Welcome back to the second part of the interview we conducted with Paul Ripley last week. The long-and-short: he’s great, he’s made a great game, and we want to give you lot the chance to learn a bit about all the cool behind-the-scenes development type stuff.

Part 2, commence!

Appy: Why did you make Guide The Light so fiendishly hard in the later stages!?

Paul:Haha! You should have seen it before I removed all of the really hard levels…

I do think there should be some challenge in a game though – what fun would it be if you could try to play from start to finish without having to retry levels, or spend some time working out how to get past a level?

The key to the later Guide The Light levels is to look at the level, and work out how to solve it without moving anything – once you actually start, you are then against the clock on some levels.

Of course, there is the Vision Crystal if you are really stuck on a level.

Appy: Sounds terrifying… but cool! Were there any other features or content you were fond of that got cut?

Paul: Originally there were quite a few much larger levels, but they were confusing, as you had to keep scrolling the screen around. There are now only a couple of levels (at the end of each pyramid) that are bigger than one screen. It makes gameplay simpler by fitting each puzzle on the screen, but I had to drop some great multi-screen levels. Maybe they will make a comeback later on as downloadable content…

Captain Blake himself!

Appy: Tell us a bit about Captain Blake, the main character. He seems a little bit… hapless.

Paul: When I first created the game, it was all made with “programmer art”, so the main character was just an animated stick figure. I asked Colin to create a character, and he came up with a few character styles, based on nicely stereotyped popular images of explorers from the past.

Colin eventually settled on Blake, who was loosely influenced by Jungle Jim from the 1930s comic strips, as well as other comic book characters.

Appy: We’ve already had some of the community get back to us on this, so we have to ask – is there going to be an Android version?

Paul: I’d like to port the game to other platforms eventually, and I always write my code to be as platform-agnostic as possible, so it shouldn’t be hard to port to Android. I’m just not entirely convinced its worth my time at the moment though. As far as I can tell, the best way of making any money on Android is from advertising, and Guide The Light doesn’t really suit the ad-supported model.

Hopefully the Amazon store might convince Android users to start paying for some of their content.

Some traps can explode, killing Captain Blake…

Appy: What do you find best about coding for Apple’s devices?

Paul: As I mentioned previously, I always code in a generic way to make porting easier (a habit I learnt in the past developing cross-platform games). That means I code in C++ rather than Objective C, which would be the easiest way to develop for iOS.

Getting an App up and running on iOS is very straightforward though – their tools, such as Xcode, and their APIs and SDKs all just work.

I tried to get a sample app up and running on an Android simulator one afternoon, and it took about 5 hours – it took about 30 minutes the first time I tried that for iPhone.

Appy: Is there anything in particular you like about iOS5 and iOS6?

Paul: I think my favourite features that were new with iOS5 are a little obscure. Probably wireless sync was one of my favourite features – it was annoying having to plug the phone in to Mac if I wanted to transfer new music.

Also being able to take photos with the physical volume button was a great new feature.

From a gaming point of view, adding points to Game Center Achievements was a good move in iOS5, as was turn-based multiplayer game support.

I also like the new Facebook and Twitter integration in iOS6 – it makes social sharing much simpler now, from a developers viewpoint.

Giant spiders… Captain Blake hates spiders!

Appy: Going back to our earlier questions, the trend for more difficult games (Demons Souls etc.) has taken off recently… Was this a conscious decision on your part, or…?

Paul: It wasn’t a conscious decision, it’s just that whenever I try and make things so easy that anyone could play them without thinking, I can’t find the fun any more. I definitely like to be challenged (a bit, not too much) by games – the sense of achievement is so much greater when you have to think a bit to make progress.

I think for a while the trend in mobile games has been to make things as easy as possible, so as to sell as many copies to as large a casual audience as possible. I think developers might now be realising that even casual gamers want to be challenged a bit.

Appy: What’s your favourite part about games development?

Paul: Working on smaller mobile titles definitely beats developing AAA console games.

I did enjoy working on same great AAA projects in the past, but making my own mobile games lets me develop every aspect of the game, rather than focusing on 1 or 2 narrow areas of the game.

Some levels require that you move more than just mirrors.

Appy: What’s your fondest memory of the development of Guide The Light – either related to the game or just life events that were happening during that time period?

Paul: It’s been enjoyable handing the game over to friends at various stages and watching them get engrossed in solving some of the levels. When you watch people spending a lot of time trying something out you know you have something interesting.

Appy: And finally, now that Guide The Light’s coming out… what next?

Paul: I’ve always got a few game prototypes on the go, so it’s time to see which one to develop onto a game! I’ve also got a reasonably large update to Hexius (Paul’s previous iOS game – Ed.) in the works, and I’m just ported my game engine to OS X, so I’ll be looking at putting some games onto the Mac App Store (possibly Guide The Light).

There could well be some expansion packs for Guide The Light too, as I have a few unused levels, and lots of ideas for new ones.

