So… the achievements are not GameCenter achievements anymore? Even though Apple sort of abondons GameCenter, I still like how the pop up appears when I unlocked an achievement. The new text pop-up is not that encouraging to me. I live for achievements…
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Every app on iOS is limited to a small number of achievements, so yes, the omnibus will not have GameCenter achievements for each individual game, though they still pop up in-game.
Good point about the visibility, I definitely see how an omnibus is better in that regard.
thank you for answering my questions!
Does each title have an individual reviews/comment section? If not that’d also be something I think would be useful to have
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Is this the direction Hosted Games will take on Steam, or just the app version?
So far it’s just for iOS, for the other platforms it’s unclear.
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Android is actually by far the biggest market now, luckily for us. 
Also, whether or not this whole omnibus system does well or not, I’m just glad that every publisher is required to do this, not just CoG. Because that way, at least we’re not still competing with individual apps if the omnibus turns out to be a dumpster fire. (Fingers crossed that it won’t. I’m sure it will do fine, and as someone with three “meh” HGs currently published, maybe it will actually help me. 
)
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But having played many of the games that have omnibuses (can’t remember all the name’s because didn’t use them that long) they made you pay to get more lives/bullets/ some sort of points, and once you got enough points/ achievements you could get a new chapter.
Those games tend to focus on being a game, rather than amazingly well written, as people pay to progress, whilst here people (mostly) just play the demo then buy the rest of the game.
The problems that now we’ll be competing a bit more with those games, and I’m pretty sure there’ll be comments about how our games are so much more expensive than their EA games but in word for cheaper, albeit less well written games.
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How does it work with reviews and ratings? (don’t have iOS). I worked really hard to get good ratings, I don’t want to lose those.
How does it work with sales charts? Can individual games still be on there?
I guess we’ll see when it comes to sales, my gut feeling is not good, but as a union organizer I know there’s strength in numbers.
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I’ve been buying/reading Voltage Inc otome games for years and they’ve made the switch to a single app with all their games and sub-stories. Their app is really well designed.
As a consumer I don’t mind the switch, but the HG omnibus could be smoother looking, it’s looking especially barebones right now.
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I don’t think this has been asked yet, but is Apple going to delete all the other apps and just have one omnibus app per publisher?
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I guess it will take time to get used to new achievement style but it’s ok. But I’m not happy with this omnibus app change though. I would rather own an app per game and don’t feel trapped in an all-in-one app. Omnibus apps always overwhelm me with their sheer number of choices and I feel intimidated, that’s part of the reason. But I understand your viewpoint and I feel conflicted. 
Also how about making the second and third instalments of games like Fallen Hero, Community College Hero, Evertree Inn and Wayheaven Chronicles as in-app purchases in their first instalment app? When their new instalments come out, I mean. They have only one instalment out and it wouldn’t hurt if the new instalments are in-app purchases right?
Now I’m contemplating whether I should buy Eagle’s heir as a standalone app or wait until it’s available in upcoming CoG omnibus app.
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The omnibus app is, as others have said, very barebones at the moment, but if I could make some suggestions as a reader and a former content creator for apps like Episode and Tapas:
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An icon/cover/image for each individual game would be vital, possibly in a grid or list format. As it is right now, the text list of titles is not inviting and doesn’t tell the readers anything about the stories in the list. I have no reason to select Highlands, Deep Waters over Zebulon because I don’t know anything about either. Edit: I also noticed that some of the games on the app now don’t even have summaries when you click on them, so I can’t make a decision on whether I’d buy or go through ads for it because I have no clue what the story is about. I’m sure that’s just a result of the app being in-progress, though?
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Maybe even a summary/tagline/caption under the cover tiles? Something that could describe the story and “hook” the reader without their needing to click on the tile itself could be appealing.
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Having some indicator of which games are owned/completed by the user would probably be best.
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An eventual way to search the omnibus by keyword or title would help prevent the catalog from looking too daunting.
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As @cascat07 said, a way to reorganize the catalog and make folders would be handy, as this is what many people do already if they own many separate CoG titles.
