I just bought the game to support you guys. Havent played it yet because I have so many other games. To be honest though I wish you guys would make future episodes as iap.Imagine if the walking dead had seperate apps per episode. Maybe you guys could do seperate apps and iap to satisfy everyone?
If that's possible I think it would be ideal. All the haggling over it in this thread has bewildered me. I'm buying the sequels. Full stop. If separate apps are the only way to help manage install space, that to me could be a potentially decisive factor.
bad news for the devs. Going out the same time as XCOM certainly did not help. Don't know why TA does not do a review of this game. oh yeah, they put XCOM ADS everywhere on the app which they rated 5/5 right away... Then they do a alcapa evolution play... Sometimes, I wonder what TA team has in mind... Not supporting such a game as Spiral...
I did see a rather large banner for Spiral over at SlideToPlay, but I can't recal whether or not they reviewed it. I don't think they have yet.
I guess there are several reasons for this game to not sale as much as expected but I guess the "Episode 1" in the title does not help. I avoid episodic games because well, they tend to not end. so here what could come to mind to a user: episode 1? - will be short - at this price will not get the end of the story - might never see episode 2 - how many episodes are they? (translation: how much is it going to cost me in total) all of this should be answered straight away with easy to grasp titles. (right now Arena Mode and Story Mode are explained a part from each other and it's not very clear by just reading the capital titles) Dates for the next episodes should be specified (if it's a trilogy, write it too)... All these questions definitely need to be answered right away. As this game is chapter based, make the chapter 1 free (should have a huge cliffhanger end!) with the other chapter set unlockable through IAP. This should help increase the downloads, therefore pushing you up in the appstore, help avoid piracy too and increase the leads. well, this is my 2cents.
I actually think that's not such a bad idea, but with such a unique control scheme, people prob'ly'd dip in for a sec, get frustrated, then tell themselves they'd tried it and write the whole thing off, or chafe at a full tutorial; I'm not sure it would help sales. I will say the whole lite thing with incomplete story has worked with me in the past... Damned if you do, damned if you don't. It's unbelievable to me people would let a title like this languish on the basis of others' failures, unable to enjoy the game for what it is...because it says "episode", up-front? That's _my_ 2 cents.
Not that unbelievable, really. Outside of Telltale's adventure games, the irony is that pretty much every so-called "episodic series" on the app store stops dead at "Episode 1", and people have become justifiably wary about becoming invested in a story that barely even starts, let alone reaches any kind of satisfactory conclusion.
Yeah, the lite version is a good thing too but there are pros&cons for both system. lite version pros: - if they put bad ratings because they don't like or because their device can't handle the game, it won't impact the paid version lite version cons: - The lite version is not going to help so much the main game downloads(let's say you have 1 conversion rate for 100 sales on the lite versions, that's still 99 downloads the main game lost in figures). - Requires 2 downloads (twice the effort, and you know, we're lazy as hell haha) - The story mode should not have to be replayed (well, they could find a way to link both free & lite version so that if you finished the lite version, you continue from there in the paid version). I admit this one is rather specific to this game (puzzle games may be different I think). Obviously make it free with the other chapters unlockable can bring the downside stipulated in the live version pros (it becomes a cons in this model). But giving a chance to the user to get a taste of the designs, the graphics, the music, the emotions should really be granted. (having an extra lite version to promote for those users who can't help but download games their device will never handle and complain about it with bad ratings should become the norm too! as long as Apple don't help with that matters of course) Personally, I did not find the control scheme that weird or innovative so you should have a bit of both users on that side.
Yeah so that frog, 'tini... WTFF?! I do agree that "Episode...." Makes people a little wary when planning a purchase, unless the developer is Telltale Games that is. Devs - I know I bought this on sale, and I know it might be months before I play it, but thank you for caring so much. We need a Gordon Ramsay for the App Store!! App Store Nightmares! Gosh I wish I had a full feature photoshop on my iPad, I would so whip that up (hint hint to any creative badascots out there)
if you are Telltale or you are a big name, it should help with this problem but if you are a new player in the biz, you should try your best to annihilate any fears your user may have. The user don't want to take risks, you should help them pass this threshold. I think starting a game company with an episodic game is rather dangerous in fact (unless you are backed by big names).
Just grabbed this, I love how the main menu has a cinematic playing in the background. Most iOS games just have a static image for main menu. Stuff like this screams polish.
I believe the launch of xcom did impact the sale of this game. I also do think having episode 1 in the time hurt it as well since I'll admit that my initial reaction is to pass it up especially with an initial $4.99 thinking about how much it will cost to own the entire series.
Completely agree with that, especially the part about putting "Episode 1" in the name. That actually was the reason I almost skipped this game, that and the fact that I just spent 20 bucks on XCOM. Also, Apple ignoring this game in favor of some of the junk they featured in "New & Noteworthy" didn't help either. The fact that they picked "Where's my Mickey" as "Editors Choice" the same week XCOM and Spiral came out is criminal. Or at least laughable.
Oh. My. God. Appletini, you are officially my favorite forum person ever for that. Holy Moses, seriously. I was having a crap evening and was really feeling down, then I saw this. Favorite part? Ramsey's forehead Crabitron certainly deserves its place there. OH. MY. GOD. I JUST SAW THE ASCENSION CARD!!! Marry me!!