I’m sure you’ll all agree, once you’ve got your mitts on the game from the 22nd, that more levels can only be a good thing. The game as it stands will last you a long time – some of the levels really take brain-teasing to a new level – so be sure to keep an eye out on here, on Facebook or on our twitter for launch news, and a competition!

Happy adventuring!

As you can see from the game’s trailer, he’s very good at his job.

So anyway, we rambled on a bit – it’s all very interesting, don’t worry – but we thought we’d split the interview into two parts. Here’s part one! Enjoy!

Appy: Where did you start your career in games?

Paul: I started making simple games in basic when I was about 12, on my Commodore 64, but stopped doing that after a couple of years. I returned to making games in about 2000 when I started working for Magenta Games in Liverpool. We made a few PS1 and PS2 games, such as Disney’s Treasure Planet, and Stuart Little 2. Later on I moved to Sony Computer Entertainment where I programmed on PS3 games such as the PS3 launch title Formula 1 2006 Championship Edition. I also worked on WipEout HD, and the PS Vita launch title Wipeout 2048, as well as many prototypes.

Appy: What was the most influential game in your childhood?

Paul: I’m not sure any games were particularly influential, but I have strong memories of Shadow of The Beast 2, Turrican 2, Speedball 2, and Populous 2 (all on the Amiga, and all 2nd sequels for some strange reason!).

Earlier than that though, I can remember getting thoroughly beaten by Manic Miner on the C64.

It’s interesting to note that one of my colleagues at Sony was one of the creators of Shadow of the Beast (Studio Liverpool having previously been Psygnosis).

Coloured lights & mazes… tricky!

Appy: How do you approach designing your games? What are your inspirations and priorities?

Paul: In the last few years I’ve been looking at how to design games for a touch screen, which presents different problems to traditional control interfaces. I’m really not keen on console ports with virtual sticks, and I much prefer games designed specifically for the available controls on the device.

I had a lot of experience working on prototype games for the PS Vita, and that was useful for finding out what does and doesn’t work on a touch screen.

Most of the game ideas I’m working on all stem from a single core idea or mechanic, and I build the game on that. For example Guide The Light only really has one mechanic – moving mirrors around, so it’s simple to learn the controls. You can then design complexity on top of that by adding a few simple rules that have to be combined correctly.

Appy: What’s your favourite game on iOS at the moment?

Paul: I’ve been so busy with developing GTL and contracting recently, I haven’t played many new iOS games for a while. I’ll be doing a lot more “research” soon once GTL is released

I do have one favourite at the moment, but it’s a top-secret prototype I’m working on, so I can’t say any more at the moment!

Appy: If you could, please tell us a little bit about Colin Fawcett and the dedication to him in the Guide The Light credits.

Paul: Colin was a friend and colleague for about 5 years – I worked with him at Sony, where he was an art director, and also drank a fair few beers with him!

Colin left Sony at around the same time I did, and set out as a freelance game artist.

He produced the majority of the great artwork in Guide The Light, where his skill as a comic artist really helped define the visual style of the game.

It was a great shock when Colin recently passed away, after a short battle with cancer. It was the least I could do to dedicate the game to Colin.

Some of the levels in the game get VERY complex…

Appy: What was the first inspiration for GTL?

Paul: I’d had the idea years ago, but hadn’t had the chance to make it, and it would have been clumsy to play with more traditional controllers. I suspect it was one of those ideas that arrive in the middle of the night when you can’t sleep – most of my game ideas come then, and I usually write them down.

After I decided to go solo making iOS games, I first developed Hexius, as it was simpler to get up and running, and then I turned my focus to Guide The Light, as it really suited touch controls.

Appy: What do you want you players to feel when playing GTL?

Paul: I want players to feel the satisfaction of solving puzzles! Pretty much all of my game ideas have puzzle solving at their heart, and GTL is no exception.

Guide The Light’s hero, Captain Blake. He needs a LOT of help from you!

Appy: What made you decide to have players helping out a character, rather than just a traditional abstract puzzle?

Paul: GTL is purely a level based puzzle game, but it can be very hard to convey to players why they should play a puzzle game if it’s very abstract. I discovered this with Hexius – it has a hardcore following of players who keep coming back for more, but it was hard to sell to more casual players due to it’s abstract nature.

It’s a fairly well known design principle that if a game features a character, then people can relate to it better – as you solve the puzzles in the game, you feel a little like you are helping someone achieve something, rather than just performing an abstract task.

By having a character exploring pyramids, it also made it easier to settle on the art style.

Appy: Are you particularly passionate about Egyptology or excavations/treasure hunting?

Paul: I wouldn’t say I’m passionate about it, but I do find it interesting, and often pop into museums with Egypt exhibits when I’m passing. I guess I was probably influenced by watching lots of Indiana Jones as a child!

As you progress, new puzzle types introduce new gameplay. These splitters are fun!

Appy: Who else helped you make GTL and what did they contribute?

Paul: Phasic Labs is a 1 man band, but I couldn’t have made GTL without the excellent hand-crafted artwork from Colin.

