Help! I accidentally published my game

Solar2D General Questions/Discussion
#1

So two days ago I accidentally published my almost finished game on the App Store.

I sent a almost complete version of the game for review, to know if it would pass, but forgot to choose not to publish once it is ready.

So entering the leaderboards for testing yesterday, I saw some 10 people already there and got shocked…

Anyway.

I now have a list of things I want and need to implement as soon as possible, but I have only limited time. I cant decide on what to do first, so I would like to know your opinions on this. I can roughly implement one of these things per day.

-Analytics (to know what happens in the game and when)

-social sharing

-screenshot to share?

-more levels with additional mechanics (changing paddle size, destroyable blocks, blocks that count negative)

-help (How to play, what to do, …)

-achievements

-launchscreen(s)

-translations? (german and portuguese for now, as most friends and family speak either one)

-additional sound effects (win, game over, menu touches, block hits, …)

-high resolution backgrounds for tablets

-ASO

These are the main things on the list in no particular order. And as I am already asking, how important is facebook integration in your opinion?

Would be really great if you could let me know your opinion on these list items.

Best,

Felix

#2

Contact your customers and explain then contact apple and revoke the version or quickly roll out a new update.

#3

Hei FearTec,

I want to quickly roll out new updates, I am just unsure about the order of the things to implement.

With customers you mean my players?

The problem is, that I missed the initial launch boom. Not sure if this exists, but I got about 15.000 app store visits on the first day. I assume there exists some kind of ‘whats new’ section in the App store…

Best,

Felix

#4

15,000 visits in one day!

Your list is too long to do in a hurry, you need to pull your app but if you don’t want to do that then forget about social sharing and analytics, leave that for an update.

Concentrate on help, launch screens & screen shots. Sound effects can wait because a lot of people play games with the sound turned off anyway.

Good luck.

#5

Hello QuizMaster.

Thank you very much for your thoughts.

I will keep it in the Appstore.

I already implemented a launch screen and sent an update with smaller fixes.

My current list of importance is as follows:

-help (How to play, what to do, …)

-rate me button

-high resolution backgrounds for tablets (as it is really ugly on tablets at the moment)

-?screenshot to share?

-more levels with additional mechanics

-additional sound effects

-social sharing

-achievements

-analytics

-translations (App stores and ingame)

-ASO

I am in doubt about the screenshots, though, as it would require some additional permissions and I dont know if it is worth. What are your experiences with this?

Best,

Felix

#6

I’ve not yet published to the app store but I will be soon so I don’t know about permissions for screen shots, you can change your screen shots easily on Google Play.

Screen shots are vital though, they play a major role in the number of downloads you get. You must get them right!

My advice for future reference would be to make all your graphics in high resolution from the start. Images always scale down beautifully but not the other way.

Translations can boost your downloads dramatically too.

Social sharing is not as good as it used to be, especially on Facebook but it’s still worth the effort to get those extra few downloads.

Adding levels is a good way to keep your existing customers. Roll out a batch of new levels every 2 weeks or so to keep them engaged.

That’s all I have for you today, good luck and I hope your app is successful.

#7

Apps that update tend to get more opportunities to be seen. So adding a few features, doing an update, adding more features, doing an update is a good thing. I don’t know about Google, but with Apple, you’re ratings reset with each app update which helps mitigate a little against bad reviews.

I would not add an option to rate/review your app until you feel  you’ve got most things fixed that would lead to a 1 star rating.  Categorize your punch list based on the simple question: will it prevent bad reviews and generate good ones?

Fix anything that’s going to get you a bad review first. Which on your list is the low rez backgrounds and the lack of help.

ASO can be done with out an update, so you can do that as soon as you’re past any thing that will generate negative reviews.

Rob

#8

Hello QuizMaster and Rob,

your thoughts are very much appreciated!

When talking about the screenshots I ment in game screenshots, so that on a new highscore I save a new screenshot and give the option to share this via facebook and co. The problem is, that for this you need the write external storage permission, and I am not sure if the people would like this, or if it would share that much more downloads…

Sure, the screenshots in the Appstore are essential and I would count this in the ASO point. As Rob pointed out this can be done after the problemss are solved.

I implemented now the help and tried to bring in highres images, but this led to another question, the App size. You say you always start with Highres images, but how to exclude them for smaller devices, that usually also have less storage space?

Anyway, I think I have a solid idea now about how to progress, and as I already missed the initial boost in the Appstore, the pressure is lower now…

So, once again, thank you!

Felix

#9

Correct me if I am wrong, but your app does not need permission to write to the cache directory and that is all you need for screenshot sharing.

Regarding the game file size due to high-resolution graphics, on the iOS app store there is no way to create different packages based on the user’s device. Android’s app store let’s you do something like that but it’s absolutely not worth the trouble. If you are concerned about download file size, then you might consider using the On-Demand resources plugin for iOS (https://marketplace.coronalabs.com/plugin/on-demand-resources). I do not think their is an equivalent plugin for Android yet.

#10

Slightly off-topic, but the thread title reminded me of a couple of British sitcom lines :smiley:

Peep Show:

Super Hans : “I’ve accidentally run to Windsor. I didn’t meant to, it’s just the endorphins kicked in and I couldn’t stop. My legs have gone, man. I’m a jelly.”

Spaced:

Tim : Where are you?

Mike : Uh, Sheffield.

Tim : What are you doing in Sheffield?

Mike : I fell asleep on the tube.

