Sheeple On The iPad
Like all of the other iPhone developers, I too have been scheming planning how I can take advantage of the iPad with existing and new applications. As for my company, Tomato Factory, we plan on going down the Universal Applications route discussed here. The lack of information in the current iPhone SDK 3.2 beta seed is a bit frustrating. Also, the lack of information around when developers will have access to submit iPad native or universal applications is frustrating. I am sure that Apple doesn't want a horde of overly eager developers to submit iPad native applications without having ever tested their applications on a physical device. As all experienced iPhone developers know, the simulator is not the same as the physical device. I typically do not even bother using the simulator.
I decided to see how my application Sheeple looked on the iPad simulator. Here are screenshots of Sheeple running in both native iPhone 480x320 resolution (left) and scaled 2x resolution (right).
(click image to view full size)
It really doesn't look so bad at first glance, but it won't be long before users will not accept this compatibility mode. As soon as developers are taking advantage of the additional pixels they have access to on the iPad, this compatibility mode will probably be something that we will see less and less of. I am developing several games currently and we are using vector graphics, so creating a universal application should be a very straight forward process.
Indie Appolis
I am excited to announce the launch of my new site Indie Appolis! Here is the information from our about page.
We know how difficult it can be to gain visibility as an indie iPhone developer and we want to help! Advertising is very expensive on the main iPhone review sites and they are so swamped that your little unknown indie game might never be reviewed. That is where Indie Appolis comes into the picture. We want to help give your app the visibility that it deserves and also focus 100% on the core of what we think has made the iPhone an incredible gaming platform, the indie developer!
I was able to interview some incredible developers for the launch of the site and have others in the works. Check out these great interviews.
Trenches: Developer Interview | Game Review
MiniSquadron: Developer Interview | Game Review
Compression: Developer Interview | Game Review
I also wrote a custom ad tracking/management application that is in use on the site currently. I will be packaging it up and then offering it as a product of daGrind called AdMan.
Albany – Magenic Silverlight Game Programming Contest
Magenic held an internal Silverlight game programming contest in August. The rules were that an individual or team would create a game using Silverlight 1.1 and the game should be fun and easy enough for an eight year old to play. I did not have much free time in August so I ended up starting and finishing the development of my entry, Albany, the last week of August. My brother-in-law, Phil, helped with the graphics and created some of the levels. It was a fun project and Albany actually won 2nd place! You can play Albany and the other contest entries here.
Silverlight is a very interesting technology that will be interesting to watch evolve. I have a background in creating games using DirectX, but this is just plain simple. The deployment model is also very slick. Hopefully I will find some time to blog more technical/tutorial type posts on my adventures with Silverlight and now XNA.
