Character purchases using Coins.

Discussion in 'Technical Discussion' started by AndyG, Feb 9, 2016.

  1. Aaron F

    Aaron F Avid Boxer

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    @AndyG - Can you explain what IAPs you have in your game?
     
  2. Aaron F

    Aaron F Avid Boxer

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    When are the characters being purchased? There is no iAP involved in this case.
     
  3. AndyG

    AndyG Miniboss Boxer

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    Thats the point. IAP are controlled by Apple and hence you can Restore. Purchasing characters with in-game coins has no restore method.
     
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  4. Aaron F

    Aaron F Avid Boxer

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    I totally get your point but the rejection reason doesn't match so this is most likely just the inconsistency of the Apple review team.

    I just looked at Ketchapp's new game "Splash" which is awesome by the way, and they only have a restore for No Ads. They have the same currency to unlock characters so this can't be some new rule by Apple. I deleted the app and came back with no way to get my character back.

    My suggestion is to remove all IAPs besides "No Ads" if you have it and resubmit a new binary to get a new reviewer, the review times are really short right now so you will find out soon.
     
  5. AndyG

    AndyG Miniboss Boxer

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    Its nothing to do with IAP's. Those are approved by Apple just fine. Its unlocking characters using in-game coins and having no method to restore the characters.
     
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  6. Aaron F

    Aaron F Avid Boxer

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    Ok but you don't have to restore characters using in-game coins. What IAP's do you have in the game?
     
  7. Aaron F

    Aaron F Avid Boxer

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    Do you have a coin shop? If you do then take it out and try again. That would only make sense if you are charging real money for coins.
     
  8. trudnai

    trudnai Miniboss Boxer

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    This is from another thread, so I guess Apple now requires this:
     
  9. Aaron F

    Aaron F Avid Boxer

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    I think my main question for both cases is.. Are there any iAPs selling virtual currency in the game?
     
  10. Christoph

    Christoph Miniboss Boxer

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    Last night I was playing one of the new games by Bulkipix and @Simon Crack called Bouncy Blocks (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bouncy-blocks/id1060029427?mt=8). And surprise, they do have a Coin store in the game and it did pass the Appstore review. It was released Jan 20, 2016 and it is made with Buildbox!

    From what I heard and read till this point, it seems that Apple rejects apps that in the first version do not have a restore IAP button. Somehow you seem to get into a blacklist and even if you add a button to restore you are not able to leave this list. Can this anyone confirm?
     
  11. AndyG

    AndyG Miniboss Boxer

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    You might be onto something. In both v1.0 and v1.1 update my game was rejected because the reviewer did not spot the Restore button. But I've had unlock characters using coins since v1.0 and that was not flagged. Only when v1.2 was sent for review did they suddenly flag it was being rejected because there was no Restore function for those particular characters.
     
  12. wesam_badr

    wesam_badr Miniboss Boxer

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    i can see here what is the real problem here specially with your game @AndyG and any similar games as there is a good reason why your game was rejected by apple and here is the scenario:

    - any game has a coins shop for purchasing coins that there will be used to unlock characters / in buildbox there will be always problems
    - using those coins that considered that you have paid real money for buying this characters
    - so when you want to restore purchase using the restore button the character cannot be restored as it was unlocked using coins (that against apple consumer protection rules and unbeneficial for consumer) / in other hand if characters was bought directly by in app purchases it can be restored.
    - even when you delete the app and install it again there is no way you can restore the character you will need to buy it again.

    so any games that has a coins shop and have characters that need to be unlocked using coins will have problems and cause to be rejected by apple as there is no mechanic to restore characters to the normal state.
     
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2016
  13. AndyG

    AndyG Miniboss Boxer

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    OK just to be clear you've too much emphasis on the coin shop.
    Those coins were all collected as the game played. No coins via the coin shop have ever been purchased to-date.
    As you've figured out Apple simply rejected due to no restore mechanism for unlocked characters purchased using in-game coins.
    Aware of all this since day one! That's why I raised this thread to see if there was any workarounds and/or if BB have any plans to implement a system to track purchased characters using game currency.
     
