Benefit of doubt I will give this much benefit to Phosphor: We all know they were intending to turn the paid game into freemium. It is likely they removed the health packs intentionally for that edition of the game. After public uproar, they decided to instead branch versions, and rolled back many perks for the paid edition. It's very easy to, in this process, miss something (directly or indirectly) that may had resulted in the health packs not be restored correctly for the paid edition. I am certain they were removed intentionally at first, but I would not be so certain about them be missing in the final paid edition being an intentional thing, just source control headaches that come with branching code while keeping improvements going toward both branches of the app. I would love to see a bullet list of the changes that will come to the paid version in the upcoming patch. For the time being, the game is fun in it's premium-free form and I will stick to playing casually the previous version and avoid re-updating.
Agreed. Give them a bit to fix it. You guys are really demanding a lot out of them when they had just agreed to meet the demands the first time. Give them a month or so and see where they go with it. Cut the dev's some slack......
I am giving them the benefit of the doubt the pre-freemium version is on my ipad2, I didn't update. I figure if they fix this mess, then I will update it, if they don't I won't. Some people on here are ready to crucify anyone for making a mistake. Sheesh they put alot of effort/money in developing the game and want a return on investment, they are trying to figure out the best way to do it while not displeasing their original customers, in the process they messed up. So simply let them know you are displeased and wait for a fix, if it doesn't come, then delete the game and never buy one of their products again. Getting all worked up and name calling them is not the right answer. To phosphor, my best advice is be open and honest. Not saying you haven't been, just saying communication is the key. In the end you can't please everyone but you can always have integrity and offer original buyers something that you would spend your own money on and be proud of.
RE: RE: Healthpacks Chip, I seriously WANT to give you the benefit of the doubt with regard to the Health Packs, but the evidence to the contrary is stacking up heavily against you on this: 1. Prior to this "Update," Health packs were generously distributed throughout the environment (and enemy mobs) at a rate that made them easily obtainable and an integral part of advancement in the game. They were even strategically placed prior to the final encounter with the Boss mob (THAT careful attention to detail showed that you had the best interests of your players in mind so we could reach and experience the end game...) 2. Since Health Packs were plentiful in the version of the game we all bought, there would never have been a "need" to offer them for sale - you previously supplied us with generous quantities sufficient to enjoy game play without having to worry about them. 3. The entire idea of offering Health Packs for sale via the Tokens would have been completely illogical and unnecessary unless it was the plan all along to cause a scarcity of the Packs with this "expansion," thereby justifying the creation of a "market" for IAP Health Pack sales to the same players that you had previously gone out of your way to provide Health Packs at no charge. 4. Why would you even bother to sell Health Packs when there was previously no need to do so? The evidence and disappearance of all Health Packs from the environment (but purchasable in the store) points in the direction of the new IAP system your loyal paying customers are now dealing with. Chip, your name is first on the credits, so I'm assuming you took the lead in The Dark Meadow project. Because I enjoyed your game, I surely hope that you all get your act together in time to find a graceful solution to this mess, and that the first update of The Dark Meadow doesn't become the poster child for how NOT to roll out a new expansion and drive your customer base away in the process. I'm rooting for you.
I don't know if this is true, but as someone stated previously, it may have been part of the change to freemium to change the health packs into premium merchandise. It may have been overlooked as the switch back into two separate apps was slightly forced and quite sudden.
Possible, but, then again, the whole state of the "premium game" after this patch really points at either not understanding the outcry to begin with or hoping to pull a fast one. And I'm probably only wrong on one of those at most. Things that simply should not be ANYWHERE in the premium version: Ads, Tapjoy, any item for sale for sun coins that was either originally free or sold for gold. As best I can tell, they took the exact same app as the free to play version, added in a toggle to turn off the pause screen ad, and threw in a bit of code to check for the presence of a "bonus gift pack" for each save file. What they should have done is just added in the new areas and voice overs, perhaps even left out the sun coin based gear altogether, and done nothing to touch the existing "economy". If you want to grind and chase l33t gear, nothing stopping you from downloading the freemium edition, but all I, and I expect most of the "vocal minority", wanted was the same game I bought months ago with a new zone to explore. If the only way to get the new zone is to put up with toggling ads off, seeing Tapjoy hooks, and trusting they'll restore health kits the way they used to, eh, not really worth it. May as well just roll back to the Dec 2011 version if they can't manage to deliver the new area and interface improvements without all the obvious IAP and sponsored deal nudging.
