Hi My next app will be free to download, coming with some free levels. It will also have a one time in app purchase ($0.99) to unlocked all other levels forever - including any released in future updates. The game will have about 50 levels at launch. My quandary is, what is a good number of free levels (out of the 50 total)? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and also any examples of games that do this and how many free levels they included. Cheers, Morgan
It depends on the game. I think that IF you go with a free version you should not make it too small. You often see that devs give the first levels away, but those are boring tutorial type levels that do not show the true coolness of the game. Rescue City gave away 20 levels, of 60 total (they have added some more levels since). That worked for me, I knew I really liked the game when I bought the IAP.
10 to 15 should be okay. Also, you should try and get levels of varying difficulties. There's nothing worse than getting the fairly easy levels and really enjoy it, buy the full version and find it totally unplayable. Let people know what they're in for. And if your game has it, also include different environments used in the game - eg Snow area, desert area, jungle area etc.
