There are numerous threads about favorite apps anywhere. What I'm wondering, what is your favorite developer? And why? Developers I like (random order): • Illusion Labs - they make great games for iPhone and iPod touch plus they are very friendly. If I need to show of my iPhone, I launch Labyrinth, people are always impressed. • Backflip Studios - it all began with their awesome Paper Toss game, it's still awesome to throw paper at a trash can once in a while. Ragdoll Blaster and Harbor Havoc 3D are great too! Do I need to say more? • Gameloft - nothing to say. Well, can't wait to play NOVA. • Smule - play musical instruments ON YOUR PHONE! Wow! • True Axis - new to the scene, but kicking ass with the amazing Jet Car Stunts! • The Iconfactory - if you don't know these guys, search for them NOW! Awesome guys who make lovely and amazingly designed games. • Bolt Creative - probably everyone with an iPhone or iPod touch knows these guys. I will never remove Pocket God from my iPhone. Developers I dislike (random order): • ngmoco - I liked them at first, but they are only out for your $. Really, ads in paid apps and stuff, come on. I'm disappointed. • Electronic Arts - great games (if you have a third generation iPhone or iPod touch), but slowly when it comes to updating them, also, no support.
I like: Illusion Labs for the innovation they bring to the iPhone gaming market, and the fact they communicate with the gamers and listen to our ideas. The Iconfactory, much for the same reason you listed, awesome artwork, Ramp Champ in particular is stunning to look at. ttursas, for making a bunch of my favourite games on the iPhone (iDrop Dead, Perfect Balance). Mountain Sheep, for all the insight they've given us in regards to the game development process, Timo constantly makes interesting posts and will happily show us a load of awesome concept art... even if you don't like Minigore it's interesting to see this stuff. Justin Smith, for pwning your faces with Enviro-Bear. All the smaller dev teams who hang around the forum and really contribute to the community as a whole, I spend way too long in the Developer Discussion forum simply because it's fascinating. Not too keen on: Gameloft, for making games I've played before, not using the iPhone's real strengths other than a bit of jagged poly-pushing. Bolt Creative, for making a ton of money out of a generic flash game... that barely even counts as a game. Now Tamagotchis... they were cool. Plus their in-app purchases are designed soley to steal kids' pocket money.
Tiger Mobile-For giving us spider. Pretty deep for an iphone game...truly a work of art. Illusion Labs- For believing in their products, and not catering to the every whim of the self entitled masses. Their games are worth what they charge. MadFinger- The artwork on their titles is nothing short of outstanding. In Samurai, various aspects of the sword fighting gameplay are ridiculously accurate to life. Bloody Xmas just makes me piss my pants laughing. Activision-treyarch-ideaworks- For bring COD zombies, which continues to awe me everytime I play it. Perfect execution of their first Iphone offering. ID software- Being rather skeptical at first, I am now a firm believer in ID, and their commitment to the community. Doom rocked my socks. A near perfect port of the original. I'm Anxiously awaiting doom 2, and final doom levels. JoshCM- While I found Ravensword to be rather limited, it astounds me that it is the effort of such a small dev team. While Ravensword in it's current form is nowhere near my favorite game, it is a game I'm terribly intrigued by. I'm very excited to see what josh, and Russ come up with next for the ravensword universe. Hopefully a deeper experience, yet retaining the emphasis on exploration. I have many other devs that I would like to put up here, but I haven't seen them on the scene recently and with one game to their credit, can't justify the decision.
Gamevil ~ producing one of the best RPGs Zenonia Com2US ~ producing one of the best RPGs Inotia 2, and musical rhythm game World of Tunes MikaMobile ~ very good side-scrolling action game OMG Pirates SquareEnix ~ Song Summoner and Hills & Rivers Remain And whichever developer who developed Beatrider, the best musical game.
Gameloft - Because they make great games with great graphics for the iphone/ipod touch. Josh and Russ (developers of Ravensword) - they made such a great game and they hear people suggestions and they both are nice guys.
My favorite developers are the dudes who made that random number generating tip calculator with boobs or whatever it was. What a perfect characterture of what a vast portion of the App Store has become.
I'm almost ashamed that I know exactly which app you're talking about: http://appshopper.com/games/boobs-random-numbers
-Polarbit (Raging Thunder, Wave Blazer, CBNK3D, Krazy Karts) -Gameloft (Shrek Kart, TV Show King, UNO, Blades of Fury, Asphalt 4, Asphalt 5, Ferrari GT, HoS, Let's Golf, Terminator, Midnight Bowling, NFL 2010, Real Soccer 2009, Real Tennis 2009, RoLE, Siberian Strike) -EA (Monopoly Here and Now, NFSU, Spore Origins, Sims 3, Simcity, Tetris, Zombies & Me, Yahtzee) -Igloo Games (Dizzy Bee/Dizzy Bee 2) -Glu (Space Monkey) -Ezone (Scarecrow, Crazy Pumpkin) -THQ (de Blob) -Taito (Cooking Mama) -SEGA (SMB/SMB2) -Pangea (Cro-Mag Rally) -Konami (MGST) -Freeverse (Moto Chaser, Plank) -Sandlot Games (Snail Mail) -Illusion Labs (Sway) -Vivendi (VV1)
... ? Ok... Favorite devs, hmmm. ngmoco is still one of my favorite devs. Even though they released a crappy FPS with a messed up monetary system, they still made great, original games before. Not gonna get on their case just because of this dude. Illusion Labs actually turns their games into an artform. They used the iPhone's strength in all their games. The devs of Bounce On. While not particularly a fan of the game, they were kind enough to give me a code when there was only one world in the game, and since then, they've put in a ridiculous, obscene, outrageous amount of effort into that game. TrueAxis, TheBioReplicant, dev of Minisquadron, MountainSheep, and countless others I've shamelessly forgotten deserve mentions too, but I honestly don't feel like typing anymore since I currently have a headache from sleeping head-down on a desk for 3 hours.
Thanks It's been about a year of our lives My fav devs: - Team Phobic(haha) - Backflip Studios (They are in Boulder too so we've met them a lot) - IUGO - Bolt Creative Any other devs who put their heart into their games
Like: Gameloft Rocketcat Games Touch Foo TrueAxis QuantumSquid Interactive (if that WoW-type game is any good) IUGO 2n Productions
Uh.. Gameloft EA ngmoco (kind of) (more handcircus) Team Phobic Godzilab Gimka Com2uS NOT GAMEVIL (they never let me beta test their games ) Bolt Creative Mountain Sheep Chillingo (even though they're a publisher) Illusion Labs Freeverse Lima Sky Tapulous Imangi Studios Critical Thought LLC. IUGO You catch my drift.