Game for a piece of iPhone action

BY CLAIRE MCENTEE

At the height of its success, David Frampton's iPhone helicopter game Chopper was earning him US$4000 a day.

The Wellington software developer is coy about just how much he has earned since Chopper launched in July 2008, but he says the helicopter tilt-game paid for his house outright and is still earning him a good salary two years later.

Mr Frampton belongs to a disparate but definite community of iPhone developers in the capital chancing their luck and cashing in on Apple's revolutionary smartphone.

Commentators have picked that Apple will have sold between 42 million and 48 million iPhones by the end of the year.

Add to that the number of iPod Touch devices sold (Apple does not break out iPod sales but iPod Touch sales are believed to be close to those of the iPhone) and the market for Apple's applications is immense.

Games developer Sidhe, which has developed PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo games for the likes of Warner Bros, now has a seven-strong team working in its dedicated iPhone and iPod Touch applications firm, PikPok.

PikPok portfolio manager Jos Ruffell says that of the six games it has developed for the iPhone, Bird Strike – in which players strive to make Gerald the flightless bird airborne – has been its biggest hit.

"We made it free for three days and in the space of three days we had 1.3 million downloads. We were the No1 free application in the United States store. We even knocked Opera Mini [a popular mobile web browser] off."

PikPok's games – most of which sell for about US99 cents (NZ$1.35), have been downloaded to iPhones and the iPod Touch about two million times, and most recently its Fifa World Cup-timed Flick Kick Football game has been the most popular paid application in the British App Store, he says.

Bird Strike has been featured by OpenFeint – a popular App Store network and forum – and by Apple on the App Store.

"We're now at the point where they [Apple] want to know what we're working on," Mr Ruffell says.

New Zealand and Australian app developers have a reputation for producing great, original games, he says, citing the puzzle game Ancient Frog by Wellington developer James Brown as a good example.

PikPok draws on the technical, creative and marketing resources of Sidhe and it's difficult to say if PikPok would be where it is without that support, but there is no doubt it is hitting the right notes, he says.

"At the moment we're profitable, we're continuing to invest and we expect that the team will potentially expand to 12 to 15 people by the end of the year.

"We just can't put out games fast enough."

The iPhone has been something of a goldmine for many one-man-band developers, such as Mr Frampton, but those days may be waning, Mr Ruffell warns. Major games publishers have woken up to the opportunity the App Store presents and are muscling in.

"As an example [in June] 10 of the top 20 paid apps in the UK store were from billion-dollar publishers. More games are coming from the established publishers and they are treating the platform as something that's quite core to their product line-up and the budgets I'm hearing about are pretty significant. It's getting harder for the smaller guys to stand out."

Self-professed "smaller guys" Tristan Clark and Tim Knauf have released one iPhone title through their firm Launching Pad Games. Zoo Lassoo – in which players trace lassoos on the iPhone's touchscreen to catch errant zoo animals – debuted in November and has been a modest success, says Mr Clark.

The two are now working on a more ambitious, narrative-driven game following the adventures of their hot-headed heroine, Scarlett.

Mr Knauf says the new game will hopefully establish the duo's place in the market as producers of quality iPhone fun.

"We feel, for small guys like us, there's a bit of a time limit in terms of making a name for ourselves before the big guys come in.

There's a strong camaraderie amongst local developers, they say.

"There's a surprising amount of Kiwis doing what we're doing scattered across the country, including a dozen or so in Wellington."

The arrival of the iPad is a major development, as iPhone games can be downloaded to the iPad, and local developers are watching it with interest.

Mr Frampton says the iPad's 9.7-inch touchscreen means more potential for gesture-based apps and on-screen detail, and there has already been a profusion of multiplayer games released since the tablet's launch.

The newest iPhone – the iPhone 4 (which has an improved screen resolution and camera) – also presents new opportunities and he has developed a version of his next game, Chopper 2, for it.

But Kiwi developers are often at a disadvantage when it comes to new gadgets, he says.

"As a New Zealand developer, I find it quite difficult not having access to hardware. With the iPad, I got someone to send one over from the United States but it's still frustrating. With Chopper 2 I'm shipping for the iPhone 4 but I haven't even seen one."

He expects the launch of Apple's iAd – a platform that lets developers incorporate ads in their games – will see more and more ad-supported games made available for cheaper prices or free.

"Apple has said a large sum of money is available for developers and a lot of advertisers have already signed up for iAd, so there's a fair bit of money to be made."

Much is being made of the rise of smartphones running Google's operating system, Android, and the challenge they present to the iPhone, but Mr Knauf and Mr Ruffell say the competition can only be a good thing for mobile game developers.

Mr Ruffell says PikPok will release Bird Strike and its Flick Kick series for Android phones in partnership with OpenFeint.

"It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out, but the competition can only be good for consumers, who, for us, are ultimately our customers as potential gamers."

- © Fairfax NZ News