Amiga.org
The "Not Quite Amiga but still computer related category" => Alternative Operating Systems => Topic started by: persia on November 21, 2008, 07:33:48 PM
-
Developer strikes it rich with iPhone game
By Brandon Griggs
CNN
(CNN) -- With its glassy touch screen, powerful graphics, crisp sound and tilt feature, the iPhone is more than a smart phone for some users -- it's a portable entertainment system.
It's also become a potential gold mine for entrepreneurs who create games for the device. Just ask Steve Demeter, developer of the popular puzzle game "Trism."
A former ATM software designer for a large bank, Demeter created "Trism" in his spare time and pitched it to Apple last spring. The company made the game available for download with the July launch of its App Store, an online provider of applications for its iPods and iPhones.
Priced at $5, "Trism" earned Demeter $250,000 in profits the first two months.
"It's done phenomenal business," said Demeter, 29, who lives in the California's San Francisco Bay area. "I'm very honored that so many people would enjoy my game. I get e-mails from 50-year-old ladies who say, "I don't play games, but I love Trism.' That's the coolest thing."
It can take dozens of professional developers and millions of dollars to create a video game for a traditional console such as a PlayStation or an Xbox. But the iPhone and the App Store have helped democratize game development by opening the field to any software coder with talent and a clever idea, industry observers say.
"A single one of these titles can be turned around for pennies by comparison in just weeks by a single hobbyist working in their off-hours," said Scott Steinberg, publisher of DigitalTrends.com and author of "Get Rich Playing Games." "The overhead and barriers to entry are so low that virtually anyone can afford to take a crack, if not several, at hitting a home run."
Demeter took his crack after attending an iPhone conference in the summer of 2007. He spent months afterward brainstorming, by himself and with friends, about how to create an original game for the device. Once he got the idea for "Trism" in February he spent another four months coding the game on nights and weekends.
The result is a puzzle game, like "Bejeweled," in which players manipulate a colorful grid of triangles. Players score points by lining up three or more like-colored triangles in a row, with an iPhone twist: The triangles rearrange themselves depending on which way the player rotates the phone.
"I did the game myself, basically. I had a buddy of mine who actually came up with the name 'Trism.' I paid him a couple of grand. But other than that it [was] just me," Demeter told CNN. "It's a very simple-to-learn, hard-to-master puzzle game. It wasn't as hard [to develop] as a 3-D, gun-and-battle kind of game. But for the one-man team that I was, it was definitely a challenge."
Demeter quit his bank job two months ago and has launched a company, Demiforce, to develop more electronic games. Now he has a salaried staff, five games in development and two coming out by Christmas, including a spinoff to "Trism" called "Trismology."
"Apple has made it so easy to put [game publishing] in the palms of developers," he said. "You just make it and then you submit it to Apple. If you have a relevant, fun game or application, I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be approved."
Developers earn 70 percent of App Store proceeds from the sale of their games, with Apple taking 30 percent.
The field is getting crowded, though. There now are more than 1,500 iPhone games available from the App Store, up from about 900 two months ago.
"It's a rich and promising vein that several independent game publishers have been able to successfully tap," said DigitalTrends' Steinberg in an e-mail interview. "However, success stories remain the exception, not the norm -- as with any gold rush, what we're presently seeing is a massive number of prospectors looking to stake their claim.
"Many of the overnight successes we've witnessed enjoyed the benefits of timing and visibility, advantages quickly being eroded due to market oversaturation," Steinberg added. "Let's put it this way: I wouldn't tell anyone to quit their day job just yet. As with any Cinderella story, chances of recreating this kind of success are few and far between."
CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/11/18/iphone.game.developer/index.html)
-
...the iPhone and the App Store have helped democratize game development by opening the field to any software coder with talent and a clever idea...
...
"Apple has made it so easy to put [game publishing] in the palms of developers," he said. "You just make it and then you submit it to Apple. If you have a relevant, fun game or application, I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be approved."
I won't even start to point out the problems with the above two statements! Apple? Democratic? Yeah, right...
DRMmed to death and dictatorial control over what users are "allowed" to put on their own hardware is the reality...
- Ali
-
It seems more propaganda than a news
-
I wonder if this article caused iPhone SDK downloads to spike a bit. There's nothing like the promise of quick money to get people moving. Unfortunately, that means that there'll be an overload of silly little games on sale that will saturate the market.
