iPhone Numbers - 1G vs 3G vs 3GS

AfterBurnett

Hey guys,

Does anyone have any idea about how many units are actually out there? My game doesn't run too well on my 2G iPod Touch and I was wondering if I should make it available only to 3GS and above... if the 3GS, 3G iPod Touches were to outweigh the older ones in sheer numbers, that is.

Like I said, game runs but isn't perfect on older hardware... kinda like an old 8-Bit shoot'em up, slows down with a lot of bullets onscreen... kinda adds to the atmosphere as my game is an 8-Bit inspired shooter. LOL. I have no idea how badly it would run on an original iPhone or Touch though... could be unplayable.

expired_012

Many people are cheap and they still have the old
devices so I don't think you should only make it for 3GS and up. You're sales will go down a lot, and some people might give bad reviews. I had the same problem, the best thing to do is reduce the sizes of your images, and to take out everythring you really don't need. That will decrease the memory usage (RAM) which will give your ge better performance. For your game to be working on all devices you should have a RAM of 12-20MB per scene. Check your RAM levels. You'll probably be extremely surprised, trust me I had the same exact problem. I had a RAM of 56MB per scene and reduced it to 15MB per scene and it was then working on all of the older devices

jstrahan

You could have an option to reduce some things that are happening on screen like less animation and sound
Also make sure all images are png-8 and not png-24 and try lower sound b-rate in my game exp jet the sound files started off bigger than the whole game by alot but reduced them and it cut the total file size in half

quantumsheep

On Bugzone, my second game, I included the option to turn off animations and sounds if people were having trouble running the game on a 1st gen iPod.

I keep meaning to go back and put a save feature in it, but that would mean dealing with 'Pause' :O

All my latest games will be 3GS upwards. I've tried optimising, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I'll certainly try and accommodate older devices but I'm not too worried about it.

Everyone I know who has an iPhone 3G missed out on the 3GS due to 2 year contracts. Those contracts are now up, and they'll all be getting an iPhone 4.

Anecdotal evidence I know, but I imagine there'll be a lot of 3G owners who are now able to upgrade and will do so.

Cheers,

QS

AfterBurnett

Hmm, all good advice. I might put in the ability to play a "lower quality" version of the game, like you suggested, QS. Cheers

Oh, noob question... how do I check the RAM being used?

quantumsheep

When you preview on an iphone/ipod it should be visible on your monitor next to the image of said iphone/ipod.

QS

AfterBurnett

Hmmm... I have no idea how to set the viewer up... I have been using ad-hoc to test...

jstrahan

Took me for ever to get it set up I just followed tshirtbooths video and it worked perfect

jstrahan

Polygame any luck getting my joystick demo to work for you if not I got another one that's a little easier and works like old nintendo controller

AfterBurnett

Yeah man, it works great! I've had a bit of a play and it's pretty much perfect. I haven't put it in the game yet, just tweaked what you sent. I'd be keen to see the Nintendo style one, too, though!

Thanks heaps!

jstrahan

K when I get home I'll send it to u it will be two different ones one for a single image that rotates and one of diff animations for each direction

JamesZeppelin

hundreds, maybe thousands :P