Insects Hunter – AR shooter for iOS

Today I want to tell you what happened on my latest iOS game released, “Insects Hunter – AR Shooter“… and why the insects?

Before starting, download it from App Store (it’s free for a couple of months!

Insects Hunter – AR Shooter

I started the development of this simple game during the quarantine, the scope was to kill all the COVID-19 viruses that appear around your photo-camera.

Idea and development

Cool idea, good for SEO, good as a marketing strategy, in-line with the hype of the period of the infection.

The idea was to play the game, show some ADV video to continue the game after a game over, gain some money and to send part of the gained money to some charity/hospital/research group for the virus pandemic.


Well, let’s start work on it and after a couple of days, a classic weekend project, the name, the 3D models, the UX/UI and the game core were submitted on the App Store!


Corona Hunter – AR

The game was initially called “Corona Hunter“… full-filled with all of these (and more) 3D enemies around you:

A lot of work behind, find the models, edit using 3D tools, apply textures, optimize size and dimensions.

With your gun and some bullets you can fire and destroy all the viruses that appear around you!


Excited. Submitted, Waiting for review…. Reject from Apple. 郎

Objectionable Content“. Damn. The app cannot refer to COVID-19 pandemic…

You can read the entire paragraph here: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#objectionable-content


PHASE 2: change all the 3D models with something less similar to COVID-19 and submit again.

Submitted, Waiting for review…. and second Rejection from Apple. Same guideline violation. 郎

Every time that I submit the app, I’ve changed something in the code, in the models but Apple rejects it every time. Same violation.


Bacteria Hunter – AR

So, I changed the name of the app, the logo, the images. The second chosen name was “Bacteria Hunter” and all the 3D models were changed, from viruses to bacteria.

I’ve used DENGUE bacteria for instance, and other similar bacteria. Nothing related to COVID-19 pandemic:

Submitted, Waiting for review…. and again Reject from Apple. Same guideline violation. Same COVID-19 reference. But is not true! 郎郎郎

Frustration grow. But I want to publish this app! Need to find a workaround…


Fuck the system!

I need to find a solution for this, so I decide to create some backend API that controls the app and change all the logic to show or not some 3D models (called SAFE or UNSAFE) in order to make the app approved and when online, turn ON the button and change everything in the code!

I like it. 

Let’s do it, test itdone! 

But… is really necessary? And what happens if Apple discovers this trick and ban me as a developer? I can take this risk? 

Uhm… no. Rollback everything and change again the 3D models using something more safe than the previous bacteria….

Submitted, Waiting for review…. and again Reject from Apple. Same guideline violation. Same COVID-19 reference. Again? Really? Why? Where is the reference now? 郎


This was the deadlock with Apple:

Personal record of rejection for a single app. I can participate to the Guinness World Record for this…

Last change, call Apple by phone!

Yeah, Apple explained to me exactly what I need to change in the app: everything. Ok, now It’s clear… 廊 was it so difficult to tell me this in the first rejection?

Now I need to change again, completely the scope of the game.


Insects Hunter – AR

After some days of desperation, I choose insects. The free 3D models around the web was a little bit ugly. But I need to choose, edit a little bit and put inside the app.

The insects models (spider, bee, mosquito, helicopters, etc…) are now inside the app:

I submitted again and… Ready for sale! 


This is what happened to this app and how a weekend app development was released in one month. And this is why all the 3D models (the insects) are terrible ugly …

But you can now download it, kill some mosquito, leave a good review and delete it if you don’t like it!

Enjoy shooting!

 

Alberto Pasca

Software engineer @ Pirelli & C. S.p.A. with a strong passion for mobile  development, security, and connected things.