Personally, I never saw the point in playing games on a phone, but then, my phone is old, has a tiny screen, and its three games suck.
Hans
-
Propaganda
-
The game also runs on the iPod touch and is on sale for $2.99. Super game and very addictive....
I think some folks need too lighten up a bit...geez.
-
What an absolute crock of s%&t.
-
CaptChaos wrote:
What an absolute crock of s%&t.
Well said!
-
MIEOW!!!!!
(http://www.viktorviktoriashop.com/theshop/images/t_16137.jpg)
-
I think we all agree, bu%%Sh%tt propaganda.
Apple's promotions and marketing department must be waaaaay behind the times on our ability to detect such blatant crud. Next they'll be telling us that using the SDK helps to fight phantom terrorists and prevent Global Warming.
I actually work with a guy who has been granted "permission" to dev on the iPhone and he told me that all the bureaucracy involved is a complete nightmare. I know who I believe, so STFU and die Apple.
-
arkanoid wrote:
I think we all agree, bu%%Sh%tt propaganda.
Apple's promotions and marketing department must be waaaaay behind the times on our ability to detect such blatant crud. Next they'll be telling us that using the SDK helps to fight phantom terrorists and prevent Global Warming.
I actually work with a guy who has been granted "permission" to dev on the iPhone and he told me that all the bureaucracy involved is a complete nightmare. I know who I believe, so STFU and die Apple.
[color=800080]Personal insult removed by moderator[/color]
Anyone can get the SDK, anyone can develop a game/app... and if you think your work is good enough, sell it at what ever price you want via a direct link to your customer... and you get to take 70% of the sale price.
You "know a guy"... bull... you are a lying 14 year old with nothing better to do :roll:
Edit by moderator
Posting Guidelines (http://www.amiga.org/modules/sections/index.php?op=viewarticle&artid=6)
The following types of posts or comments are subject to automatic moderation or deletion without question:
1. Any post or comment that insults or defames any user of the site, including the webmasters or moderators.
-
@Bloodline
Please get the Apple iphone SDK and give it to me.
I'd like to have a look. Thanks.
-
:lol:@bloodline. Dare no-one criticise the Holy Corporation or face the wrath of the zealots. Right?
-
ChaosLord wrote:
@Bloodline
Please get the Apple iphone SDK and give it to me.
I'd like to have a look. Thanks.
Just go to apple.com and download it... It's free...
-
odin wrote:
:lol:@bloodline. Dare no-one criticise the Holy Corporation or face the wrath of the zealots. Right?
I have no problem with people not liking Apple... I just get pissed off when people sprout crap, people who have never used an iPhone, people who have never developed for the iphone an people who have never sold an app for the iPhone.
The zealots are the ones posting in this thread, who can't appreciate that Apple have got something right... That's why apple are still here and our beloved Amiga is dead! Dead and we let it happen.
-
LOL, two words: fanatical fanboy. His signature line says it all really: "The thing is, there are only two types of people... Those who want an iPhone and those that have never used an iPhone." He's so Apple-delusional that he actually thinks we walk around all day long obsessing about that hunk of junk called the iPhone.
Funny how he accuses me of being a 14 year old boy "with nothing better to do". Odd, considering I've been working as a graphic artist for the past 9 years creating video-games. You do realise that the legal age of employment in the UK is 16 and not 5, Bloodline?
And the "guy I know" is actually a professional game programmer , but you seem to be already clued-up and will be fully aware of the details of his particular project and his communication with Apple. So I needn't say more.
Bloodline: get off your soap box, no one wants to hear your manic-obsessive Apple worshipping here.
-
Hans_ wrote:
I wonder if this article caused iPhone SDK downloads to spike a bit. There's nothing like the promise of quick money to get people moving. Unfortunately, that means that there'll be an overload of silly little games on sale that will saturate the market.
Personally, I never saw the point in playing games on a phone, but then, my phone is old, has a tiny screen, and its three games suck.
Hans
Hey!! Snake 2 is quite fun. I`ve been using Sony Ericssons the last 5 years, but I just got an old Nokia 6210 cos my screen broke and it reminds me of the 3210, my first phone!!
