PRO ROCK PAPER SCISSORS
Yeah, I had a game in the app store once. No big deal.
In the winter of 2013, we were on the verge of a massive blizzard in New England. So my wife and I, along with our oldest son (who was only a baby at the time), drove up to my mother-in-law's to rough the storm out with her fancy generator to keep us all warm. That weekend, I set up camp on the living room couch with a laptop on one leg and a baby on the other, and with the magic of Adobe Flash, I created one of the most mediocre games to ever bless the Apple App Store: "Pro Rock Paper Scissors"!
The concept was incredibly simple: two pixelated warriors sit across from each other in a WWF-style ring and, on the count of three, present their selection to each other. The winner of the round would lose one of their three hearts, and when the loser runs out of hearts, they would die in some gruesome fashion. The game only mimicked difficulty, as every selection the computer would make was randomized. What do you want from me? It was a weekend, and I only had half a lap to work on.
I was so happy with the end result that I spent $100 to get it on the App Store. The game produced about $5 in sales. It was the best $95 I ever spent. The reviews were incredible as well.
How can one play this game? Time travel. After a couple years, I removed it from the app store. I couldn't justify the yearly fees just to keep a game nobody was playing available. Following this, I uploaded the Flash version to my website for anyone to play. Then Flash died, and that was that. The trailer is still viewable here, so it's not like you can't at least watch some of this relic in action.
The game had a colorful cast of characters and went beyond just Rock, Paper, and Scissors. I included four additional hand gestures (water balloon, lighter, caveman, and electric guitar), and if you had beaten the game with every character, it unlocked a secret fighter with a special skill. Take a look at the knock-off Nintendo instruction manual below for more details.
