How is Rinth Island escaping hate for its IAP?

[30BelowStudios]

I'm sure the gaming public isn't as 1 sided as this thread is and many players probably share your thoughts. It's just not what I'm used to or how the games were when I grew up. Hell I used to play games that had limited lives and continues, then you'd have to restart the entire game! Gamers have evolved and as developers we need to follow these trends. In the end you do raise valid points that may be more relevant than my old school mentality LOL.

[dclose]

Originally Posted by GSnyder

As a paid-up-front game, Rinth Island seems to me to make the worst possible IAP mistake in that it disables an essential and simple feature, undo, unless you pony up more cash for an IAP.

That's the reason I haven't even bothered with this game, which would otherwise be an insta-buy for me. So I don't think it's escaping hate if it's turning off users who would otherwise buy it. They just aren't aware of the hate.

Originally Posted by pazzy

@GSnyder, I think the lesson with IAP is not to violate expectations. ...snip...

Very early prototypes of Rinth had much, much smaller puzzles. Restarting was basically like rewinding. Puzzles slowly grew in complexity and size over several months... the change was just too slow and subtle to sufficiently recognize that paywalling Rewind would violate many peoples' expectations.

I'm a fan of Toki-Tori, Beyond Ynth, and a few other similar ones that have always come with a (limited) rewind included. You generally can back up a step or two, but not much beyond that (as generally then it would make more sense just to restart). I was very surprised to see that Rinth Island didn't come with a rewind, and that you were charging for it. To me it set off little alarm bells in my head as I see this as one step down the path to increasing amounts of IAP. That's not necessarily fair to you, but it is based on my experience with similar apps from other developers. In other words, a few bad apples have tainted my viewpoint. I'm glad you spoke up and explained your reasoning behind your decision. Thanks! That said, I would've voted for including a limited (one or two step) rewind, especially since it's practically required for larger levels, imho, instead of just selling a rewind via IAP.

Further Edit: I also see that the new game Shark Dash, by EA, is also offering rewind as an IAP, so it seems this is become a trend and definitely seen as a money-making opportunity by devs. I guess "coins" weren't selling, so pick a game element and break that out? Not a plus in my books! Wonder what game element folks will try to break out and sell next?

[GSnyder]

On the general subject of rewind...

I've been playing iBomber Defense Pacific recently, and it has an interesting rewind system that's worth studying. Rewind goes back one wave, but it takes a while to recharge. So you can have a second try at a botched wave, but not a third.

I find that this system discriminates nearly perfectly between stupid little brain-fart mistakes and larger strategy errors. You can undo the former but not the latter, and both of those points feel fair.

[mr.Ugly]

whats wrong with iap like a rewind? usualy when i read a iap discussion i always have the picture of a crying baby in my mind.

fact is the big mass out there does not care.. which is nicely shown by all the free2play games stuffed full of consumeable iap in the top grossing charts worldwide.

even big titles like angry birds space now has consumable eagly, level skipping super birds.. so what.. some cried out lod then wrote hatefull reviews and its still leading the charts.

alot of bitching and hate is going around this forum against price, iap, fiesize, gc and icloud support and what not.. but then ta does not represent the mass market by faar but aims at more traditional core gamer. You dont see reviews from generic f2p game xyz titels, strategie guides and whatelse catered to the top grossing games.

anyway there is a saying here.. nothing is eaten as hot as it was cooked.. people like bitching and moaning.. especially about the cheapest games .. 99cents.. ridiculous should be free... iap.. wtf! go away evil satan.. don't empty my itunes gift card so quick.. my parents wont buy me another one for a month!!!

[amn624]

Finally got stuck on 3.4. Seems no way to solve so I opted to buy Hints for $.99. Utterly useless! Shows completed view but not the steps to get there, so the puzzle remains unsolved. What a farcical come on! Great. If I want to proceed any further, I have to buy Skip to unlock the next level.

Y'know what? Screw it. They're not getting another penny from me.

[IntrinsicGames]

Originally Posted by dclose

Further Edit: I also see that the new game Shark Dash, by EA, is also offering rewind as an IAP, so it seems this is become a trend and definitely seen as a money-making opportunity by devs.

I believe it's Gameloft actually. Wasn't aware that it had IAP for rewinds, but I remember seeing it with "Saving Yello".

[dclose]

Originally Posted by IntrinsicGames

I believe it's Gameloft actually.

Oop! You are correct. It's Gameloft. It just doesn't "feel" like their kind of game, which is why I can never remember that they produced it! I'm loving it though, and hope to see more like this from them.

Originally Posted by IntrinsicGames

Wasn't aware that it had IAP for rewinds, but I remember seeing it with "Saving Yello".

It has IAP for coins, which you can use to purchase "Elixers" that allow you do undo shots. So far I've found that just restarting a level (a la Angry Birds) is the way to go. I've 3-starred 2 1/2 tubs so far, and haven't wished for an undo yet. Most levels are completed in 1 or 2 shots. If more were involved, it might make more sense, as who'd want to keep restarting just to get the 16th shot perfect this time, for example?

Edit: And for me, anyway, if I'm going to be forced to buy an undo, it's far more palatable to buy the ability to undo outright, than to be forced to buy an undo use that's consumable. The latter I would never, ever do, and that's my choice as a cost-conscious consumer.