Are apps going to get more bloated because of Iphone 5 and iOS 6?

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by Connector, Sep 12, 2012.

  1. I have a questions for developers,

    Since the new iphone 5 is coming out with a different resolution, are game files going to increase because of this? I am talking more about games that already exist, will their updates go up considerably because of adding graphic assets for the new iphone?

    I know when the retina ipad came out, a lot of universal programs went up about double in size. I wonder about how much percentage wise a typical universal app will go up to add the iphone 5 resolution.

    Also, are games going to increase in game size because of iOS 6?

    I sure hope the combo of updating games to iphone 5 and iOS 6 doesn't make my current file sizes much bigger. 64 gb sure isn't what it used to be...
     
  2. dirkle

    dirkle Member

    Sep 4, 2012
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    Yes, new graphical assets will need to be added if they are going to natively support the iPhone 5.

    It would be nice to see some sort of segregation between the graphical resources for the universal apps. That way you can download the same app between devices but only download the appropriate graphics. Especially because some of these games are approaching the 2Gb app store limit.
     
  3. Jason Stark

    Jason Stark Active Member

    Jun 5, 2012
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    Being primarily a 3D developer I can't speak for the 2d guys but it won't affect the size of my apps. The iPad3 retina display is still the highest res you have to account for.

    The new iPhone is just one more reason to make sure your UI / bitmap art scales to various resolutions and aspect ratios. But I think most devs were doing that already.
     
  4. M.O.

    M.O. Well-Known Member

    Apr 10, 2012
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    I am going to the same retina assets layed out slightly different(depending on the app). But One could Use another set of sprites.
     
  5. dirkle

    dirkle Member

    Sep 4, 2012
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    Maybe, I'm off base here but doesn't the change in aspect ratio affect the look of the game? I haven't really worked in 3d but I feel that in 2d games I would want to fill that extra space with something. I don't think I can just accept my application being stretched to fit.

    I've tried not to think about it but I'll most likely redo some of my background graphics to keep the look the same. I'd be surprised if we don't see a lot of games doing the same and getting larger.
     
  6. Devcade

    Devcade Member

    Feb 23, 2012
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    Apple says old apps will run in letterbox mode (using old aspect ratio) centered on screen.

    Question is, how does iPhone 5 know whether to run an app in letterbox mode or not? :confused:
     
  7. Can you shift the position of the letterboxes? Can you play a stretched version of the game? Will some developers allow older iphones to play the widescreen version with letterboxes?
     
  8. Devcade

    Devcade Member

    Feb 23, 2012
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    Nope, I'm sure it's always centered with black bars. I found searching on Google, to turn off letterbox mode,
    you must include a splash image called [email protected] with resolution of 640x1136.

    Don't know anything else about it. Must wait until Sept 19 for iOS 6.0.
     
  9. PodCubed

    PodCubed Active Member

    Apr 2, 2012
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    I don't think you can shift the letterboxes as Devcade mentioned. I have an inkling they might not let you stretch either :( but yeah, have to wait till iOS6 . Ah, 2 more devices to the list hey :p
     
  10. u2elan

    u2elan Well-Known Member

    Nov 8, 2010
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    Portland, OR

    When we designed our (upcoming) 2D game, we anticipated upcoming new devices of various new sizes, such as the retina iPad and iPhone 5. This was nine months ago.

    That said, it was very easy for me to update to support the new resolution. I was able to do it this evening in a couple of hours and didn't need any new assets. It was just a question of positioning of various assets and the camera.

    Naturally, this is going to vary quite a bit from game to game, so I suppose there's your answer.
     
  11. rikschennink

    rikschennink Well-Known Member

    Oct 12, 2011
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    I have the feeling my app will run just fine on the iPhone 5 with or without black bars, no more assets needed just some interface positioning and scaling, but that logic was added for the iPad already.

    I am more concerned about naming. My app is universal universal, for me (and I guess for the consumer) that implies it will run on all devices. Now with the iPhone five universal is no longer universal, there is some sort of universal++ mode where (as I just read some replies above this one) you add a certain splash screen and pooof you're in iPhone 5 screen mode without black bars.. How is this going to impact consumer expectation when buying a universal app?
     
  12. mr.Ugly

    mr.Ugly Well-Known Member

    Dec 1, 2009
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    universal means iphone and ipad optimized.. not the support of different resolutions..

    if your iphone app supported sd and retina on the iphone it was still not "universal" .. the same applies to the widescreen i5.. its just another screen dimension to support on iphone..
     
