We gambled on this and failed... The moral is that every device needs testing with the App in development, as simple as that We corrected the problem by using some beta testers with iPhone 4s. I've been told the game looks nice on the new screen but in an ironic way I have not seen this myself because I cannot buy the device.
It's not quite that simple - as a developer without an iPhone 4, I've not updated my game to iPhone 4 resolution yet, as I would need to test it to make sure that the frame rate isn't affected by trying to render many more pixels, etc. There are also loads of other unexpected things that could go wrong. While it is possible to write the code, submit it, and then hope, any developer who does that without testing it on hardware first is crazy!
I think developers who release iPhone 4 updated games without actually testing on Hardware are taking a risk. I'd rather wait for the developers to get the Harware first, then update their games. By all means, they can work on the updates beforehand, but releasing is a whole new issue. Can we expect your current and future titles to support the Retina Display?
Just like to add a comment here in response to the OP. I think for a developer to give a reason not having an iPhone4 as to why he cannot update for OS4 support is flawed. I can understand some devs who are kinda poor and making just enough to live day by day (g.a.c). But one do not have to own an iPhone4 to support for OS4. One just need to update to the SDK 4.0 and have OS4 in his devices for actual testing. That is pretty much enough to make an OS4 compatible app. Only that maybe, the hi res retina graphics is not available. But hey, it looks great too even without that hi res support. Important thing is that it works without error/crash in OS4. Cheers.
I can say from our experience that OS4 makes our game behave differently on iPhone 3g, 3gs and all generations of iPods as well. We can only assume that iPhone 4g will be another beast to slay, as it isn't available in our country yet.
What specific compatibility problems have people run into on the iPhone4, that couldn't have been caught in the simulator? I just got the chance to test the latest (not-yet available) update to CardShark Deluxe on an iPhone4, and was pleasantly surprised that it worked with no surprises (good framerate, retina display, new hi res icons and splash).
Advanced access Wouldn't it be cool if registered developers somehow got access to hardware as soon as it was first released, as opposed to having to wait until it's out in our respective countries? I realize this would probably cause a lot of "fake" developer subscriptions just to get their hands on the latest hardware sooner than their friends, but that's still better than us having to either release updates not tested on real hardware, or sitting here wringing our hands while our competitors can release tested apps for the latest-and-greatest..?
Our problem was the iPhone 4 went down the wrong code path... In the simulator the platform id is the intel 386 and we used iPhone4,1 to identify the iPhone 4 (this id string came from the official forum) and it was wrong. The code path it went down was for the iPod 1st gen hardware - the lowest of low. We fixed this in a matter of hours and the update came out after a week. We got away with it but it could of easily misfired on us. But I do agree there should be a program for developers to get their hands on early hardware - even if we still have to pay for it. The reason why we decided to do this gamble was that there was a good chance Apple would feature Retina Apps - which they have and we got in that list which is now helping sales. But it would of been nice to have early hardware to test this instead of a gamble. We are very surprised that people are saying the game still runs at it's usual high framerate - just goes to show how powerful that device is. One reason why we risked this is that the game runs fantastic on the iPad, which meant the iPhone 4 version would be as fast.
I am a non developer looking at this with business in mind. I feel getting the Retina upgrade for free as a gift from the developer. Nowhere did it say when you buy an app that it will be upgraded to the latest hardware when it comes out. The only thing the developer has to do is fix bugs that are in the program already. I wish you could purchase the upgraded graphics through IAP or I think the developers should do like they did with the iPad and just sell the game again and make it HD or something. So developers that have or thinking about giving us a free update for the Retina display, thank you for the gift. With that in mind, if I like the app when I had the 3g and really wanted to use it on my 4 I would buy it again to use the new features, if not then I would still be happy using the old game. I like to think everything works like computers games buy the latest version or keep hold of your old hardware (think Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, loved it as a kid doesn’t work on windows 7 you bet I am buying the new one. I am not going to say “HEY I got this in 1997 where is my free upgrade in 2011”). As for “multitasking” we didn’t have it for 3 years you can wait a while more for the games to support it most are already made to save when you have a phone call or get a text. Game play is what is most important in a game. The game could look awesome but have no plot then I am not going to buy it. If a new app/game came out tomorrow with the old graphics and played well you bet I am going to buy it. If you are buying games for looks then your missing the whole point of playing a game, to play the game.
I am more bothered about people who buy or get given a 1st / 2nd / 3rd gen iPod Touch, come here and find all the talk about the latest machine and no good lists of the amazing older games that will work perfectly on their machine. Saying "iphone 4 is where it's at so tough' is no answer. Fact is that many devs have good games in the store and many of those games will never be upgraded for a multitude of reasons. So we have owners with capable machines and games for them - but no way to match those up. And that is where the store will fail unless it creates a specific listing for older machines and the chances of that happening are zero. Remember, Apple don't like you, they just want your money. So then we have someone post here saying "Hey, why won't Distant Shore or SET or Jabeh look better on iphone 4?" and someone here will say, "Yeah, lazy devs not giving back" when they know nothing of sales and sales = motivation. Is there a way to solve it? Probably not but the fault lies with Apple more than anyone else.
@markx2: I certainly prefer Apple's updating their iPhone regularly with better specs to having the same iPhone for four generations just because you can't afford one. Just like with PC games, newer games require better hardware specs and will slower on older devices. That's a fact. I'm still using iPhone 3G and most new 3D games are a bit laggy but in no way I'd blame the devs or Apple, that's just silly. If one wants better performance, he must upgrade. It's not rocket science and exactly what I'm gonna do once my contract runs out next month.
I can see that but their development is so fast it will always leave people behind and those at the front will still want their games at full spec for 99p and no cost for upgrades. I just can't see where devs win unless they have a runaway hit. But then I don't know the upgrade process. I was wondering when I would upgrade - 2nd gen Touch - and decided that when Canabalt (which I own) drops to 99c I'll buy whatever the 4th gen Touch is. I am totally confident I'll not be upgrading
