since i bought the game when it was released but havent played it much (hated the tacked on feel of the fighting) my question would be how much of the initial version was changed/is different? if the games old content is untouched and you can play (and enjoy) it the same way as before (if you ignore the sun coin stuff) what would be the problem then? if much has changed, like balancing the old weapons, items etc. to fit to the fremium approach, maybe a simple rollback of the premium version is an option.. not sure how much new content is there in the new version so hard to guess if the "vocal minority" will go rampage if the freemium version has more (paid) content than the premium version.. *shrug* overall i find the general tone a bit harsh against the devs.. of course one does not need to like their move and its an odd move for sure in alot of eyes.. but on the other hand this move , even as clumsy as it was, was forced. if the game would have sold a solid amount of copies to recoup dev costs and maybe a small bonus ontop i doubt they would be rolling out a freemium version afterwards.. http://www.appannie.com/app/ios/dark-meadow/ranking/history/#view=grossing-ranks&device=iphone&start_date=2011-10-06&end_date=2012-03-29 i don't know their budget, nor their income but again i highly doubt they get into such hot waters just out of "greed"
the main problem is they made the premium version the freemium but without the adds, and added the sun coins to the game for iap purchases i didnt play the original since i just got the new ipad and my touch got stolen so i been outta the loop...from what i have read it takes longer to grind now since some items were replaced with the iap sun coin only items to get the coins would take forever you get 1 coin per 10 kill streak in the game, 2 coins after that till you hit 20 kill streak meaning you cant die its pretty dumb imo.... so if you want that item that costs 1500 sun coins your gonna be grinding for a while, or you can go to the tapjoy area and do there adds to get coins or buy them via iaps... whats really dumb is if you check app store Dark meadow and Dark meadow the pact which is the free game are the exact same file size and same game just with different name in app store so they could have the freemium version...the freemium version is the full game i paid 5.99 for just with adds...so after the patch you get the freemium game just without adds and all iaps/sun coin stuff... i still think and hope they have not confirmed nor denied that they are taking the sun coin crap outta the premium version of the game, the game we payed 5.99 for should not even have a tapjoy add market , nor a option to turn off adds in the menu for a premium game, all the changes as far as iap stuff should of gone only to the free version , and making the items in the premium that got changed to suncoin items to more expensive gold items, and like i said iaps for buying gold or whatever like infinity blade is totally fine or even a special weapon or item that you gotta pay 99 cent for whatever...i dont like they turned there great game into the free version that boggles my mind a bit...
Thankfully I have not updated to the new version. New maps and content are simply not worth being downgraded to the "freemium" version when what I paid for was the full version. Assuming the ads require an internet connection to load, playing the free version with wifi and 3G switched off will essentially be the same as my new "premium" version of the game.
As far as "the vocal minority" goes... For every person that complains there are MANY people in the background that just delete the app and move on. The big thing is many of the nonvocal deleters is they have a tendency to hold grudges on devs who they don't like and never buy from them again. Personally I like this game and would have shelled out the six bucks in a heartbeat but as a general rule I won't pay for an app that has weird iap schemes. I also dislike ads so much I rarely download a free version of a game unless I'm checking it out before I buy the "full" version. After I saw there was little difference between the paid and the free app. So it is now deleted. I read through the rest of this thread and see you are looking at patching the game but it still feels like you stuck it to the early adopters even if this wasn't your intention.
I think this is actually a really important question, does anyone know the answer. Ok you couldn't use first-aid kits in battle and only hold five of them in the first game but I would swap that easy for once this amazing gift of ten first-aids to original users runs out we have to buy more. Being one of the vocal minority I'm gutted, gutted I updated, lost all my lovely swords, bows, experience and are back to the beginning.
