iOS Games for SA

edited in Questions and Answers
I develop computer AI for the game of Go. My engine that I test ideas on is open source and has another contributor. He has recently released his port of my engine to iOS. However, the iOS version is marked as a game, and apparently, even though he has selected to distribute worldwide, it will not be available in SA.

Have any of you experienced the same thing? Is there a way around it?

I do not own any Apple products, so I am not very familiar with their developer ecosystem.

Comments

  • You need to have an account for itunes registered for a country that allows game downloads (US and UK are the easiest bets) and then you buy an itunes voucher (I ucant remember who I used last), there are a few local places that sell the itunes vouchers that add credit to your account (i.e. no need for a credit card).
  • I think he means that the game is available only in the US or whichever store, and not in the SA store.

    I think that apps have to go through individual by-country submissions or something in order for them to appear at each app stores. The SA app store is really pretty useless, if you have an SA iTunes account you most likely won't be able to find over 90% of the games that gets mentioned online.

    I haven't put an app up on the app store yet, but I imagine there's a process where you submit for the US store, for the SA store, for the Spanish store, etc etc etc, and he hasn't done one for SA yet.
  • If you log in with a US or UK account it swaps you to the US (or whichever) store.

    It is a global submission as far as I have seen, you just need to be logged in as a user from a region that allows games downloads.
  • Oh? Could you submit once and have it go to all the different app stores internationally? That's convenient, howcome then people don't have their apps on all the stores? (At least the easy English ones like South Africa at least?)
  • Don't you need to submit the whole thing a second time for the SA app store in order to get it to show up there as well?
  • That's what I thought, but @edg3 seems to think it's a once off. I wonder if we can get confirmation. I couldn't Google up the information, but I found this and it seems you at the very least need localised information packages set up, so it can't really be a one-submission-fits-all thing.

    image

    The article: http://mashable.com/2012/02/13/mobile-apps-international/
  • Also, wait, what?!

    @francoisvn, you build Go AIs? Fucking awesome! Gimme! What's the port called on the US app store? Do you get a cut? Need a tester?
  • To put some things in perspective, our "operation" is very small. It is me, my supervisor, and one contributor. I am busy with my masters in AI for Go - Computer Go. The app in question is free and the engine is open source under the BSD license.

    It seems like either it will just be a matter of time before it gets approved for the SA store, or we might have to follow a separate process to get it submitted for the SA store. I was hoping someone here might have some experience in the matter, specifically for the SA store - internationally it seems to be available already. I will ask around a bit more and see what I can dig up. Thank you for all the interest so far.

    @dislekcia: Yip, I'm at the MIH Media Lab at Stellenbosch and I am doing my masters in Computer Go. I have setup a website at http://oakfoam.com with Windows and Linux binaries. The iOS port is called "NiceGo". I haven't seen the port myself actually, hence this discussion.
  • Grabbed it, wow it's cool :) Or at least really cool for me cos I can learn from it by pressing undo a pile of times :)
  • You could always ask the guys that have already submitted to store? Like @dipso
  • Thanx @edg3, I'll try him
  • edited
    When you submit your game to iTunes you can select which countries you want it to be sold in.
    The default selection is "worldwide" which will submit it to all the countries.

    Here's an article about South Africa's lack of games on iTunes:
    http://www.thyon.com/blog/apples-lack-of-games-music-movies-tv-in-south-africa

    We have the additional law that requires a distributor to get each individual game rated by the Film and Publications Board.
    This means that for every game a distributor wants to release in SA they have to pay to get it rated.
    And there are hundreds of thousands of games on iTunes, including free ones which Apple probably also have to get rated.
    According to the article there are ways around the law, but it may be too much of a risk or too much uncertainty surrounding it.

    @francoisvn I do not know if there's a way around it for you. One possible way might be to submit your game under a different category, but at the risk that Apple will reject it because it is a game. And I personally think that's not worth the risk.
    You can also contact Apple and find out how to get your game submitted to the SA store.

    @Tuism setting up different languages is optional. Of course, people are more likely to buy an app if it is in their native language.

    Here's a link to the iTunes developer guide which explains the whole process and all the info you need to submit an app (there's also a pdf download): http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/LanguagesUtilities/Conceptual/iTunesConnect_Guide/1_Introduction/Introduction.html

    Thanked by 1Tuism
  • Thanks for your info! We should be knowledge-basing this stuff for future iOS game makers :)
  • As far as I know, Apple won't post a game on the SA store unless you can show the game has been approved by the FPB. The options are to classify it as something else or pay the R1000+ for the rating :/

    Of interest this issue was raised in Parliament last week, so we may see some action happening.
  • Thank you everyone for the help, I think I have a good idea of the situation now and a very clear choice:

    1. Leave things as-is, might come to the SA store at some point in the future.
    2. Pay about R1000 to get a rating.
    3. Try and submit the app in a different category.

    I think I will be choosing 1 for now and seeing how things go.
  • @Tuism you speak, and I start bugging people to get an article for Dev.Mag on the topic.
  • Cool, also we should get it into our wiki, after all I think this wiki is invaluable for stuff like this (frequently asked questions of potential game devs that could turn people away easily but should be easily answered too) (or more simply FAQOPGDTCTPAEBSBEAT)
Sign In or Register to comment.