From what I understand of the situation, this game was originally a flash game, that somebody made an IOS port for without the original dev’s permission, and that port made it onto the store. Now @LightSource is doing an official port of the game, and it got rejected. Is this accurate?
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You’d have to change it to something else.
@Taz-dragon Yep, that’s correct.
Great! Well, not great, really annoying actually, but you get the point. 
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Yea, but isn’t the version currently on the store part of a collection? I didn’t see it shown in the store listing assuming this is the app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/addictinggames/id453507247?mt=8
It may be not have been seen by the reviewers, they don’t explore every part of an app. Or they may not have considered it a concern, since it isn’t the core game, but a mini game.
@zombiegorilla Yes, it is. It’s also a bigger app + company, so they probably allowed more leeway there which is unfortunate for me.
Change it to “don’t shoot the dictatorial Apple” & claim it’s a new take on the fruit ninja theme
What’s the old saying? You catch more flies with honey than vinegar? In this case, it doesn’t really matter if you’re right or wrong… Being cantankerous with your review agent will get you nowhere.
Apple is pretty famous for their strangely inconsistent enforcement of guideline policies. While they have been known to bend a bit (Papers, Please was initially rejected because it contained nudity), you will not get them to judge in your favor by throwing fancy words at them and giving attitude.
In the case of Papers, Please, Pope appealed saying how the nudity in the game wasn’t gratuitous or sensational, and its representation was more for the story (how badly the govt was violating people’s rights). Apple ended up agreeing with him.
I don’t see that being the case for Don’t Shoot the Puppy. Regardless of how many games with guns or violent representations of realistic gore are on the store, none involve blowing a dog up with a cannon, much less have that as the sole game mechanic. And despite the title suggesting the goal is otherwise, the game’s achievement actively encourage shooting the dog repeatedly. And despite the pixelated graphics, the game clearly glorifies and celebrates the event when it happens.
If I were to make a huge sandbox game called “Don’t Rape Grandma!”, and of the 120 hours of content, it was possible through some strange combination of actions to rape grandma, I invited that deep analysis and rejection with my shock-inducing title. In your case, they didn’t have to even look far to find the violation.
To me, it sounds like your best bet is to use your legal position to have the unauthorized version of the property you own removed from the App Store and be happy with the platforms you do manage to get it on. I’m personally not a fan of this style of game and am glad Apple’s doing at least SOME policing of the store to keep lower-tier (no offense) apps out.
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Typical Apple.
The thing that amazes me is that apple actually responded to your second email at all.
I laughed!
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They own the store. They can do with it as they will.
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Apple has had their success mainly because of their iron grip on their platform and its content. Sure, this attitude gave them a slow start against Microsoft back in the days where computing devices were limited to tech people. But now that there is a significant proportion of the population running around with multiple computing devices that have no idea how they work, the consistent standards and UI is doing well for them.
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Most people like to be told how to think and act and feel, because that way offers the path of least resistance. They especially love to be told what to buy so everyone can feel good because they fit in with everyone else. Apple knows this and exploits this and is what they are because of it.
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@Schneider21 Yeah, it’s obvious I was upset while I wrote it and you’re also probably correct that it’s not going to get me much farther. I’m going to submit a new binary when I get home without the Android portion and just try push the “realistic images” section of their rule. I’m not too interested in getting the other game taken down, it was updated this year and I don’t want to ruin the work put into it. Plus, it’s buggy as hell anyway. Also, no offense taken, it’s that kind of game.
@Ony Thank you. Unfortunately, most companies make it very easy to pick on the little guy as you know. It’s their house, I’m appealing their rules, so I’m going to have to contest this within their guidelines.
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