I need help in getting my game past Apple review -- this is infuriating

Apple has been nothing but trouble from start to finish while Android is so much more user friendly it's mind blowing. This is my first public game and while it's a hobby project I would still like to co-ordinate the release as much as possible.

What has happened is I've finally got both binaries of my game Don't Shoot the Puppy (link here) on Google Play Dev and Itunes Connect and was ready for release. Android got it approved and ready within two hours. Apple, however, is a different kettle of fish.

After two weeks of waiting, the app was rejected. Their message was this:

The rules they are referencing are here:

My reply:

Today they responded with this:

Now, as hilarious as it is for Apple to continue referencing puppy shooting, they obviously avoided any mention of the version of Don't Shoot the Puppy that already exists. I can understand my violation of the Android rule and I'm willing to compromise by removing any mention of it if I can keep the core gameplay mechanics.

Does anyone have some suggestions / experience they could offer in order to proceed?

 

I don't think there is a chance to get that game approved unless you replace the puppy with a robot or something else as that type animal violence is not usually tolerated no matter how pixelated and with age restrictions. Also your achievements seemed to have things like psycho, kill xxx puppies, etc which is even more red flag

BTW I don't know if you were planning to use the trailer in the stores but it would probably get you in legal trouble at some point as you probably don't have rights for most of the footage and theme involves animal violence which is PETA or etc bait.

 

But there are plenty of shooting games on the store, including an existing version of this game. Don't you think I can use that in some way?

No I wasn't planning on using the trailer commercially. It's not even monetized and is just for fun. Bring it on PETA, any publicity is good publicity.

 

Really? I can't tell if you are joking or not.

Assuming you are not, just give up on AppStore. You can't argue them into allowing it, It's something that just isn't going to fly. Conceptually there is nothing that you can change to make it fit in the rules, just move on to a different game.

 

No, I wasn't joking. I was just looking to see if there was any way to get around this before giving up. It's just annoying to see all the other sniper games already there and not being able to post something so tame in comparison.

 

No way to get around it. It's their house.
Those other games generally have stories that set the context, hence not gratuitous. They are also (generally) skill based and have game mechanics. They generally also have a certain quality level. Apple rules have a certain level of interpretation built it. A good, quality game that falls under those categories may get a pass if otherwise a good game, and/or the violence is story related and purely gratuitous. Given the quality/nature and it's "game mechanics", it is a safe bet that it will get rejected for even the smallest rule. Android store doesn't care about quality, just so it doesn't crash, hence the wasteland it is. Apple does its best to curate without being wholly dictatorial.

 

Yeah, I had a feeling the size of the game would be a factor, but you probably know better than I do. It was just meant to be a port anyway. Oh well, I'll see what I can do before rapping this up.

 

My thought: why rage about Apple policy on the Unity forum?

 

Because I wanted to see if other, more experienced, developers had suggestions. I wouldn't call it a "rage", I was just annoyed when I wrote it.

 

They have an interesting interpretation of "realistic images", that's for sure. Though discussing it here won't help you.

 

Yeah, it is. Unless I get some kind of publicity which is not going to happen, I see that not a lot of people here have a similar problem.

 

If they're rejecting your game based on its entire premise then I agree with zombie, its pointless to argue with them. You're dealing with Sith here.

 

Sure there are shooters and gore games in App Store but in those its usually monsters or bad guys. Cute games also have some kind of "animals" that "die" like in Angry Birds. They look at the "whole picture" when reviewing a game. Your game is kinda focused on violence and a puppy which makes it really bad combination. How often you see animal violence in TV or movies? barely ever and even when there is some its usually audio only (gun shot, howl) and nothing is shown visually even if it's a tiger or guard dog attacking.

I'm not sure if you are safe in the wild west Google Play either as it might only take few animal lowers to tag the game as inappropriate

 

Apple store...

You don't drink don't smoke, what do you do?
You don't drink don't smoke, what do you do?
Subtle innuendos follow.
There must be something inside.

 

As funny as might seem, there is already a clone of the original game on Google Play called Don't Shoot the Puppy: Doggy which got favorable reviews. All without the permission of the original developer of course.

@Ony Hah, I haven't heard that one in a while, thanks.

 

You response to Apple was funny. Beating apples regulations by claiming they don't apply won't work. Apple has already deemed they apply. You must make fundamental changes to your app. Claiming that the app already passed once is likely to get the original pulled as well.

The reference to Android is a no brainer. Delete it.