Snake 1 is the best I think, but i`m reliving my youth with Snake 2 these days. Yeooo!! Get er bucked!!!
-
I think the iPhone SDK is a great idea and the iPhone itself a growing platform for any person who fancies making a game or app themselves. It's actually a nice phone and I wouldn't part with mine. A lot of the apps for it are 'gimmicky' but that's true of any new platform. As it matures I think we are going to see some interesting stuff.
I am also excited because not since the 'classic' days of the 80's has it been possible to produce and sell your own software and actually have the chance of turning a nice profit. Until now, the biggest platforms were the PC/Console markets and you needed big money and a team of people to produce and sell stuff. I have to credit Microsoft with coming up with the idea first with the homegrown game creation stuff on the X-Box, but Apple once again have polished the idea and given it mass appeal.
I know this is an Amiga site, but let's face it, you can only recycle so much information for a dead platform. Sometimes you have to look at the modern technology mark to get things into perspective. Although I notice a tendency to shoot down anything in flames that isn't an Amiga. It is a good idea to see what else is going on.
Personally I'd rather spend my time writing something for the iPhone than the Amiga, since people will actually pay you for an iPhone app. I may actually download this SDK and have a look.
And yes, I use Apple products and love them. I also use a PC and Commodore stuff.
-
Apple has told me I do not have permission to download the iphone SDK.
They are demanding that I give them personal information about me, such as my home address.
Apple will not give me permission to download the SDK until their demands are met.
So the statement: "Anyone can dl the iphone SDK" is a lie.
-
ChaosLord wrote:
Apple has told me I do not have permission to download the iphone SDK.
They are demanding that I give them personal information about me, such as my home address.
Apple will not give me permission to download the SDK until their demands are met.
So the statement: "Anyone can dl the iphone SDK" is a lie.
Yes, that really should say "Anyone who isn't homeless can download the iPhone SDK."
You living on the street, ChaosLord?
-
@mongo: LOL!
@everyone else:
I think you guys ought to get off of Bloodline's arse. If you spend some time reading posts on these forums, you'll see who's contributed a lot more than all you low-hundreds-posters and who knows not only his Amiga sh*t, but also keeps up AND understands modern tech. Clue: Bloodline. Go back to painting your pixels (and be warned: I've also done pixel pushing, so don't you dare!) or whatever else it is you do in your demented dark ages and leave us alone in the civilized present. (here's a hint: go play with AmigaDE MUAHAHAHHAHA - mobile platform my arse!)
Bloodline has my respect anytime of the day, and especially on such delusional days where people claim the most absurd lies.
SURE, the article is a promotional piece, but no part of it is a lie - you just haven't a flipping clue of what's going on in the modern tech world and you're still hiding under a rock.
I love Amigas and the Amiga community, but boy do I hate ignorance and stupidity.
@Bloodline:
Waste not your breath Amiga brethren. It's like trying to knock sense into Doomy if you get wha' I mean, right? We know what's going on. They're simply used to the grime down there in the dark, under the rocks they live in.
Actually, I had a funny thought as I was thinking what rocks one can live under: one claimed to be in the game dev. business. I wondered why he had so much vitriol. Now I think I know why: probably works on Windows Mobile or Symbian projects! HARHARHARHAR. Can you spell jealous? ;-)
Ah, it's funny the amounts of pain people will inflict on themselves simply due to pride or stubbornness or ignorance or fear.
-
This is the real world - 50,000 sales represents maybe 1 in a thousand iPod Touches and iPhones. The same ratio in the Amiga world is 2 or 3 sales and ten or fifteen bucks...
Plus the Amiga requires you to do everything in C or C++, that's hard. Take a look at the SDK, a good hard look, building an app is far easier and quicker. Add to that the fact that with Amiga you are trying to build 21st C apps in a 20th C environment and ask yourself where do you want to spend your time?
The iPhone is crap to those who haven't tried it, once you try it you are hooked. The iPhone is the 21st C equivalent of the AMiga...
-
da9000 wrote:
HARHARHARHAR. Can you spell jealous? ;-)
And can you spell I D I O T ? Because that's precisely what you are. If you don't believe me, just reread your own idiotic and childish post. It smells of pure refined troll.
And Bloodline's post was so intelligent and mature that it had to be censored by amiga.org's moderators.
