What have they released that was substandard? The only game of theirs I didn't like was Dr. Awesome. Also, unless unless I'm unaware of sales figures they've made public I'm not sure how you can say that venture capital is the only thing keeping them going.
I think he is thinking of those texted based mmo's that we love to hate even if they are just putting there name behind them it still reflects negitively on them in my mind as a consumer
i also think Appstore fall short on games updates too. when games are given update, it improves gameplay, fixed bugs and addon. All these are quite important too. currently no one knows about updates bcause they are all hidden in appstore. if game update is given a place in appstore, perhap more developers will spent effort to update their games more often. Also i think sometime we prefer game updates from our favourite games than buying new games. One of my favourite example is Defender Chronicles. they keep on adding new maps and contents. They have build a large community too. Until now, i seldom see games that do the same like them. Which is kind of sad to me.
I just found this thread... So what's the verdict? Did joshcm and amazing russ make enough dough? Did minisquadron rake in the cash? OR are they both poor as hell and living in their mother's basements designing buxom video game characters?
Well i think Josh and Russ did but MiniSqaudron didn't, as you can see from his last post on his blog. http://minisquadron.blogspot.com/2010/01/2010-whats-going-on-man.html
I'm not sure I understand your question. You can see the games I've developed in my sig below all my posts, or by searching on iTunes for "Shen Mansell" or "Playjam" Does that help?
This is tough. Apple took a lot of heat for doing exactly that around 20yrs ago. A lot of people thought, rightly or not, that almost cost them their business. I suspect it may be unrealistic to expect them to do it again. This will rest with nature and the developers. Once developers of fart apps, for example, figure out that they wont be moving next to Donald Trump, they will probably move on. By the way, glad to hear it Josh. I loved your game. For me, Josh and Russ embody the trust I was talking about. I loved Ravensword and I look forward to their next release. Notice I said next release and not update. Now, if their next release is about a farting ubertroll with large knockers, we may have to talk
MiniSquadron did OK, but then I live in London so it's really expensive just being here. Looking into moving but then all my friends and ahem, artists live here. It's not nice to be lonely
I think the problem is simply that there is more supply than demand. I have put in a good amount of money into the app store, but I have barely supported any developers. There are just so many that are selling there apps that the money is spread out. That is why originality makes so much of a difference. An original title will attract more cash because there is no substitute for it which creates less competition. however, this is all for nothing if said app can't get into the public spotlight. most people buying apps (myself included for a long while) would just look at the top sellers to figure out what to get. It is hard to search through 1 million apps. Even though apple likes to boast this large quantity of apps as a good thing, it hurts both the developers and the consumer. It is hard for a developer to make good money if they make a good app and it is hard for consumers to find said good app. It has also created the low price expectation which I both love and hate. I hope what I said hasn't been said here before; I haven't read through everything.
that has kinda been said, but you bring some excellent points to the table and I completely agree with them
Apple and the Android market are on a race for the most apps available. Apple has a big advantage right now, but that will maybe change over a limited period of time. This competition is one of the main reasons for me, why Apple is releasing apps like crazy - as well as the Android Market. But this structure is fragile and unstable. I'm sure Apple knows this. In the near future, I think, more and more developers can't or won't abide the pressure of the different apps competition anymore. For example, take "Doodle Jump". Right now, every x-th game released is similar to the bestseller "Doodle Jump". The market is overflowing with Doodle Jump (DJ) clones; every dev designing a DJ-clone is trying to get his share, because he is trying to ride the wave that DJ triggered. But the customers are already confused by the sheer mass of these clones. Same counts for match-3 games right now. Just the same thing happened to the TD genre a while ago. Today, only a few TD games are released once in a while. Now take the RPG genre. Good RPGs require a lot more work than DJ or other games, as well as an appealing story and a good character system. Nearly every of the "few" released RPGs (compared to other genres and unless it wasn't a badly designed game) got really good sales. So, sooner or later, the apps market will downsize itself. But that's just my two cents.
Us as consumers have become rather spoiled. The recent update to Fieldrunners is the perfect example. One of the original success stories of the App store suddenly gets flooded with 1-star reviews not becuase it's suddenly a bad game, but because the developers have the gall to ask people to pay money for new content. A very small amount of money, at that. The complaints about them wiping high scores and some of the issue with older maps being locked are legitimate gripes, I'll admit. Either way, to me this situation defines the crazy expectations that App Store shoppers have for their purchases.
i agree. its so awful of all the ppl that gave them 1-star review because of the DLC. the devs didnt need to add anymore maps anyway, but they spent months preparing 2 new maps for fieldrunners. for all that hassle to please their customers, the customers couldve forked over a dollar
