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Android Review Exchange

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by StevenMcS, Jun 4, 2014.

  1. StevenMcS

    StevenMcS

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    Hey Unity peeps,

    I see these type of threads pop up every so often, thought it would be a good idea if everyone interested in exchanging game reviews could post and pm anyone who is already posted. It is usually very hard to get your game noticed and positive reviews can help a ton with that.

    Anyways my game: Astro Runner

    Edit:
    PM me and I will play your game, point out the positives and give constructive criticism in exchange for the same.

    What I mean by positive is that I will say what I actually like about the game. It may not be 5 stars. If the game honestly deserves a 3 star or below review then we can chat before hand and perhaps not exchange reviews. I don't want any damage to someones game to come from this thread either. Perhaps pointing out to someone what needs to be changed for a positive review to be given on the thread or in a pm is the way to go.

    I previously had +1 before but as I don't really use Google + so I didn't think it was a big deal but as pointed out by another user it may not be something that users will be comfortable with.

    Hope that helps clear stuff up. If there is a better way to go about this please inform me.

    Thanks
     
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2014
    dogmachris likes this.
  2. mediaxr

    mediaxr

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    Done ! +1 5star and positive comment. my account name jessica loren

    please rewiew my game
    Download on google play

     
  3. Waz

    Waz

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    Astro Turf, was it? You can pay someone in China to give you a heap of positive reviews, if that's really what you think your game needs. I get emails from those low-lifes every few weeks, if you don't already have one handy.

    I understand you mean well, but I find it unsavoury to promise positive reviews in advance.
     
  4. arvzg

    arvzg

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    I have to agree. I admit that I would ask my immediate close friends to buy/download my games and give me 5 stars, that's as far as I would go with this. Forming a group on the internet dedicated to "circle-starring" each other's games rides the moral lines a little too uncomfortably for me
     
    quantumsheep likes this.
  5. MGazer

    MGazer

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    Personally I would consider this ok as long as everyone was free to review things honestly. Promising only positive reviews is a bit over the top but I would be ok with people promising to leave a real and honest review.
     
    Dustin-Horne and StevenMcS like this.
  6. StevenMcS

    StevenMcS

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    Thanks did the same :)
     
  7. StevenMcS

    StevenMcS

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    Hi I edited my first post to reflect what I meant more clearly. I don't mean positive as in 5 stars but as everyone here is part of the forum I usually find that anyone's game here has positive attributes. I think pointing out the good while you are still able to be critical would be what I am after.

    Also if you don't feel the game warrants a anyway decent review you can just pass on it and tell the user maybe in a pm or on the thread what needs fixed before you can give a decent review.

    Does this work for you? Also no I don't want China paid reviews thanks :p
     
  8. StevenMcS

    StevenMcS

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    Hi I took out the "circle-starring", sorry wasn't aware that this would be an issue. I am not really an active user. Check out my edit of the first post. I think positive fair reviews or suggesting what the user needs to fix/change if you were to give them a positive review is much more clearer and fair. Let me know what you think?
     
  9. StevenMcS

    StevenMcS

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    Hi I have edited my post to be more clear. Let me know if the is anything still off from it?
     
  10. arvzg

    arvzg

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    That's much better! If everyone reviews the games honestly then there is no problem
     
    zdjoys18 and StevenMcS like this.
  11. DalerHakimov

    DalerHakimov

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    Actually if one wants to get to the top charts, you need to do some tweaking. It's not bad at all to ask someone to give you a 5 stars ratings. And give some penny to ppl from China to rate your game with 5 stars is not a solution, because eCPM for China is a bull*sht. I don't want my app to be popular in China, but I want it to be in EU or USA, cause eCPM is amazing over these regions.

    I do participate in closed promotion club, where we do advertise each others app/games for the first 30 days very heavy and give 5 stars reviews, G+, Facebook share, Reddits and etc.. It's not shame at all...
     
  12. Tomcoppen

    Tomcoppen

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    Mr.T and StevenMcS like this.
  13. MonemAhmed

    MonemAhmed

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  14. Sean Tee

    Sean Tee

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  15. Sean Tee

    Sean Tee

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  16. Mr.T

    Mr.T

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    I agree. Percieved initial Concept in the OP was a little bit dicey. The perception corrected concept is much better
    "If you have nothing good to say about my game, then please be merciful during the bash" is the max I am comfortable with before it starts to look awkward.