The amazing music was created by Richard Abbott, who I was introduced to by an ex-Sony colleague. Richard makes great music as well as running an Aerospace company, believe it or not!

I made all of the other content, did all the programming, and designed the levels, but the level design was iterative, with quite a few friends helping me refine the designs over the last year.

Appy: What was the key inspiration behind the tone and style of the audio?

Paul: The audio inspiration is mostly Richard’s – I wanted the main music to sound cinematic, but not too dark, and the in-game music to be mysterious and atmospheric, but not too obtrusive, as it shouldn’t distract from playing the game.

Richard returned some prototype tracks astoundingly quickly, and it a variety of styles, and with only a few tweaks we had the final music.

I produced the sound effects, but there wasn’t much inspiration required for those, because it’s fairly obvious what each event in the game should sound like.

And there we have it, part one of the interview done. Come back soon for part two, and keep a look out for more Guide The Light info and excitement on here, on Facebook and on twitter too!

Ciao!

It feels like Christmas and your Birthday all wrapped up in one… but then that feeling turns to nervousness as you sit and hope that everyone else is as excited as you… what if nobody comes to your party?

Which is why it’s nice to have something that you know people are going to love. And for us, that game is Guide the Light.

As you can see, it’s a gorgeous puzzle game where you must reflect beams of coloured light around Egyptian and Aztec ruins, attempting to trigger doors and disable traps so that our hero, Captain Blake, can escape each deadly room and grab some treasure on his way to fame, fortune and… well… who knows what else. Maybe an expansion pack.

We can’t wait for you to play through its 50 ingenious levels when it comes out on the 22nd November (next week!) on iOS, for a mere $0.99 USD / £0.69 GBP / €0.79 EUR – oh, and it’s a universal app.

Stay tuned to our Facebook page and Twitter feed for a competition regarding the game this coming week. Something very cool will be given away before launch.

Until then, happy treasure hunting!

Once more we are going to list for you some great little lesser-known games on iOS (and maybe even Android!) that have been tickling our fun-glands the past few weeks and months. Of course no Games We Like post can go up without a shout-out to the beardiest brainiest brothers of the UK independent scene – Ste and John Pickford over at Zee-3 – who started this whole trend in the first place.

You can see their choices over here.

Robin Clarke, James Harkness, Andy Payne and Andrew Smith (that’s me!) have all picked one more of their favourite mobile titles. You should definitely check each one out, and let us know what you think on twitter or Facebook!

Robin’s Pick:

Frutorious by Infinite State Games. This is a cutesy arcade game with a ‘slingshot’ control scheme and quirky DIY fabric and plasticine aesthetic. It’s properly bonkers in the tradition of the best surreal UK-developed games for the 8- and 16-bit micros. You have to fling googly-eyed fuzzball Mr. Fruts around a series of horizontally scrolling levels collecting up his chums who have been transformed into fruit, while trying not to get snookered by enemies or taking too long.

There are loads of levels, loads of powerups and an assortment of daft voice samples and nice backgrounds to keep things interesting. The only thing that lets the side down a bit is the lack of retina graphics, but after a while you won’t notice (and it could even be argued to add to the lo-fi charm).

Andrew’s Pick:

Planet Bom Bom by Skipmore. I’m detecting a theme in my choices. Another retro-inspired game, this one is very simple – just fling the robot around the screen, bouncing off stuff to score points. You need to score enough points in each level to progress (or to save the planet in the center) and frankly that’s about it. It’s charming and well presented, but doesn’t have too much depth. Sometime you just want to fling stuff about the screen and waste a few minutes luxuriating in some nice juicy feedback. this is the game for those moments.

Also available on Google play.

Trust me to choose the only game without a trailer…

 James’ Pick:

 Andy Payne’s Pick:

Wonderputt by Damp Gnat. Love the simplicity and fiendish gameplay. Lavish,  beautiful graphics in equal measure, superb ‘level’ design including all sorts of stuff, like ski slopes, cows, watering cans and fountains.  It is the sort of Crazy Golf course I always dreamed of as a kid. Just LOVE it.

So that’s our second roundup of Games We Like. Again, if one of our picks is one of your babies (or one of your favourites) then say hi on twitter or Facebook and we can compare high scores!

See you soon!

The set up time was a little hampered by a ‘suspicious package’ which led to the hall being evacuated for an hour or so, but other than that we got ready in good time. That’s the great thing about having iPads and tablets on the show floor – very little equipment to lug about!

Our booth (click to enlarge)

That said, we were greeted at reception by a wonderfully old-school table football table, which after lugging across the entire Earl’s Court floor, we dumped in front of an equally brilliant TV. The whole stand was on the end of the Rezzed section, opposite not only the Indie Games Arcade, but also Halo 4. We were next door to the press area too, and the foot traffic was simply magic – thousands and thousands of people over the four days walked past our stand and were either caught by the looping trailers on the screen or wondered what on earth such an archaic football table was doing there. We chose to tell them it was the highest-def most 3D football game on the market. It seemed to work!

