To summarize Jeff's thought, and Iphone port wouldn't work for three reasons.
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2. The Iphone games are coded in a completely different language than the computer games are. I think that the games themselves are a derivative of C#, but the Iphone only runs Java. He'd have to reprogram the entire game. That's probably take him as much time as writing a completely new game, and he wouldn't make anywhere near as much money.
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To summarize:
An Iphone port won't turn enough profit to make money
It would require too much work for too little return
The niche market it would satisfy is already full
The only way I could see this working is if Jeff took a time machine back to when he first wrote A1, and switched it to Java. Then, he received advanced knowledge of the Iphone release and whipped up a port before the phone actually came out. Then, he priced it a $9.99 and released it the first day, sweeping up the entire market before any alternatives could be released. That's really the only scenario where the port could work.
Whilst I agree with much of what you say, point 2 is factually incorrect. The iPhone does not "only run Java"; in fact it does not run Java at all as Apple do not want users to be able to play Java games they find online as that could undermine AppStore sales.
Games and other apps for the iPhone (and iPod touch) are actually written in a C derivative such as Objective-C, C++, or C itself. Therefore far from requiring a great deal of work, porting an existing title to the iPhone may well be relatively quick and easy if it is written in something like C#, with the majority of the work being adapting the UI for the smaller screen and touch-input it would require.
That said, there is an additional downside to porting it to the iPhone worth mentioning: the US$100 annual fee to become a registered iPhone OS developer, which is required in order to release apps on the AppStore. You would therefore have to sell over US$140 worth of copies on the AppStore just to break even as developers receive only 70% of the amount paid by the customer (I believe some small independent developers probably publish through a third-party who take an additional cut in return for the developer themself not having to pay the subscription themself, but that is only really viable for apps expected to make very few sales).
As such, as much I would like to see Avernum etc on the iPhone range (including iPod touch and now iPad as well), I would agree that it probably isn't worthwhile even if it might actually be an almost trivial process.
iPhoneOS Port
in Avernum Trilogy (2000-2002 original versions)
Posted
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2. The Iphone games are coded in a completely different language than the computer games are. I think that the games themselves are a derivative of C#, but the Iphone only runs Java. He'd have to reprogram the entire game. That's probably take him as much time as writing a completely new game, and he wouldn't make anywhere near as much money.
...
To summarize:
An Iphone port won't turn enough profit to make money
It would require too much work for too little return
The niche market it would satisfy is already full
The only way I could see this working is if Jeff took a time machine back to when he first wrote A1, and switched it to Java. Then, he received advanced knowledge of the Iphone release and whipped up a port before the phone actually came out. Then, he priced it a $9.99 and released it the first day, sweeping up the entire market before any alternatives could be released. That's really the only scenario where the port could work.
Whilst I agree with much of what you say, point 2 is factually incorrect. The iPhone does not "only run Java"; in fact it does not run Java at all as Apple do not want users to be able to play Java games they find online as that could undermine AppStore sales.
Games and other apps for the iPhone (and iPod touch) are actually written in a C derivative such as Objective-C, C++, or C itself. Therefore far from requiring a great deal of work, porting an existing title to the iPhone may well be relatively quick and easy if it is written in something like C#, with the majority of the work being adapting the UI for the smaller screen and touch-input it would require.
That said, there is an additional downside to porting it to the iPhone worth mentioning: the US$100 annual fee to become a registered iPhone OS developer, which is required in order to release apps on the AppStore. You would therefore have to sell over US$140 worth of copies on the AppStore just to break even as developers receive only 70% of the amount paid by the customer (I believe some small independent developers probably publish through a third-party who take an additional cut in return for the developer themself not having to pay the subscription themself, but that is only really viable for apps expected to make very few sales).
As such, as much I would like to see Avernum etc on the iPhone range (including iPod touch and now iPad as well), I would agree that it probably isn't worthwhile even if it might actually be an almost trivial process.