As the App Store approaches its first birthday, we thought it would be a good time to reflect on some common missteps that we have seen over and over as we have been reviewing the first salvo of games for the iPhone. Developers, lend us your ears!
1. Let us play in peace!
Developers must respect the iPhone's mute controls. If we have our iPhone's sound off, it is probably for good reason. Having a capable gaming system in our pocket all the time has encouraged us to pull it out for a game when we probably shouldn't. We hate to have our cover blown by a lazy developer when we're talking to our girlfriend on the phone or paying our respects at a funeral. Not to mention it is more than a little disturbing to hear Peggle sounds coming from two stalls over in the company bathroom...
2. Let us catch our bus!
Developers must let us freeze our game. Mobile games are quite often played on the go, meaning we need to be able to start and stop our games quickly. Locked-down save points and unskippable cutscenes may be okay for your living room, but they can be a real nuisance when out and about. We don't want want our 20 minute tactical invasion of a future Russia being spoiled by an untimely call from mum. The ability to boot up a game quickly and pick up right where we left off is a nice touch, and it might make us choose to play your game over someone else's.
3. Don't make us hate our thumbs!
Developers must keep the action where we can see it. We'll acknowledge that the iPhone presents a tricky design problem--the control surface is also the screen. This means that the game elements and our fingers have to compete for space. Many developers understand this. Others must have glass thumbs that allow them to see the enemy/missile/fireball that we always seem to find lurking out of sight.
4. Port games FOR the iPhone, not just ONTO the iPhone!
Developers must consider the iPhone's unique attributes when porting a game. We understand the economic forces that prompt devs to shoehorn an existing game onto a new platform. However, anyone with a discerning eye can spot the differences between a game built for the iPhone and a hasty port. Whether it be awkward controls, graphics that are too small or clunky menus, a lazy port can really ruin a game and sour us on the whole franchise. Take some time and polish the game a bit before asking us for $10 to cover the cost of the license.
5. Don't trick us into being your Beta (or Alpha) tester!
Developers must finish their games before releasing them. Digital distribution has many advantages, but can also breed complacency. Some developers seem to know that that they can always release post-launch updates to clear up any bugs or add missing features. This means that we often get stuck buying an incomplete game. We love developers who continue to add content and fix bugs after a game has launched, but we hate the ones that don't finish their game to begin with.
6. Don't make us hire a mystic to decide when to buy your game!
Developers and publishers must not manipulate prices to exploit customers. All too often we see a game release at an artificially low price to fetch good reviews, only to spike unpredictably in price a few days weeks later. It's equally frustrating to buy a game and see its price drop by 75% the next day. Devs should publish their pricing plans and stick to them, or expect to suffer the consequences in bad press, lost sales, and ill will from gamers.
7. Let us march to the beat of our own drum!
Developers must allow us access to our iPod libraries. If Apple's commercials are to be believed, we like to wear Converse, think differently, and dance wildly to hip indie music. Why would we want to be stuck listening to the 90 second loop of royalty-free music that you found on the internet? We know implementing this feature is a pain in the rear, but it should really be mandatory.
8. Find a good reason to use the accelerometer, or avoid it entirely!
Developers must not stick us with tacked-on tilt controls. Accelerometer controls make perfect sense for some games, and no sense at all in others--but that hasn't stopped devs from attempting tilt-based card games and similar nonsense. Think carefully about when and where tilt controls are actually useful, instead of plugging them in willy-nilly, and always give us the option of a couple of control sets so we can play any way we like.
9. Didn't tweet it, didn't happen!
Developers must allow us to connect with other players. We are not saying that every game must have full online multiplayer. However, if we are going to spend hours trying to get a high score, let us put it on an online leaderboard to see where we stand. Even better, let us tweet it, Facebook it, challenge our friends or upload our replays to YouTube. We live in a world of social networks and instant updates. The iPhone is a connected platform, remember?
10. Think about all types of gamers!
Developers should make their games as accessible as possible. There are a significant number of players who are colorblind or deaf. Sure, it might be unrealistic to make a game to work for absolutely everyone, but turning on subtitles for dialog or switching from colors to patterns can make a big difference. A minority of gamers will really appreciate it, and plenty of others will end up using these features too.
Disagree? Have something you want to add? Let us know in the comments.
14 Comments
GREAT! JUST GREAT!
Totally agree. But there are some things Apple needs to do to ensure that this is working well for everyone.
A big one I can think of is how they feature games -- the top sellers lists are based entirely on number of units sold, not revenue generated. And getting on the list will do a huge boost in sales.
So based on this scenario, it makes sense for a dev to keep a game's price low in the intial period when it's trying to get some sales traction. This model isn't sustainable forever though, obviously.
Apple needs to change a bit how it features games I think, if it wants to fix this particular issue.
Great article guys!
Here here! The only thing I have to add is to Apple: Give us a "community gaming" icon on our iPhones! Basically what I want is a watered down version of the N-Gage or XBox Live application. What good are achievements if we can't display them? What good are high scores if we can't show them off in an organized way? What good is playing a game only to delete the saved game along with the game itself?
Give us an online community along with a PSP-like save game management system! With things the way they are on the AppStore... I could get bored of a game and deleted it, only to have a massive update come out the next day! Then I have to complete the game again to get the extra levels.
Not fair Apple! Not fair I say!
tim
One thing I hate are inflated reviews. One app I saw had a description of 'silky smooth graphics' for the app, and no less than four reviews repeated his verbatim. Something stinky there, for sure, and all of them had five-star reviews, too.
Also, regardless of the size and cost of the game, there should always be a free option - whether it's single levels, time-limited or something like that. Gameplay vids and reviews aside, console games can almost always be returned but when you spend that $5 on an app, you can never have your money back if it's not for you.
Great list guys!! I have to disagree with one thing- the price drops...
I don't think it is such a bad thing to buy a game, and the next day the game has a price drop.. Aren't price drops a GOOD thing? It's your fault for buying the game too early, you should've been patient and waited. I have bought games and seen price drops the next day or so occasionally, but it doesn't really bother me.. It's supposed to happen and I see it as a good thing.. That's why i never buy Gameloft games at first, because after a month or so, they definitely have price drops... So far ALL of their games had price drops... So i wait to buy Gameloft games... I notice these little patterns in the developers.. ;)
Price drops are a GOOD thing
I agree with EVERYTHING ELSE.. Especially the sound and accelerometers ones.. :)
Interesting. I wonder what Elite Mobile Gaming will have to say about this. http://elitemobilegames.com
Good ideas guys. I think a "community gaming" feature would be a nice touch. I wonder if Apple knew how popular gaming was going to be they might have had some built-in functionality for that out of the gate. It is hard to implement something like that after the fact, but it would be a welcome addition.
Well said. I particularly agree with the iPod soundtrack item. I love Zynga's Word Scramble but it turns off my music just so I can hear it go "beep". Seriously!!?
Point 7: "Developers must allow us access to our iPod libraries."
This is actually not possible AT ALL before the 3.0 software becomes available. Apple prevents it and if anyone were to hack this their app would not be approved for the App Store. Allowing the user to let the music-player play INSTEAD of in-game sound is however possible.
@NickFalk -- I think Conor meant that we should be able to listen to our own music.
Yeah, you're probably right. Sorry if I came of a bit harsh.
I've borrowed your tips for Unity forum: http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?p=163011#163011
Hope it's OK with this. Thanks for great post and clever notices!
Woot!
Months later, I'm coming back to check SciFly 2 against this list. I'm still working on #2, but everything else is taken care of :-)
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