Table football and the MASSIVE screen (click to enlarge)

Every day saw so many people come and play the game we lost count. I’ve only got ten fingers and ten toes, so it didn’t take long, but seriously we were swamped at all times of the day. Some people had heard of the game, some hadn’t, and some were already HUGE Fluid Football fans – but either way they all got stickers (we handed out a thousand of those alone over the course of the show) or played us at the game. Some even played us or each other on the Table Football table – and we ran a big tournament on there too – we’ll be posting some footage of the final soon.

Sadly our ultra-thorough plan for a show-floor-wide treasure hunt underestimated the fact that most people were there to play games, not to engage in this sort of thing, no matter how fun. We changed tack and gave away the swag to many deserving fans, but we’ve learned the lesson for next time!

Crowds round this bad boy were constant & excitable! (click to enlarge)

By the end of the show we’d handed out dozens of rosettes, thousands of stickers, inflatable weights, hats, football rattles, a few t-shirts from our lovely friends at Insert Coin Clothing – and all for the low low price of a few doses of lurgy from the general public. Judging by how we all felt at the end of Sunday, we’d need a few days of rest. No such luck though, as we got straight back into the thick of it! We were showing off the Android version of Fluid Football on the stand, and there’s plenty for us to do before its imminent launch – not to mention the Kit Editor that we’re launching very soon indeed!

A shot of all the cool stuff we were giving away! (click to enlarge)

Finally all that is left to say is a big thank you to everyone who helped out on the stand over the four days, and an especially enormous internet-hug to everyone who came by and played with us. It was so much fun and we’re hoping to see you all again next year.

Until then, pop by our Facebook page to see all of the photos we took, and happy gaming!

We’re all very excited to be attending all 4 days of Eurogamer Expo this year, with a stand in the wonderful Rezzed section of the show (right near Halo 4!).

We’re in the Rezzed section, top left (click to enlarge)

We’ll be bringing iPads loaded with the latest version of Fluid Football (with a few new features &tweaks, naturally) so you can get your hands on the game or show off your skills to your mates. We may even run a few small competitions on it, and of course you’ll get to meet Andrew, Andy, James, Robin and on the Friday we’ll have Simon there too – the big boss man of Chromativity, the developers of Fluid Football!

Not content with that, we’re going to be bringing a table football table (that’s Foosball to any Americans reading this). Why? Because they’re ace. And because I reckon I’m pretty good at it and would like people to try and beat me (Oh dear. This could be painful. In the ego – Ed).

The Rosettes we’re taking for a few lucky winners! (click to enlarge)

But the thing we’re most excited about is the competition! Once every day we’ll tweet about the kick off, and there’ll be two hours in which teams of people must roam the floor, finding clues and performing football-related tasks. When the time is up, the teams’ efforts will be judged, scored, and the winners of the day will get a ton of exclusive AppyNation and Fluid Football swag…

…and maybe some hugs (Don’t you mean ‘…maybe some Andy hugs’? – Ed).

One of the very noisy (sorry in advance, fellow standees!) football rattlers that we’re bringing with us! (click to enlarge)

Every task will involve pictures being taken or video being recorded (by you!), and of course we’ll share all the madness with those of you who can’t attend via our twitter feed and Facebook. Make sure you follow us to join in!

Read on for info on the rules of the competition, and don’t forget to come by and say hello at the event!

The Rules:

- The competition will start at 2pm every day.
- Judgement will happen at 4pm each day.
- Teams are allowed to enter, as are lone wolves!
- To enter, at least one person in the team needs to follow @AppyNation on twitter, give us their email (or both).
- Each task will be themed around an element of the football industry.

- Each task requires photographic or video evidence:

• The pics/vids can be tweeted to us, or shown to us at the stand.
• We’d like to ask everyone to submit the pic of video to us, so we can show the world all the fun we’re having!
• The more entertaining the pic or video, the more  points it’s worth!

- Bribes and threats will not be tolerated.
- Winners will be decided based on a combination of community feedback (twitter, Facebook etc.) and our decision.
- The Judge’s decisions are final.
- We’re not offering alternative prizes.
- The competition rules are subject to change.
- We will not enter into any correspondence regarding the rules or the results.
- The competition is open to all visitors of the show
- The competition is not open to anyone who works at AppyNation, Chromativity, Gray Cooper Media or any of their relatives & families.
- The competition will run for the fixed duration of the Eurogamer Expo 2012.
- Failure to adhere to the competition rules will result in disqualification.
- Entrants must behave in a manner which does not distress other Expo attendees or cause undue disturbance.
- AppyNation is not responsible for loss of belongings incurred material damage, or personal injury through or during participation in the competition.

First up – because we love him for it – is Simon Read of New Star Games, who sent this LOVELY Twitter outburst:

“Fluid Football is bloody brilliant. Well done AppyNation!”

Plus he linked to the game’s page on the App Store! Things like this mean more to us than any critical review, simply because we admire the guy’s game (New Star Soccer), he’s been through the pain of developing a game, and he loves football! So yeah. Pretty much the highlight for everyone here at the Nation! But it’s not just a favourite of ours – it even made news on Eurogamer! Take it from us, that doesn’t happen much, and was a lovely cherry on top.