  13. Devcade

    Devcade Member

    Feb 23, 2012
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    #13 Devcade, Sep 13, 2012
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2012
    An iPhone 5 is still an iPhone. But now, there is iPhone 3.5" and iPhone 4".

    I don't think lacking support for iPhone 4" will remove your Universal status on the AppStore,
    since you already support iPhone 3.5". It's just not 100% perfect now. :)

    In other words, the screen is just another component of the iPhone, just like the camera or gyro.
    The larger screen will not be utilized until your app is updated.

    And whether or not you will see the words "Compatible with iPhone 5" in your AppStore description,
    remains to be seen. I haven't seen any apps with this desciption.
     
  14. You're right, that is very interesting. I suppose since the definition of universal means it runs both on the iphone and ipad, some might interpret either way whether it should support the iphone 5.

    Almost seems like the black bars is kind of like the 2x function, so I could see some iphone 5 users getting mad that a game isn't iphone 5 mode compatible if it reads as universal. It would be interesting if any users would give one star reviews because of it, since it is bound to happen.

    I guess it would be cool I guess to have a universal+ classification especially in the itunes descrition, but it's getting really confusing with all the different versions of retina, hd, and ipads & iphones, that a normal consumer would get confused.

    One could almost say that a universal+ classification should also require a game to be ipad retina, since it basically is the same thing as iphone 5 mode compatibility.

    That's why I hate the stupid name new ipad. It makes it even harder to figure out what apps are compatible with it. Many apps now say ipad compatible, but that doesn't tell you jack about the graphics capability and whether they are ipad retina.

    Just wish Apple would have numbered the iphones and ipads in sequence, then it would be easy for developers to state what devices their games are compatible with, and which graphic screens are supported.
     
  15. MrBlue

    MrBlue Well-Known Member

    Sep 3, 2008
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    iTunesConnect already has a new slot for new screenshots with the new aspect ratio. I'm sure it'll be easy to tell if an app is optimized for iPhone 5 or not when the device ships with the new iOS.
     
  16. Devcade

    Devcade Member

    Feb 23, 2012
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    The iPad Mini is coming too, sometime before December. But, I think the aspect ratio is the same, so there won't be
    any compatibility trickery involved.
     
  17. Zenout

    Zenout Well-Known Member

    There's no need for a "+" on the end of [Universal], it would just add confusion. I created a thread today without said symbol - my game will work on anything GL2...which is everything from 3GS up - What I would like is for more players to desire extra stuff on the more capable devices, as instead of this I have aimed to make my game look equally cool on all devices...which was fun!
     
  18. rikschennink

    rikschennink Well-Known Member

    Oct 12, 2011
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    I'm not concerned about my universal status, more concerned with the customers expectations of it. And..


    ...thats exactly what bothers me, IF an iPad mini is coming will it fall under the Universal umbrella? If so, a lot of devs will need to add support for it asap. If not what does universal mean, it's just an empty term then.
     
  19. Yeah, it will be interesting what universal will mean after the iphone 5 and ipad mini come out.

    Guess at a minimum, they could define it as being able to run in iphone 1 and ipad 1 resolutions. This would mean that iphone 5 mode would not be required for it to be universal. This would also mean that an app wouldn't have to be retina iphone or new ipad retina either.

    Or they could mean universal would be required to support iphone 5 and the ipad mini. This would mean, I think in theory, that games then would run retina on the iphone 5 since it would be full screen with the higher resolution, but it would be weird cause they might not have to support iphone 4 retina.

    And of course this leaves out the new ipad retina totally.

    Or they could mean that universal means iphone 5 support, iphone retina support, ipad mini support, and new ipad support. But I doubt it if they would do this cause some games don't run well in retina. But too bad this wouldn't be the definition of universal. Also, as apps became dated, this would force Apple to declare apps not universal anymore, which would create a nightmare.

    So I guess this really just leaves the minimum definition, runs on native iphone 1 and ipad 1 resolutions and will function properly on all devices.

    Or maybe one of you could come up with a better definition of universal. I really wish Apple would just solve this by having a required spec sheet on every app, that specifies exactly which iphones it will work on, whether it is retina or not, and whether iphone 5 and the mini ipad will be supported.

    That's why they gotta do away with this new ipad name idiocracy, can you imagine an app saying it runs on the ipad, ipad 2, new ipad, newer ipad, most recent ipad or just ipad.

    Figure they won't use a universal+ classification for the new iphone 5, but they gotta do something I hope.
     

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