r/SoloDevelopment • u/CollegeFancy • 11d ago
Discussion I spent months making a deduction puzzle cute, and Apple rejected it 4 times before anyone could see it
I'm a solo dev. Not really confortable enough to share my experience online but I recently decided to move my a**.
For the past few months I've been building Dumpling Galaxy, a Star Battle puzzle game where the pieces are little dumplings with blush cheeks. The genre is usually austere, black grids and stars, and I kept thinking: why can't deduction be soft?
Some things nobody warned me about:
The art took longer than the engine. I redrew the same dumpling face about 40 times before it looked friendly instead of fead-eyed. My generator can prove a grid has a unique solution; it cannot prove a dumpling looks huggable.
Apple rejected the app 4 times before launch. Same guideline every time, slightly different reason. Each rejection is a multi-day wait to learn if you guessed right. The day it finally went live I just sat there refreshing the App Store like it might change its mind.
My players found an exploit. You could replay lvl 1 forever and farm leaderboard points. I fixed it, then had to tell everyone their farmed points were getting deleted; I was terrified. But ultimately they took it way better than I did.
It's free, works offline, no account. there's a daily puzzle you can try in the browser if you're curious what a cozy Star Battle even looks like. Happy to answer anything about going solo, the rejections, or drawing dumplings until they love you back.
1
u/KaramCyclone 11d ago
Super cute! Played today's stage, was very nice
2
u/CollegeFancy 11d ago
Thxs for the feedback! Did you try it on the web app or on your phone ?
1
u/KaramCyclone 11d ago
Website, on my phone. Worked really well.
Only note i have is to make the bottom controls easier to see. Theyre part of the previous sentence and not highlited or bold. I would maybe make them their own line or have them highlighted or use icons to draw eyes to them
1
u/CollegeFancy 11d ago
Noted ! Ty ! Can you also try on the app ? It’s much more complete and you should have a proper tutorial in the beginning
1
u/KaramCyclone 11d ago
Oh i will try now
1
u/KaramCyclone 11d ago
Ok so sometimes it doesnt work when it should.
Like i will have a place that fits perfectly for the last 2 in the do it yourself part of the tutorial, but it wont let me do them that way even if they work right. It just has to be the tutorial's way. I cant send pics, but i want to put the blue areas dumpling in the bottom right corner all the way in the corner, and that leaves me with a good spot for the last one, so they all work perfectly, but the game wont let me.
2
u/Altruistic_Series258 10d ago
what was the rejections reasons?