Not to start an IAP/Freemium/State-of-the-Appstore discussion, but Kepa mentioned in a recent Twitter post that the game isn't making much $. I am half embarrassed and half proud of the amount of Punchos I've purchased; let's just say that I wanted an Ultrahat at once, then wanted to re-roll that one and the one I legitimately earned by leveling Gnomey to see if I could snag a Hat of Legend. Then I wanted to re-roll them again. And again. I could have bought 3 or 4 Square Enix super-premium games with the cash I've spent on Punch Quest, and I am not at all regretful that I sent some $ Rocketcat and Madgarden's way. Which I guess is a longwinded way of saying I'm surprised others haven't done likewise. I don't mean that people should have, but the game rulez so hard that a lack of IAP revenue is somewhat stunning. Hopefully it will get better as more folks play the game. Keep up the epic work, Rocketcat and Madgarden.
I've played the game now for about an hour and a half, and I have no idea what people are taking about as far as 1st gnome, 6th gnome etc....or even levels.....what am I missing?
Is it too much to ask to change the games title on my home screen from 'punchquest' to 'Punch Quest'? Just a little annoyance. The game is very addicting.
I think this game needs it's currency tweaked. Right now I am not seeing a benefit of IAP. Everything has been easy to get with just a few minutes of playing per upgrade. Either raise the cost of the perks, or introduce a new currency that requires an IAP and perks that can only be bought with the new currency.
Ye gawds, no. Of all the praise that has been heaped upon Punch Quest, the fact that there are no absolute paywalls has been one of the most frequent. And fervent. Absolute paywalls are one of the aspects of IAP that seem to be the most abhorred among players (a sentiment I thoroughly share), together with energy timers and IAP that offer advantages in competitive multiplayer, and the whole design philosophy behind Punch Quest's freemium scheme aimed at the opposite effect, to make everything available to everyone (with enough effort). It would be a durned shame to see that wonderful principle sullied. The quick rate at which players earn Punchos is another freqently praised feature, but if Mad Rocket Garden Cat are not seeing good profits, this is what should be tweaked (either through a Punchos income decrease, or as you suggest, increased prices).
I think a better way would be to introduce IAP awareness more. I mean, as someone experienced with iOS I didn't immediately see the IAP. Yes, that's generally a great point from the user side, but bad for business. Why not add a "get more punchos" button at the bottom of every store menu? Everyone will go through it at least once all the way to the bottom to see what's on offer and seeing the coolest, most desirable stuff locked is disheartening. However, an easy out would be temptingly right there.... Edit: Actually, looking at the IAP, the problem for me is the amounts of IAP coins you get vs the returns per run. While 20,000 won't get me anything worthwhile, I would pay the $1.99 again for 50,000 to get another hat re-roll......
RE: profits I'm not sure about the motivation behind releasing this for free. If profits are thin, charge for the game. The IAP's are a nice way to support the devs, but only the most honorable of people are going to contribute, especially considering the lack of a paywall. Having played this for a few days, I can easily say I would buy it at 2.99USD. As a .99 title, it would make its home in the top 20 for a couple years. I guess I just don't get it. I really want this game to be successful, because updates could fuel this experience for a long time. It would be a shame to not get them in bunches. Anyway, cheers to Rocketcat & Madgarden...this game is brilliant and will stay on my phone for a long time.
I would also suggest making the hat reroll/Hat of Legend system more prominent, since after you have all the powers/supermoves, that's the biggest money sink (at least for me) and it's not entirely obvious how useful it is. Speaking of which, I finally got a Hat of Legend after 8 attempts... and it's a cyclops mask that spits bubbles and gives me Ki Blast, of all things. Any idea how to make that useful?
There is a punchquest update, but itunes wont tell me what is in the update. Might still be loading. Its the changes rocketpunch et al told about earlier: punching makes u run faster, new cinematic, stuff like that. I'm looking forward to the faster running, punching seems unintuitive in that finding the right rhythm to go fast isnt what I think it should be. Hopefully jamming on that punch as hard as I can makes me run as fast as possible. Thanks for an awesome game!
If we get this to top of the top grossing it will prove that we prefer to donate money over hitting the "pay wall"
In fact, the point of not pushing the player to buy currency is my reason to be the first free game that I respect, and because of that I'm going to spend money.
