FingerGaming

As part the latest feature at FingerGaming sister site Gamasutra, Game Strategies: iPad Vs. iPhone, Angela Peters, community manager at Firemint (Flight Control) says that the company’s development and pricing tactics preclude ‘universal builds’, which allow gamers to buy one app and get access to both iPad and iPhone versions of the title.

The 11-year-old Australian mobile-game studio is adamant about not creating universal games “because the considerations, capabilities, and markets for iPhone and iPad are quite different,” says community manager Alexandra Peters.

“Given our approach of tailoring adaptations of our games to suit the specific hardware, it makes more sense to launch separate apps for separate platforms and to set pricing separately,” she adds. “We don’t think that releasing identical games on both platforms is an effective strategy.”

Firemint’s current policy is to develop new games first for the iPhone — which the studio considers its lead platform — and then, if they do well, consider launching enhanced adaptations that are optimized for other platforms — with enhanced price tags.

Peters cites as an example Firemint’s latest release — Real Racing HD for iPad — which started with Real Racing for the iPhone. The studio overhauled the graphics throughout, adding more detail and higher-resolution textures, and also included the ability to add any photo from the player’s library as a custom skin to the cars.

The company released newer, more expensive and feature-rich versions of its popular Real Racing and Flight Control games for the iPad — Real Racing HD costs $9.99, compared to the iPhone version’s $4.99, but features updated graphics, control, and other upgrades. “We think the HD version is worth it,” says Peters.

A lot of thought went into re-imagining the game, says Peters, which is exactly the process Firemint intends to pursue if creating an HD version is justified. “If a title does well — and if it makes sense to adapt that IP to other platforms that are a good fit,” she adds, “that is certainly something we are keen to do.”

However, there are differing opinions on this strategy. Notably, Semi Secret Games’ Adam Saltsman (Canabalt) and IUGO’s Sarah Thomson (Implode! XL) talk about their attitudes to developing universal versions of iPhone/iPad titles in the full feature, Game Strategies: iPad Vs. iPhone, live today on Gamasutra.

Tags: firemint, Interviews, iPad, iPhone

If you’ve preordered the iPhone 4, you might soon find a pleasant surprise at your doorstep. Apple has authorized its shipping services to deliver preordered iPhone 4 devices earlier than expected, with many arriving in advance of its scheduled Thursday release.

Coinciding with the device’s early launch, App Store developer Firemint has released iPhone 4-optimized versions of Real Racing and Flight Control.

Version 1.22 of Real Racing includes support for the iPhone 4′s three-axis gyroscope, in addition to existing accelerometer mechanics. Firemint promises smoother graphics on the iPhone 4 thanks to iOS 4 anti-aliasing, higher-resolution textures, and an improved framerate.

Flight Control has been updated with high-resolution graphics suited for the iPhone 4′s Retina display. The new version also includes a selection of minor performance upgrades and a reworked fast-forwarding system.

Tags: firemint, flight control, iphone 4, real racing

Apple has announced the winning titles in 2010′s Apple Design Awards, a yearly competition honoring software that demonstrates “technical excellence, innovation, superior technology adoption, high performance, and outstanding design.”

This year’s contest focused solely on iOS applications, and marked the debut of an iPad app category.

Award winners in this year’s competition include Gameprom’s iPad pinball sim Pinball HD and Lima Sky’s accelerometer-controlled iPhone action title Doodle Jump, both of which are regularly featured among the App Store’s top-selling applications.

Firemint took home two awards in this year’s contest, earning the distinction of being the first developer to create two Apple Design Award-winning apps in one year. The company received honors for its iPhone racing simulation game Real Racing and an iPad-optimized port of its multi-million selling air traffic management title Flight Control.

Other award winners in the 2010 Apple Design Awards’ iPad category include Agile Partners’ music notation viewer Tab Toolkit, Vito Technology’s Star Walk: Interactive Astronomy Guide, and the newspaper reading utility Financial Times iPad Edition.

The iPhone category also honored Zolmo’s cookbook app 20 Minute Meals – Jamie Oliver, Sophiestication’s Wikipedia browser Articles, and Steve Sprang’s freehand painting tool Brushes.

