IPhone support

#1 We do not have official support for mobile devices at this time.

#2 What about unofficially? Has anyone done this?

#3 I believe there is a team working with the iPhone and Torque, just like Pronto was working with Torque and the Wii before any official announcement was made (and like the Rocketmen team was working with Torque and the PS3). But I don't know any specifics.

#4 Given that Torque has been ported to the IPhone, is there any plans to port to a j2me code base. We would love to be able to use Torque to develop cellular games. With the aid of torque, it would only take 3 months for a final game.

#5 - Is there a enough incentive to make games for the iphone on a retail scale when considering Mr.Jobs has a final say on all iphone apps ? - one day it is an allowed app, the next day..maybe not ?? is this a myth ?

- So someone could port to iphone upon proper licenses and iphone-app acceptance ?
(how many iphone users globally ? ..enough to profit ? ..total of all licensing costs ?)

...I do not know the full the situation...enlighten me and the others here if you have time plz.

Thx

#6 I think that the license is for if you are going to sell it onto the app store.

I am not sure if you are allowed to sell them on the internet with no license though.

Anyway, most people say the best apps come from the internet, not the app store.

But I don't know much about this.

#7

Quote:- Is there a enough incentive to make games for the iphone on a retail scale when considering Mr.Jobs has a final say on all iphone apps ? - one day it is an allowed app, the next day..maybe not ?? is this a myth ?

Any gatekeeper mechanism adds this consideration. Is there any reason to develop for consoles? Is there any reason to hit up publishers to try to get a box deal? Is there a market for your product in the scale you need it to be to make it worthwhile? For me, the iPhone is not only a great device (as is the iPod Touch), but a very nice emerging market. Small, sure. But the tools are better than most of the mobile market in terms of device compatibility.

Quote:- So someone could port to iphone upon proper licenses and iphone-app acceptance ?
(how many iphone users globally ? ..enough to profit ? ..total of all licensing costs ?)

Yes, portability could be done. As to whether or not there are enough users globally to ensure a profit depends on your app, its quality, and whether there is even a market for it in the first place. But I'd say that you can recoup the $99 for the developer access.

#8 I realize that a few of the questions were lazy and redundant.
Thanks for the lesson in basic reverberation. :D

- Cheers

P.S. Are you going to develop anything for the Iphone David ?

#9 OK, so I've downloaded TGB 1.7.4 after the announcement page and blog post that it "Torque for the iPhone is now available." (http://www.garagegames.com/products/torque/iPhone)

However, I don't see any customizations or export to iPhone, nor any other reference than those two pages to anything iPhone-related in their software.

Did they just make an announcement and not actually release anything? I've emailed licensing@garagegames.com twice and so far have heard nothing back.

I'd like to know what the story is and see whether or not plunking down $100 for their SDK is worth it. I'm a registered iPhone developer and want to see if the Torque engine will live up to the hype on the iPhone.

Does anyone have a clue here on what's up? I'm kinda nervous because I hear both good and bad about Torque and the people behind it, especially when I see forum posts by frustrated developers that are months old without answers or replies.

#10 I looks to me like Torque for the iPhone is its own SDK. TGB 1.7.4 was released prior to this announcement and does not support iPhone, you want the iPhone SDK, which according to that release page you need to contact licensing at GG about. So hopefully they contact you soon.

#11 @Raphael Salgado
James is spot-on. The Torque iPhone SDK is a separate product from TGE or TGB much in the same way our Wii and XBox 360 licenses are handled. You do not get the iPhone SDK with a purchase of TGB, so if you are looking primarily to target the iPhone, I would definitely hold off on that purchase since you will not get what you want.

We've gotten a *TON* of e-mails about this, so don't think we're just ignoring the requests. We're just trying to attend to the massive amount of people who are interested in knowing more.

#12 Did anyone get anything yet regarding the Torque iPhone SDK? I have yet to receive an email from the licensing@garagegames.com or see something more tangible on their website or forums. Seems a bit quiet since the announcement still...

#13 I am sure they will get to you in time Raphael.


I would like to suggest to the GG email master that you guys sort your mails better by utilizing specific names: (hold on, the reason why is later in the post)
iphone_licensing@garagegames.com
or
wii_licensing@garagegames.com
etc. etc.

This would allow for easy sorting and blanket replies when you are overloaded with requests.
Keeping the client interested with the feeling of appreciation from a simple a blanket or auto-generated reply would mean more cash in the end bros!

Oil them cash cogs because we want to know before we lose interest !

#14 David, if like you say you have *TON* of e-mails, why don't you guys post more information on your website about it?

a- When is it coming out?
b- How much?
c- What you get with it exactly?

Cheers..

#15 Because I'm not sure if a and b are decided quite yet, so it makes sense to evaluate on a case-by-case basis until a firm view of the support dimensions and demand are available.

#16 Can anyone give us an estimate as to when these points will be determined? As in will it be days, weeks, months etc.

#17 No offense to anyone, but for GG to come out with a mass press release or announcement to news sites and bloggers that the "Torque SDK for the iPhone" is "now available," then not provide any further details or actual downloads more than two weeks later is a little misleading. "Coming soon" would have been more acceptable and accurate, but perhaps the spotlight and/or tremendous response they're now receiving was just what they were looking for.

#18 Completely agree with Raphael!, to me it not only seems unprofessional its also false marketing. We all would like to hear from GG, why are you guys taking sooo long? Is it or is it not avalaible now? At least respond to peoples emails regarding iphone..

#19 @Raphael: I think I've responded to individually and hundreds more in the past two weeks. We're handling iPhone inquiries this way because we haven't decided a licensing model fully. Rather than announce "Torque for the iPhone" is available to license at $X and Y% royalty right now, we wanted to get to a point where we really understood who the audience would be for this product.

@Jay Dude: I don't know who you are and your GG profile doesn't list an email so I can't check if I've received one from you, but if you did send one and haven't heard from me, I'm sure you will be shortly.

The original idea was to charge console-like prices for it because the development has cost a similar amount, but now we're doing our best to find a model that works for Indies because that's been the core of the response. To be fair, Indies also require a more polished product that commercial, professional developers do so while the product is available and some select developers are working with it, we're not satisfied it's ready for primetime with Indies. You'll have to trust our judgment. We expect to roll the SDK out to more and more developers week by week, but we're not going to just open it up to everyone in the state of polish it's currently in and then be inundated by negative feedback or requests for support from people who aren't used to working with commercial grade engine tech or platform ports. As I've said in my emails to people who've inquired, please be patient and we'll be in touch shortly.

#20 Thanks for the response Brett, thats exactly what I wanted to hear. I consider myself an indie developer so I assume this means that I will not be getting the SDK any time soon? Good to know that you guys are working on getting it to us indies out there.