The Present: Hardware Considerations

Deciding whether to use one of the available engines or use the bare iPlatform SDK is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to developing a game for Apple's revolutionary new devices.

One of the first pitfalls to be aware of is that iPlatform development may be close to console development -- but it's still not console development. If a game is developed in conjunction with a second generation iPod Touch, then iPhone and first-gen iPod Touch users may complain about choppy framerates. 

The iPlatform devices all use a Samsung ARM SoC 620 MHz processor, but earlier devices are limited to 412 MHz by Apple's firmware.  On the other hand, the second Generation iPod Touch is clocked to 533 MHz.

This speed divergence is in addition to other differences, such as the lack of a camera or microphone in the iPod Touch, the lack of GPS in all but the iPhone 3G, and finally, the various audio output options for all devices.

Music and iPod are nearly synonymous, and the iPod touch definitely does music. However, 1^st generation iPod Touches do not have a built-in speaker, and rely on headphones for sound.

Second-generation iPod Touches do include a speaker, but its sound quality leaves much to be desired. Both iPhones include a more robust speaker that can actually produce something resembling bass.

Effects that sound decent on an iPhone begin to sound like insect chatter on a second generation iPod Touch, though. As a result, special low-range filters must be applied on sound effects to avoid the potential cricket convention.

While it may seem logical that users will realize the puniness of their iPod Touch speaker, it would not be wise to rely on that logic. Sound effects should be optimized to sound crisp and clear through all audio output options.

These hardware variances are subtle but they do produce challenges. The audio differences are something that even a console developer can expect, but the differences in CPU performance present a clear rift in the iPlatform-as-a-console concept.

Developing a 3D game for the iPlatform almost requires the developer to have an iPhone or original iPod Touch device. When dealing with 3D games running in the 10 to 25 FPS range, 5 FPS becomes a precious commodity, and represents a large percentage of a game's overall flow.

The Present: iTunes & Marketing

With the technical details out of the way, only Apple's iTunes Connect and the App Store remain as challenges on the road to riches during the iPresent. Of course, this is where the real challenge exists. With over 2,000 games in the App Store, it's hugely important to nail the application and release process.

Apple's iTunes Connect allows for an app profile to be created without attaching a binary. Be aware, though, that it's possible for an app to get stuck with this release date instead of the actual date that the app becomes available to the public.

The company can manually adjust for this, but there seems to be a bug in the system that will not allow the "release date" to be changed from the date that the app's profile was created. As a result, a game can instantly go DOA by getting buried under the heap of new apps released daily.

This is simply one minor point in the barrier to financial success on the iPlatform. Designing a great icon, choosing the proper screenshots, and describing a game succinctly are all hugely important to distinguish a game from the rest of the herd. Potentially the most important aspect of a game's presence in the App Store is insc what category the game is contained.

TouchSoft Mobile's Pizza Dash

While there seems to be a slew of racing games for the iPlatform, there are actually fewer pages (three) of racing games than any other category other than RPG (two).

The result of this is that Pizza Dash has a pretty good chance of catching a user's attention, even though it's sitting right next to Ferrari GT: Evolution. Conversely, there are 49 pages of puzzle games, which, makes it pretty tough to compete with Enigmo.

At IGC, 2007 Halo designer Alex Seropian said "be original"; nowhere does this apply more than on the App Store. Creating a genre defying game can help tremendously in an attempt to get noticed.

Thinking outside the box allows placement of a game inside multiple low-competition genres on the App Store, and increases the probability that users will actually click on the game's icon as opposed to scrolling on to the next page of needles in the proverbial haystack.