    How about play exchanges rather than review exchanges?
    Granted that plays achieved in this manner alone are chicken feed but it will give your game a little extra visibility that it did not have and if its a really good game, chances are it might get a start during this process. Developers are humans too and there is nothing that says they will not give a game a little word of mouth publicity if they find it interesting

    EDIT: Just to clarify, by play exchanges I mean the promise to play each others game ONE time just to check it out and offer an opinion about the game in a thread like this with out rating it or reviewing it at Google Play. I DO NOT mean padding up each others plays
     
    Last edited: Sep 7, 2014
  17. Mr.T

    Mr.T

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    Good work. I hope your subreddit becomes more popular
     
  18. descenderdante

    descenderdante

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    I don't see really the use of these kind of threads when you can just simply

    1) Reverse engineer Google Play api (google uses protocol buffers for data serialization , simple enough)
    2) Create Bunch Gmail accounts (captchas are really cheap these days like DeathByCaptha etc , and phone verification also not too hard to bypass)
    3) Spoof all information sent to google regarding user when sending review information
    4) Use some anonymous public proxy's to do all your request

    Think this would be much more easier and you would get many more reviews , though arguably unethical ... though exchanging reviews isn't that ethical either
     
  19. perracolabs

    perracolabs

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    A few things about this thread. One of our apps has been featured by google globally a few times, and this resulted into having since the first featuring a direct contact with the google play team, and a subsequent one-to-one advices, direct help, and even private invite events, so there are a few things I can advise you.

    Rating artificially goes against your app, you should never do it and is really a bad move. Is the absolutely wrong way to success and after a while the result will be disastrous.

    Haven't you seen sometimes apps with very low ratings but ranked high in the list, and you couldn't understand why? Or apps with practically no ratings at all and also ranked quite high? Or even very high rated apps in a very low rank? The answer is because even if most of the work is done by complex algorithms, at the end of the day behind Google Play there is a human team which I can assure you are very smart and can spot these type of artificial ratings easily and also spot quality.

    Also a very important thing you might miss, each country is a different market, that means that your ranking in the US is absolutely different from your ranking in France, Australia, etc. Even the ratings are locally grouped by country, so if you live in Russia you will not see Spain ratings.

    Having good ratings suddenly coming from a specific country such let's say China and not (more or less) uniformly from all other markets looks very weird, and can be easily spotted. Even if you ask your friends around you to rate can be easily spotted.

    Cutting the story short, if you place a small amount of artificial ratings you win really nothing, a large amount or ratings coming from only one country is strange and can hint to investigate your app.

    If you are trying to be smarter than Google, their algorithms, are their human teams, then you should seat down and think really if you are out of your mind or you know what you are doing.

    The best thing to do is to just create a great app which most users will love, and work hard to make it happen. Creating an app is not just to code, also you need to learn a bit about marketing which doesn't mean to spend money, there are free ways to market your app and make it know if you are smart enough.
    The Google Play team can spot quality, and they will push your app high if the app is good, regardless the ratings.
     
    Last edited: Sep 7, 2014
    dogzerx2, Ony, Gigiwoo and 3 others like this.
  20. descenderdante

    descenderdante

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    As long as Google needs to trust information that comes from your devices it can be tricked , it may not be that easy , but it's not that hard as you say for one simple reason ... You know all information that google has access to when trying to determine weather a request is valid or not ... and this is not only with google play same thing apply's for google adsense (adsense has fairly more security than google play and it still ca be done)

    Out of personal experience I can tell you google's AI machines are really good compared to everything else there , but are they impossible to fool? By far .... So yeah probably in most cases google will pick up what your trying to do , but that is just because methods people use are just raw , they don't spent time looking into the mechanics of it.
     
  21. Demigiant

    Demigiant

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    Let's go back to talk about honest reviews as the OP said, no one wants to crack Google here.

    I suggest that people that want their games reviewed post at least a screenshot and possibly a trailer along with the link (and maybe also a short description of what the game's about and blahblah, just to make things smoother for everybody).
     
    Last edited: Sep 9, 2014
  22. ximitimix

    ximitimix

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  23. Dahakra

    Dahakra

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  24. Gigiwoo

    Gigiwoo

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    Do you like clickers/incrementals? I made a smash of Cookie Clicker + Lifehack - "Tap Happy with Gigi". I just ported it to Android, and it's also on iOS. I'd love more feedback, especially from clicker fans. And, I'm happy to swap reviews - links in this thread or PM me.



