CODEWITHSUNDEEP
iphoneiostestingapp-storegame-center
nheagy
nheagy

Reputation: 363

Using the App Store to distribute games to testers?

I'm working on an iPhone game and have just added some Game Center features. Testers find Game Center annoying to test because they have to log out of GC with their real accounts and then log in with a sandbox account.

I've been considering submitting it to the App Store but setting the release date far in the future so I can distribute to my testers with promo codes. That would allow them to test my game using their live Game Center accounts.

Besides the fact that new beta releases would take a week to reach testers because of the review process, are there any other problems with using the live App Store to distribute to testers?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 188

Answers (2)

hotpaw2
hotpaw2

Reputation: 70733

  1. Your game has to not look like beta test or demo, but appear fully functional, for Apple to approve it. So you will have to remove (hide) all game elements and UI that aren't working or finished yet, including any in the game instructions.

  2. You can't prevent anyone from downloading or buying it after it is approved and you release it for sale. So your app may get 1-star ratings from random-drive-by downloaders. (Maybe you can limit your exposure by setting the price really high, making the app available for sale in only 1 country starting at midnight, and removing it from sale as soon as your testers download it using redeem codes.)

Upvotes: 0

avs
avs

Reputation: 65

In my opinion the minor inconvenience of having to log out of a regular game centre account into a sandbox one is trivial compared to that of being dependant on Apple's approval process to test features on the fly. This accompanied by the fact that if any bugs are found the app won't be approved outright make this a pretty unviable option.

Upvotes: 1

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