Okay, so I'm a bit of a closet Apple fanboy. I have a Windows machine because I love my PC games, but when you really boil it down I prefer to use a Mac - my homebuilt PC is actually dual-booting XP and the iATKOS hack of Leopard. While most of my self-taught game projects are hastily slapped together in
Game Maker 7 (yeah, laugh it up, you bastards), I spend a lot of time screwing around with the Mac-only game engine
Unity 3D. It's surprisingly robust for such a straightforward toolset, and the tutorials made it easy for me to get a handle on scripting languages (
code-retarded as I am).
On a seemingly-unrelated-yet-parallel note, I never really cared that much about the iPhone. It's cool, sure, if a bit overpriced. Its existence certainly doesn't push me to the paroxysms of rage you might expect from a more discerning geek, but I never found that much to get excited about. It didn't really
engage me.
Well, until I saw
this.
(Video
here - skip ahead to 01:00:00).
Now, I'm not a rabid fan of
Super Monkey Ball. But seeing a game like that - a dead ringer for a PSP title - running on a mobile device built around digital distribution was like looking into the face of
GOD. They built the damn thing in two weeks and it ran at 30FPS. Halle-motherfuckin'-lujah.
So, now that Apple has released their for-realz
iPhone SDK, it's only a matter of time before the
Unity player gets a mobile port. Until today, I would've
killed for the chance to make a PSP title that wasn't guaranteed to net a loss, but now it looks like I can pull off a similar feat
by myself for less than a grand...
-----
Development
Unity indie license: $250
iPhone developer registration: $99 (!)
Models and Animations
Cheetah3D: $129
Textures
Photoshop CS3 upgrade: $199
imageSynth plugin: $99
Music and Sound Effects
Logic Express: $199
TOTAL: $975
-----
...and distribute the result on iTunes. EPIC WIN, says I.
What about the rest of you? Did this announcement change the way you look at the iPhone?
I pray that this translates to the iTouch as well.
They're also releasing Spore! I cant believe what they're fitting on that thing!
That look pretty nice. But somehow I doubt that they'll have the full version of Spore.
@A Hilariously Named Jedi
The API is the same for both, so the software is interchangeable.
Nope.
@alex
You still hate it, or you still love it?
What exactly does an iPhone have it for hardware? The wiki page has a small blurb citing an ARM processor and a 3d chip made by the same people that did the chip for the Dreamcast???
Not that it matters a great deal, when the interface is godawful for gaming.
Mind you it will work great for porting the likes of Popcap games, which is I'm sure all that would sell to that audience anyways.
I will be the first to say that Leopard is very pretty; albeit moot. But as usability goes, it's like a german midget trying to instruct a deaf elephant to ride a surfboard down a volcano.
I'll put my Mac hating aside for a bit and ask you sincerely why you prefer using a Mac over a PC. Hmm?
Why can't they get off the f**** AT&T network. I would pick one up in a second if they opened it up to carrier. Oh yea... I have an adult crush on the iPhone.
i still believe the zune will reign supreme with XNA!! 16 player multiplayer FTW!
Nope. When they announce the 3G capable 32GB iPhone, that's when I'll start paying attention.
Android pwns. grab the sdk. i'm sure you can do similar and it won't cost you anything.
well since I already have the iPhone, I've always gave a rat's ass. But now I can make games and fun stuff for it for really cheap.
@everyone
Like I said, paroxysms of rage. When did y'all get so bitter?