Your preferred publishing platform?

RH

I'm coming within (hopefully) a few weeks of publishing my first game, having spent a long time on GS messing around and have pretty much designed the levels and game (although I'm sure it will change).

Anyway I was just wondering whether you prefer to publish to iPad or iPhone. I'm finding it hard to decide which to aim for. Do you prefer the larger capabilities of the iPad (in terms of the number of actors and size of game), slimmer competition and getting away with slightly higher pricing or the larger number of potential buyers on the iPhone yet reduced game size, possibly impacting on the quality/quantity?

What else do you take into consideration? Controls? Screen size?

Will the release of the new iPhone have an impact on which you design for?

Just looking for opinions and something that will help make up my mind. I'm probably heading for iPad with this game.

design219

Until I have an iPad, I'm not going to work on an iPad app. There are a lot more iPhones than iPads, but then again, there is less competition in the iPad app arena. It seems people are charging more for iPad apps, so a bigger profit margin.

RH

design219 said:
Until I have an iPad, I'm not going to work on an iPad app.

I knew there was something else I meant to mention!

I should be getting an iPad reasonably soon so that shouldn't but an issue for me. But i agree, I would never publish an App that I couldn't personally test.

BarkBarkCo

I've been considering targeting the iPad just because the market saturation of native apps (8,500) is soo much lower than that of the iPhone (225,000)! This basically means that there is less to compete against.

gyroscope

Envy you guys with stuff nearing or in the App Store! Sincere congrats; I'll get there one day (at least I hope I do). I plan to "cut my teeth" on games for the iPhone first before embarking on more complex stuff for the iPad.

;-)

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Spiral Gyro Games

RH

gyroscope said:
Envy you guys with stuff nearing or in the App Store! Sincere congrats; I'll get there one day (at least I hope I do). I plan to "cut my teeth" on games for the iPhone first before embarking on more complex stuff for the iPad.

I don't think that iPad necessarily means more complex, it does mean that you can do a lot more though. " I'll get there one day (at least I hope I do)" Funny, I had that exact same thought a few months ago, and I'm close(ish) to submitting

barkbark00 said:
I've been considering targeting the iPad just because the market saturation of native apps (8,500) is soo much lower than that of the iPhone (225,000)! This basically means that there is less to compete against.

There are pro's and cons to the size of the iPad market i think. Pro - it's small. Con - it's small.

Kamazar

There's risk with either one.

iPod: Sure, extremely saturated market. Even if your games has a 4-star rating, you may lose visibility within the next couple days, unless of course, Apple features it. However, say you get lucky and your game is a hit (like Blocked, which was actually on the AppStore 9 months before it became popular, or Paper Toss), you have a LOT more users willing to buy your games.

iPad: Less competition, but a smaller market. You may get visibility, but that doesn't mean a lot of bites. And since the device isn't being marketed as a gaming platform, games obviously have less of a chance of survival.

Best you can do is just have fun making the game and knowing someone out there enjoys it.

Koda89

IPad, cause I get a bigger canvas to work with.