Game Developers Scaling Back Android Efforts as iPhone Continues to Dominate

[CWallace]

Android's "hardware specification openness" could be as much an inhibitor to platform advancement as it could be an enabler.

Back on Page 1 someone mentioned that Droid offers a higher resolution screen than the iPhone, which is true. It's also higher resolution than HTC's T1 and Hero Android phones and might be higher than Sony Ericcson's upcoming Android phone.

So if you are a game developer, what do you do? Do you create a game with high-resolution textures that take advantage of the Droid while making it impossible for T1, Hero, and SE customers to run the game, limiting your available sales opportunities to one model?

Or do you go with lower-resolution textures that allow you to target all four Android platforms to maximize your potential sales opportunities while delivering a "sub-par" experience on the Droid?

What you likely do not do is create two (or three or four) sets of textures, each tailored to the native resolution of each individual device. Doing so would allow you to target every platform, but it also drives up your development costs and increases the time necessary to delivery your product to market. And when you do deliver to market, there will be new Android phones available with different native resolutions you will need to go back and develop for.

Google is selectively choosing which hardware partners receive the latest advancements the Android software platform can support. HTC served as Google's primary partner to launch Android 1.0 and 1.5. Sony Ericcson is (or is one of) the primary partner(s) for 1.6, and yet they have not even released their phone before Google make Motorola's Droid the exclusive Android 2.0 phone. And 2.0 offers enough compelling advancements that the demand for Android 1.x phones from HTC, SE and other suppliers will likely plummet, which means they have to scrap their remaining stock or sell it at a loss just to clear inventory. Those companies will need to develop a new phone to entice Google to allow them to exclusively run 2.x in order to become relevant to consumers again, knowing that they are one "killer feature" away from being made irrelevant again.

 

[kdarling]

So if you are a game developer, what do you do? Do you create a game with high-resolution textures that take advantage of the Droid while making it impossible for T1, Hero, and SE customers to run the game, limiting your available sales opportunities to one model?

If you're an iPhone game developer, what do you do?

Do you create a game that only runs on the faster iPhones/touch? Or only on the 3GS with more RAM?

Or do you go with lower-resolution textures that allow you to target all four Android platforms to maximize your potential sales opportunities while delivering a "sub-par" experience on the Droid?

Or do you target all five iPhone platforms (iPhone, 3G, 3GS, touch 1&2G) to maximize your potential sales, while delivering a sub-par experience on three or more models?

---

Look, there are always trade-offs, especially as model numbers grow. The screen resolution, RAM and cpu speed are all going to increase... on devices from every manufacturer.

Just because the iPhone+touch only has one model at a time (so far), that does not negate the problem, because most owners are tied into these devices for years at a time.

 

[Povilas]

If you're an iPhone game developer, what do you do?

Do you create a game that only runs on the faster iPhones/touch? Or only on the 3GS with more RAM?



Or do you target all five iPhone platforms (iPhone, 3G, 3GS, touch 1&2G) to maximize your potential sales, while delivering a sub-par experience on three or more models?

---

Look, there are always trade-offs, especially as model numbers grow. The screen resolution, RAM and cpu speed are all going to increase... on devices from every manufacturer.

Just because the iPhone+touch only has one model at a time (so far), that does not negate the problem, because most owners are tied into these devices for years at a time.

iPhone 3G, iPod Touch 2G/3G and iPhone 3GS are very similar in performance. With android phones you get to deal with very different hardware. Do you understand that?

 

[cmaier]

If you're an iPhone game developer, what do you do?

Do you create a game that only runs on the faster iPhones/touch? Or only on the 3GS with more RAM?

False comparison. It's far easier to support all iphone variations (when your apps don't require specific hardware like a camera, of course). Almost no work has to be done in most cases. With respect to the higher quality 3GS graphics, some developers support both, and a few require the GS. That's probably the only significant variation to deal with for any sizeable number of apps.

