There has been a considerable amount of speculation around the viability of Apple’s latest platform, the iPad, since it’s release a few months ago. When approaching the mobile space the debate continued as to whether it was better to continue to build for the iPhone and extend functionality to the iPad only if the first launch was successful or build for the iPad first before catering to the lower resolution iPhone & iPod touch.
At Brisk we discovered some interesting phenomena when it came to our own game sales which we attributed to several factors. First of all, the competition in games on iPad is significantly less. There are simply far fewer applications competing in any given category on the iPad compared to the iPhone. What that translates into from a business perspective is much higher visibility for your games and less competition for those coveted Top 10 positions.
Secondly, you are also increasing the likelihood of being featured by Apple for the very same reason, less competition. From a design perspective it is much easier to start at a higher resolution and then shrink it down to lower required resolutions compared with re-mastering graphics up to a higher resolution. In the latter you essentially have to re-draw all of your assets and artwork which is costly and time consuming. In addition if you’ve designed your game with the iPhone in mind you may be overlooking certain characteristics of the iPad which might make the game more enjoyable. When the game is designed for the iPad first and ported to the iPhone second design considerations can be addressed and decisions made for the iPhone that won’t comprimise playability on the iPad.
With Medieval HD toping the Charts in the US – #1 in all games and #2 in all applications for iPad – we’ve determined that there is in fact a very healthy appetite for quality gaming offerings on the iPad. The challenge will be to deliver consistently enjoyable games from now through to the Christmas season.
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