So, a lot of what I’ve been reading on Tumblr/Twitter/everywhere else on the internet seems to be pretty negative concerning Apple’s newest device. I’m honestly surprised by this, if not a little confused, so I figured I would address this from a developer’s (game developer at that) point of view.
First and foremost, I think people are seriously overlooking a subtle yet very important part of the iPad, this part being how the screen is significantly bigger than the iPhone/iPod Touch screen. In terms of game development, this (in my opinion) opens up an entirely new floodgate of innovation and creative opportunity. Sadly, this was not shown in the games displayed in the keynote.
By increasing the screen real estate, Apple essentially added entirely new input methods that absolutely cannot work on the iPhone/iPod Touch. In general “multi-touch” usually consists of merely two fingers on the screen at once. If there were any more fingers on the screen, users wouldn’t even be able to see what they’re doing on the screen. Now that the iPad has a significantly bigger screen, gestures potentially using 5 or so fingers is plausible. Imagine a game like Zelda with a bow that could shoot an arrow at every enemy you touch on the screen, provided you touch them all at the same time. Something like this on the iPhone isn’t realistic for much more than 2 (maybe 3) enemies, but on the iPad you could get some entertaining hand configurations out of something like this, simply because of extra space.
Because more fingers on the screen is possible because of the size, this also means that more people will be able to use the screen at once. Did you ever try to play a game of pong/air hockey app on a single iPhone with two people? If you did, you understand how uncomfortable that kind of gameplay is on such a small screen. On the iPad, however, board games and table games would be much more reasonable and enjoyable, simply because the extra space allows for more comfortable gameplay.
The catch here is that games are going to have to be specifically designed for this bigger screen if they want to be successful. Also, a lot of games that are great on the iPhone and iPod Touch might not work so well on the iPad. Take Eliminate for example. This shooter cuts the screen in half and uses one half for movement and one for camera control. This works well because the iPhone and iPod Touch screen are significantly closer to the edge of the device, and your thumbs can reach each half relatively easily. With the iPad, the border around the screen is much larger, so your thumbs aren’t going to be able to move near as well around the screen while safely holding the device. Other games that seem to rely on holding the iPhone with one hand and using the other for input might have some trouble translating to the iPad as well.
Concerning the people who say they don’t see how they “need” the iPad, I would like to ask this question: do we really “need” any of Apple’s products? If we’re being completely honest, iPhones and iPod Touches are luxury devices, so I’m not really concerned with the whole “I must justify buying this because I see an apparent need” idea.
I mostly talked about the bigger screen, but there are other aspects of the iPad that I think Apple did right. If you feel like I was vague in some way, don’t be afraid to ask me anything!
So what do you think about the iPad?
