Over at BoingBoing, Brandon Boyer had a chance to pick the brains of a handful of indie game devs, including Adam Saltsman (Canabalt), Colin Northway (Fantastic Contraption), Kyle Gray (Henry Hatsworth), Steph Thirion (Eliss), Simon Oliver (Rolando), and several others. Their takes on what the iPad means to them as game developers are short but enlightening, and tend to reinforce many initial reactions and observations about the device. For better or for worse, the iPad is essentially just a ginormous iPod Touch, which many devs seem to think is a step in the right direction – the multitouch capabilities have made for a positive gaming user experience, while the additional screen real estate of the iPad will open up new possibilities and help prevent the awkward situation of larger games being forced down onto a smaller screen. While many have panned the device’s lack of a camera for video chat, Phil Fish of Polytron echoed my thought precisely – the lack of a camera washes away any potential for augmented reality overlays in gaming, something that is impressive enough on an iPhone, but would be spectacular on the larger scale iPad. Even if you’re sick of the buzz surrounding the new device, the article is well worth a read to glean some insight on the potential implications of a new platform.
