iPad and iPhone Apps

[fraggdya]

Hi IV et al - been a while since i posted last (usually due to Darwinia+ on XBLA)

I have an Xbox and missus and I share a laptop - but i was obviously (as many of us were) reading about IV revenue and I got to thinking, surely given that looooads of game developers are on the iTunes bandwagon, maybe 'porting' (not literally but you know what i mean) some key titles over onto itunes/iphone/ipad?

Youd make some serious cashage id imagine and a lot of gamers very happy

fraggdya

[Jordy...]

That's such a bad idea! Why....? Cause I feel like saying that....

[fraggdya]

great point! oh wait... its not.

[Jordy...]

Waite a second, you're not new! Ok, well let me say this, your idea has some merit, but really before they made multiwinia 2 they shouldn't think about anything else!

[Montyphy]

Hmmm... use limited resources to continue creating innovative games that you can distribute with certainty to a very large user base at a price mark higher than a couple of dollars, or spend time rewritting old games in a different programming language to work on a platform with different interfaces and smaller user base only to risk your investment being given the two finger salute because Jobsworth decided he didn't like your idea...

I know which one I would choose.

[bert_the_turtle]

Not to mention THIS HAS BEEN SUGGESTED A MILLION TIMES ALREADY AND IS SOMETHING SO TRIVIAL AND OBVIOUS IT DOESN'T NEED SUGGESTING. Oh wait, now I did mention it.

[trickser]

But whats with the iPod? Did you think about that one?

[fraggdya]

Lots of games are selling at almost 6gbp and selling well. So that point is wrong. Also speculating on a tiny amount of extra resource to port could easily be balanced via sales. No it isn't trivial but you must be right and not ea or capcom. The attitude on this forum stinks outside the clique.

[Xocrates]

Lots of games are selling at almost 6gbp and selling well. So that point is wrong. Also speculating on a tiny amount of extra resource to port could easily be balanced via sales. No it isn't trivial but you must be right and not ea or capcom. The attitude on this forum stinks outside the clique.

IV isn't a large company. And right now they're working on Subversion, supporting their existing games and, assuming it has not been canned, porting Defcon for PS3.

Porting any of their games to iphone/ipad would require not only that they spread their resources thinner, but that they develop an entirely new method of controlling the games as well as a way of fitting them to the new hardware/sofware.

Face it, it just isn't viable, or justifiable, right now.

[elexis]

What do you mean "tiny" amount? Do you have any idea how long it took them to make Darwinia+ for xbox so it would be both fast AND stable? Despite these games being fairly simplistic an iPhone does not the grunt to port something like darwinia/MW/D+. And can you Imagine trying to play uplink on an iphone? *shudders*


That said, Uplink would kinda be cool if it had a facelift and used a Tablet Computer's touchscreen in a futuristic way Uplink: minority report style! ok I SUPPOSE an iPad would be best suited for this but ive yet to see anyone in person demonstrate a iPad and not further confirm my suspicions of them being a moron.

[Montyphy]

Lots of games are selling at almost 6gbp and selling well. So that point is wrong.

~1 billion people vs ~100 million.
£15-£30 vs £0.99-£5.

Also speculating on a tiny amount of extra resource to port could easily be balanced via sales.

When you only have a handful of developers and limited cash flow or capital, investing time to rewrite your entire code base to work on yet another platform with different APIs, interfaces and hardware limitations is considered significantly more of a impact on your company resources than "tiny".

You're also ignoring the risk factor of their investment getting completely rejected. When the owner of a platform holds a dictatorship over it (like Mr Jobsworth) they can turn around and just say no without giving a reason, or even pull your application from the market when they decide they no longer like it. Something Apple has shown itself to be quite happy to do.

No it isn't trivial but you must be right and not ea or capcom.

Not even sure what that is meant to mean.

The attitude on this forum stinks outside the clique.

Welcome to the real world, a cruel money driven place where not everything is sugarcoated, despite what Jobsworth and his Chocolate Factory would like you to believe. Perhaps it's time to face facts and take a peek at the man behind the curtain because your idea was far from original and the fact you thought it would be is laughable. Sorry, but it's true. May be next time you'll try using the search button.

