A fast, easy to use, free, and community supported 2D game engine
Questor
Member
Is it acceptable to disable certain visual effects for older devices?
Considering the difference in power of different generations of devices I was considering automagically disabling some extraneous visual effects depending on the device generation. Basically to ensure gameplay remains smooth on all supported devices.
I am wondering if this is allowed buy Apple or if it would cause an app to get rejected?
toadkick
Member
Sure it's possible. Just don't call it "disabling", as it sounds wrong
Instead say that you're adding unique and special graphical enhancements to the faster devices
Or, just don't mention it at all. Why would they care? The fact that the intention is to improve the play experience across all devices (and, the fact that it makes things look *better* on the newer devices, which are they ones they want people to buy) should be more than enough reason to allow this.
Also, seriously, they wouldn't notice anyway. That would mean they would have to test the app on every device version...according to my analytics, they fired up Cow Trouble for a 1 minute session on an iPhone 4, played and beat the first level, and approved it. I could've had boobs in the second level and they wouldn't have seen them (disclaimer: I am not advocating that you put boobs in your second level).
Questor
Member
Thanks for the quick replies.
I was considering adding a setting that allows a user to override the automatic behavior and have the extra stuff on older devices (although not sure why anyone would want to do that, besides curiosity), but from what I gather it would seem that would be a bad idea as it would draw attention to the differences between devices.
One other thought: What should I do about screen shots? On the one hand I want the screenshots in the AppStore to looks as nice as possible (with all the bells and whistles so to speak), but on the other hand, buyers might consider it misleading, since they might not get the full effect on their (older) device.
I guess I could just take snapshots of areas where there are no differences, but again, that would not make for the most impressive snapshots.
toadkick
Member
Do whatever gives you the best shots. Consider this: have you ever seen a low detail/low res screen shot on the back of a box for a new PC game? Of course not! Show off what your game can do! Most developer's data shows that only 10-15% of people these days are playing on older devices, so I don't think it's dishonest to represent what the majority of players will see.
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