Tags: apple design awards, firemint, gameprom, Industry News, lima sky

After establishing itself as one of the most successful independent iPhone game developers, Firemint gained a strong early foothold on the young iPad platform with HD versions of its major iPhone hits Flight Control and Real Racing.

Those games have been regular presences in the iPad best-sellers charts since their launch, cementing the Melbourne, Australia-based studio as one of the premiere developers on Apple’s App Store.

Notably, touch-based plane landing casual title Flight Control on the iPhone had sold 2 million copies as of January 2010, and a DSiWare version recently debuted, in addition to the iPad version’s success.

Much more complex 3D motion/touch-based racing title Real Racing has also seen major success at higher price points than Flight Control, both on the iPhone/iPod Touch and more recently on the iPad.

Gamasutra caught up with Firemint community manager Alexandra Peters to discuss the company’s quick rise to success, its current development and marketing strategies, and the deceptive simplicity of casual game design.

Prior to your iPhone success, you had a history of working heavily with publishers like EA. Is that in the past for you, now that you have a direct channel to your customers?

Alexandra Peters: We haven’t stopped entirely. We’re still doing a bit of publisher work. We’re not going out and looking for it anymore, so this is the first year you see [at developer shows] where we haven’t had anyone meeting with publishers trying to sign up new work. We’re being asked to do more work than we’re really wanting to do.

I would say we’ve gone from 20 percent doing our own stuff to the other way around. We’re doing 80 percent our own and 20 percent on a few publisher projects. We’ve been able to be more selective about the publisher projects that we do, so if something really interesting comes along that we’re keen to work on, that’s a win-win for everybody.

I’ve heard you have a strategy of developing at least one full-scale game and one smaller, cheaper game simultaneously, so you have acccess to different avenues. Is that an ongoing strategy?

AP: I’m not sure I would call it a strategy. It’s more about wanting to make good games. When we have an idea for a game that we think is going to work really well, we’ll make that game.

There’s nothing to say that we wouldn’t do two casual games at the same time or three hardcore high-end 3D games at the same time. This is why we go for great big long stretches of time not really having much to talk about in terms of what’s coming up.

Having said that, we’ve seen the advantages of what that strategy will do for you. You don’t get pigeonholed for one thing. People know that, yes, we did Flight Control, but we also did Real Racing. Similarly, you’re talking about different audiences and different ways of marketing these games, so it’s always good to have a mix, so you can be quite diversified.

It’s always better to have a few irons in the fire rather than all your eggs in one basket.

As long as you don’t get your eggs in the fire.

AP: Scrambled eggs!

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: firemint, flight control, interview, real racing

Firemint’s multi-million-selling air traffic control simulator Flight Control has been updated to version 1.7, introducing a new playable map and a host of improvements.

The new “Windy” airfield challenges players to land planes safely in changing wind conditions. A windsock at the center of the play screen indicates shifts in wind direction — runways facing the wind will be closed to incoming planes, requiring players to redirect flight paths accordingly.

Version 1.7 of Flight Control also features brighter, richer graphics. Shadows and path indicators are visibly improved, and the maps now feature greater detail.

The update additionally includes a “safe” fast forward mode originally featured in Flight Control HD for the iPad, along with a longer version of the Flight Control theme song.

Tags: firemint, flight control, simulation, Updates

Namco Networks has partnered with iPhone developer Firemint to bring the popular air traffic management sim Flight Control to Java, Windows Mobile, Brew, and Android platforms in July.

Flight Control has sold over two million units since its launch in March of 2009, and was the second application in Apple’s App Store to surpass the sales milestone. A Nintendo DSiWare version of Flight Control is set to debut on February 19th.

Firemint previously collaborated with Namco Networks in the development of Rolling with Katamari, a mobile-exclusive entry in Namco Bandai’s Katamari Damacy series.

“We are honored to work with a company that is considered to be an innovator in our space,” said Namco Networks VP of sales and marketing Scott Rubin. “Collaborating with Firemint to provide casual game lovers with a mobile version of the top selling brand is a proud moment. The Flight Control experience transfers perfectly to the targeted mobile platforms because of the intuitive controls and pure simplicity.”

Firemint CEO Robert Murray comments, “Having sold over two million copies on the iPhone in under a year, Flight Control has achieved amazing success. Our partnership with Namco began over three years ago with our development of Rolling with Katamari and we couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with them again. It will be a great feat to see our game reach an even broader demographic with the mobile edition.”

