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Discussion - iPhone = A viable indie platform?

Started by August 06, 2009 12:50 AM
15 comments, last by Obscure 15 years, 3 months ago
Quote: Original post by Oluseyi
I bought EA's Need for Speed: Undercover for iPhone a few months ago, US$10, and I've thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it worth every penny.


Glad you liked it! We developed that right here in Melb with a team of about 5 - 6ish coders and 2 - 3 artists (and of course some extras thrown in here and there to help out when needed).

Our studio has gone from primarily mobile development to exclusively iPhone development right now, so I'm hoping that within 2 years the iPhone is still going strong. The people in charge here seem to think so.

I don't have my own personal iPhone/iTouch but I get to see a lot of what's around here at work and yes the AppStore is flooded with lots of stuff right now but it is still possible to be noticed. As someone already mentioned, Flight Control which for such a simple app, caused a huge buzz because it was something different. It was fun, casual game-play and the interface was dead simple.

The way I see it, the platform and interface are still in their infancy and so there's still room for great innovation. When we're starting something new one of the big decisions we spend a lot of time on is how to interface with the user with nothing but a touch screen.

It's not an easy hurdle to get over. Sure on-screen D-pads and the like are a translation from traditional game devices and so are easy, but I almost see it like fitting a steam engine to a space ship. There's a chance to find great new ways to interact with the user and most are just going with what's familiar (yet I don't really blame them).

If you can come up with some great gameplay (not necessarily complex) with an intuitive interface then your chances of being noticed would be greatly increased. But it's definitely not any kind of get rich quick scheme.
I feel this is better suited to the Business forum.
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I like what I'm reading here. I've also felt the influx in available games and how saturated the iPhone market is. In my mind, your best bet is to create a 2-man/3-man team (yourself and artist and a game designer) based on a share of profits system. Some people don't see it as the best system, but it can keep development costs at $0. Not to mention that an iPhone game isn't exactly a big commitment. Also, given this system, you can dedicate more to advertisement.
Denzel Morris (@drdizzy) :: Software Engineer :: SkyTech Enterprises, Inc.
"When men are most sure and arrogant they are commonly most mistaken, giving views to passion without that proper deliberation which alone can secure them from the grossest absurdities." - David Hume
There is somewhat of a gold rush mentality towards Iphone development. Apple may begin scrutinizing app content if the complaints against low quality apps continue to pile up. My advice would be to look to create games that can take advantage of the micro-transaction features, supplying your team with continued income from the dedicated players, and also look at cross-compatability with Facebook apps. It has a much larger user platform than Iphone and the Zynga's/Playdom type companies are beginning to port games over to Iphone. Betting on one platform is not a guarantee for success and could leave you overexposed to the negative side of a constricting market.
Kevin Reilly
Email: kevin.reilly.law@gmail.com
Twitter: kreilly77
I have plans to release an iPhone game as well, and so far the market still looks rather well and IIRC is in the top 5 profitable gaming platforms. I do agree with nytegard and kdog that the iPhone game market is getting saturated by the day making it harder and harder to make good games stand out. TBH it reminds me of the video game industry crash/collapse back in 1983-84. The game market was flooded with both mediocre and poorly/badly written games causing gamers and potential investors to lose interest. I do hope that Apple does make it a bit tougher for bad software to make it to the market; and thank God that the iPhone SDK is exclusive to the Mac. If the iPhone SDK was available for Windows, your competition with all of the crappy apps would be much worse IMO. My advice (mostly common sense):

1. Make not just a decent, but good app (this requires dedication).
2. Give it a good price.
3. Don't just put it in the app store and hope it sells, put together a good marketing strategy (get your game on gaming sites like ign, iPhoneSpies, etc.)
4. Make some good screen shots for your game. Intro and menu screens are a huge no-no!
5. If you can, get feedback on your game before releasing it.

Best wishes for success :)
Quote: Original post by Halifax2
In my mind, your best bet is to create a 2-man/3-man team (yourself and artist and a game designer) based on a share of profits system. Some people don't see it as the best system, but it can keep development costs at $0.

Development costs can never be $0. While you may not need to spend cash upfront on salaries, you have to purchase and/or operate equipment and dedicate time - those are costs you need to consider, or your accounting will always be off and you'll be less profitable than you expect.

Also, a profit-share system always sounds nice in theory, but it's extremely high risk: any of the partners can walk away at any time, doing significant damage to the project. Because of the lack of payment for work, you might not be entitled to what was created for the project, and motivation is typically lower. Unpaid development resources tend to work if a.) the developers are already close friends and especially if they are local to each other, or b.) the game has already progressed pretty far and anyone joining knows that their work won't go to waste, so to speak.
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According to http://toucharcade.com/newest-iphone-games/ there were 42 new apps released in the last 13 hours. During that same time period the site reviewed/mentioned just 5 titles in their editorial (the release of 4 Lite versions of existing games and the announcement of one forthcoming title). In the previous 24 hours they mentioned just 3.

Even a big site like Pocket Gamer mentions only 7 titles, so the most important question you need to ask yourself is how will you let people know your game exists? The iPhone gaming web sites cover only a small proportion of games that are released each day (and most of them seem to mention the same three or four titles). How will you make sure your title stands out from the crowd and gets featured? If it doesn't then your chance of success will be the same as your chance of winning the lottery (not a good way to run a business).
Dan Marchant - Business Development Consultant
www.obscure.co.uk

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