42 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
42 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
---
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name: portfolio-originality
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description: Originality gate for studios and developers that ship many similar mobile apps or games (templates, white-label apps, reskins) - score a planned or finished app or game against your own catalogue (mechanic, content, art, metadata, screenshots), require a clear differentiator, and suggest merging thin ideas, to avoid App Store Guideline 4.3 (spam) and Play repetitive content rejections. Use before starting a new app or game, before submitting one, or after a 4.3 / "repetitive content" rejection.
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---
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# Portfolio originality (Guideline 4.3 gate)
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Apple 4.3 and Play's repetitive content policy reject apps that are near-copies of other apps, **including your own**.
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Studios with a template engine and white-label / reskinned apps hit this first. Run this gate twice: before building (idea stage) and before submitting.
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## Inputs
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- The new app or game: one-paragraph pitch, core loop or main task, controls or flows, progression or features, art
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direction, the planned listing (name,
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subtitle, short description, keywords, screenshot captions).
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- The catalogue: the same for every app or game you have published or submitted (store links are fine).
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## Score each pair (new app vs each catalogue app), 0 = identical, 2 = clearly different
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| axis | 0 | 1 | 2 |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| core mechanic or main task | same verb, same rules | same verb, new rule that changes decisions | different verb / goal |
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| content | same levels / items reskinned | new content, same structure | different structure (modes, progression) |
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| art and audio | same assets / palette / UI kit | same kit, new theme | own visual identity |
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| metadata | same description pattern / keywords | rewritten, same promises | different promise and audience |
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| screenshots | same layout and captions | same layout, new captions | different scenes and message |
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Total 0-10 per pair. **Below 6 against any catalogue app: stop.** 6-7: ship only with a differentiator a user can
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see in the first screenshot. 8+: fine.
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## Differentiator test
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Write one sentence: "Unlike <our other app>, in <new app> the user <does something they cannot do there>."
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If the sentence needs the words "theme", "skin", "colours" or "levels" to work, it is not a differentiator.
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## When the score is low
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- **Merge** the idea into the existing app as a mode, feature, world or event instead of a new app.
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- **Deepen** one axis until it scores 2 (usually mechanic or progression), not five axes a little.
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- Never vary only the name, icon and keywords: reviewers compare binaries and screenshots, and that is the pattern
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4.3 describes.
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- After a 4.3 rejection: list the concrete differences in the reply (`review-rejections`); if there are none, merge.
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## Output for the owner
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A table per catalogue app with the five scores, the total, the differentiator sentence, and a recommendation:
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ship / ship after <change> / merge into <app>.
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