SCAMMERS, the App Approval Process & Zombies...
AppFueled
Member Posts: 308
This morning I decided to check out the #1 game on the Apple Paid App Charts.
Temple Jump.
This game looked familiar. The icon looked almost like an exact clone of the immensely popular Temple Run. But, something looked fishy here. This game only had 400 ratings and an average of 1-1/2 stars. I then looked at the developer name. It was different.
I clicked on the app icon to see more. I immediately scrolled down to check out the screenshots. There was only 1 screenshot. It was a poorly designed screenshot of a man standing on a rock and the title "Temple Jump." There were no screenshots of the game. Just a title screen. It was obvious this app was a scam.
I could not believe it. How someone ripped off the icon of a hit game as well as the concept and made it to the #1 spot on the App store. Don't get me wrong, I have seen this before - many times. But to see the game make it to the #1 position is ludicrous.
What was also surprising to me were some of the comments. I learned that many of the buyers has purchased the game, thinking it was a sequel to "Temple Run," but finding out later that it was just a pile a crap. This was surprising to me because that meant many of the buyers bought this game that seemed a little fishy and had NO screenshots. I don't know about you, but if a game just doesn't look right, AND has no screenshots, I'm not going to buy it. And I don't care if you are Plants vs. Zombies. No screenshots, no purchase.
So that brings us to Zombies. Apparently, this wasn't the first game by this guy. He also released "Plants vs. Zombie." See how he did that? "Zombie" without an "S" at the end. Same thing.
This afternoon, I find out that the Apple pulled this developers games from the App Store. I want to say I am happy, that Apple finally did something about this sort of thing, but I'm not. The question I have now is:
HOW THE HECK DID "TEMPLE JUMP" & "PLANTS VS. ZOMBIE" GET APPROVED!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
I'm starting to think think the App Store approval process is automated. For the longest time, I wanted to believe that there is some dude that checks out the game under a magnify glass and gives the App a nod of approval or tosses it in the trash. But that dude would know what "Temple Run" and "Plants vs. Zombies" was and they would recognize that the publisher was different, there were no screenshots, and there was something fishy about the whole thing. My only explanation is: the App Store approval process just might go through a bunch of automated filters to speed up the process. After all, not including games, thousands of Apps are submitted very week.
What are your thoughts about this? Did anyone else hear about the game "Temple Jump" and see it on the charts in the #1 position? Do you think this sort of thing is just going to get worse?
"We are in love with this challenging puzzle game." - Gamesalad
4/5 Stars - "A new puzzle game that is both challenging and fun." - App Advice
4/5 Stars - "Solve puzzles. Eat cheese. Avoid traps. Well worth the investment." - Addicted Gamers
Temple Jump.
This game looked familiar. The icon looked almost like an exact clone of the immensely popular Temple Run. But, something looked fishy here. This game only had 400 ratings and an average of 1-1/2 stars. I then looked at the developer name. It was different.
I clicked on the app icon to see more. I immediately scrolled down to check out the screenshots. There was only 1 screenshot. It was a poorly designed screenshot of a man standing on a rock and the title "Temple Jump." There were no screenshots of the game. Just a title screen. It was obvious this app was a scam.
I could not believe it. How someone ripped off the icon of a hit game as well as the concept and made it to the #1 spot on the App store. Don't get me wrong, I have seen this before - many times. But to see the game make it to the #1 position is ludicrous.
What was also surprising to me were some of the comments. I learned that many of the buyers has purchased the game, thinking it was a sequel to "Temple Run," but finding out later that it was just a pile a crap. This was surprising to me because that meant many of the buyers bought this game that seemed a little fishy and had NO screenshots. I don't know about you, but if a game just doesn't look right, AND has no screenshots, I'm not going to buy it. And I don't care if you are Plants vs. Zombies. No screenshots, no purchase.
So that brings us to Zombies. Apparently, this wasn't the first game by this guy. He also released "Plants vs. Zombie." See how he did that? "Zombie" without an "S" at the end. Same thing.
This afternoon, I find out that the Apple pulled this developers games from the App Store. I want to say I am happy, that Apple finally did something about this sort of thing, but I'm not. The question I have now is:
HOW THE HECK DID "TEMPLE JUMP" & "PLANTS VS. ZOMBIE" GET APPROVED!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
I'm starting to think think the App Store approval process is automated. For the longest time, I wanted to believe that there is some dude that checks out the game under a magnify glass and gives the App a nod of approval or tosses it in the trash. But that dude would know what "Temple Run" and "Plants vs. Zombies" was and they would recognize that the publisher was different, there were no screenshots, and there was something fishy about the whole thing. My only explanation is: the App Store approval process just might go through a bunch of automated filters to speed up the process. After all, not including games, thousands of Apps are submitted very week.
What are your thoughts about this? Did anyone else hear about the game "Temple Jump" and see it on the charts in the #1 position? Do you think this sort of thing is just going to get worse?
"We are in love with this challenging puzzle game." - Gamesalad
4/5 Stars - "A new puzzle game that is both challenging and fun." - App Advice
4/5 Stars - "Solve puzzles. Eat cheese. Avoid traps. Well worth the investment." - Addicted Gamers
Comments
That is interesting. Thanks for the feedback.
You should have also asked them how crap like "Temple Jump" or "Plants vs. Zombie" gets approved : )
But...considering how many apps they have to go through, you can't expect them to know or catch the similarities for everything pushed through (or blatant rip-offs).
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@GLGAMES - As I mentioned above, you will not see Temple Jump on the app store because it was pulled. Also, the rip off I was referring to is "Plants vs Zombie (with no "s" at the end of the word zombie). This game was not done by PopCap. It was made by the same dev as "Temple Jump."
I checked out the link that EATING MY HAT provided. It is a really good read and answers some of my questions that I had. If you get a chance, check it out.
"We are in love with this challenging puzzle game." - Gamesalad
4/5 Stars - "A new puzzle game that is both challenging and fun." - App Advice
4/5 Stars - "Solve puzzles. Eat cheese. Avoid traps. Well worth the investment." - Addicted Gamers