    Gigi
     
  25. Jacecali

    Jacecali

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  26. MonemAhmed

    MonemAhmed

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  27. MonemAhmed

    MonemAhmed

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    Attached Files:

  28. Gigiwoo

    Gigiwoo

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    I choose to believe this knowing that I have no basis for believing it. It's makes my world a better place.
    Gigi
     
    Ony likes this.
  29. MonemAhmed

    MonemAhmed

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  30. hamad007

    hamad007

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  31. marwar

    marwar

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  32. David_B

    David_B

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    Hi I have installed Cricket World Cup 2015 Live and given 5 star reviews in the name Arun Kumar . Please install my app in Google play store "Cash On Apps-World Cup Edition" and give review.
     
  33. Kiwasi

    Kiwasi

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    This thread looks suspiciously close to violating ap store guidelines about reviews...
     
    Ony likes this.
  34. Ryiah

    Ryiah

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    Those review sites, which are posted by what amounts to little more than spammer accounts, are certainly breaking the policies. I feel like it's time for our friendly neighborhood @hippo to come bounding over and lock this thread.
     
    Ony, QFSW and Kiwasi like this.
  35. Kiwasi

    Kiwasi

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    And perhaps delete the spam posts as well. No point leaving excess links around.
     
    QFSW and Ryiah like this.
  36. QFSW

    QFSW

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    This thread looks like something that could have been constructive, but all the talk of artificial/bought reviews is just ruining it
     
  37. Gigiwoo

    Gigiwoo

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    Necro thread? Probably fine to lock this.
    Gigi
     
  38. chiragpatel108

    chiragpatel108

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    nayeem1516 likes this.
  39. dogmachris

    dogmachris

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    I think mutual reviews are a great idea, as long as they're honest and don't look like plain advertisment - very often though, I think this is exactly the way it goes so such reviews have a value of exactly zero... :(
     
  40. Kiwasi

    Kiwasi

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    Deleted User and Ostwind like this.
  41. msantillana

    msantillana

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  42. Demigiant

    Demigiant

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    Deleted User likes this.
  43. Ostwind

    Ostwind

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    The last two are not even Unity games. This thread should be locked as its attracts spammers and in general the review exchanging can be grey area and against the rules depending how people do it.
     
    Kiwasi likes this.
  44. Demigiant

    Demigiant

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    The OP idea wasn't bad, since he mentioned honest reviews. It's just that it didn't work :p
     
    Deleted User likes this.
  45. Yash987654321

    Yash987654321

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  46. Aseemy

    Aseemy

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    Hi, I am looking for honest reviews. Be it 1, 3, or 5 stars. What I need most is a review, comments providing your constructive criticism. If you dont wanna rate the game, thats ok too. Just provide you opinion here or in a PM on how I can improve the game. If you like the game I would love the review.

    Its a coloring app for kids that emphasizes teaching as well as having fun.
    Here is a video of the app


    Made with unity for android, gonna put it up on windows soon.
    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=badlySynced.FunAndLearn.Colors

    If you could share on facebook from the button in the shop inside the app that would be great.

    P.S. If you would like an honest review/constructive criticism of your app, feel free to PM me.
     
    nayeem1516 likes this.
  47. nayeem1516

    nayeem1516

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    I gave a review with 5* and g+. Honestly that was absolutely perfect one for kids. Review given under the username : Nayeem Siddique

    Please have a play of my game and let me know what you think :) -- Cheers
    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cobalt.car.crash.parking
     
  48. nayeem1516

    nayeem1516

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  49. Aseemy

    Aseemy

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    Thanks Nayeem, the screenshots look great, i'll check out your app.
    Would have been better if you had added a promo video, just a gameplay video will suffice as well.
    Will PM you for further convo.
     
  50. Qhoros

    Qhoros

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    Hello guys! I released my new game called "Castle Defender".

    Here you have a trailer:


    Made with Unity site:
    https://madewith.unity.com/games/castle-defender

    Google Play:
    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Qhoros.CastleDefender

    Castle Defender is a subgenre of strategy game where the goal is to defend a player's territories or possessions by obstructing enemy attackers, achieved by placing defensive structures on or along their path of attack.This means building a variety of different structures that serve to automatically block, impede, attack or destroy enemies. Strategic choice and positioning of defensive elements is an essential strategy of the genre.

    If you have any questions feel free to ask.
    Thanks in advance for your reviews. :)
     
    Last edited: Sep 28, 2016