Disqus - Latest Comments for msanchezgrice

Re: What’s Next In Mobile…

Miguel — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:47:09 -0000

Test

Re: The Role of User Feedback in Refining Game Design

Miguel — Fri, 29 May 2009 21:02:39 -0000

I agree thanks for pointing this out. I too have had to be careful with listening too closely to users, because otherwise you can find yourself catering to people's pet peeves. Also, I find that game testers implicitly suggest things that change the balance of power in the game, albeit with more weapons, more lives, etc so this might be against what you are trying to accomplish. As a designer you just have to accept that your game won't be for everyone and move on.

Re: On the Web Every User’s Opinion Counts (Even the Pirate’s)

Miguel — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:59:34 -0000

Thanks for the story...nice to hear a first hand example. That said, it has amazed me how some users who have cracked copies have complained about the game not working correctly when they play. As I do not have a jail broken or cracked version I can't replicate the problems they see and so cannot help...

Re: Private: App Store Piracy: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Miguel — Sun, 24 May 2009 16:01:32 -0000

Yes thanks for highlighting this...absolutely agree that the numbers aren't scientific here so should take instances like yours into consideration.
As for blocking devices I definitely wouldn't do anything like that. The last thing I want is for a paying user's experience with iCombat to be tainted by some misguided anti-piracy measures. Thanks for the post both great points...

Re: On the Web Every User’s Opinion Counts (Even the Pirate’s)

Miguel — Sun, 24 May 2009 15:58:39 -0000

Thanks for the comments, I love the point you make about negative users. It is true, if a user, any user, is energetic enough to spread ANYTHING about your product then they are the type of people that will evangelize if you can bring them around.

Also, I have been getting some really random and one off examples of bugs in iCombat from users, it didn't even occur to me that these users might have jailbroken or cracked versions of the app. Although I have and will continue to try to help these users it does make me feel better knowing this could be part of why there are issues. Thanks for highlighting!

Re: Private: App Store Piracy: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Miguel — Sun, 24 May 2009 15:55:04 -0000

Initially i was seriously toying with the idea of saying "hey thanks for playing iCombat, you can keep playing but please spread the word to your friends (or at least 1 other person)" then i was going to have a template e-mail pop-up to where all they had to do was enter friend's contact info. I decided against anything like this, or rate this app type ideas, because I thought I could just as easily have pirates turn against these measures. Just not worth the risk I think...

Re: Forum

Miguel — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:45:00 -0000

Send me an email at icombatgame@gmail.com and I will help however I can...

Re: You Jacked My App

Miguel — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:44:25 -0000

Yeah at this point the only users really visiting the site are because of my piracy post, since I disabled this forwarding script on version 1.1 which has been out a month you would have to be really slow pirate to still be downloading version 1.0.

Before my post though the page was hidden so there was no way web users could find their way to the site if not dropped there by iCombat. Good point though!

Re: Private: App Store Piracy: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Miguel — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:41:52 -0000

Great post and very interesting, I think you also suffer from the price point issue. The incentive obviously becomes higher to crack apps in your price range. Have you considered one of these formal anti-pirate solutions? While I don't think it worth my time with the lower priced app, your added server costs could make pirates even more expensive than just lost revenue. Let's hope Apple comes up with some solutions soon!

Re: Private: App Store Piracy: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Miguel — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:37:33 -0000

"Screw them, you can get plenty of face time and marketing without allowing every jailbroken phone in the universe access to something that cost you time and money"

I appreciate your opinion here but what you ay is actually not true...it is very difficult to get face time and exposure to the average iPhone user. If it were easier then you would be right, but currently there are about 40k apps all trying to get noticed. You are lucky if you get covered in any major blogs.

Also, while I said there is no formalized feedback loop that I could find, that doesn't mean these users don't provide opinions and feedback over the web. They just don't do it as pirates. I am writing a new post on one specific example I have now of a pirate that has actually been plugging iCombat online, even though he stole a copy.

Re: Private: App Store Piracy: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Miguel — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:34:04 -0000

Yeah I understand that point of view, and that is why we are coming out with a lite version soon. The questions becomes when the app is simple featured, as a developer how can you do a lite version without giving away the core value of your app? As for the grace period idea...that has been proven to not work on other platforms as people use the heck out of the apps and then return them for a refund.

Re: Private: Support

Miguel — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:30:48 -0000

Uwe,

You can go to the site below for a step by step explanation of what you need to do. Also if you want to spend some money up front check out the Ripdev solution linked to in the post above and they can help block pirates from using your app. And let me know if you have any other questions...

http://thwart-ipa-cracks.bl...

