• "Rejected, Violent, Defamatory" iPhone Game I made.
    13 replies, posted
You can play it now at [URL]http://www.motion9studios.com/rage[/URL] Here's my little rage video about the whole shtick: [URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGr6UKLGZ7c&feature=player_embedded[/URL] And now for the explanation: First of all, I should make it totally clear that this app has no bruising, cursing, bleeding, violence, etc... And though I made a flash version for the web, the app which was submitted to apple was built from scratch using our own custom 2D engine written on Apple computers using the iPhone SDK. So I just want to make it clear first and foremost that this was not a "Flash game" Submitted to apple. In fact the iPhone version of the game had several features which are not present in the flash version, such as more dialog (again though, none of the dialog involved cursing!). I know most comments at first are, "there's got to be something wrong with this that we're just not seeing!" My response is: "No. In fact there is nothing violent or wrong with this app. It is as G-rated as we could get it." With all of this being said, what are your thoughts on Apple, their content filtering, and what do you think actually managed to get Apple's content review board's nickers in a twist over this simple g-rated game as to call it too violent and/or defamatory for the app store? And given this information do you think I should stop making iPhone games entirely and move on to a better digital distribution system like Wiiware, Xbox live, or Steam? Let me know your thoughts. UPDATE: Apple just got back to me, saying that they didn't like that the app was "nothing but violence" and didn't like our use of the word "Torture Powerups" apparently. So now we're going to have some scanned in tape over the words like apple censored them with written over "Happy fun-time post-it notes". And for the record the app is going to be free I'm not asking 99 cents for a game this bad don't worry I'm not mindless just using it to promote Square Sniper.
I got a bull's eye! I don't like apple very much, yeah they make iPods, but that's it for me. I mean, they sued a guy because he bought a misplaced iPhone prototype off a bartender. How could anyone love a company like that? /fanboyrant
I got 4 bull's eyes in a row :neckbeard: Big corporations like apple tend to get into hissy-fits over the smallest things. I've seen more violent games on the iPhone than this. Maybe they didn't like it because... well, I honestly don't know how this could be labeled as defamatory. Granted, the darts in the back made me cringe a bit but that was the worst part. Maybe the guy at the head of the content filtering spilled coffee on his brand new pants and didn't feel like rating another app. After further delving into the flash version, I notice in the description to "Get it for the iPhone" you say that these modes are "tortures". I don't know, but maybe they got hung up on the torturing part. Just a thought.
I feel for you in this situation here. Apple's development system has been suffocating the indie game developers out there, opting for a review panel who, more likely than not, read the title of your app and thought it was some sort of stupid submission, a joke, a two second rage-fest of code to tell your boss you hate him, rather than a game which took time, money and people to piece together over the course of months. I recently spent 8 months on a project that, at the start, was promised as $25,000 for two-ish months of work. Turned into 8 months of work and only $15,000, about $3,000 of which I ever saw for myself. This was the result of the people who wanted this work done not being happy with the end-result and nit-picking at it over and over, whilst holding up a loophole in the contract preventing us from charging more money because they bambi-eyed my dad (boss) into giving them a flat rate and a finished project. I think I'd have made more money per-hour if I moved to a third-rate industrial town in china and sewed knockoff nike shoes alongside a handful of 8 year olds. I wish businesses were forced to see more than just the end-result of a project and stamp it [highlight]YES[/highlight] or [highlight]NO[/highlight], because then maybe they'd have a better grasp of what that project actually is, and what their decisions hold in the balance.
God damn that game is fun.
Slight bodily harm. [IMG]http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii217/AshHolgate/SlightBodilyHarm.jpg[/IMG] [editline]12:58PM[/editline] I do agree with you though.
It is fun, the part they probably really hated was the dart in the back...but I loved it.
It's a cute little game, but I wouldn't pay any amount of money for it. Yeah, Apple are assholes when it comes to selecting stuff for the store but it doesn't matter because they still don't test for quality. Most "games" on the iphone are either unoriginal clones of classics or mindless time wasters like this one that barely hold your attention for 30 seconds. I did each action once and then had no more interest in playing it.
[QUOTE=Larikang;22384724]It's a cute little game, but I wouldn't pay any amount of money for it. Yeah, Apple are assholes when it comes to selecting stuff for the store but it doesn't matter because they still don't test for quality. Most "games" on the iphone are either unoriginal clones of classics or mindless time wasters like this one that barely hold your attention for 30 seconds. I did each action once and then had no more interest in playing it.[/QUOTE] Which is why this game was free. We were launching it just to promote our other decent games like "Square Sniper" and "Keep Barry Bouncing" which we charge 99 cents for.
I rarely buy a game unless they company has put out others for free (or trial/lite versions). This would affect your sales greatly if there's a considerable amount of people like me out on the marketplace :colbert:
I am on your side when it comes to the whole, "that is just a stupid reason to reject the app," thing, but I can't help but still be on Apple's side ultimately. It [u]appears[/u] that you seem to think you have a right to have your app on [b]their[/b] market place. At the end of the day it is Apple's market place and they get to decide what is put up and what isn't. They spent the time developing the market place and the hardware. Please don't take that the wrong way, it isn't anything personal against you. That being said, I still think they gave you a shitty reason. Good luck in your future developing endeavors though!
[QUOTE=daijitsu;22363864]was promised as $25,000 for two-ish months of work. Turned into 8 months of work and only $15,000, about $3,000 of which I ever saw for myself.[/QUOTE] Erm... I thought you lived in Ireland? Unless you're converting into dollars for convenience's sake.
This is EXACTLY why I sold my iPhone and got an HTC hero (android) all you can do really is ask them what they want you to change it. Sad day...
[QUOTE=daijitsu;22397112]I rarely buy a game unless they company has put out others for free (or trial/lite versions). This would affect your sales greatly if there's a considerable amount of people like me out on the marketplace :colbert:[/QUOTE] We offer all our games in a free version with ads and a non-free version without ads. We don't do "lite" or "Trial" versions just "Ad" and "ad-free" versions because we technically make more money off people playing our game with ads in it than out-right buying the game, but we like to give our users the option to opt-out of seeing ads in their games. It's actually a pretty good strategy.
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