[bert_the_turtle]

We only have 'attitude' towards posts that appear stupid. For example, really, you could have searched the forums for "iPhone iPad iPod" first, that uncovers two threads here dedicated to it:
http://forums.introversion.co.uk/introv ... php?t=1973
http://forums.introversion.co.uk/introv ... php?t=2035
And some more in the subforums:
http://forums.introversion.co.uk/multiw ... php?t=2801 (plus three more from the same idiot spammed in other forums)
http://forums.introversion.co.uk/multiw ... php?t=2781
http://forums.introversion.co.uk/defcon ... php?t=7169
http://forums.introversion.co.uk/defcon ... php?t=7015
http://forums.introversion.co.uk/defcon ... php?t=6680
http://forums.introversion.co.uk/defcon ... php?t=6377
And search has some more hits of general threads where it has surely been mentioned. That's 1000 unique threads (in binary) you could have found before starting a new one.

To spare you the trouble of reading them all, some points to take:
1. Ports to those platforms are far from trivial. For one, they only understand OpenGL ES, and IV games have traditionally been programmed in full OpenGL with heavy use of immediate mode, which is precisely what ES drops. Then there's the performance and interface issues on top of that.
2. Whether the porting effort would pay off and produce enough sales is debatable, and anecdotes of some games doing really great have to be contrasted with the thousands upon thousands of apps that just don't sell.
3. IV are well aware of the porting possibilities and are the ones with the most information. They know how well their games sold on the platforms they are on already and they know the code and how much would need to change.

That said, DEFCON is coming to PSN. Sony's machines have the option to code in OpenGL ES and not full OpenGL, and I guess IV picked that as their API to port it. So chances are an OpenGL ES version of DEFCON already exists. Still, two problems: the interface and the play model. Good DEFCON games last about an hour, sometimes more, and it's mostly outside of your control in multiplayer. That's not really suitable for on-the-go play.

[Jordy...]

See, I just see an idea is stupid and my serfs come up with good arguments to support my opinion either way.

[fraggdya]

Lots of games are selling at almost 6gbp and selling well. So that point is wrong.

~1 billion people vs ~100 million.
£15-£30 vs £0.99-£5.

Again, other games developers mustnt be seeing any benefit then.. oh wait.... they are

Also speculating on a tiny amount of extra resource to port could easily be balanced via sales.

When you only have a handful of developers and limited cash flow or capital, investing time to rewrite your entire code base to work on yet another platform with different APIs, interfaces and hardware limitations is considered significantly more of a impact on your company resources than "tiny".

You're also ignoring the risk factor of their investment getting completely rejected. When the owner of a platform holds a dictatorship over it (like Mr Jobsworth) they can turn around and just say no without giving a reason, or even pull your application from the market when they decide they no longer like it. Something Apple has shown itself to be quite happy to do.

No - the word 'speculating' should give you a clue that im suggesting an opportunity risk is taken

No it isn't trivial but you must be right and not ea or capcom.

Not even sure what that is meant to mean.

Try reading it again vs the reply?

The attitude on this forum stinks outside the clique.

Welcome to the real world, a cruel money driven place where not everything is sugarcoated, despite what Jobsworth and his Chocolate Factory would like you to believe. Perhaps it's time to face facts and take a peek at the man behind the curtain because your idea was far from original and the fact you thought it would be is laughable. Sorry, but it's true. May be next time you'll try using the search button.

Stupid comment - im well aware that its money driven, hence my post stating that this 'could' help, a mere idea, and given the number of game developers enjoying profit from said platforms proves its clearly not laughable.

Clearly i didnt use the search button as i havent posted in ages and just bobbed on to follow the twitter feed - at no point did i say my idea was original.
Your suppositions regarding what i 'think' are unfounded and stupid.

Regardless of my not using the search button - even the initial response to my light, conversational tone was disgraceful.

[Jordy...]

I agree a 100% with you fragdya, this community has no grace or hospitality what so ever, they really suck and all they do is bring people down and burn them on every slight mistake they make, or otherwise. Therefore I hereby announce the association of introversion victims and outcast to be founded!

Do you have any complaints please PM and I'll see to it that something is done about it!