Tags: firemint, flight control, mobile, namco bandai, port

iPhone application developer Firemint announced that its upcoming App Store lineup will take advantage of Apple’s just-announced iPad hardware, with an updated version of its multi-million-selling Flight Control currently in development.

“We are already building our next generation of games for higher definition, more powerful devices than are available today,” the company said in a statement released today. “We like to imagine what the devices of tomorrow will be capable of, and invest in bringing our games to the next generation of hardware.”

Firemint joins a growing number of developers to officially announce support for the platform. Apple demonstrated iPad-optimized versions of Gameloft’s N.O.V.A. and Electronic Arts’ Need for Speed: Shift at an unveiling event earlier today.

Prior to Apple’s event, Stand Alone Inc. also voiced its support for the new hardware. The company will release “a larger version” of its Crosswords app to take advantage of the iPad’s expanded screen size, and will continue to offer new downloadable puzzles from major newspapers on a daily basis.

It is currently unknown if existing applications can be updated with iPad support, or if the change will necessitate new standalone releases. Apple notes that iPad-optimized apps will be featured in a special section in iTunes after the device is released, but has issued no comment as to whether featured games will also be playable on the iPhone or iPod Touch.

Tags: crosswords, firemint, flight control, Industry News, iPad, stand alone

After reaching one million units sold in June of last year, Firemint’s air traffic control simulation title Flight Control has reached another sales milestone. Firemint reports that the title has now sold more than two million units worldwide.

Firemint’s report arrives less than a week after developer Bolt Creative announced that its casual entertainment title Pocket God surpassed two million units in sales, becoming the first application in the iTunes App Store to do so.

Firemint notes that Flight Control achieved its sales target in less than a year, after launching in March of 2009. According to data released by the developer, Flight Control saw its biggest sales after its initial release, with an additional sales spike occurring in June after a content-expanding update.

Flight Control recently saw another rise in popularity over Christmas, though additional feature updates have not coincided with noticeable sales increases.

Tags: firemint, flight control, Industry News, sales data

Every Thursday, FingerGaming rounds up the most popular free iPhone and iPod Touch applications, as current that day on the iTunes App Store. This week’s top titles are:

1. Real Racing GTI
2. Rat on the Run
3. iMobsters
4. Fling Free
5. Stick-Fu Lite
6. Hangman Classic Free
7. Link4 Online
8. SpongeBob Diner Dash Lite
9. Racing Live
10. Zoo Olympic Lite

Firemint’s Volkswagen-sponsored Real Racing GTI is burning up the charts in its first week of release, and finishes as today’s top free download. A limited-time free release for Rat on the Run places second, as a points promotion for iMobsters comes in at third.

Fling Free drops to fourth place after finishing second last week, while Stick-Fu rises up to take fifth. PlayMesh’s Connect 4 clone Link4 Online makes its chart debut at seventh place, leaving SpongeBob Diner Dash Lite, Racing Live, and Zoo Olympic to close out the top ten.

Tags: charts, firemint, Free Games, imobsters, rat on the run, real racing gti, top free apps

Firemint’s Real Racing GTI is more than just a free Lite demo of the developer’s popular sim-styled racer Real Racing. Car manufacturer Volkswagen is sponsoring its release, and the app marks the official introduction of the upcoming 2010 GTI automobile brand.

“With the personalization of media and the challenges inherent with reaching constantly connected consumers, we tasked ourselves to rethink the way we launch vehicles in order to engage our consumers in a meaningful way,” said Tim Ellis, Volkswagen of America’s Vice President of Marketing.

Ellis continues: “The GTI customer is a tech-savvy consumer who enjoys social networking, playing games and spending time on mobile devices — most often an iPhone. Launching the all-new 2010 GTI via the Real Racing GTI App allows us to connect with this savvy GTI consumer within his or her everyday life in a way that no 30-second spot ever could.”

In Real Racing GTI, players will take one of six 2010 GTI sport hatches for a test drive over a single main race track. In addition to a Quick Race mode that pits the 2010 GTI against five competitors, the game also include a solo Time Trial mode, along with a GTI Cup championship that splits the main track up into three races.

Tags: 2010 gti, firemint, Free Games, Industry News, Racing, real racing, volkswagen