Spiderweb Software - Interview @ Venturebeat

Heather Newman of Venturebeat got in contact with Jeff Vogel of Spiderweb Software to talk about why he stopped developing his games for the iOS platform.

GamesBeat: You’ve been developing for iOS for a while. Why stop now?

Jeff Vogel: So the most important thing to realize about Apple products is that they are designed to become obsolete fairly quickly. Apple engineers constantly change up the hardware and software. In my repeated experience, any device more than a few years old loses the ability to run the new operating systems.

Programming for Apple devices has, for the 20 years I’ve been doing it, been a continuous hassle. Apple constantly makes the old code obsolete, forcing programmers to relearn and revise everything constantly. Sometimes, these changes lead to better devices and software. Other times, it’s just obnoxiousness with no gain for developers or users. It’s just something you learn to live with, until you give up.

And Apple doesn’t care. Why should they? In 2014, 500 games came out on iTunes a day. A day. I suspect that Apple would be ecstatic if 90 percent of game developers disappeared overnight. See also: Steam.

Apple is merciful in one way, though. Usually, when they make a huge change in how their devices are programmed, they let the old code work for a few years to help developers keep up. The problem with Avernum 2 HD is that this didn’t happen this time.