An iPhone owner walks into a bar...

[Rubicon]

Originally Posted by ArtNJ

@Rubicon -

You concede my basic point, that in a ranked online multiplayer game, the purchase of units that are worth using is pretty much mandatory to the serious competitor. That means that the price of your game is unknown and unknowable to the serious leaderboard aspirant. Its 2.99 + however many IAP packs contain units that are important to the serious competitor. That is potentially unfair pricing. Maybe "unfair" isnt the right word -- the problem is that the ultimate price is unknowable, and can keep increasing without limit.

I fully get it, it was you that raised this the other day and we've been talking it over internally.

However, there is a wrong basic assumption here that we intend to keep adding iaps with new stuff in. In fact the plan is to keep expanding the ones that are there to make them have more value both on release day and into the future. Which is altogether far more altruistic imo than what you guessed at and then "publicised." Better for our players - their investment increases in worth over time, better for us coz we sell more.

I got all righteous because basically we're one of the few developers who genuinely listen to customers and try to produce free stuff whilst still earning enough to live on. If you'd followed the evolution of our current game, you'd totally get that. There's a lot of sharks and assholes out there, but we ain't one of em.

Originally Posted by ArtNJ

I'm sorry my post seemed to be an attack to you. It was meant to be a very mild thing. I have no reason to attack you personally (as opposed to the pricing model), you have quality product out there, and seem to take pride in what you do. I'm looking forward to trying your new game.

Peace

I'll also apologise and wind my neck in then. The red mist came down because your post made my game look bad based on misconception. If you try the game and still think it's shite, then I can totally suck that down and try to improve it.

[ArtNJ]

Originally Posted by Rubicon

I got all righteous because basically we're one of the few developers who genuinely listen to customers and try to produce free stuff whilst still earning enough to live on. If you'd followed the evolution of our current game, you'd totally get that. There's a lot of sharks and assholes out there, but we ain't one of em.

Yeah, I pretty much believed all that already, just from lightly playing GLWG and looking at the forum for that and the new game. And developers need to find a way to making a living out of it after putting in so much work, which isnt easy in the app store these days.

Your basic point in the OP is true, the app store pricing model is a problem for hardworking developers.

[Ravenblack]

I think devs and customers have different points of view. You might not get all your customers to see your side, Rubicon.

As a customer, the way I see it, developers should have stood their ground and not underprice their games under pressure of peer competition and customer demand. (Easy for me to say, of course.) Now we are where we are -- people now have the attitude that anything above a few bucks is too expensive and that they can wait for any game to go free, so they don't have to buy anything.

Developers should never have discussed the way they price their apps with customers. They should never have told the customers when they want to drop their price or what not. IMHO, they ruined it for themselves when they do. In what other market, do companies share the details of their business and pricing strategies with the customer anyway?

I think developers need to make a choice on who they are trying to target and focus on that. I feel that developers sometimes try to cast too large a net, they have to realize they can't please everyone. You could rail against this community but you are never gonna win them all over. Quit wasting time trying to make everyone understand/sympathize and just make your kickass game.

If you release a freemium+iap, you will likely be lumped together with the scammy developers, and that is a possible response from some in this community. Just be prepared for that.

I wish you good luck and I really look forward to your new game, because I'm enjoying Great Little War Game a lot.

[Connector]

Another joke...

This guy walks into a coffee shop and asks the waitress: "How much is the coffee?" "Coffee is 99 cents, the waitress said". "How much is a refill?" the man asked. "Free"!!!!! said the waitress. "Then I'll take a refill"!!!!!.💩