I haven't seen this kind of topic before, so I thought I would create, just to see if I am being prejudiced or not. So here it is, I only play premium games, no freeware stuff (99,9%), and I have seen a certain tendency for freemium devs to fall into the same mistakes which make make run away at the first glance of any such stuff. I would really like to know if I am alone, if there are any other stuff I have to shield myself from, or if I am missing some gems because of this ithing feeling. So here is a short list of stuff that make me want to run away when I see it: - Flashy images with sentences written in flamboyant types in a diagonal across part of the image (any self-respecting dev makes the wording formal and as a sub of the image, not over capping it, also mixing pastel colours with live ones) - games with .io in the name (this is a new fashion of sorts that I don't fully understand, but everyone seems to be putting .io on their "minimalist" games to somewhat show off that they are cool and avant-garde. News flash, it means jack... You wouldn't see a Baldur.io instead of a Baldur's Gate would you?) - Game developers (and Games) with Lots of caps on their names, even though it is just one word (no spaces), like MadOverGames or PlayFusion, or Neogen BeatZ (I mean, really, either space out the words or don't use caps, it seems silly) - Stickman games... Really?!? Any game that uses stickman instead of other graphics just smells of lazy to me. To the point where this week Stickman Zombie Killing 3D came out... stickman...3D... anyone see an oxymoron here? - Devs with Asian names. Single devs or companies. Strangely enough this gives me a feel that you will see poor translations or no wording at all. - "blocky", "clicker", "tapper", "autorunners/jumpers", "match-3", "social-rpg" (which by the way what the heck is a social RPG?!? I am now 35 yo and RPGs are for anti-social ppl (myself included) that play solo, we don't want to interact with other people...) games. All these games just feel adequate for casual gamers or people with too much time on their hands (those that will spend easily 200+ hours playing farmville, but are scared of a 30 hour RPG...) Anyway just my two cents. Am I losing something for closing the window as soon as some of these show up? tks
"So here is a short list of stuff that make me want to run away when I see it: - Flashy images with sentences written in flamboyant types in a diagonal across part of the image (any self-respecting dev makes the wording formal and as a sub of the image, not over capping it, also mixing pastel colours with live ones)" This so much this. And of course the ones with one screen only, showing a menu. Bad use of generic fonts or a mix of hastily "scanned" pictures and some stock art sprites.
Sports (except motorsports which can make good games). Management/business running/town building type games Match 3 (with a few exceptions). Hidden object games (I like point and click type games as long as they don't give you a page full of objects and a list full of ones to find) Any games that look they give me too much to read (so that's all gamebooks out except Lifeline with it's relatively short snippets and spaced out pace) Episodic games. I'm not into paying for part of a game.
I usually turn away from anything that says in its title or description: "my first game" "made by a kid" "the best ever" "the most (fill-in the blank; addictive, challenging, etc.) game ever"
-I am so tired of games practically requiring Facebook! This pushes my buttons like no other! I would much rather play with actual gamers who sought out said game, than chance reliance on my (Non-gaming) idiot mother & crackhead neighbors....so "no you cannot have access to my Facebook profile or post 10bazillion messages on my wall"! -Games that are not games ...yet they are sold/advertised as such. -Any developer who has previously released a slot machine/casino/bingo type app....NO ...just no! There should be a separate AppStore for all this junk!
Games with energy timers - why force a break in the action? Games which have more than five IAP's listed - that's not a good sign. Games which require Facebook to connect with others - there are other ways besides the Facebook! Games which have you 'dominate players worldwide!' - yay, got attacked again, lost everything, repeat. I may not automatically run, but I do cringe when I see games over 1GB, but will selectively try some if the graphics look worth it....
Replying... So, I know this is not very good politics, but people's answers were so good up to know, i feel compelled to answer everyone, like this The first one is soooo true, either on the graphs or the gameplay(crashlands is a crafting game but that is one mechanic among many, not the main point of the game. Never really understood the thing with minedraft, sure you can create anything you want, but then what? What is the point? The one about lots of IAP, very true lol. Games with more than 1Gb make me cringe, but sadly there are so many great games out there paid over that amount, that they make me cringe because i know i dont have infinite space. And the dominate the world, yes i hate games with PvP sillyness where players atk you while you are away... Ohhh "gambling games" are the worst junk cluttering the appstore. Yes the most ever are usually awesome games... not. Hmmm interesting, lots of points of debate for me here. Sports-yes, but management games are good for mobile, because they are adequate for the 5min breaks. Normally dislike sports games on mobile, not very adequate, but there are some good racing games. Management, city building, etc - most are freemium junk, if anyone knows a good civ game that is not freemium and is not junk, please let me know. I do however like Concrete Jungle, interesting mechanics for those of us that like deckbuilders or boardgames Match 3- only good one i know is ticket to earth, or the old puzzle quest, but the first one is episodic, be aware. Hidden objects - only good game is hidden folks. And that game is AMAZING it blows the competion a mile away. Games with walls of text - i do like gamebooks, but regardless the new iteration of warlock on firetop mountain(or whatever the accurate name) can give you a different thought on gamebooks, since it does not have walls of text. Episodic games-all telltale games are like that but only some are really good. Do not buy into the shitty batman game. Very technically bad. Other than that, it depends. I dont like episodic games, but i do like games in which the dev keeps giving us more content, like space marshals or guild of dungeoneering. Hope this helps give a different view of things you hate Grrrr i hate games that do not show you gameplay. I even go further and say that all games should have a video of gameplay on their appstore page. Stock art usage should also be.... more criteriously applied.