Tim : The tube doesn’t go to Sheffield, Mike.

Mike : Yeah, I know, I, uh, must have changed at Kings Cross.

#11

jerejigga, you are absolutely correct, I just reread the documentation and saw that this permission on adroid is only necessary for saving to the photoalbum. I did not read all of the text the first time and figured that this is a must have for screenshots on android.

Thats Great news! :slight_smile:

About the App size, my problem is actually mostly for Android, as any naked Corona Android App already wieghts ~7mb, even if it is only a hello world app. So adding some highres images and audio pumps the App very fast up to 15 mb, what I consider quite a lot, at least for my App that has almost nothing in it… Anyway, if you think it is not that much of a problem, I will stop worrying about it. I thought I read about this somewhere here iin the forums (that it is bad to have a big apk file), but maybe this is outdated now…

@nick_sherman, hahaha, yah, it was already late when I wrote this post :smiley: (And it really was accidentally :slight_smile:

Are these lines real?

Best,

Felix

#12

Contact your customers and explain then contact apple and revoke the version or quickly roll out a new update.

#13

Hei FearTec,

I want to quickly roll out new updates, I am just unsure about the order of the things to implement.

With customers you mean my players?

The problem is, that I missed the initial launch boom. Not sure if this exists, but I got about 15.000 app store visits on the first day. I assume there exists some kind of ‘whats new’ section in the App store…

Best,

Felix

#14

15,000 visits in one day!

Your list is too long to do in a hurry, you need to pull your app but if you don’t want to do that then forget about social sharing and analytics, leave that for an update.

Concentrate on help, launch screens & screen shots. Sound effects can wait because a lot of people play games with the sound turned off anyway.

Good luck.

#15

Hello QuizMaster.

Thank you very much for your thoughts.

I will keep it in the Appstore.

I already implemented a launch screen and sent an update with smaller fixes.

My current list of importance is as follows:

-help (How to play, what to do, …)

-rate me button

-high resolution backgrounds for tablets (as it is really ugly on tablets at the moment)

-?screenshot to share?

-more levels with additional mechanics

-additional sound effects

-social sharing

-achievements

-analytics

-translations (App stores and ingame)

-ASO

I am in doubt about the screenshots, though, as it would require some additional permissions and I dont know if it is worth. What are your experiences with this?

Best,

Felix

#16

I’ve not yet published to the app store but I will be soon so I don’t know about permissions for screen shots, you can change your screen shots easily on Google Play.

Screen shots are vital though, they play a major role in the number of downloads you get. You must get them right!

My advice for future reference would be to make all your graphics in high resolution from the start. Images always scale down beautifully but not the other way.

Translations can boost your downloads dramatically too.

Social sharing is not as good as it used to be, especially on Facebook but it’s still worth the effort to get those extra few downloads.

Adding levels is a good way to keep your existing customers. Roll out a batch of new levels every 2 weeks or so to keep them engaged.

That’s all I have for you today, good luck and I hope your app is successful.

#17

Apps that update tend to get more opportunities to be seen. So adding a few features, doing an update, adding more features, doing an update is a good thing. I don’t know about Google, but with Apple, you’re ratings reset with each app update which helps mitigate a little against bad reviews.

I would not add an option to rate/review your app until you feel  you’ve got most things fixed that would lead to a 1 star rating.  Categorize your punch list based on the simple question: will it prevent bad reviews and generate good ones?

Fix anything that’s going to get you a bad review first. Which on your list is the low rez backgrounds and the lack of help.

ASO can be done with out an update, so you can do that as soon as you’re past any thing that will generate negative reviews.

Rob

#18

Hello QuizMaster and Rob,

your thoughts are very much appreciated!

When talking about the screenshots I ment in game screenshots, so that on a new highscore I save a new screenshot and give the option to share this via facebook and co. The problem is, that for this you need the write external storage permission, and I am not sure if the people would like this, or if it would share that much more downloads…

Sure, the screenshots in the Appstore are essential and I would count this in the ASO point. As Rob pointed out this can be done after the problemss are solved.

I implemented now the help and tried to bring in highres images, but this led to another question, the App size. You say you always start with Highres images, but how to exclude them for smaller devices, that usually also have less storage space?

Anyway, I think I have a solid idea now about how to progress, and as I already missed the initial boost in the Appstore, the pressure is lower now…

So, once again, thank you!

Felix

#19

Correct me if I am wrong, but your app does not need permission to write to the cache directory and that is all you need for screenshot sharing.

Regarding the game file size due to high-resolution graphics, on the iOS app store there is no way to create different packages based on the user’s device. Android’s app store let’s you do something like that but it’s absolutely not worth the trouble. If you are concerned about download file size, then you might consider using the On-Demand resources plugin for iOS (https://marketplace.coronalabs.com/plugin/on-demand-resources). I do not think their is an equivalent plugin for Android yet.

#20

Slightly off-topic, but the thread title reminded me of a couple of British sitcom lines :smiley:

Peep Show:

Super Hans : “I’ve accidentally run to Windsor. I didn’t meant to, it’s just the endorphins kicked in and I couldn’t stop. My legs have gone, man. I’m a jelly.”

Spaced:

Tim : Where are you?

Mike : Uh, Sheffield.

Tim : What are you doing in Sheffield?

Mike : I fell asleep on the tube.

Tim : The tube doesn’t go to Sheffield, Mike.

Mike : Yeah, I know, I, uh, must have changed at Kings Cross.