I don't know why some people complain about IAP in cheap/free apps... it's either IAP, or ads, you can't make any money with just FREE... thus can't survive to make more games.
Wait. $250? Please tell me that's pesos or some other currency. I love Kepa, Madgarden and Rocketcat more than any Dev on the App Store, but $250 is a LOT of money. That said, I've seen people donate thousands to podcasts, so I guess that shouldn't be too surprising I agree that certain types of IAP are needed unless something truly magical happens. I think $0.99 worked when Angry Birds came out because it was something that really stood out in the App Store, one of the first monumental games. Now, there's so much competition for that dollar that it is a challenge to make the headway. But that said, I think the issue isn't the IAP, it's the difficulty in earning the game currency in comparison to the cost of the various upgrades. Now I haven't spent the kind of money that Chiller has spent, but I've spent a lot more than I have on most games I own, I've purchased the punchos doubler as well. Even with my purchases, I am now at a point where the grind takes an incredibly long time to unlock anything. 250k is a target that will take a massive amount of time to hit on its own. I love playing the game, but to go through so much time to unlock one thing that doesn't really help increase your punchos is frustrating. As well, rerolling the hats leads to even more frustration, I had quite a few that were great, but when I lost stuff and got the money back to Reroll. I never got back what I had, I ended up with duplicates as well. To see goals of 250k up to 500k makes me really sad. For us to reach those goals, it ends up having to be a grind. Not that the gameplay is bad, of course it's not, but the rewards are so incredibly distant.
Don't know about this conversation specifically, but I've seen a number of people complaining about IAP saying they would rather have a fully purchasable game instead - so not that they want it entirely for free, but rather that they prefer to buy the entire game up front than in bits and pieces. I think a lot of this frustration stems from companies not knowing how to effectively use IAP. Too many of them ramp up the game's progression to lead to the necessity of (or extreme hardship w/o) buying the IAP. While that can work to make money, it leaves a bad taste in many people's mouths. I personally think it's better to provide IAP as one of three things - aesthetic upgrades, consumables (that are still available through normal gameplay), or speedups/shortcuts (preferably both), and a virtually unlimited supply of at least one of them. It still makes money and no bad aftertaste. Sweeet!
How many items are in the pool of mystery items now? Also, I noticed that in the little banner that showed that there is mystery items available, the madgarden and rocketcat hats were shown. Are they in the pool of mystery items?
Woah. I just had a run on Spartan that netted me nearly 85,000 Punchos all told. Of course, it took almost 90 minutes, so I'm not sure that's even a good average, but still.
90 minutes? How did you manage to do that? Bleullama1 yeah, those hats are available as mystery items now. Not sure the exact number, maybe a dozen or so.
Ah, that's good to know since they look really cool. Assuming every item is shown when it cycles through the items on the banner, there is 20 mystery items, which makes me glad that I got the Spartan Helm with my Punchos Doubler, since it looks really cool .
There is a quirk with Mutagenic food in Spartan food where you can continue fighting hallucinations after your tier 3 power runs out. I noticed it a couple times and I wanted to see how far I could take it, and obviously it was pretty far. In that run, I think I had over 6,000 kills. Not sure how many times I defeated Gnorb. Between 15 and 20, I think. I'll have to check the screenshots to be sure. I got a God Up when I started at level 11, and I think I'd have gotten the God Up even if I was at 1.
Look, I enjoy your game. But I won't buy consumables. You delete the app for some reason, you lose everything. If more developers included iCloud SAVING, including consumables, at least I would be tempted. It can be done. I just reinstalled a game I had deleted a long time ago to free up space. It's a runner called Running Dead (it was recently free I believe). I reinstalled it the other day. It has an option to download your save from iCloud. I did, and despite it being a newer version with significant enhancements and added elements, I got back all the coins (and purchased items and progress) I had from the last time I played. It even has a screen showing you the stats and coins stored in iCloud, so you know if you'll lose anything by pulling down an iCloud save. I've put too much time into games with consumable iaps, only to have to delete them, for me to purchase consumables with money. UNLESS more games can figure out the juju that the Runnin Dead must have used to make it WORK.
I'm one of those people. One game I love that has 2 versions is Biocrisis. The premium version (even though it does include consumable iaps if you want to speed up progress, not really fond of that) came out months ahead of Biocrisis FTP (free to play) which has no advertisements but would be a grindfest if you don't buy iaps. Dark Meadow is another example (though the devs nearly screwed the pooch with that game). You could sell a premium version and still include iaps, just VASTLY reduce the prices. If you come out with a premium version with the top prices being 10000 coins for 2.99 or so, I pinky swear that I'll buy it.
Aw. I was having some fun with that "bug". Well, probably best to stop me before I end up Punching for two hours. I really don't get the fuss being raised with IAP as it pertains to this game. I can understand the desire for a game with everything unlocked at a higher initial cost, but its not like you can't unlock everything in Punch Quest without a single consumable. Sure, it can take a while, but how is that such an unusual gameplay mechanic? Lots of games have unlockable content that takes a while to unlock. Look at a game like Angry Birds. Right now, they have a whopping 400+ levels you can play, but only 1 when you start. You unlock the rest by playing through the game. And lots of games have an in-game monetary system for unlocking. Only the mystery prizes are actually locked until you get an IAP. All other game content is unlockable without spending money. As someone who is VERY IAP adverse, this is pretty much the perfect model for me. Sure, it'd be nice to get a game for free that also unlocks all of its content for free, but that's not very balanced. This approach is. And if you want a "premium" experience, get a points doubler and you'll unlock everything twice as fast. I'm not sure what people want, but I'm gathering its not something very balanced or realistic.
Nah its US Dollars alright. I converted it for your convenience, in my currency (Swedish Crowns) it would be about 1600. Call me crazy but I'd rather support an indie game that I really like than buy a couple of over-hyped AAA console games that got good reviews but are crap. About the IAP: I think would ppl forget it that this is an awesome game for free. You don't have to spend anything if you don't want to. Unfortunately this is also the reason the game is not making enough money.
I'm responding to this paragraph specifically because, up until this one, I sort of saw where you were coming from. This game, from the start, was designed to be free to play. Just because a game was designed to be free to play does not make it any less of a game. This is a shining example of a free to play game done right. Would you like to know why? It's because a lot of the things that you get VERY early on are extremely effective and, while the game is a grindfest, it is designed to be a very entertaining grind that is made to reward players that are dedicated enough to either buy the very inexpensive in app purchases, or just play the game. In fact, most of the things that are extremely expensive are purely cosmetic, meaning that the "pay wall" you mentioned wont be hit, unless you decide that you absolutely NEED to get a certain hat. Would you like to know how much I've spent on the game, so far? $2.99 for a currency doubler that came with a free hat, one of my favorite hats. Am I going to spend more money on the game? Of course I am. Am I going to buy one the in game currency in app purchases? No, I'm going to buy the "Donate a Buck" option because I love the game and want to support the devs, without detracting from the fun I'm having playing the game.
