Has anyone had any experience getting a game with violent content through the approval process on the App store? My game will have blood from shooting enemies. I know that in some countries like Germany you’re not allowed realistic blood in a video game.
Well, Zombieville has zombie brains that get splattered when you shoot 'em, so I’d say the answer to that question is “yes”, but there are all kinds of exceptions and caveats to that. For example, the recent ragdoll game that was rejected for being too violent. But it probably had more to do with the fact that the ragdoll didn’t pose a threat to the player, so it seemed more like sadistic torture. There are all kinds of nuances like that which come into play. So just having a “violent” game is too generic to know if it’ll get past Apple or not.
I’m particularly interested in this topic myself as the project I’m about to begin will be quite violent.
Usually violent action to non human characters (zombies come under this category) is OK …i think it’s more of an issue when the player is killing human characters.
What if they’re recently-human? 
I think it isn’t just about human or non-human though, I think it’s the entire context of the game. Is there a threat posed to the player? Is the violence being done to an “innocent” character? Etc, etc.
It’s also a stylistic concern, cartoony vs. realistic… context is a big issue too, such as whether the humans you’re killing are obviously evil, or just innocent civilians. There’s really a fine line between tasteful or funny violence, and disturbing/excessive violence, and that line will vary from person to person. I think I’ve been able to get away with a fair amount of red blood because its just not believable or realistic at all, and your victims are cartoony undead guys. Doom Resurrection is pretty violent too, but the creatures are clearly alien and monstrous.
The fact that we seriously have to consider the extents of this ridiculous “grey area” makes me want to vomit. 
Does someone have a link to the actual guidelines for apps? Something that explains exactly what you can and can’t do (or roughly explains) 
I had a look around on the apple site but couldn’t find much
I’ve read recently that Apple have started publishing titles containing nudity, despite the fact that it’s strictly prohibited according to the Dev Portal. These apps are rated 17+, though, so I think if you’re happy to wear a higher content rating, you’ll probably be able to get away with a lot more than pre-3.0.
That said, I agree that it still needs to be in good taste.
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Is it just me, or does it seem like zombies/aliens are often just an excuse to sell violence on “family friendly” platforms like the AppStore? “Bleh, character/story exposition which justifies violence between real people is too much work, let’s just blast us some zombies.”
Btw I do love Zombieville, just tired of the same old zombie-/alien-killing in games in general.
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Apple doesn’t allow nudity. Someone tried to sneak some in by having downloaded content that didn’t exist in the version submitted to Apple, and they were quickly banned. I don’t know why Apple has descriptions for that sort of content if they don’t allow it.
–Eric
@JohanPlanta - It’s a good point you bring up, but I don’t agree that the App Store is or should be family friendly. Even the DS has GTA Chinatown Wars, and iTunes is full of R rated movies. I would argue that blocking grown-up oriented (often synonymous with violent) games harms it as a gaming platform more than helps it.
Aliens and Zombies are popular because it’s a safe bet that Apple will approve it. (Speaking out of my *** here - but I imagine EA can afford the rejection, reworking and resubmitting of a fully developed violent game much easier than an indie dev can - so indie devs have to play it safe). What I would like to see in the App Store is a filtering system that not only blocks the downloading of age-restricted content, but also the display of it. Make the App Store kid friendly for kids, adult friendly for adults.
@iphonefreak - I do think context is key and I agree with Brady. If the character being killed poses a threat to the player, you should be fine. I say should because it’s always a crapshoot, no matter how careful you are with your violence. Play it safe and make the enemies non-human. Of course, there are human killing games like Gameloft’s Brothers in Arms, but I don’t recall much (any?) blood in that one.
My app, Ragdoll Killa! was rejected under Section 3.3.12 (Apple’s reasonable judgement). Like Zombieville, I also felt the amount of blood was so over the top that it would be perceived as cartoony, but either my perception was off or I got a sensitive reviewer. Probably a little of both.
Here are the examples Apple included in the rejection email:
So - don’t do any of that stuff!
For the new version I removed most of the blood, changed the remaining blood to green and changed the title to Evil Alien Ragdoll. I submitted the new version on July 3rd, so now that it’s non-human and EVIL, we’ll see if it’s the “human blood factor” or the “innocent ragdoll factor” that got it rejected in the first place.
New, alien-fied version:
More shots here: Search: evilalienragdoll | Flickr
Frozen Pepper noted that his ragdoll app, Mr Smith, has been rejected several times and at one point he changed the red blood to purple and it was accepted. Strange…
I would suggest to make the game you want to make, but to have a backup plan in case of rejection. As you go through the dev process, keep in mind places where you can tone things down or swap artwork in the event of the dreaded 3.3.12 email.
Good luck!
Cheezorg - I’m practically certain I could (and will!) get a game that is as bloody as your ragdoll game through Apple with no problems at all.
The problem with yours was that it could easily be perceived as sadistic (as there’s no threat to the player), so it’s just “unnecessary”.
Crytek had a similar issue with FarCry just before we started Crysis. In Germany, when you shot a soldier, his body had to essentially “turn to stone” so that there was no effect on shooting him after he was dead. The reason being that shooting dead bodies was considered sadistic.
There are quite a few horror apps on the app-store, but Apple work in much the same way as the main first-parties (SONY, MS and Nintendo) when it comes to this kind of stuff - you can go mad (check out Mad-World), but it CANNOT be sadistic in nature. There has to be a perceived threat to the player.
Apple does not offer any guidelines for approval.
They decide on a case by case base and do so obviously not even with internal “set in stone” guidelines (as iFart otherwise would never have been possible as it was breaking the rules pretty obviously with obscenity)
Just noticed this new game which is bloody and sadistic, but Apple apparently approved:
Blend the Boss
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=314826303&mt=8
http://www.slidetoplay.com/story/cheap-shot-blend-the-boss
It’s cartoony violence, so maybe that’s why they approved it.
Perhaps because the graphics are more cartoony?
I posted the details in my “Rejected App” thread, but wanted to add here that the new version, retitled Evil Alien Ragdoll, was also rejected, even after changing the ragdoll to non-human and removing almost all of the blood (and changing the remaining blood to green).
This confirms to me that it’s the nature of the violence (on an innocent character) and not the actual bloody violence itself.
Plus Joe Cartoon has a long history of blending things sadistically.
I’m not a fan of gratuitous violence in games, but I fail to see the point of a ratings system if Apple is only going to approve family friendly games.
What’s even more curious is that they have a 17+ rating that can’t actually be used without automatic rejection.
I rated Evil Alien Ragdoll 12+, the highest available under 17+ AFIAK.
Are you serious? What the heck is the point?