iPhone: Savior Of Gaming? Or Apple’s Marketing Mastery At Play?
On March 6, Apple’s 2.2-GB I-Phone SDK was publicly released, complete with a Steve Jobs-fronted presentation detailing all the bells and whistles.It’s an 1-1/2 hours long, but worth the watch. If you want the key points relevant to games, they are as follows:
- You can download the SDK -- for free -- today.
- You can register to be certified as a developer for only $100.
- You can sell your game in Apple’s App Store at any price you set.
- The I-Phone’s interface set includes a mic, a camera, a hi-res screen, an accelerometer, and a dual-input touch screen.
- The revenue split is between you and Apple, and is 70-30 favored to the developer.
- You receive monthly checks.
- You are not charged any fees.
- If your app is “free,” you are not charged to distribute it at the App Store.
During the presentation, they also showed demos of Sega’s “Super Monkey Ball” and EA’s “Spore” on the I-Phone, claiming they were done in two weeks. Personally, I’d show some skepticism there as there was no mention of re-using assets from other versions of those projects or, indeed, how many people were part of those 2-week teams.
Regardless, this deluge of exciting things inspired 100,000 SDKs to be downloaded in the first week. However, it’s not all party hats and champagne glasses. Many disappointments have been encountered since:
- The SDK will only run on the Leopard OS for Mac which is not labeled anywhere on the site. So if you let that 2.2-GB download go on for a day, you’ll get a nice surprise when you try to install it.
- The emulator on the SDK will not emulate all the I-Phone features, such as Open GL, which is needed for 3-D gaming applications. You will need an I-Phone or even an I-Pod touch to properly test applications.
- Almost everyone who paid the developer certification fee was rejected as the developer certification system is not yet in place. Additionally, without the code they give you when you are accepted as a developer, you can’t access key components of the I-Phone hardware.
Still, the I-Phone is a hugely desirable device and it’s probably fair to say that most people will have one once they knock the price down a few hundred.
With respect to the concept’s current problems, Apple does seem to run a very tight ship. Will the I-Phone SDK and developer program be the savior of indie gaming and new ideas? Does the free-thinking creative now have a place they can call home after the closed-network broken promises that are XBLA, Wii Ware, and PSN? Not yet. Maybe in a few months when the creases are ironed out.
In today’s information age, it is not uncommon for companies to run background checks prior to extending an offer. Even more common (and almost the rule), hiring managers will want to speak with your previous supervisors and co-workers to assess your suitability for their position. Since a formal offer will most likely hinge on a successful reference check, keep the following points in mind so you don’t let that opportunity for career progression pass you by.
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