Thanks for clarifying that. It sounds interesting, and I look forward to seeing some of the new features in the game in action.
Still hope you're able to support iPod Touch 2Gs. I know a couple of games that have had an option to "optimize" performance on older devices by turning off certain effects (with varying rates of success). Or having separate versions, which I know is double the work for you guys as far as maintainance and updates. JCS is still up there as one of my favorites on the iOS. But I understand that every dev would like to push the limits of newer hardware.
By the time this comes out, the iPod touch 5th Gen may be out. If so, I doubt the devs will want to support 3 generation old stuff. Who knows, we'll see.
I don't want to come off as a douche but I do hope the dev pushes the limits of this game rather than making it slightly better looking at the cost of supporting the older devices. Innovation is all about moving forward!
And I completely agree, but there are some games that do have switches to lower graphics so they can run on older devices and still give the highest quality for the newer ones. Just like there's HD versions of the same games so they can get all the retina display, etc., on one version and still allow older gamers the chance to play. I'm not saying this is what should be done. Just would be nice if it could be. Unfortunately, mobile devices are moving much faster than their console counterparts. So while I've only had my 2G for two years, I've had my Xbox 360 for six years and they haven't even announced a new console yet. Not everyone can afford to upgrade every year or two. I'm all for technology advancing and just got to accept that I can't play the Infinity Blades of the world. Just if it is possible, I like when devs can give the best of both worlds. It also gives them a broader customer base.
I'm not sure about the plan for 2nd Gen Hardware. We originally planned to hit them, but things have been delayed a fair bit so it may not make as much sense now. In theory, 2nd Gen should be able to handle the levels we are building, with out the new special fx. Our polygon budget is 3 times higher, but, I a few bottle necks in the OpenGl drivers have been fixed since then so it should be ok. However, it it starts becoming too painful to keep an OpenGL 1.1 and OpenGl 2.0 version both working, we might drop support for older hardware. I think apple keep making it harder for us to compile for older hardware as well. I don't think we will support 2nd Gen if it will cause huge delays in the release.
I rather have the focus be on current gen and use the advantages of retina display than a low quality game for outdated devices. It just makes a lot more sense.
I've got the basics of an in game level editor for JCS2 working on PC now. (The PC build uses the same code as iOS so it should transfer easily once I get around to it) I've had the idea in my head of how to do this for a long time now and was starting to get scared that it wasn't going to work in practice, so I am glad to have finally actually implemented the basics and now know it is going to work well. There is still a lot of work to do, but the basic idea is there. I might have to think about getting a video out to show how it works, but the graphical quality needs a lot of work first. I don't think using the same lighting fx is going to be practical for user built levels, so they might end up having a different style. The level editor is also one thing that might not make it across to old hardware if we where supporting old hardware.
Just been taking a brake over the last week. Before that, I've been doing a few graphical upgrades to may be get ready for a video release. Probably still take a while to get something public. The Cars have dynamic reflection maps on them now, so they reflect the track and sky and look very shinny. Need to do a bit more performance checking on that to see which devices cope with it well.
Actually, I'm just no good at spelling, I often mix break and brake. I doubt you will be seeing a released game before march, but you will definitely see some screen shots / video before then.
Sometimes I'm a bit hesitant to say this single word since I'm not sure I actually mean it, but with this game I'm sure I do: Instabuy. This game looks amazing and I'll buy it 'soon as you release it. Love the first one, can't wait for this one!
