But again, it does affect a lot of people far worse. The change may be good for those who had it on their device but for people like me, it has a far more negative impact. That's why I still can't say it's justified. Ads, IAPs with higher prices - how is that good for anyone who bought the game and needs to redownload? It's not and if I was in your shoes, I'd still think this was a crappy move. No one keeps all apps on their devices and the more this happens, the more it will just make other devs think it's ok. Here's another ideal for the dev. Why not put he 1.1 version on the App Store for just one hour and post it here so people screwed over can at least get what others are getting? Or like what I said before put it on a secure server and let people know that if they can send proof of purchase, grant them access to it. I have been a big proponent of premium games but the more this happens the more it turns me off iOS gaming. Meanwhile I've posted a review telling people that were affected by this to send emails to Apple and Bulkypix asking for their money back.
Yes, we are sorry about those who deleted the app and want to have old version or reward. We wanted to inform people about incoming changes and cooperationg with you about the transition to free to play long ago. You can check the lists of changes in this thread, there are only 3 of 4 parts, last part is missing. If you have deleted the game, maybe you can still download it and have 1.0 or 1.1 version. Try it, if you don't want to have 1.2, don't update it. Access to .ipa is not possible, sorry. If you are still dissapointed, write to bulkypix support, maybe they can do something for you.
I deleted this 1 week before the update. Didn't matter I just restored to a backup from then. 1.1 version is back on my device. (tip : always have an all paid apps installed backup on your PC and update it every month. Keep the old backups on a flash drive) Ps : should I update? Is it worth it
I suppose I can search for a pirated version of 1.1. After all, I wouldn't be stealing something I already owned. But I guess I still have morals. And I'm sorry too that you didn't bother to think of those who bought it day one and no longer have it on their device. It's not just you but the growing mentality that devs can just kick their former customers to the curb. And I just grow more and more cynical of the App Store every day. Here I am trying to support devs who put out great premium games and more and more, even that ends up burning me. So freemium sucks and premium can't give you any piece of mind. So it just feels like it's a lost cause. It would be nice if Apple could even just put in some kind of process that allows devs to go by date of purchase rather than what exists on their phone. EDIT: Didn't realize that as of iOS 7 my last statement IS possible. So the question is why aren't devs using it??? http://bluerocket.us/mobile-app-development/ios7-enables-older-paid-apps-to-adopt-freemium-app-model-without-impacting-existing-customers/
By the way, why does your small team have time to make calendars and work on a PC version, but can't do something as simple as having two separate paid and premium apps? A new PC version is certainly more time intensive. Just again shows that you really didn't care about your early supporters. I'd be willing to bet that probably like 80% of those who bought it day one no longer have it on their device so your reward means nothing to most of us. And I already contacted Bulkypix. I would think you as a dev would want to approach Bulkypix for me to see what can be done. It's just a matter if putting your supporters first.
Because what you're talking about and looking for is not the same as the particular circumstance that particular promotional article is referring to. The devil is in the detail, which is still in that article but not explained quite as thoroughly as it could be and in fact doesn't relate to this particular circumstance.
I'm not sure about the article, but there was another dev who added obtrusive ads recently and I guess they were smart enough to embed some sort of code within the app that let them know when an app was purchased or let them low it had been paid for. Using this, they were able to manually turn off ads using that information. More devs need to do this kind of thing because, outside of a separate app, this worked. Another thought for the dev, release a small update that allows people who can prove their purchase to get a specific promo code from Bulkypix that disables ads and give us our "reward". There are many ways this could have been done without hurting supporters and many ways that can rectify it, the question is does the dev care enough about them?
