i-pad

[micky4fun]

Hi All

Well thought ile give my thought on the i-pad i was lucky enough to get friday ,

I know many people call it a ipod touch with a bigger screen , and yes they are proberly right , just the ipad has a higher res gfx and more power ,
the screen is very nice indeed and the use of touch screen is very nice indeed , not perfect but nearly there ,
ive been using it for the net , games and films , does a very good job on all 3

been playing a great game called plants vs zombies , if you aint got this game yet , its a must buy , just such a great game
playing around with the ipad has tought me a lot , kinda games i sould be thinking a bout doing myself as im thinking the touchscreen is the way to go
so im going to get with it over the next few weeks and see what i can muster up with PlayBasic
so all my other semi open projects have been scrapped as they just cut the ice , i need to step up a level.


all the best to all
mick

[kevin]

Yeah, it looks alight, but haven't actually seen one in the flesh as yet. 

  I'm actually fairly fond these types of hands on, high mobility systems though. 

[micky4fun]

hi all

I'm actually fairly fond these types of hands on, high mobility systems though.

yes im looking forward to a windows version that will be as responsive as the ipad touchscreen
so i can tinker around with PlayBasic on it ,

i know the ipad will sell shen loads more units than a windows version which is a shame as i cant do
anything on the ipad , the apple app for programming is way over my head.

but with a windows touchpad and PlayBasic i think some people with some imagination and programming skills could easly come up with the goods .

mick :)

[kevin]

yes im looking forward to a windows version that will be as responsive as the ipad touchscreen
so i can tinker around with PlayBasic on it

   yeah as long they use chips that are based upon the X86 instruction set and have fall back DirectX support, then it should work just the same for the most port.   As long as the hardware is compatible, then it's just more a matter of tweaking the software on top of that.   

i know the ipad will sell shen loads more units than a windows version which is a shame as i cant do
anything on the ipad , the apple app for programming is way over my head.

   The last time i looked (which was a while ago) Apple were pushing Objective C, but C/C++ are also supported. Sadly all of these are at a lower level than BASIC.  There are some cross compiler solutions available for Iphone (and i'm just assuming IPad also).     But with the recent licensing changes, which  appear to outlaw the use of anything other the C / C++ / ObjC,  I'm not too sure on they'll get on.  However, it does mean we couldn't build a version of the PB runtime for Iphone..    But anyway..

but with a windows touchpad and PlayBasic i think some people with some imagination and programming skills could easly come up with the goods.

    hopefully..

[BlinkOk]

http://unity3d.com/ can generate ipad apps and apple seem to be letting unity apps into their store.
asus have announced a windows touch pad;
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/05/asus-eee-pad-is-a-windows-7-running-tablet/

[kevin]

 Yes, i'm aware of this.   Unity get around the license by using code builder sitting in front of Xcode.  Which should still be legal. 

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/04/08/apples_iphone_4_sdk_license_bans_flash_java_mono_apps.html

[kevin]

Apple is back on my Xmas list.
http://www.148apps.com/news/apple-publish-app-store-guidelines-thirdparty-dev-tools/

[BlinkOk]

hey mick i have been playing plants vs zombies and i have to agree it's the MOST well balanced game i think i've ever played.
i found i was actually disappointed to finish levels. i just wanted them to go on forever
if your interested i'd been real keen to do a collab on a similar style game. programming wise i don't think it would be too hard.
i reckon most of the work would be in balancing the game play, timing and designing the attaching and defending characters

[micky4fun]

Hi All

Apple is back on my Xmas list

well dont know about the programming bit , wish playbasic availible for it and just a click on deploy and i had a app running on it
its a very reponsive tablet thats for sure..

hey mick i have been playing plants vs zombies and i have to agree it's the MOST well balanced game i think i've ever played

yep i was very impressed by this game , ive played it on the p.c and found it very good , but was even better on the ipad as its just feels so right on the ipad

if your interested i'd been real keen to do a collab on a similar style game. programming wise i don't think it would be too hard.

well im always up for a game making challenge , but my abilities are not that great , but as you say the game mecanics seem to be straight forward , just wish you youself did some programming with playbasic and could jump in if im stuck
the only thing i would say is though is it may take a little longer to complete my end , due to overtime at work at the moment
wondering what kinda theme you was thinging about?

but i would give it my spare time

mick ;D

[kevin]

well dont know about the programming bit , wish playbasic availible for it and just a click on deploy and i had a app running on it
its a very reponsive tablet thats for sure..

  Finally got to tinker with an Ipad last week,  pretty fun.    Anyway such announcements open the door for such possibilities.   Personally i'll a little more interested in the Android based platforms.

[BlinkOk]

what kinda theme you was thinging about?

pretty much the exact same mechanic only with different characters. i'll put something together for you over the next few weeks.

[micky4fun]

Hi All

Personally i'll a little more interested in the Android based platforms

well i see these devices are getting really really popular now , otherhalf as an android phone and its quite impressive
think ile end up getting an android tablet soon myself very soon as long as i get one that runs the market place apps.

slightly off topic or maybe not , i know these devices do 3d games etc , but with most if not all 3d games if they are not done by a
proper delovoper they are usally pretty poor , so these platforms are ideal for novices to do some good 2d games etc
games that maybe go back to the nintendo famicom and the sega megadrive , where the 2d games were in there hayday

wondering is PB going to have a button so you can deploy your program so it runs on android ?

Hi BlinkOk

i'll put something together for you over the next few weeks.

ile look forward to that , in the mean time ile play the game as much as i can to get the real feel of it

mick ;D

mick :)

[kevin]

well i see these devices are getting really really popular now , otherhalf as an android phone and its quite impressive
think ile end up getting an android tablet soon myself very soon as long as i get one that runs the market place apps.

 Cool.. My nephew's just picked up a Android based phone.  Looked pretty good to me, but i'm really not much of phone person.    I can't imagine myself buying a tablet at this point, but the idea is simmering.

slightly off topic or maybe not , i know these devices do 3d games etc , but with most if not all 3d games if they are not done by a
proper delovoper they are usally pretty poor , so these platforms are ideal for novices to do some good 2d games etc
games that maybe go back to the nintendo famicom and the sega megadrive , where the 2d games were in there hayday

 Yeah, i haven't seen anything too interesting on them as yet.  Certainly nothing that would make me buy one.   While these things are getting stronger in terms of performance/memory, we've got to be careful to keep an eye on the scope of these type of projects.  Knocking up a flashy /randomize shooter is a lot easier than they're making something like this for example.  Not because that's super complicated game, rather the bigger the scope/media requirements of the project the more challenging it becomes to create something interesting in the end.    It's  lot easier to slap together another Asteroids clone than the next Lord of the Rings.

 You're right though, these devices create a market where that the home developer can take an idea from concept to code and into the marketplace.  

wondering is PB going to have a button so you can deploy your program so it runs on android ?

  It'd take a little more than a button I'm afraid..   But you can dream... ;) 
 

[BlinkOk]

while it's not a game it certainly promises a lot;
http://toucharcade.com/2010/09/01/unreal-engine-3-tech-demo-epic-citadel-available-for-free/

[Devain]

It promises that you can render prebaked lighting. Nothing more. It's yet another case of Epic using skilled artists to represent their engine. What IS a big deal is that it's rumored that they'll support Iphone/Ipad development even in the UDK. And that's just plain awesome, if it happens.

I was a lot more impressed with id's outing, though. They are working on a new kind of technology, entirely, and managed to pull it off on these small devices. Then again -- nothing stops them from using prebaked lighting, too. ;)