[New Free Game] I knew nothing about iOS development, and I wrote this game in two months - In App Store now

[MikeFerak]

Hi all, I've been a web software developer/designer all my life, and this year I've decided to step up my game. Instead of binge watching TV shows, I decided to get into native iOS development using Swift/SwiftUI.

It has been fun, and the product of two months of my work has now been approved by Apple and is available to download for free.

The game is called Kahudo, the mechanics are based on "poker squares", but with a couple of twists, and more game modes. There's the poker mode, and a dice mode as well, which is a bit more challenging.

I don’t collect any personal data, I don’t show any ads (and never will), and I’m planning to release an updated version with more gameplay features in the future, which will be available as an in-app purchase. But for now, the game is completely free to play for anyone who wants to enjoy it, while I try to build a loyal user base.

I'll be happy if you try it out and leave feedback!

More about the app: https://kahudo.app

Download here (available on the App Store worldwide): https://get.kahudo.app

 

[User #07242024]

Requires iOS 18 and M1?

 

[MikeFerak]

Requires iOS 18 and M1?

Yep, although I could probably change it down to iOS 17, need to investigate that. Regarding M1 - it's not designed for Mac (yet), but yeah thanks to the same architecture it can be run on Apple silicon Macs without a problem.

 

[User #07242024]

Yep, although I could probably change it down to iOS 17, need to investigate that. Regarding M1 - it's not designed for Mac (yet), but yeah thanks to the same architecture it can be run on Apple silicon Macs without a problem.

iOS 17 is still too high a requirement for a simple game.

 

[bogdanw]

I don’t collect any personal data

"We use TelemetryDeck to collect anonymized usage data."
"This Application does not collect precise information about the location of your mobile device."
"You can stop all collection of information by the Application easily by uninstalling it. "
https://kahudo.app/privacy.html

 

[MikeFerak]

"We use TelemetryDeck to collect anonymized usage data."
"This Application does not collect precise information about the location of your mobile device."
"You can stop all collection of information by the Application easily by uninstalling it. "
https://kahudo.app/privacy.html

This is standardised paragraph taken from TelemetryDeck, I wasn't required to include it but I wanted to be completely transparent. The claim is still valid, I made sure to select a provider which values privacy over data mining. Any data collected by TelemetryDeck is anonymised and thus not personal. That being said, the only thing I know about my players is: which game mode they played, how many players finished a game, how many exited it before finishing, and other game-play related events like this. I'm sure you'll understand insights like this are beneficial for any app's development.

I don't scrape for any user's data, definitely not location (you would have to approve location gps usage in the app, which I at no point ask for because I don't need it). App Store Connect (Apple's platform for distributing apps) shows amount of installs per country (which is based on which country's app store has been used, and not the actual gps location), and this is all the location data I need - to understand where my users come from and work on translating the app for specific markets.

Here's more about TelemetryDeck's privacy standards, if you're interested: https://telemetrydeck.com/docs/guides/privacy-faq/

I'll be happy to DM this in detail with you, and give you a demo of TelemetryDeck.

 

[MikeFerak]

iOS 17 is still too high a requirement for a simple game.

Thanks a bunch for your feedback. I just finished a version compatible with iOS 17, it is now in beta. Upon studying iOS version usage, this should cover approximately 90% of users. I would have to dig deeper for iOS 16, as there are numerous Swift language changes introduced for iOS 17 and later, which I would have to make backward compatible to support.

This is still a side project for me and I’m taking it one step at a time.

Thanks for understanding