Not to forget the frankly divine* Suzi Perry also surprised us with a mention in one of her great roundup articles over on Trusted Reviews. not only does she compliment us by referring to Fluid Football as

“a modern day Subbuteo”

but she also gives us one of the best quotes we could hope for:

“I dare you to download it and not become hooked!”

I mean really, you couldn’t pay people to write stuff like that. Well, okay, you could. But it wouldn’t be sincere, would it?

*we are biased. But she is divine.

PocketVideoGamer gave us a nice review too, giving us 8/10 and summarising with a simple, to the point:

“What more could you want”

We agree!

The Sunday Mirror (a tabloid in the UK) gave us a very smile-inducing 4 stars of out 5 in their 2nd September 2012 edition, and flattered us further by saying Fluid Football is:

“…deceptively simple but highly addictive fare.”

(click to enlarge)

Sam Oliver over on We Do Code spent some time writing a short little look at our humble game, and was kind enough to say:

“A great mobile football game is hard to find but Fluid Football fits the bill perfectly.”

Word-for-word, probably the most positive review any game has ever received – a full 3rd of the review is complimentary!

We’ve also been receiving some lovely coverage from non-English-speaking territories. Application iPhone have posted a lovely review, and we’re pretty sure – judging from Google’s translation – that a lot of that is down to the way we’ve been sure to localise not only the game (in terms of text) but also the way it’s being seen on the App Store. We’re in the process of doing this for most territories, but basically the players and the flags seen in the screenshots are also being ‘localised’. It leads to nice snippets along the lines of this:

“For football fans, non-fans, lovers of puzzles; strategists… everyone”

Next up is ThinkDigit, who were tremendously positive:

“a must-have for all those who prefer their football to be a mix of intellect and action.”

Being completely honest we weren’t aware of this site, but they’re definitely on our radar now! They also call out the simplicity of the controls, alongside the strategic take on football. They call out the usual suspects – IAP and ads – but rightly take issue with the fact that sometimes the controls can occasionally be a bit fiddly. We’re continually addressing that in updates, thankfully!

One of our favourite articles was from MCV. Usually focused on the business and sales side of the industry, this UK journal is widely respected, and recently started a weekly favourite app highlight. Ben Parfitt writes a TON about how wonderful he finds our game, so it was actually rather fun picking a favourite…

“Fluid Football is an undoubted triumph”

…but that right there is hard to beat. Thanks Ben!

And then Sport (a free Sports paper in the UK) gave us a lovely feature, labelling Fluid Football as:

“wholesome addictive fun”

(click to enlarge)

But it wasn’t all unadulterated praise. Oh no. Some people had the nerve to not like every single thing in the game!

148Apps gave it 3.5 out of 5, saying:

“soccer fans will be itching to play more, even despite the flaws with the control system.”

While Pocketgamer awarded the game 6 out of 10 (boo!), commenting:

“Entertaining but sometimes incredibly tough, Fluid Football doesn’t have the grace of New Star Soccer, but it’ll keep football fans engaged for hours”

And then Modojo scored it 3 out of 5, with the following compliment/caveat combo:

“What’s Hot: A refreshingly different slice of soccer gameplay with a wide variety of challenges included.

What’s Not: You’ll have to spend more than a few dollars to get at all the game. The controls can also be frustratingly fussy.”

Of course this is all fine, and we’re just kidding about. All the critical insight we’ve had so far has been great for us – we’re under no illusions about Fluid Football; while we love it, there’s always ways we can improve it, and very few games can boast to please all of the people all of the time!

This is the reality of the games business, and we’re ready and willing to support and tweak the game far into the future.

To end on a positive, though, the inimitable Stuart Dredge gave us 4/5 writing for the Sunday Times’ InGear supplement, as you can see below, and draws favourable comparisons with New Star Soccer too – we’re very flattered!

(click to enlarge)

We can’t wait to see what you – the fans – think of what we’re going to be uncovering in the very near future! Fluid Football a game of slightly more than two halves!

EDIT: We’re changing the format of this list, to… well, a list. Less screenshots, more links to avoid clicking. We’re going to keep updating this list, even though we think we’ve found most of the culprits.

We all know the internet is a wild and interesting place. Endlessly exciting and wondrous. But it also has its dark corners.

No, we’re not talking about those corners (our ISP blocks them, anyway), but rather the practice of websites and blogs charging for reviews. All credit goes to the delightful Charley Grafton-Chuck for sparking this off. As she so rightly points out (and I’m sure anyone with a sense of decency agrees), it is not journalism, they can’t be objective, it takes credibility away from the app and doesn’t give consumers all the info.

Charging for reviews (or  for ‘consideration’, or to cover ‘administration’ fees) is a tactic that raises our hackles, gets our goat, boils our blood and generally makes us want to shout. So, rather than shouting, we thought we’d create a permanent (and often updated) list of these websites. And for anyone wondering, we’ve linked to them so that a) you can see they’re real and b) their advert revenues go up and they can stop charging for reviews. Sneaky, huh?

