FREEVERSE on 3.0
Published: June 20, 2009
Brian: First of all, we’ve got a ton of new features wrapped into the new 3.0 firmware. What do you think is most important?
Ian Lynch Smith: Ha… well that question has lots of answers based on what your specific app or goal is. If I had list the one most important change in the last week it would be $99 iPhone 3G. In terms of firmware, I’d say from a gaming perspective it’s probably split between the Game Kit Peer to Peer networking and the In-App Purchases. In-App Purchases will effect the most users, as it will change the economic landscape of how games are made and bought, but Peer to Peer networking is great tech, and helps turn the iPhone / Touch into a more serious gaming platform (if it wasn’t enough already).
Brian: What sorts of new economic scenarios will we be seeing - are micro-payments or even subscription-based gaming viable on the platform? As a developer, how are you implementing these new capabilities?
Ian Lynch Smith: Micro payments strictly speaking aren’t so easy given the the 0.99 minumum price for In-App Purchases. Our goal as a developer is to make sure we’re on the right side of the line in terms of value for the customer. We have In-App Purchases in our Flick Fishing update which went live Wednesday. It includes a sweet new tropical island location, 4 new fish to populate all the fishing areas and a brand new peer-to-peer gametype called Fish Jack. [It] is a version of blackjack, only you’re trying to catch up to a certain total in fish weight without going over.
Brian: I was actually reading about it on your website earlier.
Ian Lynch Smith: Ah cool.
Brian: I haven’t tried it yet, but it sounds interesting.
Ian Lynch Smith: So that’s our thinking. We hope it works - if you try to sell a “red” fishing rod for $1 I think that’ll create some user outrage. Well, there will always be outrage, but justified outrage, for example. No one is making him buy anything and his existing game is 100% the same (actually better, the update fixed some minor bugs, etc), but anyway.
Brian: Do you expect developers to start charging for significant updates to content? We’ve been spoiled up until this point in that regard.
Ian Lynch Smith: Yes, I bet they will. People adjust their “setting” of what’s valued very easily and spoiled is too negative a word, but definitely the economy is out of whack.
Brian: Between the new firmware and the new hardware, there are some concerns that we’re going to be dealing with a much more fractured market. Do you agree? As a developer, how does that affect the games you create?
Ian Lynch Smith: $0.99 is not a price point that makes many developers happy. It means there’s little room to exist in the middle ground. Either you have tremendous success and be one of the 100 top apps (out of 50,000 and growing), or you have almost none at all. I think Apple wants everyone on 3.0, which is the new standard and we probably won’t be doing any new dev for 2.x. The $10 for iPod Touch fee is the only barrier to 100% of the installed base being on 3.0, and that’s really minimal. And it’s not even Apple’s choice, but driven by accounting SEC rules I believe.
As far as the hardware, there are ways I believe to build one app that can target both the 3GS and older hardware. We will be pursuing that as we’re dying to dig our teeth into the new graphics abilities like bumpmaps and shader support.
Brian: Will you still be writing for the lowest common denominator in hardware capabilities (1st-gen)?
Ian Lynch Smith: We’ll be ensuring compatibility on all hardware, but that might mean 20fps on 1st-gen iPhone, while 60fps on 3GS. You can’t succeed as a game maker if you don’t keep pushing the hardware.
Brian: Does that meaning writing apps for both OpenGL 1.0 and 2.0, or just enabling a higher secondary level of effects within a 1.0 app for the new hardware?
Ian Lynch Smith: Two pipelines, for opengl es 1.0 and 2.0 (we’re early in this, so our plans are still fluid— just heard about the new hardware last week at wwdc!).
Brian: At what point does it make sense to stop writing for 1st-gen specs - will you be looking for a certain level of 3rd-gen hardware adoption, or wait a set number of hardware revisions? How do you make that decision?
