Which way is up? -or- Time to change game orientation.

sdpardue

The new Apple iPad will be here in 2-3 months, and supposedly will be able to run iPhone games unchanged, or pixel-doubled for a full screen experience.

How does this affect GameSalad? Well, hopefully everything we have already created with GameSalad will just work without any changes. But if someone wants to use the Dock with their iPad to hold it at an angle, I think we're in trouble. As several people have commented before (search the forum for "upside down") GameSalad apps have an orientation where the "top" of the app in landscape mode is along the "left" side of the iPhone/iPod Touch. Normally, this isn't a problem except for being different from the majority of games/apps that use landscape orientation -- it appears "upside down". A few people have created games in portrait orientation by rotating actors 270 degrees.

It appears from the iPad photos that only one of the longer dimensions of the device has a dock port, the side on the left. With the iPad in the dock this way, the GameSalad games will indeed appear upside down, as far as I can tell at this point. (And I think the portrait-oriented games some have made by rotating actors 270 degrees will be upside down, too, if the iPad is in the dock in portrait mode, since the other dock port is on the "bottom".)

I suggest it's time to discuss and address this issue while (1) GameSalad is still in Beta, and (2) the number of games that this would affect is relatively small, as opposed to 3-6 months from now.

This might also require a change to every game that uses the accelerometer, too. (Don't you have to multiply one axis by -1? Haven't used it, so I'm not really sure.)

Unfortunately, those of us who have taken advantage of this Beta program will have some changes to make and updates to submit, but personally I'd rather bite the bullet sooner than later.

Perhaps these changes can be incorporated into any GameSalad updates for the iPad 1024 x 768 screen size.

That's my suggestion, and as I said, the dock port locations are based only on photos of the iPad that have appeared online since yesterday. I could be wrong.

Steve

BeyondtheTech

I'm hoping that there will be an easier implementation that will allow the entire game to be flipped with just an Action or Behavior. But, I completely see where you're coming from, and I would hope that it gets addressed even before they support the iPad's higher resolution.

harrio

what's cookin,

along with portrait games.

noodles...

sdpardue

Agreed, harrio.

It should be easy to specify you're building a game in portrait orientation.

quantumsheep

I understand your concern, Spardue, but having had a think about it, is this really an issue?

After all, the iPad behaves in the same way as an iPhone/Touch doesn't it? Some games allow for screen flipping to orientation. Others (like the GS ones) don't.

They're fixed in orientation.

Right?

QS

sdpardue

Yes, QS. And because GS games _are_ fixed in orientation, we need to ensure they're not fixed upside down when someone is using an iPad in the dock. That's my concern.

quantumsheep

Oh, I understand.
But, if it's in the dock, how do you use the accelerometer functions?

And as I mentioned, I think of the iPad as a big ipod touch. It doesn't matter if I hold an ipod touch in portrait mode - my GS game won't turn.

If you had a landscape game showing in portrait mode, as I think you're suggesting the iPad would do, what happens when you press the x2 icon to enlarge the picture on the iPad?

It fills the screen. In the orientation that it was conceived or told to change to. Look at the NOVA demo from yesterday's announcement. It runs in landscape mode. I highly doubt that it suddenly becomes smaller, with big borders above and below it, if you put it into Portrait mode.

I honestly don't think it'll be a problem, but I guess we won't know till we see iPad games running in the real world.

Or am I missing the point or something?

Cheers,

QS

sdpardue

Right. The accelerometer doesn't come into play, so to speak, when the iPad is docked. ;-) And I could be wrong about all of this.

As you said, we'll know when we see the real thing, in action. I can't wait. This is going to be a great device for gaming.

59 days and counting...

Cheers.

quantumsheep

Ooh! Are you getting one?

I'm saving up for a Macbook Pro, so an iPad would be a little too much of a luxury for me.

Now if only I could convince the world to buy my games....

sdpardue

Going for the cheapest model, just for testing.

Should have one by summer, just before I visit friends in the UK again. 2-4 weeks twice a year for camaraderie, curry, and cornish pasties! If I get down to London, I'll buy you a pint. Usually just hang around Leeds.

Cheers.