That's all fair enough. I don't actually think any of these types of games are bad. They're just not to my personal tastes. For the match 3 games I did enjoy Switcheroo and Guardian Sword.
@danci hmm need to check those. Also i just found another thing that really irks me. Games with simulator and 3D from a company who will not be named and that go "on sale" all at the same time constantly, thus filling 4 or 5 pages of appshopper, that and the amazing games that are 19.99 but constantly go on sale (like every ten days) to 0.99. I mean really?!?
I'm not attracted also by free games with IAP. I am very suspicious with games from japanese editors because of a bad experience with Bandai Namco since they removed from appstore Namco Arcade (no way to retrieve IAP...) I hate games with external ressources to download ( the .IPA file backed on the PC is useless) I hate games which doen't start/run without internet (like Mario Run) I hate games which are requiring to register to an account. But after mayn years of experience you detect very easily the crappy things. I avoid also the games with abusive IOS version minimum requirement. i think that nowadays it is possible to release game still compatible with old IOS like IOS 6. The problem being the games created with game engines.....
Wow, you took the words right out of my mouth, and I couldn't agree more. I think the reason for these constant price changes is to "bump" their games to the top of the page on AppShopper, hoping that someone will buy. I only wish that there was a way to screen this garbage out from the AppShopper listings.
12.9 and portrait mode... ugh Well I can see that is a real problem, portrait mode is really only good for small screens. Luckily I have an ipod 6th gen and an ipad air.
This is probably just me, but I run a mile from the word "endless". First up, my time isn't endless. Second, I like an end goal to aim towards. Finally, endless just sounds like the developer couldn't work out how to finish their game.
Lol so true Yes i hate that endless fad that has been going on for some time now. Much like i used to hate roquelikes. But then i have played a couple of roguelikes i have liked (not many) but those do have an end. Problem with endless is like you say, my time is not endless. Endless for me equals to being pointless.
I used to be dead against free games and to a large extent I still am. The trouble these days is that so many actually good games don't bother trying to go down the paid route at all. So I'm a bit more forgiving of late, I'll try more games even if they're free, but the first hint of anything I despise about the traditional free to play model and I delete them. I know they have to make a living and I know that these days that's the easiest way for them to do it. But if I find a game I like I'd rather they included an option for me to pay and get rid of all of the crap I don't want to see. (Incidentally, I know it's double standards as I tend to put my games out as free. But those don't have adverts or forced purchases or any of the other shite I hate. They're free because I'd sooner people played them than I made money. Yes I am weird. If people like them they can buy me a coffee from the settings. If not, we'll play it anyway you get everything for free just the same.)
One more thing Another week gone by and another nail in the coffin. Trafic.io?!? Really? Because we really needed a driving "io" game, which stands itself apart from every other race game because... it has ".io" on it's freaking name... On the other hand, I just remembered something else that really irritates me. Games that don't have a video, only images, (on the appstore or on the TA forums) or games that have 20 second trailers that either don't give any gameplay footage or just throw so many stills at you during those 20 seconds your head hurts (in fact videos with stills are lame, period...)
I know exactly how you feel, I have the same sentiments for those same issues. As far as the .io games or any number of other "me too" games goes, we'll never be rid of that. If there's a bandwagon you can be damn sure there's going to be plenty of people jumping on it. What grinds my gears though is when Apple features some games that are, let's be honest, f'ing awful. While some really, really good games get buried in the landslide every week. (And I'm not referring to my games, what will be will be as far as those go.) Totally agree with the videos as well, now I don't consider myself a great maker of app preview videos. Far, far from it as anyone who's seen my videos will attest to But I do get annoyed when a video is little more than some screen grabs sliced together with a few buzzwords to try and intice people in. That's not what I want to see for Christ's sake, show me some gameplay, there's a whole other bit for screenshots Of course because all of that stuff annoys the hell out of me, I don't do it with my apps. Which might go some way to explain why they get ignored and disappear. I know they're not all completely terrible, I've at least one fan on here