 

[davelanger]

I thought the same. Then I tried some games. I was impressed with some of the cool games for such a little device. Doesn't even rival my dedicated gaming PC of course, but easily one of the best mobile gaming devices out there.

Here is the thing about gaming on the iphone. Apple is not competing with other smart phone games, they are actually competing with the DS and the sony hand held, that is saying a lot for gaming that is a on a smart phone.

No other smart phone can do that but the iphone

 

[BVeritas]

Android and iPhone models

Here's an excerpt from an article that actually describes the differences between the Android and iPhone models. (link below)

"Android Market has no real games (or other significant apps) because the platform was designed around phones with a tiny amount of storage for apps, the same specification that most Windows Mobile phones use. That's because Google didn't really create a modern reference design for Android phones, it just made its Android software work on the existing Windows Mobile reference designs that Microsoft created. It should not be a surprise that Android leader HTC is a Windows Mobile shop, and that the Motorola Droid originated as a Windows Mobile device that was co-opted to serve as the flagship for Android 2.0 via Verizon's marketing budget.

All commercial apps for Android phones currently have to fit into the 256MB of onboard storage (512MB on the Droid), a limit in both phone design and in Android software. Since Android itself uses up most of this memory (the 512MB Droid has about 200MB free after loading Android 2.0) this limits users to theoretically installing a maximum of 20 apps at around 10MB each. That's a pretty severe limitation, but a ridiculous roadblock for games that are anything more than doodle puzzles.

The iPhone and iPod touch supply at least 8GB of storage, which is 32 times as much memory as most Android phones provide. Considering that a game can easily weigh in at tens of megabytes (Aurora Feint is 41MB; SimCity is 30MB; Spore Origins is 98MB; Super Monkey Ball is 125MB; Apple's Texas Hold'em is 130MB; Modern Combat: Sandstorm is 271MB; Monkey Island is 426MB; Myst is 727MB), plenty of iPhone-quality games couldn't even load on an Android phone, let alone install along with a dozen other sophisticated games.

From the start, Apple created a design wholly independent from other smartphone makers. Rather than shipping a device with the least amount of storage possible and including an SD card slot, the company used its massive iPod leverage in buying Flash RAM to pack the iPhone with plenty of storage, something that other vendors only began to do later. Even today, few vendors provide nearly as much RAM storage as the iPhone 3GS. The BlackBerry Storm 2 only provides 2GB of onboard storage. The Palm Pre uniquely packs on 8GB, an indication that Palm inherited the influence of Apple's iPod hardware developer."

http://www.appleinsider.com/article...and_apples_iphone_os_as_software_markets.html

 

[davelanger]

This is all you have to do to know the iphone is on top and no one can debate this.

When a new smart phone comes out, what is the first phone its compared to?

Its the iphone. You really think come Dec when all the new smart phones come out that they will be compared to an Android? Of course not, they will be compared to the iphone.

The palm pre was released months ago and it was compared to the iphone.
The black berrys (fill in the version) come out and are compared to the iphone.
Now the Android comes out and its being compared to the iphone.

Every smart phone is always trying to best the iphone, until that changes no one can even debate who is on top.

 

[headsupftw]

Have you actually developed a game for either iPhone or Android?

If you're an iPhone game developer, what do you do?

Do you create a game that only runs on the faster iPhones/touch? Or only on the 3GS with more RAM?



Or do you target all five iPhone platforms (iPhone, 3G, 3GS, touch 1&2G) to maximize your potential sales, while delivering a sub-par experience on three or more models?

---

Look, there are always trade-offs, especially as model numbers grow. The screen resolution, RAM and cpu speed are all going to increase... on devices from every manufacturer.

Just because the iPhone+touch only has one model at a time (so far), that does not negate the problem, because most owners are tied into these devices for years at a time.

 

[KnightWRX]

Going from your link, HTC didn't beat Apple in hardware sales. Only Nokia and RIM did. So what is it?

