I just got the “available for sale” email from Apple, so the new version of Hearts Solo should be available on the App Store pretty soon. The good news: it now has all the user interface improvements I added to Hearts Net, and also the improved robot players. The bad news: you probably won’t be able to finish an entire game.

Here’s a review I got on the iTunes App Store just a couple of days ago, for Hearts Solo:

I’ve now played 150 games against the ai players and it’s a great implementation! It can be a bit easy to shoot the moon (something apparently improved in the author’s hearts net) but still MUCH better than most other iphone hearts games. Highly recommended, great fun.

So, let’s review. This person has spent many, many hours playing the free version of my game. He is aware that there is a better, paid version of the game. He is even aware that the paid version fixes a criticism he has of the free version. Yet he is apparently not willing to spend just a couple of bucks buying Hearts Net.

I’m sorry folks, but this is not acceptable. I know the App Store gives you strong clues that all apps ought to be free, but I’m not going to play like that. If I can’t get paid for this kind of work, then I’m not going to do it at all.

By crippling Hearts Solo, I’m trying to send the message that it’s just for evaluation purposes. It has been downloaded over 30,000 times. So this is my appeal to all 30,000 of you: If you like it, spend some money on the paid version. If you don’t like it enough to pay for it, then this is where we part company.

Categories: cards
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