Publishing a Commercial iPhone Game, Start To Finish

Niklas Wahrman writes with this "motivational story on how a student and part-time developer was able to take an idea and turn it into an Android project and then port to iPhone for commercial release in less than a year. In the article, he focuses on how to get a game done — a problem many independent developers face. During the development of the game, Asterope, he took a lot of screenshots from many of the development stages that show how the game gradually came to life."

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[mrsteveman1]

Penisbird sounds like a fun game, tell me do i get to use the touch screen?

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[MikeDirnt69]

You got it wrong. It have a joystick.

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[rodrigoandrade]

Agreed 100%. I own a Samsung Omnia with WinMo 6.1 (my 3rd WinMo device - the first 2 were ipaqs) and I just don't get this whole mobile gaming thing this side of GameBoy/DS. Even Nokia's supposedly groundbreaking phone/gaming device, the Ngage, failed miserably.

We already lead pretty hectic lives in the city, if I have time to play a game, I'd rather be home gaming.

Re:Cell Phone Games?

[XxtraLarGe]

Agreed 100%. I own a Samsung Omnia with WinMo 6.1 (my 3rd WinMo device - the first 2 were ipaqs) and I just don't get this whole mobile gaming thing this side of GameBoy/DS.

I have a DS which I enjoy a lot, but I would have to say that my iPod Touch is definitely my most played game platform at the moment. I bought a bunch of games for $.99 each (Solebon, Cro-Mag Rally, Burning Monkey Puzzle Lab to name a few). They're all good for a quick gaming session when I have a few minutes to kill. Plus, you have companies like THQ, Namco, Electronic Arts, Atari, Konami, Sega and Hudson Soft developing for the iPod, so it's obviously a hot platform for games.

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[StreetStealth]

I think you've hit on why the iPhone/Touch platform may very well explode as a third mobile gaming market.

You currently have three markets that center mostly around three different platforms:

Sony PSP: Core gaming - games solidly in traditional genres, generally geared toward longer play sessions.

Nintendo DS: Casual gaming - some traditional genres, some breakouts, geared toward shorter play sessions.

Java/BREW: Momentary gaming - traditional genres only appear in abbreviated form; intended for the shortest p

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[2nd Post!]

Um, if you get the GameBoy/DS, then you get the whole mobile gaming thing. Just because the NGage was poorly designed and implemented and your Omnia doesn't have the right interfaces doesn't mean mobile gaming is bad.

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[strjms72]

i agree with that, if i'm out i certainly have things to do, playing on my mobile phone is probably the last thing i have time for.

Good for him.

[bigattichouse]

A detailed post-mortem is always a good thing. I have to say I love reading gamasutra's PM's - I get a much better perspective on the projects I do, if I can occasionally see how other people got through theirs.

Re:Good for him.

[butalearner]

A detailed post-mortem is always a good thing. I have to say I love reading gamasutra's PM's - I get a much better perspective on the projects I do, if I can occasionally see how other people got through theirs.

I agree wholeheartedly. I usually go to GameDev's collection of post-mortems [gamedev.net], which includes links to gamasutra's. The "what went wrong" sections are especially insightful.

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[aftk2]

+1 Funny!

I can't decide whether this is in earnest, is an outright troll, or is a deliberate art piece meant to demonstrate the absurdity of talking points by bunching them all together.

Ha ha!

[butalearner]

A very (probably unintentionally) funny part about this game for the iPhone is the objective (from the game's website):

10 Levels to stop the Androids' invasion of Earth!

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[hvm2hvm]

I'm thinking it was intentional since the game was intended for Android, for the challenge actually if I skimmed the article right.

Start to finish...

[iminplaya]

Does that include its deletion from the Apple store?

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[iminplaya]

Troll...HAHAHA... So funny to throw something up into the air actually have it hit something. Chalk up another fanboi smacked on the head :-)

Re:Start to finish...

[alexj33]

Here's a Flowchart on how Applications get permission to enter the App Store.

http://gizmodo.com/5051273/how-apple-picks-which-apps-make-it-to-the-app-store [gizmodo.com]

The title's a bit off

[verbalcontract]

The postmortem is mostly about how an independent developer developed a game for Google Android, and has a blurb about developing for the iPhone. From TFA:

I won't discuss the details of developing for the iPhone. I'm a bit unsure of the NDA so I better keep my mouth shut.

But this is a great post-mortem about how to go from idea to finished game.

And in the mirror universe...

[Anonymous Coward]

This "motivational" story could have been somewhat different had Apple decided that the student's project wasn't to their liking in some way (perhaps infringing on one of their own applications - that's always a popular one) and pulled it without so much as an apology.

Well done

[FornaxChemica]

That was an interesting read. He was very motivated and got to make and release a commercial game, practically all by himself; that's quite outstanding when you think of it, and inspiring too. The hard work paid off, kudos to his dedication (I'm envious)!

the iPhone is THE new gaming platform

[mcbevin]

Its amazing how many games are being released for the iPhone *every day* .... just like the iPhone (/iPod touch) platform is supposedly used more for reading eBooks than all the eBook readers together, I think the same is happening for games.

Of course while the majority of games are pretty budget right now (people in for the quick money), there's some real gems, and some are really making innovative use of the iPhone's touch interface which provides a lot of new gaming possibilities, and definitely suits some kinds of games more than others. My picks so far would have to be Galcon and Fuzzle - both highly underrated (or under-popular would be more correct) games.

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[mdwh2]

There are games available for loads of mobile platforms, including phones. It's only because this story includes the word "Iphone" that it gets front page news, as if it were something new.

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[Doggabone]

There are games available for loads of mobile platforms, including phones. It's only because this story includes the word "Iphone" that it gets front page news, as if it were something new.

I can't agree at all with "only includes the word Iphone". It's definitely a piece worthy of Slashdot discussion (or as worthy as any other). There aren't newer mass-market gaming platforms than the iPhone; by it's design the iPhone incites a new approach to designing games; Android IS new; most games for the iPhone are as new as the App Store (which is new); there are still issues and controversies about that App Store and Apple's discretion; the development cycle started on the open platform Android and

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[Draek]

just like the iPhone (/iPod touch) platform is supposedly used more for reading eBooks than all the eBook readers together, I think the same is happening for games.

You're not serious, are you? the Nintendo DS is various orders of magnitude more popular than the Kindle, and that's leaving aside the PSP versus whatever eBook reader is second-best right now (case in point, I can't remember any besides the Kindle).

Fuck, it wouldn't surprise me if a single Palm model would be used more for reading eBooks than all eBook readers combined, that's simply too low of a barrier. But Apple will sooner beat Microsoft on the desktop than surpass (or even be able to directly compete

AWSM

[USC*Coder]

WOW, well done!!!! i hope to enter the gaming field myself, currently in school for CompSci. i've done a few small projects....in VB (IK IK, HORRIBLE) but works im a year ahead in my Programming courses, and ive self taught myself a bit of C++ and C#. Inspirational story tho...