THE NAUGHTY LIST:

iPhone AppReviewsSite
Free reviews are available with no guarantee of coverage, a ‘small fee’ charged for expedited.

Hot Mac Apps
Basic reviews start at $2, expedited start at $35.

Daily App Show
Video reviews seems to start at $55, and go up to $280.

Android Headlines
$149.99 currently, normal price $249.99.

The iMum
Expedited review for AUS$75 at time of writing (brochure link here).

Alpha Digits
Offers a “featured review service for a small fee.”

App Eggs
they offer a free review service, but it’s between $50 and $129 for any other kind of review.

Fresh Apps
Pay $100 for a review. No other option at time of writing.

Mobi Apps Review
For $15 you get your app or game promoted, but for $30 you get that plus a review.

Digital Storytime
You have to register via email to see the ‘submit your app’ page, and it’s $150 for a priority review, or $50 for a ‘rating’.

Android Apps Review
An expedited review sets you back $59 for iOS or Android separately, while both at the same time cost $89. A video review is $99.

Android Tapp
they offer free reviews, but it costs $149 to get an expedited review.

Best Apps for Kids
They offer an expedited review for $35.

AppShrink
This site offers text reviews for $25 and video reviews for $39.

Appdictions iOS & Appdictions Android
Review prices start at $25, end at $60.

The Smartphone App Review
An expedited review for $39.

Appstore Arcade
There seem to be many ways to give them your money, but I can’t find any details of these various options.

iPhoneGlance
There’s a free option, true. Costs for guaranteed reviews start at $15.

AppDigity
No apparent way to get them to review a game for free, and while there are 2 options – $10 & $25 – the more expensive one adds ‘ads’.

iPhoneAppCafe
They do offer a way for you to submit a game for review for free, that they may or may not review. A .pdf for you to peruse with the pricing plan on it ($149). They do call these reviews out as ‘sponsored’ when they post them.

AppCraver
They do normal reviews. But expedited reviews for $150.

Tapscape
Another site that offers normal reviews, and then charges $89 for an Expedited Reviews.

Best 10 Apps
They do offer free reviews, but if you want a ‘hands-on’ text review (or video, or both combined) then prices start at $50.

The iPhone App  Review
There is no guarantee you’ll get a free review. An ‘expedited’ review starts at $59.

iPhone Toolbox
This site claims to charge $5 for a basic submission, but the only payment options are $25 and $50.  (note: opens lots of ads, be careful!).

iPhone Footprint
Free reviews are an option, but expedited reviews cost $29.

 THE NICE LIST

A list of sites that have changed their ways! Hopefully this will grow over time… and the owners qualify for Christmas presents now, too!

iKidApps
EDITED: 5th October 2012

The new owner of the site got in touch and, without wanting to quote them directly, they have taken the ‘paid reviews’ option off the site, and even refunded a developer who had paid recently – we’re assuming during the transfer. They don’t believe there’s any sense in having them as they erode the audience’s confidence. This is great news!

(Original post: A very long advertising page that eventually leads to, at the bottom, the revelation that an expedited review will set you back $150. That’s an awful lot of money even just compared to the rest of this list.)

Moving Forward.

If any of the sites or organisations we call out here would like to engage in some discussion about the practices, then please do not hesitate to contact us. Similarly, if you can show us that you’ve stopped these practices, then we’ll happily remove you from this list.

Any developers, journalists or PR people out there know of any we’ve missed? Fire us an email and let us know – we’ll add them as long as we’ve got the proof!

Please do share this list, as we feel like a lot of people who maybe don’t know any better might get tricked into falling for their schemes.

And we don’t want that.

So what websites are known for treating developers fairly? What should a developer do to see a positive result from games sites? We’re going balance the karma by writing a sister article about good things to do and happy websites. And we’ll do it soon.

Launch day was tremendously exciting. There’d been a pretty high-profile and successful football game released on iOS only recently, and no doubt all of the ‘competing’ footy apps and games were going to release an update – it’d be madness not to seeing as it was also the opening weekend of the new football season in the UK.

Fluid Football in action on the iPhone (click to enlarge)

Against some pretty fierce (albeit mainly imaginary) competition, we weren’t sure what to expect. When we hit the GO button on the submitted build, a few hearts leapt (much like watching that penalty) and then there was nothing we could do but wait.

It’s a weird feeling.

You work so hard on something, then it launches… while you wish you could do more – in fact you’re in the best position to help since you started – you can’t even lift a finger.

Sometimes you rage against all those little things that bug you about the game that you wish you had time fix, but really you just need to sit back and wait. That’s when the sleepless nights start!

Day 0:
- 900+ downloads
- No Rank

Technically the Wednesday, when the game came out on Thursday (16th). Good old global time zones! All of these downloads were organic, our press coverage didn’t start in earnest until we send out the announcement press release the next day, and most of the UK was asleep for most of the time these downloads occurred. Still, a pretty good result, and I’d say most of that was down to random searches for ‘Football’ on the App Store. We’ll never know for sure.

