Game rejected, does not meet quality standards

Raffaello · July 2012

Well, my game was waiting for review for 2 weeks, and now it was rejected, the reason that does not have enough graphical quality. The game uses a retro pixel style like Final Fantasy (available in the App Store).
What should I do? I paid money for those graphics, and spent three months coding the game (it is a MMORPG, able to support up to some thousands of players online).
You can check a screen here:

Nicias · July 2012

I've noticed the review team has been extra tough the last month or so, sucks as you can spend a lot of time/money on something and then no dice.

I'd recommend appealing this one and saying you are going for an 8-bit/16-bit retro feel. Mention that you will highlight this in the description so users know that this is the case. Worth a shot.

Raffaello · July 2012

Thanks, I'll try that, that's very true that I went for a retro, no idea they could reject like this.
What is more strange is that the reviewr did not even play the game besides the start menu (I have some analyics in place)

taylor202 · July 2012

Just re upload the app after deleting the rejected one. Some of the reviewers are just stupid strict. Honestly your GFX have a cool retro theme.

You'll get a new reviewer if you do this.

esoteric · July 2012

Try to appeal like Nicias said. I see no reason why your app should be rejected for graphics when half of the things being added to the app store look way worse than yours. (Just look at Pocket Planes or Tiny Towers...sure it's by successful company but their graphics aren't any better)
Maybe your title screen is just bad and reviewer was having a bad day?

As for deleting a rejected app and re creating i'm not sure you get a new reviewer all the time. I've done that before a few months ago and after submitting the "new" app and being 'Waiting for Review' for 2-3 days, it went in review and rejected almost instantly for the same reason. I had checked the analytics and the reviewer had only clicked 1 button and was in the app for no time.
It's also a pain to recreate all that stuff especially if you have a bunch of In App purchases to add.

That being said just try to work with them to get it approved or appeal!

Good luck it looks fun!

baja_yu · July 2012

Actual game graphics look ok for that theme. The control buttons could use a bit of refinement. They don't go with the game. That's just my personal opinion though. Not sure why you were rejected, but if it's just the buttons than that's very lame. If it was me, I'd go with an appeal and note that the game is designed in a retro style, and note other examples.

Raffaello · July 2012

Just submitted an appeal talking about the retro style and giving some examples in the App Store like Final Fantasy.
Hmm, anyone knows how much time a appeal takes to receive a response?

vbovio · July 2012

ouch, this is concerning, I'm actually working on a game with retro kind of graphics.. it seems the reviewers are more strict lately, I have seen other devs talking about similar rejections a few days ago.
Last year I got a rejection and made an appeal, after almost a month of no response, I did a small enhance on the UI and resubmitted, then it just got approved..
Your game looks very good to me, I'm shocked you got it rejected, the only thing I can think about is the buttons as baja_yu mentioned, they could be enhanced, other than that I don't see why the game is not of enough quality.. retro is a valid style as long as is consistent.
Good luck and hope you get it approved, let us know how it goes.

foany · July 2012

Maybe they are under pressure to get the reviews done due to the backlog, one way or another. It's quicker to take a quick look and reject based on a perceived graphical failing than actually do the review. Also this is an opinion, not a 'rule', some people like the look. Poor job by the reviewer. I would expect an appeal to succeed.

taylor202 · July 2012

Just trust me your appeal will take at least a month. Just re upload the app, its your best bet. Our game Draw With Me was originally rejected for having to log in (which is dumb) and I re submitted it and it was approved.

HemiMG · July 2012

Considering some of the apps out there that look like the were created in MS Paint, I can't imagine anyone saying that those graphics are worthy of rejection. They look fine to me. Please keep us updated on what happens so I'll know how much I have to worry about getting rejected in the future. ;-)

Paul Slocum · July 2012

This rejection is ridiculous -- 8bit look is popular now, and obviously plenty of effort went into those graphics. Yeah, just resubmit.

gbh · July 2012

is it iphone only or is it universal? does the graphics scale up to give a consistent quality to the game?

chemistry · July 2012

you should post this on https://devforums.apple.com/community/ios/distribution/submission to let some Apple staff see how stupid that reviewer was.

taylor202 · July 2012

Apple's review process is really starting to make me mad. Here is an app in their featured section
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pocket-heroes/id499929946?mt=8

in my honest opinion your graphics look better

desbrina · July 2012

My guess would be that its to do with the graphics belong to the RPG Maker XP RTP package, judging by the screenshots posted. I believe you're only allowed to use the graphics if you've paid for the program and are using the graphics within the program, which in this case isn't

Raffaello · July 2012

desbrina said:
My guess would be that its to do with the graphics belong to the RPG Maker XP RTP package, judging by the screenshots posted. I believe you're only allowed to use the graphics if you've paid for the program and are using the graphics within the program, which in this case isn't

Some of the graphics are from there yes, I'll will replace them after I get some money from this app, as I sadly run out of funds for the graphic artist. But this is not related to the rejection, actually it seems that they did not even go past the main menu.

I've send them a message asking what exactly was the problem.
I received the following message in iTunes 'Thank you for your message. We hope you can improve the user experience of your app."
Am I talking with robots?

Paul Slocum · July 2012

Raffaello said:
Some of the graphics are from there yes, I'll will replace them after I get some money from this app

I don't think that's the way it works.

They probably just scanned your resources directory -- they don't need to go past the main menu or open the app at all to see that you're using images that you don't own. They may even scan automatically for commonly used copyrighted images.

Raffaello · July 2012

Paul Slocum said:

Raffaello said:
Some of the graphics are from there yes, I'll will replace them after I get some money from this app
They probably just scanned your resources directory -- they don't need to go past the main menu or open the app at all to see that you're using images that you don't own. They may even scan automatically for commonly used copyrighted images.

Hmm, I don't think that. An algorithm to do that would be very complex.
In my case I am not using any copyright image directly. All my images were built from scratch, however parts of the images themselves are placeholders. Anyway I was able to negotiate with the graphic artist to finish the tilesets, so just in case that is the problem (but I've found a bug on the user interface that is probably the cause)

desbrina · July 2012

Whether your using the images directly, or using them as part of another image or as placeholder its not allowed. The only things in those screenshots that isn't from RMXP is the characters and UI, that tileset and background are.

Why submit the app if the images are placeholders? Surely that's asking for trouble

Raffaello · July 2012

I have bought a copy of XP some time ago, and I was almost sure the license allowed use of tilesets. But now that you talk about it, it seems that I can only use the tilesets in games created in RMXP. But no problem, as I said, the graphic artist agreed to complete the graphics and receive the payment later. I'll reupload it as soon as I got the finished graphics.

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Game rejected, does not meet quality standards

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