Recently I've been finding myself wondering what sort of limit the iPhone has, in terms of graphics power. My tests went on long into the night...there just didn't seem to be a limit! - though the video recorder couldn't always keep up with all of the action - I know it sounds impossible but witness it before your very eyes in the first Tetroms update (it will happen during the pause screen!) - Though saying that, we're all still waiting for Apple to release the first version. For music in this video I used one of EgorDonuT's tunes from Zenout Studios days. I'm not sure it will be used in the actual app, it's here for this video! The actual game music is entirely different on all levels, and is created by another person- Gavin Harrison. If you want to hear more of Egor's music please keep an eye on http://www.zenoutstudios.com where a Sound Cloud will soon be linked! Hope you enjoy the video...I never did count how many 'bobs' the iPhone could actually handle ;-) [hqyoutube]hgQRf3XDp2w[/hqyoutube] http://www.tetroms.com
What is "the" iphone in question? Also without a fps counter and so slow moving sprites(?) its hard to tell from a video.. But there is a very noticeable performance difference between tetroms on ipad1 and 2..
The demo was filmed on an iPad simulator running at iPad 1 speeds. Since then I have spaced things out...I like your question mark, though the video is not clear I was hoping to perform at least some form of illusion to an educated audience! It was fun to make, and a nice break from the norm. Thanks for looking at our game! Yes, I think it's normal for a 3D game to run around 30-60 fps depending on A4/A5. Each time I get a chance to test on iPad2 I enjoy seeing every game being silky smooth!
well you wrote about unlimited performance.. and 30 to 60 fps is quite a difference of not so much unlimited performance and what ipad simulator are you capturing from? i don't know one who actually matches the performance of a real device.. but i haven't updated yet to the latest xcode version, so not sure if they changed anything there.. as for the game.. well its a dollar.. and honestly i would rather spend time optimizing the controls who feel quite stiff and not very smooth.. and the hole "art" makes the game pretty confusing from an optical pov.. well you could really need an artist.. maybe on the next project you should try to team up with someone.. cheers and good luck with sales
Hehe yes unlimited relative to where it started at (doesn't slow down over time as more 'balls' are added ;-) Simulator is Marmalade SDK, it has an offscreen rendering buffer (to disable) for when I want 60fps. Thanks for the feedback, I've been discussing the controls with a potential publisher for a few days. I've found a good solution to refine them nicely. I think the game take a little while to adjust to, then the scores start to get high. Yes I would like to work with a pro artist, I have an unlimited amount of ideas for the future lol Cheers
Unfortunately this test is pretty much useless because a simulator does not give real performance of what the iDevices can do. For instance the gpu on the real hardware is a tile renderer which is also deferred. The thing about tile renderers when alpha is used is there is a hard limit on how much graphics overlap/layer in the same area of the screen. Each iOS device has this limit but with newer hardware the limit gets better - iPad2 is very good but an iPod 1st gen is crap. But that limit is there...
The clue to where you are coming from is right there in your username it's an old 16 bit demo trick, several buffers, no screen clear and only a few new balls each frame
Real-Time iPad 1 footage: Unlimited 'Fill-Rate'... Filmed this with an iPhone 3GS, it almost shows how smooth things are in real-time. [hqyoutube]BHY9DBFHFeY[/hqyoutube] What is this...Breaking The Magician's Code! hehe Well done GlennX (wooly hat one day mate lol) You win a FX74NXT6RRMY - Indeed, the first time I performed this illusion was well over 2 decades ago on the Amiga. That was the real clue! www.tetroms.com
Thanks for the code I was never into coding demos myself (to busy programming games) but used to watch them on ST and Amiga so had seen that technique a few times.
You're welcome and congrats on your top 10 score ;-) Very wise of you to focus on the games creating. When I was a demo coder there was no Internet, of the 7 people I knew in the 'scene' the original unlimited bobs made me feel like a pioneer!
Thanks. Would you say too trippy, or not trippy enough? Maybe even just right! It's just a party trick where an unlimited amount of sprites appear to animate. I'm exploring the Entertainment genre again I guess...Tonight the update will be submitted which contains a touch-control fix (touch offset from ball's center didn't get considered), and the above demo is in the update too!!