Day 1:
- 9,000+ downloads
- Top 100 Free Apps (UK Overall)
- Top 5 iPhone Strategy Game in UK, Ireland and Luxembourg
- Top 5 iPad Sports Game in Lithuania

A tenfold increase! The real first day on sale saw a lot of activity on twitter, facebook and forums, leveraging a potential audience we’d estimate at over 120,000 overall. Having Richard Keys tweeting about the game to his followers certainly helps up the ante. The press release started to see some posts in the news, and of course, all of the free app trackers pointed out our release. Some of the increase should also be attributed to the fact that it simply because available on every regional App Store in the world that day. Can’t claim too much credit!

Day 2:
- 21,000+ downloads
- Top 20 Free Apps (UK Overall)
- No.1 iPhone Strategy Game in Paraguay, Honduras and Columbia
- No.1 iPad Sports Game in Argentina and Venezuela

The first full-on day. Friday is always a strong day, so we were confident in seeing a rise… but this was HUGE. Obviously we rocketed up the ranks too, but I think we were all pleasantly surprised. You get so close to a game and all you end up seeing are its faults (which we’ve already submitted a fix for, so expect an update soon!) so when you see success like this, then you begin to believe you’ve done something right.

Day 3:
- 35,000+ downloads.
- No.4 Free Apps (UK Overall)
- No.3 Free Apps (UK Games)
- No.1 iPhone Sports Game in UK
- No.1 iPad Sports Game in 9 territories
- No.1 iPad Strategy Game in 3 territories

And then the rising success continues! Obviously the start of the new football season in the UK is having a huge effect – we’re not quite as popular in the USA, but countries like Portugal, Spain and Italy we’re seeing some very similar rankings and large amounts of downloads. Basically anywhere that football is really popular seems to really dig the game. And that’s the best validation you can have! It means more to us than critical reviews and even forum posts to know football fans have taken the game to heart.

A screen that’s now been seen by hundreds of thousands! (click to enlarge)

Day 4:
- 48,000+ downloads.
- No.2 Free Apps (UK Overall)
- No.2 Free Apps (UK Games)
- No.2 iPad Overall in Argentina and Portugal
- No.1 iPad Game in Portugal

An amazing day. Wow. Never thought we’d get to No. 2 in the OVERALL UK app charts. Just phenomenal! Champagne was popped (err, metaphorically speaking) and cheers were heard all over the UK as the various studios that make the Nation what it is celebrated a great milestone. At this point we were epecting a slight downturn in downloads, as the new week kicks off and football mania eases off until the next weekend…

Day 5:
- 42,000+ downloads
- No.2 Free Apps (UK Overall)
- No.2 Free Apps (UK Games)
- No.2 iPad Overall in Portugal
- No.1 iPad Game in Portugal

…and we weren’t wrong. It didn’t really affect our position too much (we went up and down in the top 5 all day) but it was good to see we had staying power. A bigger drop in downloads wouldn’t have been unheard of, and obviously the word of mouth about the game was helping it stay up high due to the game’s quality. Very reassuring indeed.

Day 6:
- 38,000+ downloads
- No.3 Free Apps (UK Overall)
- No.3 Free Apps (UK Games)
- No.1 iPad Game in Portugal

Another (smaller) dip had us a bit worried. The ranking went down mainly due to a new contender in the store that day, but we’re in it for the long haul, and everyone who opens the Top 25 free games still sees us on that all-important first page. It’s funny trying to second guess buying habits and trying to draw parallels or conclusions from such a closed marketplace. You can talk all day about the ins and outs (sometimes we catch ourselves getting really tedious and assumptive, we have to slap each others’ wrists when this happens) but ultimately you have to ride the wave for a few days to see what happens!

Day 7:
- 41,000+ downloads
- No.4 Free Apps (UK Overall)
- No.4 Free Apps (UK Games)

Well now. Things are looking up again, perhaps? It would seem the midweek lull is over, people are excited about spending their free time over the weekend with some quality games, and football chat heats up in offices the world over once more? Only time will tell if we’re an evergreen feature in the top ranks of the App Store. We hope so, because the season’s got a fair few weeks left for us to push Fluid Football hard!

Reckon you could score this? (click to enlarge)

And that’s the story for the first week! If we come back in the weeks to come with a similar tale, then we’ll be REALLY happy.

The App Store, like the beautiful game itself, is deep, rewarding and unpredictable.

We can’t wait to see what’s around the corner, but in the meantime if you haven’t already then please do try Fluid Football out, follow us on twitter and facebook for more insight as it happens (or Fluid Football on their twitter and Facebook page for more ‘soccer’ specifics), and be sure to let us know what you think!

Bye for now!

A big claim, but hopefully by the end of this post you’ll see what we’re on about!

First, a recap from Simon Prytherch, the big boss at Chromativity – the developers behind this little gem of a game.