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An individual ratings/review system for titles would be crucial for authors wanting feedback. Maybe even a way to organize the catalog by highest-reviewed?.. (That might be controversial, though. On the other hand, it could also inspire HoG writers to vigorously edit and proofread their titles more than before?) I know Episode’s app includes a way to leave reviews on individual stories as well as privately message the author through the app. The latter part is definitely not necessary, though.
Edit:
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You’d probably want a way to feature newly-released stories–maybe a large picture banner at the top to swipe through the three newest releases, or a temporary icon that says “New!”
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A way to “favorite” or bookmark stories for later would also be useful, especially as the omnibus grows bigger.
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People always use the path of least resistance, so I think keeping that in mind while designing the app would be very useful in drawing in users. Rather than clicking on a title from a text list and reading the summary there (and then backing out if I’m not interested), I think users would respond much more to an interface that allows them to process the information at a glance (via eye-catching cover image, quick summaries/tagline on the main menu, stars to indicate reviews, etc.) Reducing clutter and buttons on the game menus, too, would draw new users in.
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Quick question when new hosted games get released are they going to make the app take more space on your device ?
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I believe individual titles are downloaded-per-basis. If you’re not interested in them, even though they’re free, you don’t need to download them.
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I hope this won’t be implemented on Android.
I really don’t have a problem with how the way we customers download CoG apps separately.
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It seems the issue primarily started on the platform itself not the consumer. We can’t tell for other platforms if they follow App Stores lead.
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There’s no question that your mailing list drives at least a simple majority of release sales, and almost certainly substantially more than that. And it will remain mostly unaffected, though I imagine there will be a few people who don’t buy in to the new way of things. But as some readers eventually drop off from changing interests, life differences, and all the other forms of natural attrition, they have to be replaced. I would wager the primary ways that occurs now would be new readers stumbling upon one app and being led to others (which is now less likely since organically finding stories when you don’t know about the omnibus would only occur through searches, not chart browsing and searches), authors and existing fans pushing new people to check things out (the issues with that on an omnibus app having been mentioned previously), and advertising. So with two of those methods having been weakened, it puts a lot of pressure on #3.
I wholeheartedly agree about the positive impact on a game’s tail, though. If new releases make less, at least while the omnibus is still new, older ones should benefit from being on permanent display in the app.
Has any thought been given to trying to stir up public sentiment against Apple for running small developers out of business? The Internet is basically one giant, poorly-steered outrage machine these days. It may be feasible to rally support for an inclusive gamemaker being subjugated by the corporate overlord and whatnot. And we can guess from their previous revision that they are cognizant how unpopular this move is.
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One thing we need to be aware of is the fact most ios CoG/HG were pay for whole game while others stores were trial then ingame purchase for rest of game.
A lot of authors myself included have had many 1-star reviews because the reviewer felt the app lied to the them as it said free when they downloaded.
So as the omnibus would be free games that you pay for will take a ratings hit in the store itself.
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Not a good look, I’m afraid.
Yes, it is. It’s not going to stay that way. Thanks for your feedback.
Just a general reminder. We don’t have a choice. We have to implement an omnibus app on the App Store if we want to release anything there.
Certainly a possibility. We’ll have to see.
No. Apple has not indicated that we have to delete our old apps.
Yes. It’s going to look different soon.
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I second all that. I’m an Android user so fortunatelly I don’t have to worry about all this for a while but I already have to delete plenty stuff on my mobile just to update some apps. If I want to buy a new CoG game I have to delete the one I played previously, so I’m really worrying about the omnibus app size. I also always play offline because battery.
I understand nothing at all of how much money you spend on releasing the games and stuff, but would it really be a significative amount of money spent in releasing an individual app AND the app inside the omnibus app? As I can see from this topic, plenty people doesn’t care or like the idea of an omnibus app but plenty people would rather have the indiviual app.
As somebody already mentioned Lovestruck, I play it but: I play almost all their games. All of their stories has a similar style of game, plot and stuff. It doesn’t apply to CoG. Empyrean and Sixth Grade Detective aren’t similar at all. It’d be somewhat a pain to have so many different games stuck on my mobile, like 5 space opera game and 2 cowboy games if I don’t like and don’t play these genres. Being individual I just buy what I want, without worrying about those extra size and stuff. I’m definitely not a fan of omnibus apps.
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