I have been following this forum, although I have been an unvocal minority. There are some great points made in the last couple pages, particularly by Hodapp and ghoti. I have to say that the update feels "cheap"... The map and teleport are good. The whole IAP thing was unbelievable to me. Credit cards? Buying other games? Tapjoy? I wondered, is this really a game, or an advertising scheme that uses an RPG model to go from ad to ad, instead of from room to room? IAP needs to be totally optional, and more than that it needs to be content that is almost inconsequential. The best weapon should not be IAP. The best weapon should be in-game. An alternative best weapon could be IAP - different appearance, slightly different stats or effects - something that people would look at and think "I wonder what playing with that weapon would be like?". I think about IAP in some console games like Burnout Pardise - the cars they sold were not better - they were just different, with some different stats, or just different looks. I am sad, because I think that despite your obvious long hours of trying to come up with a good solution, your eyes were not firmly fixed on content, but on dollars. I know you are trying to earn a living, but the goal of dollars is never the successful route. The goal of a great product - whether a great restaurant, a great game, a great service - the product sells, the money comes in. We all know about the games that try and cash in on popular movies, or comic book figures - they are trash, and generally sell a few copies, and are forgotten. Are all great games successful? Sadly, no. It is possible through poor advertising, poor distribution, or just "lack of widespread appeal" it may not go anywhere. The "hidden gem". But, a game focused on generating dollars is unlikely to succeed, and at least IMHO, that is why you have succeeded in generating such upset responses in these forums, and in the reviews of your game. I think you need to re-examine your model -hard- and not just try and piecemeal your fixes, as I think your current model ultimately leads to failure, and obviously no money, and if there is a future, doubt and mistrust of anything you bring to the market for a long time.
I didn't even update, but deleted the app when I read about it. Just don't care enough to complain or ask for it to be rectified. But yeah I won't be buying from these guys anymore.
Devs: Thanks - It was a good run while it lasted.... Let me begin by saying I paid for your game and spent many happy hours with it on my Ipad over many months. For $6, I figure I already got my money's worth. It was a good run, apparently. However, in it's present form, I don't plan on continuing: I don't have the time to grind away earning "Sun Coins" in enough quantity to have access to the Uber new gear - but the real slap in the face was the removal of what was formerly a bountiful supply of first aid kits which now must be purchased at the rate of 100 Sun Coins (15 kits) rather than collected for free in the environment as before. This was a fatal mistake that pushed Dark Meadows away for me. At the rate I upgrade equipment and go through First Aid Kits (I used them like water on that new staircase) it's clear my only recourse is grind like hell or BUY THEM which I refuse to do for an item that was already free to me. Neither am I going to Tapjoy my way into a new credit card so I can heal myself in game. It's too bad, because you made some nice improvements in game play with this new version - but you drove a stake through the heart of the game (especially for those of us who have been enjoying the paid version from the start) by requiring IAPs not only to reach the new gear, but even to find a first aid kit. Put the kits back into the environment in the same quantity as before, and maybe I'll come check it out in the future. Thanks kindly for the enjoyable game Dark Meadows WAS, and I wish you the best moving forward.
Wow I cannot believe you have to pay for first-aids, final nail, goodbye Phosphor, thanks for nothing.
This is one of those things that makes me feel like they really don't understand the audience because this is the sort of thing that turns off even people who approach a game perfectly fine with the general concept of freemium. Vanity items, moderately better gear, boosts that make the game easier/faster, all can be justified as premium cash purchases in a game. However, to take something as basic as the out of combat health kit, previously free and scattered about generously enough that I can't ever recall having run out of them and change it to a cash only premium item? Boggles the mind.
