iPhone Game Development - Chris Craft [138]
Realistic violence
Sexual content or nudity
Profanity or crude humor
Alcohol, tobacco, or drug use, or references
Mature/suggestive themes
Simulated gambling
Horror/fear themes
Prolonged graphic or sadistic realistic violence
App ratings
Based on your choices for frequency of reviewed content, your application will be given an app rating. Apple's app ratings state the age appropriateness for your application. An app rating of 4+ means your application is appropriate for anyone four years and older. But note that regardless of rating, applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive, or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple's reasonable judgment may be found objectionable. There is a correlation between ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board), PEGI (Pan-European Game Information), and Apple's App Rating, as shown in Table 10.4.
Table 10.4 App Ratings
Apple's App Rating
ESRB Equivalent
PEGI Equivalent
What It Means
4+
EC
3+
Applications contain no objectionable materials.
9+
E10+
None
Applications may contain mild or infrequent occurrences of cartoon, fantasy, or realistic violence; and infrequent or mild mature, suggestive, or horror-themed content, which may not be suitable for children under the age of 9.
12+
T
12+
Applications may also contain infrequent mild language; frequent or intense cartoon, fantasy, or realistic violence; mild or infrequent mature or suggestive themes; and simulated gambling, which may not be suitable for children under the age of 12.
17+
Mature
16+
Applications may also contain frequent and intense offensive language; frequent and intense cartoon, fantasy, or realistic violence; and frequent and intense mature, horror, and suggestive themes; plus sexual content; nudity; and references to alcohol, tobacco, and drugs, which may not be suitable for children under the age of 17.
Restriction settings
Device owners can enable restriction settings on their device in Parental Controls to filter applications that can be installed on the device (Figure 10.3). The restriction setting levels match the app ratings that Apple assigns to applications on the App Store: Don't Allow Apps, 4+, 9+, 12+, 17+, and Allow All Apps.
Quality control
You can measure your application quality by analyzing your sales/trend reports. According to Apple, the typical ratio of refunds to overall sales should not exceed 0.5 percent. If you are seeing refunds in excess of that amount for a given application, it means that application's quality is likely subpar. Not only are you losing revenue due to refunds, but unhappy customers are likely to leave negative reviews and turn other potential customers away from your applications.
FIGURE 10.3
Restriction settings
Making the Best Apps
Another way you can surprise and delight users is by including hidden features and functionality in your applications. These hidden features are sometimes known as Easter eggs. Figure 10.4 shows an example of one possible Easter egg.
FIGURE 10.4
Possible iPhone OS Easter egg: Emoji icons
Imagine that you have a fantasy role-playing game, and as the characters explore the land there is one screen where they can see an animated waterfall. It appears to be a part of the background imagery, but if a character tries to walk behind the waterfall, he is taken to a secret room that has some magical items that will aid him on his mission.
Using sound
What would movies be without music, soundtracks, and special effects? The same vacuum is made when you create an application without sound. An application without sound is only a little better than