If you two are poster-boys for the Apple products: DO NOT WANT, springs to mind.
-
there are 2 types of people "those who use Apple products and those that never have and never will !"
hmm so far I'm in the latter category as I have seen Apples first product and most recent and have yet to be impressed enough to buy one thing... :-?
-
@quote
iPhone SDK is C also (Objective-C). :crazy: Not sure what your point is.
@all
The SDK _IS_ free. But, $99 developer license to get an app on the App Store (provided it passes Apple QA). Not saying it's a lot of money, just clarifying. AFAIK, there's no free distribution method available.
-
I was considering learning iphone, but someone I know with super insider industry powers said it (and android, incidentally) was insane.
-
It isnt free to distribute software on it and apple want a cut of your profits. And yet m$ are the ones considered evil...
-
Apple pays Chuck Norris $.99 for every song he listens to.
So in a way Apple needs to make as much money possible so they don't go bankrupt! :-D
-
I think the iPhone is a nice idea, Apple have some good products which I even own but I think it is sad that for people to want to create a simple game for the machine and sell it have to go through apple for approval. The really sad part is that people nowadays are happy about that, if Commodore had told me I had to pay them money for developing a game and they had to approve it first I think I would have to think about it twice and it should not be a double standard for apple.
-
ami_junki wrote:
The really sad part is that people nowadays are happy about that
and that's the pivotal point of this whole argument. this piece of Apple propaganda would like to give the impression that, just because you can "download the SDK for free", the iPhone is some sort of "open" platform; like the gp2x. it's a joke.
how are the people who get conned into deving for the iPhone going to feel after spending 2+ years developing their app. or game, only to have it rejected by Apple's Quality Control process...just because it doesn't fit into their "business model".
iPhone is a closed system, designed purely for endusers and to make Apple lots of money (no one else). Which is fine, but let's just not try to pretend it's anything else. And "allowing" independent developers to develop for the system is just a cheap way to generate iPhone content. VERY cheap, much cheaper than building inhouse iPhone development teams.
The really sad part is that people nowadays are happy about that, if Commodore had told me I had to pay them money for developing a game and they had to approve it first I think I would have to think about it twice and it should not be a double standard for apple.
Well, it seems you're talking to the "new breed" of corporate controlled "independent" developers here on Amiga.org. Some of which do not even seem to know what C++ is. They're so fresh and trendy and young. They're "the next generation" who know the direction which independent development should follow and we are the oldies with old ideals and values of true independent development freedom. Get with it man, you're obviously square, Apple knows best!
They're happy, as long as they have the prestige of using Apple's logo in their software. It makes them feel "special".
Only problem is that it's a trap. They, with the help of Apple, are taking us down a road that leads once independent developers into corporate bondage and dictatorship.
-
Incidentally, we are having a similar situation in the "demoscene" right now, where Sony, Microsoft and other console manufacturers seem to be keen on exerting their influence.
They are giving development teams free "devkits" (ie: bribery) and the "right" to develop demos for their consoles. The only catch is, just like with any other closed system software, demos created on these platforms must pass their corporate QC. many teams appear to be buying into it.
When you consider that the demoscene was born from the cracking scene and has always had a completely independent spirit of creation and an ideal of "we will produce what the hell we like for our OWN enjoyment" the whole thing is just nonesense
-
Wake up an smell the freshly brewed reality... It's 2008 not 1988...
The hacking scene is still there on modern devices... It's called mod chips and jailbreaking etc... Take off your rose tinted glasses for a second, and have a quick look around at what is really there.
15 years ago I would have spent (and did spend) my spare time writing stupid little games for my Amiga, I would slave over the gfx and sound and code to get something that was ok and indeed my friends all enjoyed playing it... I would put a floppy disk into an envelope and send it to a publisher and never hear back...
Now I can spend the same amount of time writing a game for my iPhone... I can share it with all my iPhone owning friends for free... Then once I'm happy with it I can pay apple $100 (one off cost, no limit to the number ofapps I can put on the store) and it gets published on their app store (to every person in the world with an iphone) with a 70:30 profit split in my favour...
Which is the better deal?
-
Waaay too many personal attacks in this thread all over :madashell:
This thread is locked. If someone wants to start a new thread without to attempt discussion without all the personal attacks, go ahead.
This thread is locked!