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I've also noticed this pattern. My textual reviews are fairly positive, but I have a lot of 1-star reviews. In some cases, people have emailed me and it has b

I've also noticed this pattern. My textual reviews are fairly positive, but I have a lot of 1-star reviews. In some cases, people have emailed me and it has become clear that the app simply didn't meet their expectations (in 9/10 cases they didn't seem to have actually read the app description).

amichail 17y ago
Is there something I can write at/near the beginning of the description that would discourage people from trying it who probably won't like it?
- create_account 17y ago
  Does Apple let you (as the developer) reply to reviews with a comment or a sub-review?
  - amichail 17y ago
    No.
- gregk 17y ago
  I looked at it. From the blurb it was not clear to me how it worked. I downloaded and used the tutorial. That made it clear. I would add something like "For you math Wonks!" It isn't the normal iPhone puzzle game. Also you use sort of non obvious gestures maybe find a way to indicate the +- ones on the main screen. I can see the average iPhone puzzle user hitting 1 star when they delete the app.
  - amichail 17y ago
    Maybe I should make the tutorial mandatory?
    - gregk 17y ago
      Three ideas - a picture on the splash screen that shows swipes and above and below taps and what they do with a continue button that shows up the first few times it runs, maybe with a button also for the tutorial. Two is to put a picture like this at the start of the tutorial. Third idea is to shade the row and column on the first tap with some + and - indicators overlaid (maybe) or a text box at the bottom that indicates to tap again for +_. This may need to have a way to turn it off if the user doesn't like it. One other thought is to make the "Solve New Puzzle" more visually distinct. It took me a few taps to figure out the screen.
      - deleted 17y ago
        [deleted]
    - gregk 17y ago
      One other thought is to use some sort of picture (instead of a fill color) for the tile backgrounds like many of the square puzzles do on the app store.

amichail 17y ago

Is there something I can write at/near the beginning of the description that would discourage people from trying it who probably won't like it?

create_account 17y ago
Does Apple let you (as the developer) reply to reviews with a comment or a sub-review?
- amichail 17y ago
  No.
gregk 17y ago
I looked at it. From the blurb it was not clear to me how it worked. I downloaded and used the tutorial. That made it clear. I would add something like "For you math Wonks!" It isn't the normal iPhone puzzle game. Also you use sort of non obvious gestures maybe find a way to indicate the +- ones on the main screen. I can see the average iPhone puzzle user hitting 1 star when they delete the app.
- amichail 17y ago
  Maybe I should make the tutorial mandatory?
  - gregk 17y ago
    Three ideas - a picture on the splash screen that shows swipes and above and below taps and what they do with a continue button that shows up the first few times it runs, maybe with a button also for the tutorial. Two is to put a picture like this at the start of the tutorial. Third idea is to shade the row and column on the first tap with some + and - indicators overlaid (maybe) or a text box at the bottom that indicates to tap again for +_. This may need to have a way to turn it off if the user doesn't like it. One other thought is to make the "Solve New Puzzle" more visually distinct. It took me a few taps to figure out the screen.
    - deleted 17y ago
      [deleted]
  - gregk 17y ago
    One other thought is to use some sort of picture (instead of a fill color) for the tile backgrounds like many of the square puzzles do on the app store.