Has anyone released an iPhone retina game with success?

chaley

...And if so, is there anything to watch out for? I decided to scrap the iPad idea & decided to go retina iPhone instead for my game & I haven't seen or heard too many people doing that in Gamesalad. Are there any "gotchas" or things to stay away from?

HoneyTribeStudios

Why would you only release on one or the other?

Chakku

@chaley

the only potential problem is that the size of the app will be greater, and can make your total app size above 50 MB, which means the purchaser can only do it over WIFI, and not 3G/4G/4G LTE.

Also, all of your graphics have to be made to support the retina display, which is a bit more work. And people that already have their graphics for Standard display may not think its worth it to remake the graphics for retina. This is why they may not go with the retina graphics for that particular app.

Those are the only things that I see as 'gotchas'.

Hope this helps.

RP

Since iPhones with retina displays have been out for quite some time and since there has been a long history of threads here concerning graphics sized for retina, I would gather that there is probably far more GameSalad games that had retina displays in mind that you have not heard of or are familiar with. Graphics for retina displays do not require more work, just proper scale. Yes, it does make up a bigger app footprint and requires more memory (more taxing on hardware, but GS is not as demanding as other engines), so if your goal is to make it under the Apple 3G downloadable limit, you will need to ensure graphic assets and sound files have been optimized to hit the sweet spot.

Depending on the type/level of game you are shooting for, you may want to take the 3G download limit and toss it out the window. If People want the game, they will download it via WIFI without issue (also consider that there are millions of devices without 3G). If you are making a free non-commercial level app, a large and complex game it should not be ( last line said in a yoda-like voice).

chaley

Why would you only release on one or the other?

I was getting some performance issues at iPad resolution... so I bailed on that.

SlickZero

I agree with @RP Don't worry about keeping the file size under 50mb. If the game is good, they will come. Take a look at all the top showcased games on iPhone right now. Most of them are in the 350mb+ range, and they are topping the charts.

Of course if you can keep the game under 50mb, then by all means do so, but don't sacrifice gameplay for the sake of downloading through 3G.

chaley

Ok... cool, thanks everyone for the responses. My game is going to be pretty graphically intense, so I'm trying to keep things on the rails... but I might scrap retina if things get too squirrely. It's that balance of "more cool stuff" vs. "sharp retina graphics" that I'm going to have to deal with I think. I'd be able to add more backgrounds, actors, etc if I go away from retina, but I really want the graphics to be sharp & pop, so I don't want to sacrifice retina.

The real problem is that I don't know if the performance issues I'm having are coming from the GS engine trying to chew on the retina resolution or if it's something with my scenes that is problematic.