Compared to the iPhone which has a very small screen, it makes sense that developers are considering the iPad to be the device which is easier to make content for.
Many developers state the screen size limit to be the major factor that prevents them for making quality apps for the iPhone. With a small screen, there is less room for details. Information that would be relayed to a player would be limited, particularly with games that intend to give players a good view of the surroundings. To get a good view, the field has to be zoomed out, but zooming out too much would make the player character hard to view.
It is a difficult balance, and one that does not only appear in that kind of situation.
According to Michael Garofalo, an iPhone app developer, “If anything, I think it’s easier to make games for the iPad. There’s more space to work with. It’s hard trying to cram a quality game into 320×480. When I make an iPod Touch game, I’m creating high resolution graphics and then shrinking them down. With iPad games, there’s less fuss and there’s no worry about optimization for older hardware.”
Aside from providing better hardware, the iPad also provides developers with a new pricing system as well, “I’ve decided that I wouldn’t use the iPad to price gouge customers. However, it has forced me to create a new pricing standard.”
“I felt like I had to make my games that cheap to compete. Maybe the iPad will allow game developers to regain some respect.”
While he does not speak for all developers, it is certain that the iPad also brings independent game developers closer to working with a device that has better hardware than a mobile phone.
Find out more about how the iPad is changing the world for game developers at the Business Insider.
Tags: Apple, Apple-iPad, AppleiPhone