and are ready to duplicate successful apps in a matter of a few days.
     
  14. MHille

    MHille Well-Known Member

    JiggleSaw was a simple idea that I worried could be easily copied. I regret not talking about the game and idea as soon as I could, it really stifled the launch.

    Matthew
     
  15. Maybe the best way to market a great idea (whilst protecting it at the same time) is to the gradual approach. Be generalized to start off with, including basic information - title , outlined concept etc then add more meat as the game develops. Anyone who will want to utilize some of the ideas will still have to play catch up and if you do a great job, everyone will see that it's just a copy or homage to your game.

    The best analogy would be during the holiday season. Give little presents during the day and then save the biggest and best surprise till the end.
     
  16. Syndicated Puzzles

    Syndicated Puzzles Well-Known Member

    Blue Spiral you need to put your party dress on and push up bra from day one, otherwise it won't work. There is no place in the world where your first impression is as important as on the app store.
     
  17. I'd definitely agree with that, it's no use having a great game if nobody knows anything about it. I guess I was trying to brainstorm a strategy where you have the best of both worlds, exposure and the idea at the same time. I don't really think their's an effective way of doing it without harming your own endeavours. Nature of the beast.
     
  18. Intelectual property rights and copyright is a very complex area with lots of people who specialize in it. I'm sure their's lots of information out there.
     
  19. Wow, that's a story. Shame for the Chinese company. But think it optimistically, you got copied only because you are successful. And Apple would definitely interfere if you report.
     

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