Many of us can. The best way to reward us would be to dial back parts of the patch to remove the requirements on IAP purchases for new content from the premium game altogether, but leave the new content in, restore health kits to their previous state and abundance/scarcity, and offer up the new gear through in-game efforts, with an optional IAP system for some extra developer happiness, but balance the new content after premium players who buy no IAP. A company eager to restore their reputation in order to increase their profits might act just in the same manner. Unfortunately, like C. Hannum's and Franeker's insightful posts above indicate, regardless of the truth behind your words, the idea that health kits were removed as a part of a bug or mistake in development is hard to credit for most of us, and falls all to well within the parameters of a company backpedalling on an unpopular design choice, and placing the blame somewhere else than their own poor forecast of communal reactions. Come, now, no need to resort do a tad too personal and slightly desperate movere and pathos Ignoring families and loved ones in favour of an iOS game is not a positive trait, in my perception, not even when the game is your own The points of my civilized protests above is this: I do believe you. But arguing in favour of your attention and care probably does little at this point, especially when your previous promise to leave the premium app intact by splitting the freemium and premium titles resulted in this peculiar premium-freemium hybrid. For iteration, to truly restore the trust of the TA community in you (though I'm not saying this is necessary from a business perspective. I'm prepared for the reality that our opinions do not reflect the greater market, and will have no effect on your sales ), what you could do is this: partially dial back the patch to remove required IAP purchases for new content from the premium game altogether (and if you include an optional IAP system, still balance the game after premium players who do not purchase sun coins/IAP), restore health kits to their previous state and abundance/scarcity, leave the new content in, but make it available through in-game efforts. Is this a possibility? If so, is it a certainty?
Phosphor, thanks for working so hard on this game. It's fantastic. With all of these negative comments directed at you (for seemingly no reason) I wanted to at least say that Dark Meadow is easily among my top 3 games. I'm excited for health packs to return as normal, but even without that, I'm still loving the update because of the elevator and mysterious exploded hospital roof. It is seriously amazing and easily the most visually striking and haunting thing I've ever seen on an ipad. Thank you for all of your hard work and caring about members of the community, thank you for making a visually amazing game that's fun and has a strong and engaging plot, and most of all, thank you for committing to your work and to your fans. I'm excited to see what else you've all been working on. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some sort of Dark Meadow sequel or companion piece.
Look guys, a lot of you seem awfully set on being negative to whatever the developers say. They already said they're doing something (whether you consider that enough or not is another deal), but the fact they ARE doing something is already showing a level of commitment many do not display. They could've disappeared from the forums forever, leaving both versions as they were - many have done this. Instead, while they're making concessions to those of us that paid (again, whether this should've been done initially is not the point I'm trying to make - that's a different discussion) you're slapping them for being here. If I may make an analogy: A dog doesn't listen to a "come here" and runs away from the owner. When it eventually comes back, the owner smacks and calls it a bad dog. Now, is the dog more or less likely to come back the next time? (I am so not calling the developers a dog, just sayin') So thanks, Phosphor Games, for not leaving us out in the dark. Yes, it's not an ideal situation and more can be done for sure, but thanks for the steps you've already taken. Edit: I'm not saying we should grovel at developers' collective feet, begging for scraps, but show a little respect, dammit.
Obviously the premium version needs looking at, but some of these arrogant, nasty accusations are really unnecessary.
Well I will say this. I do appreciate that the developers are looking into the issues at hand. I also appreciate them taking the time to respond to comments here on the forums. I enjoyed their game and hope for their continued support of the platform. So let's hope that these issues are worked out and that the problem is put behind both us and them as developers.
I just installed thefree version. Game looks cool on the new ipad, but it seems if you go to the main menu and then back to the game it ports you back to the beginning? Also, i couldnt find any way to heal myself (besides leveling up), and thus i died after 15 mins of play. I think thats too punishing.