You are the one who needs to re-read genius. Tell me what this statement means:

"taken up more of the marketshare" than Apple.

And also I'm waiting for concrete evidence that Android is growing faster than the iphone or iphone OS.

MARKET GROWTH. HTC had more Market growth than Apple, so did RIM. That is what the guy I was replying to was saying! Don't mix up market share and market growth. Rodimus also said Market growth. Go re-read the quote. In fact, don't, i'll just post it here so people can see what a troll you are :

if you go by the logic the iPhone is STILL the 3rd best smart phone out there because both the Android phones, and BB has had more market growth than the iPhone in the last quarter.

So again for your kool-aid poisonned mind :

- Nokia and RIM have more market share than Apple
- RIM and HTC had more market growth last quarter than Apple.

Apple is 3rd. Not the best, just the 3rd best as far as sales and market share go.

And like I said earlier, of course Android is growing faster. Going from 1% to 2% means you're growing faster than going from 13% to 17%. That's why Market growth is a bunk statistic to begin with.

iPhone 3G, iPod Touch 2G/3G and iPhone 3GS are very similar in performance. With android phones you get to deal with very different hardware. Do you understand that?

Hum, no, you're quite wrong. The 3GS and 3rd gen touch have much faster GPUs than the 3G and 2nd gen touch. It's very different hardware with more graphics capabilities. If you're developping on a 3GS with OpenGL ES, you have to be careful or else your game won't run in a playable manner on older platforms of the iPhone.

And screen resolution is a no brainer. OpenGL ES is resolution agnostic, your viewport coordinates are mapped to screen coordinates by the library, not your own code. Heck, games have been running at more than 1 resolution for about 20 years now... the DOS based Build engine by 3D Realms ran at multiple different resolutions... Are you guys saying that iPhone/Android devs can't replicate this kind of behavior using a resolution agnostic library, something DOS devs didn't have access to ?

In fact, don't just take my word for it, see for yourself :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udxs2q3R3P4

 

[Povilas]

MARKET GROWTH. HTC had more Market growth than Apple, so did RIM. That is what the guy was saying! Don't mix up market share and market growth. Rodimus also said Market growth. Go re-read the quote. In fact, don't, i'll just post it here so people can see what a troll you are :



So again for your kool-aid poisonned mind :

- Nokia and RIM have more market share than Apple
- RIM and HTC had more market growth last quarter than Apple.

Apple is 3rd. Not the best, just the 3rd best as far as sales and market share go.

And like I said earlier, of course Android is growing faster. Going from 1% to 2% means you're growing faster than going from 13% to 17%. That's why Market growth is a bunk statistic to begin with.

And how many companies did the same Apple did in less than 3 years?

 

[Povilas]

Hum, no, you're quite wrong. The 3GS and 3rd gen touch have much faster GPUs than the 3G and 2nd gen touch. It's very different hardware with more graphics capabilities. If you're developping on a 3GS with OpenGL ES, you have to be careful or else your game won't run in a playable manner on older platforms of the iPhone.

I said similar performance not the same performance. I'm well aware of the differences. I have played Sand Storm on iPod Touch 2G and 3GS and experience is very similar at this point. Of course developers will take advantage of new hardware, but at this point performance is very similar.

 

[KnightWRX]

I said similar performance not the same performance. I'm well aware of the differences. I have played Sand Storm on iPod Touch 2G and 3GS and experience is very similar at this point. Of course developers will take advantage of new hardware, but at this point performance is very similar.

It's not similar. It's not even in the same ballpark Current games are made to run on the older platforms. However, the 3GS has much higher potential than the 3G or older iPods.

You can't go around saying a Voodoo 2 and a GeForce GT285 are similar because you ran GLQuake without disabling vsync on a 60 hz monitor and they both ran at 60 fps stable.

And how many companies did the same Apple did in less than 3 years?

RIM did. What's your point ? Blackberries took the market by storm when they were introduced. Heck, I think it took even less time than it took Apple, seeing how they were basically the first and only player in the segment at the time.

