Guest Editorial: The times, they are a changing
A long time ago Bob Dylan famously sang that the times were changing, however if you are a part of the mobile games industry then you’ll realise that the times are always changing and never more than at present.
At the start of 2008 it had seemed that the hype around mobile gaming was being dialled down somewhat on previous years to be replaced by a more mature, even cautious, attitude. The market had consolidated, growth had slowed and many of the existing barriers to further growth were still evident… and then along came the iPhone.
Almost overnight Apple generated enough hype around this one device than we had seen in the whole industry to date. So will the iPhone deliver on its early promise and what kind of impact will it have on independent developers such as Tag Games?
Firstly it’s hard not to be impressed by such a fantastic looking product. Like the iPod it’s a great piece of design and following a similar path to Nintendo with the Wii the touch screen shows incredible insight in taking an “old” technology and implementing it in such a manner that it seems to be fresh and new. The iPhone does pretty much everything you could ever desire of a mobile communication device and is the first step towards a convergent mobile device that appeals to the mass market. Make voice calls? Check. Send email? Check. Browse the web? Check. Play music? Check. Find your way around a strange city? Check. Play games? For sure! There are already a number of smart phones on the market that already do all this, cost less and support 3G so what makes the iPhone so attractive?
It would appear Apple are the masters of cool. It’s not just a case of clever marketing; they know that the product has to be right in the first instance; however it is their amazing ability to build upon this to create demand for their product in a way that no other hardware manufacture can that sets them apart. The manner in which non-iPhone owners aspire to own the device is remarkable, especially in North America where ownership of an iPhone seems to be more of a status symbol than driving a Porsche. It is seen as both a reflection of an individuals personality and an enabling device that serves a multitude of individual needs?
There are of course a couple of negatives that must be mentioned. The lack of 3G support is possibly the most obvious weakness in a device so dependant on rich media content. The inability to remove the battery is another annoying design ‘feature’ yet it is hard not to forgive these fairly minor quibbles and I’m sure Apple will have addressed both of these issues in version 2.
So how does the iPhone stack up when it comes to game support? For most developers operating in a mainly PC development environment it demands a switch to the alien world of Mac develop long held as the dark side where creative types hide behind flash user interfaces and retro cool. I’m sure many existing Mac developers will find themselves at home immediately but there aren’t many of them so it may take some time until we start to see games coming through that push the hardware to the limits both technically and from a game mechanic stand point.
The performance capabilities of the device will demand larger resources and greater investment from developers. Team sizes will grow dramatically from those normally used for J2ME/BREW development and timescales and budgets will follow suit. Possibly the greatest challenge to developers is however one of game-design. It is my hope that iPhone will create a space for some truly unique games that will utilise its touch screen in new and innovative ways. It’s difficult to judge whether existing mobile developers will have an edge over console teams in this regard. Certainly years of experience designing for small and technologically constrained devices won’t hurt the chances of mobile developers but I feel that if all they plan to do is convert existing J2ME/BREW titles to iPhone they will be wasting their time. The iPhone demands respect and its users are too savy to swallow a flood of low quality, quickly produced games that aren’t designed from the ground up around its unique interface.
The touch screen is the biggest enabler for innovative game design on mobile we have yet seen but it could also prove to be a major stumbling block. Nintendo Wii development is a relevant precedent – there are still precious few 3rd party games that use the Wii mote in an interesting and compelling manner. It is clear that it will probably take some time for developers to adapt to the iPhone and make the paradigm shift from key-pad control to touch screen. I can only begin to imagine how much more fun having a tactile and responsive relationship with a mobile game will be. Any developer who, like us, has integrated Zeemote support into their games will know just how much of a difference having even a traditional joystick control makes after years of having to design for a huge variety of key-pad layouts of varying quality.
In the short term it is likely that the arrival of the iPhone will increase the strains felt due to device fragmentation as other manufacturers jump on the touch screen bandwagon. We are certainly now entering a period of slow transition in western markets away from J2ME and toward native games but whilst J2ME and to a lesser extent BREW will remain the clear mass market mobile gaming platforms for some time yet this transition will start to put demands on all but the largest developers and publishers. It simply will not be possible to continue to support all devices and platforms and so a choice must be made.
The major advantage iPhone has even from this early stage and with a relatively small install base of just over 10 million units is that it offers a tried and tested distribution channel that provides a fair marketplace for content providers. The iTunes structure combined with try before you buy and ad funded options is surely going to be the future model for all digital distributed content and one that will start to blur the boundaries between publishers and the developers. We have already seen this model come to maturity in the casual PC download market and I feel it is directly applicable to mobile. The iTunes retail environment leaves network operator content decks for dead in every aspect. Once iPhone and iPod Touch games are integrated into this environment effectively it’s hard to image iPhone customers wanting to buy music or games from their operator deck ever again.
At this early stage the Apple business model appears to offer a level playing field for all. We realise that the initial games market for iPhone will be small and saturated with poor quality content but for creative studios such as Tag we realise that the combination of quality, innovative games and sharp marketing can allow our products to compete fairly with that of larger and more established publishers. Popular underground games will rise to mass market awareness through viral channels such as social networking applications, SMS and other communication applications. Mobile search will also allow increasingly educated mobile games players to seek out the content they want rather than be force fed the same branded titles time and time again.
Now that sounds like the change we’ve all been waiting for… be patient the revolution is coming!
“Paul is a games industry veteran with a wealth of experience on console, PC and mobile gaming platforms. He played a key role in the development of the Grand Theft Auto series whilst at DMA Design, later moving to Vis Entertainment where he led the design of another worldwide hit, State of Emergency. Joining I-play in 2000 as Head of Design he has built an unparalleled understanding of game creation for the mobile medium. In 2006 he established independent game development studio Tag Games with the aim of creating innovative titles for mobile and other casual gaming platforms.”
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I couldn't agree more. There are a TON of quick, poorly made games out right now but at the same time some companies are developing high quality, engaging games. Take UnderClouds for example. They are making good games that play smooth and offer hours of fun.
Ultimately though, I think the true revolution will come with large companies such as EA and Tag creating high quality games that use all the iPhone's resources.