Pandora Sponsoring Pandoras To Best Iphone Games Developers


leon

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Originally posted on the Pandora's (Substitute) Forums:
http://forum.openpandora.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=811


Hi.

I've searched the forums already and couldn't find something like this, so I thought it would be a good time now to sign up and talk about it.

I follow the development of Pandora closely on the official website, unofficial blog and on ordinary gadget news outlets ( Gizmodo, Engadget etc ).

Every now and then you see people talk about the potential of the Pandora hardware, but saying that it has little chance to really take off and fly because of lacking software... Because it wouldn't atract many commercial ( and therefore quality ) games to it and stuff like that.

Recently something just stroke on my mind.

The iPhone is nowadays where all games, especially mobile games, innovation is coming from, due to its low barrier-to-entry development. And although I don't own an iPhone, I know it has a lot of great innovative games.

So I got to think a little.. I reckon people talking about providing dev boards to some developers a while ago...
That being said, why don't we sponsor some Pandoras to the iPhone best games' developers?

I for one would greatly donate some bucks to that end and, to be honest, I truly think there are a lot of other people willing to do just that.

Maybe we can take advantage on all this massive influx of games Apple managed to pull off this way.


I'm eager to hear from you guys now!
 
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It's definitely something to think about.
If it's possible, they should make sure there's an SDK installed on the developer ones or at least super-easy to get from the website before we do that.
 
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once the pandora is more well known, there will be more game developers. that's an interesting idea though. However, one problem is that the iPhone has multi-touch, while the pandora has a resistive screen. the pandora also doesn't have an accelerometer.

[off topic] lulzfish, do you just hang around the forums pressing f5 all day?
 
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'Xian Long' said:
once the pandora is more well known, there will be more game developers. that's an interesting idea though. However, one problem is that the iPhone has multi-touch, while the pandora has a resistive screen. the pandora also doesn't have an accelerometer.

[off topic] lulzfish, do you just hang around the forums pressing f5 all day?
Good point, the accelerometer is a necessary part of many of the more stupid iPhone applications.

[off topic] No, sometimes I go to YouTube in between visiting the forum.
 
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'lulzfish' said:
'Xian Long' said:
once the pandora is more well known, there will be more game developers. that's an interesting idea though. However, one problem is that the iPhone has multi-touch, while the pandora has a resistive screen. the pandora also doesn't have an accelerometer.

[off topic] lulzfish, do you just hang around the forums pressing f5 all day?
Good point, the accelerometer is a necessary part of many of the more stupid iPhone applications.

[off topic] No, sometimes I go to YouTube in between visiting the forum.


and is your avatar from that youtube poop?
 
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'Xian Long' said:
once the pandora is more well known, there will be more game developers. that''s an interesting idea though. However, one problem is that the iPhone has multi-touch, while the pandora has a resistive screen. the pandora also doesn''t have an accelerometer.

[off topic] lulzfish, do you just hang around the forums pressing f5 all day?
Indeed... There couldn\'t be straight ports, but developers would have to refine controls and the interface and the chosen ones to be sponsored will/would probably have the talent to do it.
 
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'lulzfish' said:
Yeah, it's a retouching of a screenshot of one of the games that gets Pooped often.
yet nintendo has tried so hard to erase any memories of the cd-i :D


'Leon Nardella' said:
''Xian Long'' said:
once the pandora is more well known, there will be more game developers. that''''s an interesting idea though. However, one problem is that the iPhone has multi-touch, while the pandora has a resistive screen. the pandora also doesn''''t have an accelerometer.

[off topic] lulzfish, do you just hang around the forums pressing f5 all day?
Indeed... There couldn\'t be straight ports, but developers would have to refine controls and the interface and the chosen ones to be sponsored will/would probably have the talent to do it.


It'd be much better if they just used the pandora's gaming controls... but then it wouldn't exactly be a port anymore. the pandora isn't specifically designed to be mainly used by the touch screen.
 
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And what really matters is developers working on Pandora.
I concede most would start by just porting their games over to the Pandora, but down the road they could target the Pandora more specifically and as primary platform.
 
QUOTE
Every now and then you see people talk about the potential of the Pandora hardware, but saying that it has little chance to really take off and fly because of lacking software... Because it wouldn't atract many commercial ( and therefore quality ) games to it and stuff like that.

COMMERCIAL = QUALITY
EVERYTHING NOT COMMERCIAL = SHIT
HAHAHA IM PLAYING BIG RIGS WHILE MY COPY OF CAVE STORY SITS IN THE TRASH

whatever. more developers cant be a bad thing either way.
 
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You mentioned that Gizmodo is one of the sites you've been following. If their comment about Pandora's supposed lack of developers has stuck in your mind, perish the thought, because they're full of shit. :)

Having said that, the more we attract the better. I think getting hardware into developers' hands is something Craig & co plan to do. But as far as leading iPhone devs go, you have to ask why they're working with that platform. If their primary motivation is (i) the iPhone hardware, or (ii) the potential to tap into a huge market, then a free Pandora probably won't be enough incentive.
 
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Most of the games on the iPhone that use tilt or multitouch would work just as well (or better) with standard controls. The iPhone needs those gimmicks to make up for its lack of proper buttons. The Pandora has proper controls, so it doesn't need the gimmicks.

The dev boards we're using now are hand-built and far too expensive to send to anybody besides the devs that are working on the vital low-level stuff. However, once production kicks off we'll be sending out quite a few units to game and app developers. If you know anybody (iPhone dev or otherwise) who is interested in bringing something worthwhile to the Pandora, have them email me and I'll put them on the list for consideration.

I'm not making any promises. We're definitely not sending free Pandoras to just anybody who can write a breakout clone. But anybody who has something interesting to bring to the platform will certainly be considered.
 
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'Chip' said:
Most of the games on the iPhone that use tilt or multitouch would work just as well (or better) with standard controls. The iPhone needs those gimmicks to make up for its lack of proper buttons. The Pandora has proper controls, so it doesn't need the gimmicks.
True, but such nice little "ball through a labyrinth"-games scream for TILT controling. ;) Of course I also want to see such games onto the Pandora with Pandora Controls. I'm a big fan of "OXYD!" (ENIGMA) and the analog nubs really could help to play this at least better than onto my GP2XF100

'Chip' said:
I'm not making any promises. We're definitely not sending free Pandoras to just anybody who can write a breakout clone. But anybody who has something interesting to bring to the platform will certainly be considered.
I still would give John Carmack a Pandora! ;) I wonder what he could do with it if he is in the right mood. \^_\^
 
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The idea is great and it's true that many of the independent handheld game developers have moved from the PDAs to the iPhone. We should choose developers carefully, of course, so as to not waste money. Games we simply need on the Pandora are Bike or Die by Szymon Ulatowski (Hell, I'd probably buy that guy a Pandora personally if a port depended on it.) and The Quest by Redshift (Classic epic RPG). Of course, non-iPhone devs should be considered, too. For example I'd send Jamie Woodhouse a Pandora to port Qwak.
 
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