 

[Povilas]

It's not similar. It's not even in the same ballpark Current games are made to run on the older platforms. However, the 3GS has much higher potential than the 3G or older iPods.

You can't go around saying a Voodoo 2 and a GeForce GT285 are similar because you ran GLQuake without disabling vsync on a 60 hz monitor and they both ran at 60 fps stable.

I did say "AT THIS POINT". I'm well aware of what 3GS capabilities are. There is no need for you to point the obvious.

 

[Povilas]

RIM did. What's your point ? Blackberries took the market by storm when they were introduced. Heck, I think it took even less time than it took Apple, seeing how they were basically the first and only player in the segment at the time.

I'm talking not only about the phone. I'm talking about whole ecosystem.

 

[KnightWRX]

I did say "AT THIS POINT". I'm well aware of what 3GS capabilities are. There is no need for you to point the obvious.

So now you're changing what you said ?

iPhone 3G, iPod Touch 2G/3G and iPhone 3GS are very similar in performance. With android phones you get to deal with very different hardware. Do you understand that?

Android phones don't have different hardware then. Just like the 3G vs 3GS, if you write your game to the G1, it'll have similar performance on every Android phone.

Double standards much ?

The fact is, your first comment was bull, now you realise that and you're just trying to spin what you said. But by spinning it, you're completely destroying your original argument against the Android devices in the first place.

Just admit you didn't know what you were talking about in the first place. The iPhone platform has as many varied hardware configurations as Android does. This is not a Minus for Android.

 

[Goona]

MARKET GROWTH. HTC had more Market growth than Apple, so did RIM. That is what the guy I was replying to was saying! Don't mix up market share and market growth. Rodimus also said Market growth. Go re-read the quote. In fact, don't, i'll just post it here so people can see what a troll you are :



So again for your kool-aid poisonned mind :

- Nokia and RIM have more market share than Apple
- RIM and HTC had more market growth last quarter than Apple.

Apple is 3rd. Not the best, just the 3rd best as far as sales and market share go.

And like I said earlier, of course Android is growing faster. Going from 1% to 2% means you're growing faster than going from 13% to 17%. That's why Market growth is a bunk statistic to begin with.



Hum, no, you're quite wrong. The 3GS and 3rd gen touch have much faster GPUs than the 3G and 2nd gen touch. It's very different hardware with more graphics capabilities. If you're developping on a 3GS with OpenGL ES, you have to be careful or else your game won't run in a playable manner on older platforms of the iPhone.

And screen resolution is a no brainer. OpenGL ES is resolution agnostic, your viewport coordinates are mapped to screen coordinates by the library, not your own code. Heck, games have been running at more than 1 resolution for about 20 years now... the DOS based Build engine by 3D Realms ran at multiple different resolutions... Are you guys saying that iPhone/Android devs can't replicate this kind of behavior using a resolution agnostic library, something DOS devs didn't have access to ?

In fact, don't just take my word for it, see for yourself :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udxs2q3R3P4

It's your mind that is poisoned with Android koolaid that you have been sipping on. Why don't you quote the entire thing he wrote instead of cherry picking quotes wise guy.

I guess in your dream land, writing this means you are talking about market growth:

"And last quarter, Apple got beat by both HTC and RIM as far as hardware sales go."

Yeah
Hardware sales = market growth!

 

[polaris20]

I said similar performance not the same performance. I'm well aware of the differences. I have played Sand Storm on iPod Touch 2G and 3GS and experience is very similar at this point. Of course developers will take advantage of new hardware, but at this point performance is very similar.

They're not really similar at all, and game developers are already taking advantage of the differences in hardware in how scenes are rendered, as well as older hardware being left out in the cold entirely.

 

[Povilas]

So now you're changing what you said ?



Android phones don't have different hardware then. Just like the 3G vs 3GS, if you write your game to the G1, it'll have similar performance on every Android phone.

Double standards much ?