In a twisted way our society cares more about animal violence then violence against people. Yes it's twisted. Yes it makes no sense. Yes it's the way it is.

That's totally why you picked puppies to theme this game. There is a certian shock value in puppies as opposed to a robot or a virus. But if you want to pass Apples guidelines then you need to retheme it. And if rethemeing it breaks the game, then it wasn't strong enough to start with, and Apple was right to reject it.

 

You're absolutely correct and while I don't nessarily agree with the theming relating to the "strength" of the game, I am willing to remove references of Android and resubmit.

Also for clarification, the other is not the original, it was a copy from the flash game without permission from the developer.

 

Essentially, you've created something outrageous and now you're expressing outrage because people found it outrageous.

 

I feel you're taking this in an unnecessarily broad context. And any "outrage" I may experience is not because I made a game that is outrageous, as was the intention, but because I didn't agree with the reasoning of Apple, which has been said previously.

 

From what I understand of the situation, this game was originally a flash game, that somebody made an IOS port for without the original dev's permission, and that port made it onto the store. Now @LightSource is doing an official port of the game, and it got rejected. Is this accurate?

 

You'd have to change it to something else.

 

@Taz-dragon Yep, that's correct.

 

Great! Well, not great, really annoying actually, but you get the point.

 

Yea, but isn't the version currently on the store part of a collection? I didn't see it shown in the store listing assuming this is the app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/addictinggames/id453507247?mt=8

It may be not have been seen by the reviewers, they don't explore every part of an app. Or they may not have considered it a concern, since it isn't the core game, but a mini game.

 

@zombiegorilla Yes, it is. It's also a bigger app + company, so they probably allowed more leeway there which is unfortunate for me.

 

Change it to "don't shoot the dictatorial Apple" & claim it's a new take on the fruit ninja theme

 

What's the old saying? You catch more flies with honey than vinegar? In this case, it doesn't really matter if you're right or wrong... Being cantankerous with your review agent will get you nowhere.

Apple is pretty famous for their strangely inconsistent enforcement of guideline policies. While they have been known to bend a bit (Papers, Please was initially rejected because it contained nudity), you will not get them to judge in your favor by throwing fancy words at them and giving attitude.

In the case of Papers, Please, Pope appealed saying how the nudity in the game wasn't gratuitous or sensational, and its representation was more for the story (how badly the govt was violating people's rights). Apple ended up agreeing with him.

I don't see that being the case for Don't Shoot the Puppy. Regardless of how many games with guns or violent representations of realistic gore are on the store, none involve blowing a dog up with a cannon, much less have that as the sole game mechanic. And despite the title suggesting the goal is otherwise, the game's achievement actively encourage shooting the dog repeatedly. And despite the pixelated graphics, the game clearly glorifies and celebrates the event when it happens.

If I were to make a huge sandbox game called "Don't Rape Grandma!", and of the 120 hours of content, it was possible through some strange combination of actions to rape grandma, I invited that deep analysis and rejection with my shock-inducing title. In your case, they didn't have to even look far to find the violation.

To me, it sounds like your best bet is to use your legal position to have the unauthorized version of the property you own removed from the App Store and be happy with the platforms you do manage to get it on. I'm personally not a fan of this style of game and am glad Apple's doing at least SOME policing of the store to keep lower-tier (no offense) apps out.

 

Typical Apple.

 

The thing that amazes me is that apple actually responded to your second email at all.

I laughed!

 

They own the store. They can do with it as they will.

 

Apple has had their success mainly because of their iron grip on their platform and its content. Sure, this attitude gave them a slow start against Microsoft back in the days where computing devices were limited to tech people. But now that there is a significant proportion of the population running around with multiple computing devices that have no idea how they work, the consistent standards and UI is doing well for them.

 

Most people like to be told how to think and act and feel, because that way offers the path of least resistance. They especially love to be told what to buy so everyone can feel good because they fit in with everyone else. Apple knows this and exploits this and is what they are because of it.

 

@Schneider21 Yeah, it's obvious I was upset while I wrote it and you're also probably correct that it's not going to get me much farther. I'm going to submit a new binary when I get home without the Android portion and just try push the "realistic images" section of their rule. I'm not too interested in getting the other game taken down, it was updated this year and I don't want to ruin the work put into it. Plus, it's buggy as hell anyway. Also, no offense taken, it's that kind of game.

@Ony Thank you. Unfortunately, most companies make it very easy to pick on the little guy as you know. It's their house, I'm appealing their rules, so I'm going to have to contest this within their guidelines.