Introduction
iOS devices provide developers with a unique and exciting platform for making games. The iPhone gives gamers a tiny computer in their pocket that they have with them all the time. The iPad provides a similar gameplay experience but with a larger screen, more processing power, and more memory. The devices allow for unique control schemes with their touch-sensitive displays, accelerometer, and even a gyroscope on the latest devices.
According to Scott Forstall at Apple's 2011 World Wide Developer Conference, there are over 200 million iOS devices. This represents a huge audience for games. In the first 14 months after the release of the iPad, Apple sold 25 million devices. Forstall also said that in the App Store's three years, 14 billion apps have been downloaded. Developers have been paid a total of $2.5 billion for their efforts.
According to market research firms NewZoo and Distimo (http://www.distimo.com/blog/2011_05_distimo-and-newzoo%C2%A0partner-on-games-data-over-5-million-ios-games-downloaded-per-day-by-63-million-ios-gamers-in-us-eu/), games are the largest category of applications on the app store. A full half of all downloads of free and paid apps are games. According to the National Gamers Survey in March 2011, there were more than 60 million iOS gamers in the US and Europe.
As you can see, there is a huge financial incentive to write games for the iOS platform. But, there is more to it than that. Writing games is fun! If you like to write interesting ...
