[harperlee]

Game for kids, where you dedicate a third of the screen to a locked hint list and a very prominent "Buy Hint Tokens" button? Hard pass.

https://www.hacktivate.app/img/framed-ipad-3.png

The game industry needs to move away from milking vulnerable people with pay-to-win schemes.

[fainpul]

Also the game costs 20 bucks but it's offered as "Free" with "in app purchases". But you can only play one challenge until you need to buy the game. That's just false advertising. Just be upfront about it and sell the game for 20 bucks instead.

[twostraws]

I'm not sure where you got the one challenge thing from – you can play 10 challenges without needing to pay a cent. Plus, there is a dedicated version you can buy up front front without any in-app purchases, right here: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/hacktivate-education-edition/i...

[fainpul]

I installed and played the game on my mac this morning. I tried several ways to get to another challenge I could play, but was unable.

The link I used is the one from your site.

[twostraws]

All you have to do to unlock the next free challenge is solve the previous challenge. The first 10 tutorials are designed to teach the basics of the app – how to transform data with the toolbox, how to read web page source code and run JavaScript, basic Linux commands, etc – and so they are run in order. There are 10 in total, all free, plus another one in the first territory afterwards, which teaches the basics of ciphers.

[fainpul]

So there's our misunderstanding. I skipped the tutorial, because I already saw your demo video. Then I clicked on the US on the map and played the first challenge called "Tutorial: Cipher salad". After that I always got the "Buy now" popup when I tried to play another challenge.

But you're right, the tutorial is playable too and it consists of the same kind of challenges, not just simple explanations how to play. So my initial statement was not correct.

[twostraws]

I see. Well, I hope you can appreciate there are limits to what I can do – if someone skips the free challenges then is unhappy there aren't enough free challenges, I don't really know how I can fix that. If you want to go back to play the tutorial challenges, they remain available.

[notachatbot123]

https://www.darkpattern.games/

https://nobsgames.stavros.io/

[zwnow]

I've watched my grandma play a mobile game a few days ago. It has been a simple word search game. A level takes her about 2-3 minutes to beat. Every single time she beats a level, she is getting 1-2 30 second advertisements that she has to sit through. Its honestly so sad to see. Thankfully she knows that all mobile ads are bullshit and how to close them, but still... This market is shameless.

[twostraws]

Nothing about Hacktivate is pay-to-win – you can solve every challenge without using a single hint, and even if someone does need hints there are a bunch given away for free. Even more, for people who want the game but don't want micro-transactions, there's a dedicated version of the game (https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/hacktivate-education-edition/i...) that is a one-time purchase with no in-app purchases at all.

[fodmap]

Right, that's absolutely disgusting. The only reason that would be somewhat OK is if that's part of the game, and you can hack it to get tokens for free.