I’m getting very close to putting a game in the app store but I have read elsewhere that it is wise to publish a reduced functionality version for free.
That’s it in a nutshell, inelegant as that might be.
What would you as a game creator or player expect or want in a free version which might entice you to shell out the extra for the full version?
Matt. [import]uid: 8271 topic_id: 5384 reply_id: 305384[/import]
It depends on the game what makes sense to give for free vs. hold back for purchase, but the general rule of thumb is the free version is around a quarter to a third of the full version levels, and when the player completes the last level you advertise the full version.
Exactly which levels to give has a couple schools of thought. On the one hand, most people advocate simply using the first N levels as your free version, so that the game’s progression (both the story and how the levels ramp up in difficulty) is presented in the correct order. Other people however advocate using levels spread out throughout the game, so that the player gets to experience what later levels are like. This only really works if later levels don’t depend on the player having gone through earlier ones (you definitely don’t want the levels to be too difficult and they give up) but I see this done a lot in games where you get new powers or something later (eg. Angry Birds shows off all the different birds.)
Not every game has levels though, so other other common limitations are a time limit or something like that. Just be careful that Apple can be kinda persnickety about limited versions of apps; their guidelines say no greyed out buttons so people won’t be disappointed by expecting something to happen. [import]uid: 12108 topic_id: 5384 reply_id: 17982[/import]
Thanks…
My game doesn’t have levels, so I was considering leaving out some specials (of a certain character in the game), achievements altogether and a particular mode of play, as I have two.
IMHO, it would be anything left out which made the player want to try it as an exciting extension to the basic game play, as there are no levels, but not anything which would make the free version feel incomplete.
m [import]uid: 8271 topic_id: 5384 reply_id: 17985[/import]
My game doesn’t really have levels either so I was also planning to leave out one of two play modes and all achievements. However I was also planning to end the game after a certain score, whereas the full version goes on indefinitely. This plan seems reasonable to me, fingers crossed. [import]uid: 12108 topic_id: 5384 reply_id: 18077[/import]