The fact is, your first comment was bull, now you realise that and you're just trying to spin what you said. But by spinning it, you're completely destroying your original argument against the Android devices in the first place.

Just admit you didn't know what you were talking about in the first place.

Jesus ... Do I need to explain it letter by letter?

At this point as in NOW, TODAY. I can download any game from Apple Store and the performance will be similar on 3G/S, iPod Touch 2G/3G. Can you do that on Android today? No, you can't. No one is arguing the at some point some apps and games will be 3GS/iPod Touch 3G only.


I think that your whole point of being here is to troll around, because you don;t like Apple no matter what they do. And after you troll around you troll around some more.

 

[KnightWRX]

Jesus ... Do I need to explain it letter by letter?

At this point as in NOW, TODAY. I can download any game from Apple Store and the performance will be similar on 3G/S, iPod Touch 2G/3G. Can you do that on Android today? No, you can't. No one is arguing the at some point some apps and games will be 3GS/iPod Touch 3G only.

Yes, you can. That is the point. The iPhone and Android platforms suffer the same woes when it comes to hardware. Yes, current Android Market games are lowest common denominator in the same proportion as iPhone games.

You lost this point. Get over it. You aren't right, and arguing till you're red in the face won't change it.

It's your mind that is poisoned with Android koolaid that you have been sipping on. Why don't you quote the entire thing he wrote instead of cherry picking quotes wise guy.

I guess in your dream land, writing this means you are talking about market growth:

"And last quarter, Apple got beat by both HTC and RIM as far as hardware sales go."

Yeah
Hardware sales = market growth!

RIM and Nokia did. Rodimus just had a brain fart. The essence of his post was a reply about market growth.

The fact is, no matter how you try to spin it, Market growth or hardware sales, Apple came in 3rd.

 

[cmaier]

http://daringfireball.net/linked/2009/11/22/bray-android

 

[captain kaos]

The Android revolution is taking a while . . .




Alright. But in Apple's case, why specifically? Is there something wrong?

Apple *is* the competition. Without any real competition to drive them Apple released the iPhone, and kept improving it . . . and is still doing it, in the absence of any real competition.

The point is if apple doesnt have any competition then they dont have to race out to improve the iphone, which it does need!

 

[Goona]

Yes, you can. That is the point. The iPhone and Android platforms suffer the same woes when it comes to hardware. Yes, current Android Market games are lowest common denominator in the same proportion as iPhone games.

You lost this point. Get over it. You aren't right, and arguing till you're red in the face won't change it.



RIM and Nokia did. Rodimus just had a brain fart. The essence of his post was a reply about market growth.

The fact is, no matter how you try to spin it, Market growth or hardware sales, Apple came in 3rd.

Right and no matter how you spin it HTC did not have more hardware sales than Apple, nice try though.

 

[Goona]

The point is if apple doesnt have any competition then they dont have to race out to improve the iphone, which it does need!

Let me guess so it's Apple's fault that the other platforms can't provide competition?

 

[KnightWRX]

Right and no matter how you spin it HTC did not have more hardware sales than Apple, nice try though.

Neither did I claim such thing. I always was clear and always was talking about the bunk of Market growth. RIM and Nokia do have more market share.

Let me guess so it's Apple's fault that the other platforms can't provide competition?

If the iPhone didn't have competition, it wouldn't be 3rd in sales, growth, share, whatever. It would be 1st. Except it isn't.

 

[NSMonkey]

Oh look, another thing not reported here, iPhone app piracy at 60% : http://www.pinchmedia.com/blog/piracy-in-the-app-store-from-360idev/. Maybe the iPhone isn't the big gold mine LTD makes it out to be after all

Way to spin the facts to fit your personal agenda. According to the article you linked to, piracy ranges from less than 5% up to about 10% in the U.S., Europe and Japan. It does peak at 35% in China, but that's a very small market right now. In any event, average piracy is way under 10%, which is a hell of a lot less than 60%.