Simon: “Fluid Football brings the world of football strategy to iOS. Or another way of looking at Fluid Football is it is a football-themed puzzle game with infinite solutions to each level.

You control your team with an intuitive touch-screen interface.  Draw lines with your finger to map out players’ runs both on and off the ball.  Choose the right moment to pass, cross and dribble.  When you get in on goal, make sure your shot finds the back of the net.  By default, the action plays out in slow motion, giving the feeling of an action replay and allowing the user thinking time to set up elaborate moves and out-play the opposition.”

But let’s break it down even further, in a post-match analysis kind of way.

A game of more than two halves

The game sees the player progress through Cups representing increasingly high-profile tournaments. Each Cup contains eight levels (matches), and there are six Cups in each of the three countries represented so far – with even more planned for release post-launch. This totals 48 matches to complete in each country, and a grand total of 144 levels available to unlock at launch.

Each level is actually a set piece – a free kick, a throw-in or a corner – where the player is mere moments from scoring an amazing goal, and must do so to progress. Doing so unlocks the next match in that cup, and so on. Each level also has a subset of three Skill Challenges that will ask things like “complete 4 passes” or “score from the penalty box” just to mix things up for the real football fans out there.

Fluid Football’s title screen (click to enlarge).

For the total newcomer (and in acknowledgement that Fluid Football controls a little bit differently from the average football game) we’ve created the Academy mode. This is a fun set of simple challenges that ease you into the basics of the game, like making an off-ball run, passing directly to a stationary player and passing to another player running onto the ball. It culminates by showing you how to shoot and score a goal – though you can also practice your expert striker skills by selecting… well… Practice from the main menu (obviously – Ed.).

The warm-up

When you’re ready to go for it and dive into the main game, you’ll find that the first cup is graded easy (for beginners). You’ll see the three challenges we mentioned before displayed in detail before you go into the match – the first one is obviously to score a goal, but the other two change depending on the match. In the case of the first match you get additional points and coins for scoring after five or more passes, or for scoring from within the goal area.

Fluid Football’s Academy (click to enlarge).

You can also get Hints or an example Solution if you select Ask Andy – and this is where the legendary Andy Gray comes in to his own. You get to listen to advice, tips and tricks for each level straight from the big man himself! Seeing as the game is so tactical, with timing and foresight just as crucial as reacting quickly, this titbits can really help out a struggling player in their moment of need. (Yeah, whatever, I’ve seen you using them on almost every level! - Ed.).

Kick off!

The most liberating and exciting part of Fluid Football is that it gives you control over all of your players simultaneously. You simply draw lines for your players to follow; you can set up off-the-ball runs that drag defenders out of position, dribble around defenders in the box, avoid the occasional offside trap with a carefully timed burst – all this and more, choreographed using your touch screen and one finger.

Read that again, if it didn’t sink in! (Cheeky! – Ed.)

The majority of the game is viewed from a top-down perspective. You can move the camera around by dragging it with your finger, and just by double-tapping any empty part of the screen the camera zooms right out so you can see all of your players at once (another double-tap zooms to maximum zoom in, and pinching zooms to set a specific zoom) so that you can get a really good look at the strategic options at your disposal.

Some sneaky passing play (click to enlarge).

Another game-changer is that the game runs in slow motion, which we feel gives you enough time to devise and execute the kind of complex moves you’ve always dreamed Crystal Palace would make (steady on, now – Ed.). How you choose to tackle a particular match is completely down to you: do you play a long-ball game, pass the opposition to death, or opt for a near-post cross? If you come unstuck, you can turn to Andy Gray for advice, and if you’re hotter than Balotelli on a beach, you can turn up the pressure by switching the game to 2x speed, where things really start to get interesting!

So, once you’ve moved your players around and made a series of excellently timed and well thought-out passes between them, you’re ready to take your shot.

He shoots…

…he scores! Well, he hopes. Tapping the SHOOT button is the point of no return.

As soon as you do so, the game changes viewpoint to Shot Mode, where you view the goal from an on-the-pitch players-eye-view. By swiping your finger through the ball you decide on the direction, height and curve of the shot. Unlike other football games on mobile, the position from which you’re taking the shot – and of course the positions of any defenders – has been directly influenced by you and the decision you made during the build up. Defenders move in to close the player down, and the goalkeeper slides and dives to save the ball, but the better your strategy leading up to the shot, the more time and space you have to make it count!

Reckon you could score this (click to enlarge)?

If you pull a Daniel Sturridge and fluff the shot, then you have the option to retake the shot again. Of course if you score a goal you can admire your handiwork in the Action Replay, and you can even brag about your achievements by linking up to Facebook and boasting to all your mates!

Hopefully that’s given you a fairly exhaustive idea of why Fluid Football is so exciting, fresh and unique.

As you play through Fluid Football you will actually learn more about the tactics of attacking football, both from your own experience beating the huge amount of matches in there, and from the hints and tips dispensed by football legend Andy Gray.

Fluid Football is out now (grab it here) for iOS – keep an eye on this blog, twitter and Facebook for more great content about it!