A Shop You Can Read, and a Better Moment to Ask
Version 19.2 changes two things that have nothing to do with flying and everything to do with whether TUNL can keep going: the shop and the rating request.
The shop said nothing
The old shop was four outlined buttons in a narrow column: REMOVE ADS, UNLOCK ALL SHIPS, PAINT MASTER and RESTORE PURCHASE, all the same size. It never showed a price. To find out what something cost, you had to tap it and wait for the store's purchase sheet. It never showed what you would get either, in a game that can draw every ship and every paint.
Next to it, the SHIPS sheet showed real ships, their prices in shards and how many days each one was still away. Compared with that, the shop looked like a settings menu.
Three cards
The shop is now three cards side by side, one per product, which suits a landscape screen. Each card has a picture drawn by the game itself, the name, one line about what it does, one line about what it is worth to you, and the price as the button. Restore purchase is a small link at the top, which is all Apple asks for.
The price comes from the store, never from the game. TUNL uses five regional price levels, so the same product costs different amounts in different countries. The apps now ask the App Store or Google Play for the local price at launch and pass that exact text to the shop. If the store has not answered yet, the button just says BUY.
The value line is computed from your own save, not written by hand. On ALL SHIPS it says how many flight days the last ship is still away, the same number the SHIPS sheet shows under it. On PAINT MASTER it adds up the shard prices of the paints you do not own yet. Once you own something, its card stays, keeps its picture and says YOURS, instead of fading to grey text.
The SHIPS sheet also got a small gold ALL NOW chip with the price, because that is where you see the wait.
Asking for a rating, but not over the death screen
TUNL has 11 ratings on the App Store, all from Switzerland, and had none on Google Play when I last counted. The system rating sheet was already built in, but it only appeared after a record of 100 points or more, from the third day you played, and it appeared over the death screen, covering the record it was meant to celebrate.
Now three moments can ask: a new record, a newly unlocked ship and a 7-day streak. None of them asks on the spot. The moment is remembered, and the sheet appears only once the title screen has been calm for a moment, with no card or menu open. The limits stay as they were: at least three days played and at most one request every 90 days. Apple and Google add their own limits on top.
What I deliberately did not do: no shards or paints for a rating, and no "Do you like TUNL?" question first that only sends happy players on. Both stores forbid that, and it would make the stars mean less.
There is also a quiet RATE button in the settings, next to HOW IT WORKS. It opens the store's review page, and only when you tap it.
Measured from now on
Until now I could not tell how often the shop was opened or how often the rating sheet was even requested. Both are now counted, the same way as the other game events. In a few weeks I will know whether the new shop is used more, and whether the rating limits are too strict.
If TUNL gives you a good run, a few words in the store help other pilots find the tunnel.