Phosphor that's awesome you would post on a weekend, i am upset with the changes but you already know that but I'm also happy you are fixing it cause I love the game just not the added fluff and for that thank you I'm awaiting a fix. People get upset but I have seen some harsh stuff said on here people need to chill Few pages back phosphor guys listened to the criticism and said a fix is comming. Let's just wait it out, phosphor could we know the changes your making on the game to fix it? I'm hoping its just taking the sun coin stuff out and making the items more expensive gold ones, leave sun coins to the freemium game but have gold Iap in premium game people would buy gold they do in infinity blade.
Phosphor got caught forcing a paywall on the premium version and now they want to slide by. Every change you see they intended, Now they want to convince us giving them money to play a game we bought is in our best interests. Simply fail phospor.
Some of these recent posts are hilarious. People are getting upset over people voicing their displeasure about this update. Guess what folks, they have a right to! I agree their is no need to throw personal insults but saying your upset about an update is fine. In my posts I didn't call the Devs any names but I was upset. The comment the dev made about ignoring their loved ones to post on the weekend was over the top though. I have a family and loved ones, ( don't we all) It only takes 5 minutes to type an email. Anyone who has bought this game from the beginning ( like myself ) and has followed these guys from the beginning knows why people were upset. Anyway, I agree that we all should lay off and let them rectify this situation like they said they would.
I simply detest buying an app in order to support a dev, and then retroactively having that support mean nothing when they change their entire format in an update. I buy a lot of my apps from Reddit, where people will promote their indie titles. I would resent saying "sure, I'll check this out and support you because you're trying hard and not resorting to some crooked IAP scheme" only to see them turn around and adopt it. I am fed up with seeing IAP applied to apps as nothing more than a money generator. They attach these real world values to something that doesn't represent time or effort on their part. They're charging merely to change a variable from a two to an eleven. They let it influence game design by implementing artificial bottlenecks and grinding to slow the pace of the game, solely to help steer more players to paying for that shortcut. Oftentimes, players who _already paid them_. To further compound the sleazy business of the mobile market, they will also market to us with in-game ads for other apps, and worst of all these product promotions and surveys with the promise of virtual currency rewards. I bought this game way back just because I felt (at the time) iOS could use more Unreal based games. I heard negative reviews regarding the actual gameplay, but went with it anyway. And I actually never got around to playing it. Now I know I won't ever bother. But if I could take back those few dollars, seeing as they changed the terms of the game, I would. I do want to praise Toucharcade for the review of the updated Dark Meadow. Reviewers here often excuse or glance over the integration of IAP in apps when we rely on them to criticize it. The only recourse we have as customers is to one star the app (check Zynga's Tiny Tower ripoff to see how effective that is) but you guys can influence people's purchasing decisions. I don't bother with free app-a-day deals, or Apple's top 25 list. I do purchase many of my apps after seeing them listed on the front page and given positive remarks. Lines need to be drawn so IAP becomes less socially acceptable, so that future incidents like this are prevented.
Done with it all... Deleted the game a couple days ago after seeing how many sun coins I got for an hours worth of gameplay, and my 20 something kill streak (a whopping 3)... Then seeing how much sun coins cost, and how many sun coins you needed for equipment, along with the whole $3 worth of junk they give their earlier adapters... Don't care if they try and fix it, or what they do to the game in the future... I just don't care anymore... Not while theres loads of other developers worth supporting and I got my whole couple dollars worth of entertainment out of the game... So... Deleted, and not buying from Phosphor ever again... Done and done, end of story.
@dib, The original game is pretty fun if you have it. I'm not sure what the negative reviews were about. I guess people wanted a map, and not having to take a while to get back to where they were ( which can be a pain if you are past even the second floor), but the game is otherwise ok. Worth checking out if you still have the original. They got too interested in making money - but walk a mile in their shoes - these guys might have their savings wrapped up in the game, or owe a bunch of money. How far would you go to put food on the table, or keep your house. We don't know their circumstances. Hopefully they can make it right, but writing anyone off for one error is pretty foolish in my book, and I wonder where anyone of us would be if we got treated the same way in our own work for doing something stupid.
They made a mistake. I guess you've never made one, or at least not one that required fixing? Why don't we see if they fix the mistake, and then we can make some rational decisions about what they are or are not? Does everything have to involve so much hatred?