  14. Andy

    Andy Miniboss Boxer

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    Really not trying to be argumentative... but you are misunderstanding the issue. The problem is actually the coin shop. Apple's issue is real money... if real money is in any way POTENTIALLY connected to in game purchases then you must restore them. Still some people are getting around this but it is hit and miss as usual.

    Therefore our suggestion for the near future is to not have IAPs in anyway connected to consumable purchases since Apple does not provide a way to restore them. We have simply removed the coin shop from our games and have not had any issues with Apple rejecting, because it is now impossible to connect a real money purchase to any consumable purchase in our games.

    From my research Apple started enforcing this lightly near the end of the summer, and seem to be enforcing pretty hard in the last few weeks.
     
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  15. AndyG

    AndyG Miniboss Boxer

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    My god Im starting to lose the will to live! Why does nobody get this!

    Apple rejected the game because there was no way to restore locked characters that were unlocked with in-game coins.

    They have never opposed the Coin Shop. The Coin Shop is still in the game. The issue is simply that there is no restore mechanism for Characters unlocked that do not use Apple's IAP system. If I take the coin shop out you can still collect coins as you play the game. Then use those collected coins to unlock the various Characters. But once you unlock those Characters, because they were not unlocked using IAP, there is no system to Restore them

    I repeat as per Apple:
    Your app uses intermediary currency to purchase items that function as non-consumable products but does not include a restore mechanism. Please modify your app to include an optional user registration feature that allows users to RESTORE THEIR PURCHASES to all of their iOS devices.

    aka: The purchases are the Characters.

    Therefore Apple are objecting that their is no method to restore those characters.

    Now having removed those Characters that were previously unlocked using Coins the game is now approved and the Coin Shop still exists in the game and is purely used to purchase coins used for Invincibility.
     
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  16. Andy

    Andy Miniboss Boxer

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    I hear what you are saying. You are coming at it from different direction and have resolved it a different way. I recognize that your solution is acceptable to Apple. Removing the coin shop works for us and is also acceptable to Apple. We can agree to disagree on Apple's intention here.
     
  17. manak4u

    manak4u Avid Boxer

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    Dear @Andy
    This is a workaround still its not a solution. what most of games do is that they make users login with facebook. I dont think we can do that in BB.
    I totally understand wht @AndyG is saying here. and I think I might be able to suggest a possible temporary solution.

    what you can do is make a patch of code (for android and ios atleast) which can be added to the xcode when compiled and executed replaces "action button" with a particular name say "fb" with a method/action that will:
    1) Register/start a new session/ or override the existing one
    2) Can connect to a mySql file.
    3) can check for user ID.
    4) can export and import all the achievements into a mysql file with session Ids.( i dont suppose i need to elaborate this to a king boxer).
    5) updating achievements regularly.
    you can use fb or email.whatever gets us through Apple.

    now what would be left would be to instantiate this.

    what you can do is that you can give boxers a mySql file to upload on their server and a patch code(with few instructions to edit their server credentials and manually instantiate the method).

    there is no one else that can do this other then the team BuildBox and I think i can speak on behalf of all the boxers that this would help us all before things can get clearer and we can get a permanent fix in a buildbox update.!
     
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2016
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  18. Kadri246

    Kadri246 Avid Boxer

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    I like that idea @manak4u
    I would really like to have users save their progress using Facebook via data stored on my server. Users change devices regularly and some have more than one device. My wife for example refused to re-download some games because she didn't want to start from the beginning.
     
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  19. manak4u

    manak4u Avid Boxer

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    lol man, all ue respect to the feminism I hear wives are same from all parts of the world.! :p
    cheers.!
     
  20. Kadri246

    Kadri246 Avid Boxer

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    It's true. People will shy away from future downloads if they can't continue game progress.
     

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