Ian Lynch Smith: It’ll be game dependent, and market size dependent. I think there are about 6m 1st gen devices, add the touches and maybe 10m 1st gen devices vs 40m total now? But with a $99 iPhone 3G, I wouldn’t be surprised if where was over 100m devices by the end of the year, which is a number that makes my head hurt.
Brian: That is a great price-point for the platform.
Ian Lynch Smith: So if we do a full-on 3D game, and the game experience is just too bad on the original but good on the new hardware, we might make a decision there. Or if the original iPhone crowd becomes a small minority, in a year or two, yes. The iPhone 3G is pretty much better then the Palm Pre and much better then the Blackberry or Android with the 3.0 software. And it’s 1/2 the price of the Pre, not to mention the video and speed and fit and finish in the 3GS.
Brian: As a proud owner of a slightly-battered 1st-gen iPod Touch, I’ve got to admit - some really good 3D games would probably push me over the edge to buy new hardware.
Ian Lynch Smith: It’s amazing how much the speed has changed. Obviously we’re awash in Touches here, all generations, and a 1st gen vs latest-gen Touch are like going at 25 mph and 80 mph.
Brian: While we’re on the topic, do you expect Apple to roll out the hardware changes to all models of the Touch, or pull something similar to what they did with the iPhone and have both 2nd and 3rd-gen Touches available simultaneously? Say, keeping a 2nd-gen at a $150 price point?
Ian Lynch Smith: Well, obviously I know nothing for real, but that said, I’d expect them to follow the iPod model and push the Touch to fill all the iPod slots except the Shuffle. So yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a smaller, multi-color Touch (same screen size though) and cheaper hardware. And then a bigger Touch with lots of ram, maybe camera, etc. Moore’s Law is our friend.
Brian: So we might have an iPod Touch S to look forward to?
Ian Lynch Smith: I bet it would be more expensive for them to ship a slower iPod Touch then the current one. They’d need to special order the part.
Brian: Very true.
Ian Lynch Smith: Apple is executing beyond phenominally. I expect there to be an iPod Touch for every need and budget.
Brian: Would you care to make any predictions as to the future of the iPhone and iPod Touch as a gaming platform?
Ian Lynch Smith: They’re pushing the tech envelope with the 3GS, they’ve changed the game with the App Store on the device, and the economic landscape they’ve created — which is ultra competitive and drives prices to the floor, is practically unstoppable in my opinion. For the price of 3 DS Games I can buy an iPhone 3G, for 3 DS games plus tax I get the iPhone 3G and 3 games.
…that might have been phrased better.
Brian: But it’s a valid point. Nintendo and Sony need to watch their backs.
Ian Lynch Smith: The economics of the iTunes / iPhone - iPod Touch system are really changing things. [That's] assuming game companies can exist at the lower price points, and the jury is still out on that. But Apple has so much buzz even if they can’t they’ve committed to filling the iPhone pipeline with fantastic games for at least the next 2 years I bet.
Brian: While I’ve got you here, are there any upcoming games you’d care to drop some hints about?
Ian Lynch Smith: Oh totally! I get to shill! Well, two topical things. One, we released a sideproject called Postman on Wednesday that takes advantge of OS 3 tech (it’s OS 3 only, speaking of market fracturing). It’s currenty the #1 Social Networking site after 1.5 days, and I bet it’ll go to Top 25 Paid App by this weekend. So we’re super happy with that (we’ve had 8 Top 10 Paid Apps, that may be a record). Two, Warpack Grunts!
Brian: Yeah, we had a bit of coverage on that one up a few days ago, I think.
Ian Lynch Smith: It’s going to be a lot of fun and should be out next week, Apple review process willing. We also have Warp Gate, a space trading/conquest game which is looking fantastic and our baseball game this summer.
Brian: Well, I don’t want to keep you any longer; thanks for your time!
Ian Lynch Smith: My pleasure.
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One Comment on "FREEVERSE on 3.0"
legend.inc on Sun, 21st Jun 2009 5:02 am
i agree with you. If there is a significant difference in gaming on the 1st gen and the latest (which there probably is) than i might get the new 3GS.