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Show HN: Tired of mobile games with IAP and ads, I made No-Bullshit Games

nobsgames.stavros.io

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Re: Show HN: Tired of mobile games with IAP and ads, I made No-Bullshit Games

#191

Post by ssully »

nottorp wrote: post #137
ssully wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean?

I've taken a look at their launch list and it's 90% casual stuff with very simple mechanics that I'm not interested in. My main entertainment has been video games for more than 30 years so I either need a story, complex systems i can mess with or maybe a reflex challenge. Edit: Say, where can I find a complete list of the games they offer? I just checked their page and they seem very secretive about it. Another sign…

So by "not targeted at gamers" you just mean that they don't have games you are interested in?

I've really enjoyed my time with Apple Arcade. Before it launched, it was becoming difficult to find a decent mobile game that wasn't 100% supported by ad's. I haven't loved all the games they offered, but I've played about 5 so far that I would have paid full price for if they weren't offered in the service.

Re: Show HN: Tired of mobile games with IAP and ads, I made No-Bullshit Games

#192

Post by lostgame »

StavrosK wrote: post #99
lostgame wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the recent Sonic the Hedgehog re-release from SEGA did this I just deleted it off my phone. shrugs

Oops, is it any of these? https://nobsgames.stavros.io/ios/?name=sonic I was told they only contain DLC.

The issue is that there is no offline play until you purchase - furthermore SEGA still advertises their own games if you're connected to the internet.

Any app, IMHO, that requires to be connected to the internet to play so it can deliver you ads doesn't belong on this list.

Sonic 1, 2 and CD at least behave like this atm.

Re: Show HN: Tired of mobile games with IAP and ads, I made No-Bullshit Games

#194

Post by someone7x »

fredsanford wrote: post #90
wtetzner wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not just charge money for games? Seems like a reasonable way for them to make money...

Then you create a soft ceiling and miss out on the whales that will spend $1K a month to have a shinier hat.

For some, “missing out” on that kinda exploitation is the reason for not doing it.

I’m not interested in the nicotine business for the same reasons, regardless of how much each smoking whale is worth.

Re: Show HN: Tired of mobile games with IAP and ads, I made No-Bullshit Games

#195

Post by StavrosK »

lostgame wrote: post #192
StavrosK wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oops, is it any of these? https://nobsgames.stavros.io/ios/?name=sonic I was told they only contain DLC.

The issue is that there is no offline play until you purchase - furthermore SEGA still advertises their own games if you're connected to the internet. Any app, IMHO, that requires to be connected to the internet to play so it can deliver you ads doesn't belong on this list. Sonic 1, 2 and CD at least behave like this atm.

Does it require you to be connected to the internet? Or does it show you an ad if you are? Also, it shows an ad even if you pay? That doesn't sound great...

Re: Show HN: Tired of mobile games with IAP and ads, I made No-Bullshit Games

#196

Post by mundo »

japhyr wrote: post #109

I would like to build an app that's a series of games, that are all related. I want to use the freemium model, with a one-time payment. No ads, no subscriptions; once you pay, you own the entire game. What's a better model for this? A single app with a one-time IAP; or two apps, where one is free with no ads or IAPs, but there's a link to a separate paid app with no IAPs? It seems there's no way to distinguish easily…

Anecdata: I made a game like this (where enough functionality is playable to find out if you like it, and there's a one-time IAP to unlock the full game) and got a ton of complaints about it. All of them were about IAP generally, not the one in the game. I think people just see the IAP flag in the store and assume it'll be potions or gems or whatever.

Re: Show HN: Tired of mobile games with IAP and ads, I made No-Bullshit Games

#197

Post by ansible »

mattcdrake wrote: post #14

Thanks for making this, really. Phone games seem to be a sort of gateway drug for video games and it's a shame that most of them are so laden with microtransactions and attention-hacks. Anything that can steer people away from heroin-adjacent mobile games toward games with substance is a great product in my book. Nice job.

I think it would make a fascinating study on how mobile gaming turned into this, when PC and console gaming (while suffering from some of this) is still viable for people who just want to buy a game and play it without shenanigans.

Re: Show HN: Tired of mobile games with IAP and ads, I made No-Bullshit Games

#198

Post by eps »

StavrosK wrote: post #61
eps wrote: post #51

Good coverage, well done! At least for the iOS games. Few more to add: Tiny Bang PDTA (please don't touch anything) Carcassone Tokaido Miracle Merchant Alchemy 2 Supertype Ordinary puzzles Auralux, Auralux 2

Thank you! Could you add them via the form? That way I can keep the feedback in one place.

Ah, found the form... but it was on the landing page that serves no other purpose but to forward people to the iOS or Android sections. So there's no real reason to ever go back to it. Perhaps link the form from the actual listing pages?

Re: Show HN: Tired of mobile games with IAP and ads, I made No-Bullshit Games

#199

Post by StavrosK »

riantogo wrote: post #184

I would request you to consider web apps as well. I tried submitting http://arcadejack.com but no luck. Here is what I had entered as comment: "Consider this no-bullshit math game to help kids practice math. Free, no iap, no login. Everything is stored locally." Edit: Still super early in dev and pin for "grown up" tab is 1222

I'm afraid that's next to impossible as it would require too much manual work, but thanks for the recommendation!

Re: Show HN: Tired of mobile games with IAP and ads, I made No-Bullshit Games

#200

Post by StavrosK »

jlv2 wrote: post #189

Really nice idea! I added a few. But one that I added didn't make it to the list and I don't know why: Spaceteam https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sleepingbe... It has no ads. The IAP it has seems to fit your definition of acceptable: it's only cosmetic and goes to support the developer. So my suggestion would be this: include another list of rejected games, which some reason why they didn't meet the…

Oooh I love Spaceteam, thanks for the submission. Basically, the way it works is that games are automatically added once an hour if they have no ads or iap and are semi-popular, otherwise if you leave a comment telling me why the IAP they have is fine, they go into a review queue.

I then eventually review the queue and whitelist the games accordingly. Spaceteam should be up in a few minutes, thanks again!

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