Re: Private: App Store Piracy: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Miguel — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:26:21 -0000

Thanks for the post but I think we are saying the same thing. I never said piracy was my problem, in fact what I said was that more developers should stop worrying about piracy and focus more on the quality of their apps.

Re: Private: App Store Piracy: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Miguel — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:14:34 -0000

You know iCombat was my first app and I was really excited to see people using it first and foremost. After the 3rd or 4th Tweet with links to the cracked copy I did get angry but figured it was still better than nothing...

I guess I have been OK with the cracking because, as I said in my post, I think if you believe you have a long term viable app then it is not such a big cause for concern. It is only if we think that there is a 1-to-1 ratio of pirated copies to lost sales or that the time horizon to making revenue is limited (which it isn't) do we start to overvalue the impact of the pirates. After all there are 37MM+ devices now so while pirates may be 60% of my users today my volume is still trivial relative to the potential user base. Good luck with your app!

Re: Private: App Store Piracy: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Miguel — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:35:59 -0000

Thanks yeah I think some bloggers have maybe oversimplified my point, nowhere am I encouraging piracy because it is definitely a huge problem. I am happy with how iCombat has done from a review point of view, but financially it could have done better without the massive illegal usage. I probably wouldn't feel OK about the piracy though if I didn't think iCombat still had the potential to do much better.

I guess it just depends whether you look at the App store as a one shot thing or an ongoing opportunity to get to the top of the charts. Thanks again for your post!

Re: Just How Bad is iPhone App Piracy?

Miguel — Sun, 10 May 2009 21:48:55 -0000

Oh man and I thought I had it bad...guess the price point really makes a difference in your case and the issue is much more severe because of the additional server costs. I imagine you plan on putting up some sort of limited version of the app for cracked versions?

Re: Choosing an Application Idea

Miguel — Sun, 10 May 2009 18:40:51 -0000

Thanks...working on some more exciting things so hopefully this is just the beginning!

Re: Private: App Store Piracy: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Miguel — Sun, 10 May 2009 18:39:57 -0000

I will be releasing a lite version soon so we will see how that affects the stats. As for the analytics, I can see how many pirates are using only as it is a discrepancy from sales - have no idea of the conversion of the pirate to sales though as that would require knowing what specific iPhones were doing an I don't have that level of detail. I will post when the data comes in though for the lite version...

Re: Feedback

Miguel — Sun, 10 May 2009 18:38:06 -0000

Thanks for the suggestions...I like the black tank idea and we should definitely add. As for the yellow tank it will be in the next version as a stationary tank (these are much harder than the dumb AI we have in the moving ones now). Also would like to add some of the richer enemy behavior like mines and bonus items soon, we will get there in one of the next updates for sure! Thanks again.

Re: Private: App Store Piracy: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Miguel — Sun, 10 May 2009 18:36:23 -0000

I know, too bad these ideas never come up on the spot...might always add in the rickroll to the next version. I could let the pirates play but they would have to watch that video first!

Re: About

Miguel — Sun, 10 May 2009 18:34:57 -0000

Thanks! That means a lot nice to see you like it...Just wait for the next update will be much deeper so should be fun!

Re: Private: App Store Piracy: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Miguel — Sun, 10 May 2009 18:34:19 -0000

Not sure what the icomeback thing is about but to be clear I am not claiming anywhere that my game is worth pirating, I am only pointing out that it has been.

Glad you like Need For Speed so much, have fun with that.

Re: Forum

Miguel — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 01:18:55 -0000

Key6no,
The only way is to take a screenshot with your iPod and either e-mail over wifi or connect to iTunes to sync the pictures with your photo album. You could always take a pic with a camera and email too. Just send to icombatgame@gmail.com and I will post it! Send soon so I can post and congrats!

Re: Feedback

Miguel — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:59:32 -0000

key6no,
Thanks for the spotting those bugs, I will check them out now. As for the 3 bullet enemy bounces, where exactly does this happen? I know in hard mode all enemies shoot 2 bullets but is there somewhere they shoot 3? Could you be thinking of the red tanks?

Re: Marketing iPhone Apps in a Multichannel World

Miguel — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:18:18 -0000

Dave,
Thanks for the support - yeah I think it's great how users interact and are supportive when they like the game so the marketing becomes fun. I have had some great e-mails and help from people who like the game and plan on doing some more creative solutions like you like maybe having a contest, t-shirts, etc.
Miguel