"We are only developers, we develop, but we don't make submissions." That's a bit of an easy answer. You should at the very least report this to them and specify you're against hiding the model switching(if you even care). They're the publishers. YOU choose to work with them, you don't have a knife against your throat. As there is still no reason as to why you didn't create a separate app and you're inclined to give pseudo-answers rather than speak the truth, I will leave it as is and be sure to remember your company name and your publisher. Even GameLoft respected enough their customers to revert one of this paymium to freemium switch for one of their games(was it heroes of sparta? don't remember). It just shows how little respect you have toward your early customers.
Oh, one more way you could reward those of us that are aware of the issue with those who didn't have it installed, have a literally one hour sale where you make your $4.99 IAPs $.99. And let us users know enough in advance to get it. That way, we still will have paid MORE (original $3.99 + .99 for 600,000 credits + .99 for 600 gold bars) and get at least something to help us play through the game compared to those who had it on their device. We'd be paying a total of $5.99 compared to those who paid $3.99 and got MORE of a bonus. Yeah, we still get jipped out but at least it's something. And don't tell me this can't be done. Devs/Publishers do it all the time -- like when Republique tried to reward their supporters with a $.99 Season Pass (but left it on far too long and no one really knows if it was a way to get a quick injection of money). Basically, there are many ways this could be fixed to appease those who didn't get the bonus but paid for your game. If you or Bulkypix doesn't want to do something about it, then it's clear as day that you really, really don't give a rat's ass about the ones who supported you on day one.
Of course they don't give a damn for the buyers. They're probably getting 50x the downloads they did when this was paid. Not buying anything from these guys ever again.
Here's a link for ya that will solve that problem for you in the future. https://www.apple.com/itunes/download/ It does a thing called "backup", which I would have thought, considering your extensive IT experience, you would understand the necessity of and would have been one of the first things an IT guy would learn to do, particularly when he deletes some thing with the intent of using it again in the future. It also does things like "restore from backup". Try using it, its a very useful tool. There a couple more programs out there that offer similar functionality that I'm sure you could find if you looked for them rather than searching for what you implied you could search for on the previous page. They'd even be legal. It'll take less time than those 19 posts took to type up and it'd even be productive safeguards for future instances of the same issue.
Am I missing something? Why do people not bother backing up? It backs up all your apps even if some are taken off the App Store (I can install gridlee on any new device) and it backs up important notes etc I can't believe so many people don't seem to back up and then moan if you lose an app etc
Despite my IT experience, my computer is old and slow. I do backups but stangely there is a period between August and December 2013 that appears to be missing. Also, there is a little thing called iCloud where I can download all of the Apps I paid for in a flash and I'm not sure why Apple would bother to have such a thing. Frankly, I'm tired of your condescending remarks. I guess it's okay if every dev did this every day an we all had to go to backups and jump through hoops. The whole point on this isn't even this one game or the $4, it's about encouraging an environment where devs think they can do whatever they want and basically devalue the idea of premium apps. I don't like freemium, but that doesn't bother me as much as devs who change from paid to freemium when it's not that hard to release a second app if their first plan does not work. Everyone talks about speaking with our money and supporting premium apps to fight back against freemium. But then it's okay when our premium apps turn into something else. It's like why bother. We shouldn't have to bend over backwards. Devs, just like others in life, have to learn from their mistakes and if they need to change things, do so without expecting their early supporters to do the work for them. I'm sorry if you feel differently, but as a pro-premium supporter, I don't want to see the App Store be further ruined by not just freemium apps but constant business model changes. And if it continues to do so, I'll stop iOS gaming and you won't have to hear me on these forums despite the fact that I constantly sing the praises of indie devs.
I agree with nearly everything awp says above. I paid for it and deleted to come back to later and am not to bothered about losing out on IAPs that to me are worthless as changing the model of the game is something I just can't agree with. I wouldn't let my business do it so I don't like it when I see others do it.
So a some of you guys are saying you'd rather these very talented developers give up their dream and go bankrupt?
No, I'm saying they should have just released a separate app. It's not as hard as it sounds. Extra work? Yes. But if you just want to see the App Store continue to go down the tubes then so be it.
