[color=#cc0099]After careful consideration we’ve decided to close the Fallen London app on both iOS and Android. This will happen in stages:
On 26th February, it’ll be removed from the App Store and Google Play store[/li][li]On 23rd March we will remove the option to purchase anything within the app (ie. Fate, Exceptional Friendship etc.).[/li][li]And then finally on 25th April, the app will be fully retired and disconnected from our servers
Despite our best efforts during development, the app just doesn’t function as we wanted it to, and we’ve reluctantly concluded that much of this is due to some fundamental architectural decisions that it’s not now practical to change. Perhaps for that reason, it also hasn’t been as popular as we’d hoped, and every update we make to the game needs to be duplicated for the app, making it harder and slower for us to improve the game overall.
Rather than continuing to maintain the app under these circumstances, we’ve decided to focus our efforts on improving and modernising the current website. As a result of this work, the web version should provide a much better experience than it currently does on mobile, and we’re hopeful it will meet the needs of our current mobile players. We aim to put the updated website live sometime in April ahead of the full retiring of the app, barring any unforeseen technical issues or nasty bugs.
I’m sad to see it go, the IOS app was what got me into Fallen London in the first place but I understand why you are making these changes. I hope that with these new changes the game can be updated more regularly. I am very much looking forward to the changes to the website, based off of the previews we have been seeing.
Ditto to the above two. I will be forever grateful to the app for both getting me in the game to begin with, and for hosting such beautiful music, even if it was ultimately unsuccessful. If anyone hasn’t heard the soundtrack, I’d really recommend giving it a listen. Fallen London OST | Maribeth Solomon and Brent Barkman | Failbetter Games
I think it’s for the best, poor thing. I wanted to like the app, I really did. And it actually does work better now than it did a year ago. And there were a couple of things it did better than the website. It had the music, for instance. And you could click on any of your contacts and it would open their mantel for you, which made it much easier to check out what your in-game friends were up to.
But every time I gave the app another try, I was back to peering at the website on my phone within a week.
[quote=Aberrant Eremite] And you could click on any of your contacts and it would open their mantel for you, which made it much easier to check out what your in-game friends were up to.
[/quote]
That is something I really hope they add in the website overhaul. It’s ridiculous that you have to fart around copying and pasting names just to have a look at your contacts’ pages (I have a whole folder of links in my browser because I got sick of doing that, and I try and remember to add to it whenever I get a new contact.)
I really liked being able to purchase Exceptional Friendship and Fate through the app, too. It was much more convenient and secure. Please consider adding Apple Pay support to the website.
I’ve been thinking about purchasing some Fate via the app, so I installed it again on my new Android phone. It got stuck on content update check because it can’t download current stories. I’d send an e-mail to contact support but not sure if it’s worth it since the app will be retired soon anyway.
I guess the Fate purchase will have to wait if I can’t figure out a way to make this work. IAP has always been the most convenient for me to spend on games I play, but PayPal on the other hand is kind of like a mortal enemy of mine lol
Edit: And it’s working now. Maybe the Bazaar had a hiccup or something earlier. edited by silurica on 2/20/2018
Out of curiosity, and this is for the iOS developers out there, how much work would it be to have an app that simply served the new mobile-friendly Fallen London website through an app icon? I know there wouldn’t be much point to it outside of Apple App Store exposure. But would it be a decent experience? Or sub-par?
And if so, how hard would it be to expand? Say, to give the site integration with Apple Pay? Or to add a simple music player that would securely serve the game’s music on certain pages (marked with a hidden <meta> tag, perhaps)?
[quote=Six Handed Merchant]Out of curiosity, and this is for the iOS developers out there, how much work would it be to have an app that simply served the new mobile-friendly Fallen London website through an app icon? I know there wouldn’t be much point to it outside of Apple App Store exposure. But would it be a decent experience? Or sub-par?
And if so, how hard would it be to expand? Say, to give the site integration with Apple Pay? Or to add a simple music player that would securely serve the game’s music on certain pages (marked with a hidden <meta> tag, perhaps)?[/quote]
You’re talking about a progressive web app if you wish this. But it will be pointless to serve the app via a service worker (SW) to offer offline content because you need to get the new content.
Think this app as viewing the page without internet connection; you may be able to visit other locations/tabs, but not have the newest info. Just look and nothing more.
About the payment options, I think those can be integrated into the website (and delivered to the corresponding devices/desktops), but I can’t see how viable this solution will be. Probably new payment options will be available so let us just wait and see. edited by Skinnyman on 2/20/2018
Has the idea of having a basic app that offers buying fate/exceptional friendship in fallen london been thrown around? Or would that run afoul with some regulation set by Google/Apple I am unaware of? (due to that being the only purchase method available for some people) edited by Artydome on 2/23/2018
[quote=Skinnyman]
You’re talking about a progressive web app if you wish this. But it will be pointless to serve the app via a service worker (SW) to offer offline content because you need to get the new content.
Think this app as viewing the page without internet connection; you may be able to visit other locations/tabs, but not have the newest info. Just look and nothing more.[/quote]
I’m not looking to run Fallen London in any kind of offline mode. Just serve the website through the app verbatim, and show an error if the user is offline. It wouldn’t look like a native app, but it would give FL presence on the App Store.
I believe it’s possible to use Apple Pay through regular websites, although the user needs to have a more modern Mac and/or iPhone to access it.
[li][/li] edited by Six Handed Merchant on 3/10/2018
even though I play in-browser, I kept the app because it allowed me to purchase Fate with my google wallet balance, which I could always top up with cash through the prepaid cards
sometimes a man doesn’t want to make undue use of his credit card, moreso than usual at least
[quote=Qube ]even though I play in-browser, I kept the app because it allowed me to purchase Fate with my google wallet balance, which I could always top up with cash through the prepaid cards
sometimes a man doesn’t want to make undue use of his credit card, moreso than usual at least[/quote]
[color=#cc0099]We’re definitely keen to know of payment preferences like this in case there’s a way to bring Google Wallet / Google Pay onboard[/color]
[color=#cc0099]Just a reminder that we will be shutting down the ability to purchase anything from the app next Friday the 23rd of March, so if anyone wants to make any final purchases through the app they’ll have just about a week to do so[/color]
[color=#cc0099]Today the ability to make purchases from the iOS version of the Fallen London app have been disabled. Due to some technical reasons we cannot do the same on the Android version of the app, but we’d heed any Android users not to make any purchases through the app between now and when we shut the app down. We’d recommend switching over to the web version of the game as soon as possible to ensure your character progress and purchases are synced there.
Any Android users who have auto-renewing subscriptions or make purchases after 23rd March, who do not wish to continue playing via the web should contact us at mobilesupport@failbettergames.com so we can issue them their refund. Thank you![/color]
[color=#cc0099]Final reminder that the mobile app will be shut down completely on 25th April, this Wednesday. Any questions or concerns can be sent directly to mobilesupport@failbettergames.com.
Thank you for your understanding and patience during this time. We also can’t wait to share the new website updates with you soon, which will bring better mobile browser responsiveness to Fallen London.[/color]