Ah, so first aid kits are now paywalled, even in the freemium version. What a supremely bad move, both business- and relation-wise. Only a minor step up from turning the premium app into the free (and I've no idea how the devs imagined they would facilitate that transition without evoking exactly the reactions it did). I would be curious to know how Phosphor figure that all this negative publicity (by now not only from angry forumites, perhaps a much smaller minority than we sometimes imagine, but from front-page articles) would still be outweighed by IAP revenue from the premium app (as opposed to releasing the freemium app in its current state, but offering all new content as non-IAP gear in the premium version. Or just not requiring Sun Coins or IAP for first aid kits). Perhaps there's simply so many old premium app players willing to pay for stuff they previously acquired through in-game efforts. Perhaps the hope that the market would self-regulate this kind of shady developer business is far too optimistic. It does seem that Phosphor could quell a lot of dissent by simply dialing back the changes to first aid kits. Would this be a possibility, Phosphor devs? Is any other old (as in, pre the freemium patch) content now locked away behind the Walls of IAPicho?
Yeah, the premium weapons and stuff is one thing, but the first aid kits being IAP is an even bigger atrocity. I mean even the dude talking in the story STILL says something about looking around the rooms as you "never know what you might find" including first aid kits. And yet, I haven't seen a single one yet.
I saw a lot of scum companies in my long gaming days but this may be one of the worse cases yet. Not sure I'll ever support them in the future and I bought this game new when it first released. As a customer, I don't appreciate being milked like this.
RE: Healthpacks The healthpacks should be there (granted they are random)- if you aren't seeing them at all, it is a bug we need to address. It sounds like multiple people aren't seeing them so we are looking into it. Also some enemies should also drop healthpacks Again all, thanks for helping us iron out issues with a new large update and sorry for all the frustration it is causing.
Lies. Phosphor in their need for greed, removed health packs, reduced coin drop and forced a paywall, and ignored their "vocal minority" even when this issue was clearly presented to the developer before the update. Again phospor demands for fast cash. Phosphor in their greedy wisdom forced this junk, now they are pure lying and stalling hoping enough people buy Discover credit cards or sign up for dating sites so they can prove this move was "success." At least the bottom feeders at phospor can step up and say yeah we did it so what, rather then continue to lie.
First off, stop with the lies. You removed the free first aid kits from the game. We all know it. Secondly, cut the patronizing bullsh1t. "Thanks for helping us figure out exactly how much we can squeeze from your wallets. Sorry for the frustration that our lies and greed have caused!" Thirdly, shove your now-sh1tty game up your collective asses and have your mothers swipe around up there to do any additional balancing and play testing. The good news is, after exploring the new content the other night and drunkenly buying 99 cents of Sun Coins, I quickly came to the conclusion that the new system was an endless IAP grind, deleted the game from my iPhone without finishing it, deleted the IPA from my iTunes, came here and read your endless disembling lies and empty apologies, and then reinstalled Infinity Blade, which I'm quickly finishing in anticipation of picking up IB2. So, while you may have scrounged another dollar from my drunk ass, you drove me back into your competitor's truly great, balanced, fluid game and made sure that I'll never send another dollar Phosphor's way!
The appropriate solution to all this Freemium crap ( in retrospect) would have been to keep the original game with it's current gold points system, add in that new level and boss, and put the game on sale, ie, 2.99 for a limited time, maybe a week. This would attract new customers to an amazing game with new content and the update would reward it's original owners/ fan base. Instead you guys tarnished your reputation and pissed off all your loyal fanbase! I'm sure going the route of my suggestion could have put you in the top 100 in the US charts and kept the legacy of the dark Meadow thriving. Instead you have the whole community in an uproar. Rightfully so !!
We understand you are frustrated, but at least can you give us the benefit of the doubt we want to correct all of this? If we didn't care we - wouldn't have made the significant effort to split the apps in two at the last minute - wouldn't be scrambling now to get a patch out to premium players - wouldn't be responding to forum posts on a weekend, ignoring our families and loved ones. If we didn't care we could just not do any of that. The premium re-launch obviously has problems and we are doing our best to correct it as quickly as possible. We thank everyone on this forum who is providing constructive feedback on how to make it better
Personally, yes I can give you the benefit of the doubt. If I didn't like this game and believe in your product so much I wouldn't have said a word. I would have deleted the game and written it off.
