Exploring the potential and challenges of developing games for Apple Watch

The developers of the first Apple Watch game are blazing a new trail.

Games are shrinking. But the market for games isn't -- Apple's App Store hit $15 billion in sales in 2014 thanks to games. If developers figure out how to create games for the new 1.5-inch screen of the new Apple Watch, they'll have a foothold in the emerging wearable gaming space. With analysts predicting that Apple will sell 40 million Apple Watches in 2015, there's a lot of room to explore.

But when Apple unveiled the Apple Watch in March, it didn't seem to pave the way for game creators. The company focused primarily on health and comfort applications for the wearable device, and Apple didn't mention any games at its March press conference. Developers still can't take advantage of the device's full features and development tools. Right now, only two games appear on Apple's preview page.

It may be too early, Apple has only provided little help, but game developers are very proactive. In 2015, games will generate 30 billion US dollars in revenue. If wearable games also develop in this way, developers will not miss it.

Patrick Walker, an analyst at research firm EEDAR, said that as consumers begin to interact with wearable technology, games will become a major part of the connection. He told the media that the Apple Watch will follow the trend of the iPhone, which is to eventually move from practicality to games.

"Initially, the Apple Watch gaming market will not take off because of the limitations of the platform, namely screen size and input methods," Walker said. "Most consumers will be confused, 'Why would I want to play games on my watch instead of my smartphone?'"

[[133862]]

Apple Watch (from venturebeat)

“However, history has shown that consumers engage with new Apple technology in unforeseen ways, and new ways of interacting with that technology create new possibilities for gaming. The breakout success of games on Apple Watch will depend on whether developers can integrate games into new ways of interacting with wearable technology.”

Some developers want to be pioneers in wearable gaming, while others just want to try out a new device. But for either type of developer, creating the first Apple Watch game is no easy task.

Apple's WatchKit allows developers to do a lot of things on the Apple Watch, but it doesn't include native app development.

UI Controls (from venturebeat)

Constraints and Obstacles

All games are bundled with the iPhone when they are released, and the watch service is just a screen interface running on the smartphone. Third-party developers cannot create independent native Watch applications. This makes Watch a "thin client."

In addition, developers cannot use the full functionality of the Apple Watch's Digital Crown and many other advanced features, such as the Taptic Engine and heartbeat sensor. Apple said it will soon allow developers to access native apps, and now all apps, including games, are just extensions of iPhone apps.

Even when the new device and its tools are fully open, developers will need to get creative to use it, said Jim Ying, vice president of game publishing at information services company Tango.

“Most iPhone game developers are looking at the Apple Watch as a second screen experience because it started on the smartphone,” Ying said. “They are looking at existing successful business models and seeing how the watch changes it. There are also some challenges for indie games, such as screen size and battery life, so developers need to think creatively to create indie game experiences here.”

When it comes to app and game development, games themselves are also challenging. Developers say that performing animations on the Watch is not as simple as on smartphones. They have to use old-fashioned image sequences to render animations on the Apple Watch, just like flip books. Smooth animations require more images to make up these sequences, which takes up a lot of space.

A new way of thinking

The old iPhone and iPad required a completely different mindset to create games, and the Apple Watch needs its own approach. Vince Farquharson, COO of Bossa Studios (developer of the upcoming game Spy_Watch), thinks forcing iPhone-style games onto the Watch is the wrong approach. "It's a sin," Farquharson said.

"Nine out of 10 ideas about the Watch are wrong. Every traditional idea you can think of is a wrong idea. We spend a long time interacting with it, the screen is too small to show much content, and the battery is going to drain quickly. You have to look at these things intelligently. You look at its capabilities and limitations and figure out how to compensate for them."

"You can't try to think about how to make games on another platform - that's the wrong way to think about it. You should look at what makes it unique - that's where you start. That's the more interesting way to approach the device."

Spy_Watch is an interactive role-playing early text adventure game where players take on the role of a spy. The approach taken by Bossa Studios is to use the Watch's built-in notification system to convey the game's story. Farquharson calls the initial limitations of the Watch "exciting" and says it can inspire the experimental factor within their studio. He also emphasizes that wearable devices also have their own advantages.

spy watch (from venturebeat)

"It can do things that other devices can't do," Farquharson said. "It's the fastest notification device available today, so we should be thinking about how to use it in our games rather than trying to fight against limitations and try to fit a traditional experience into a device that's not designed for it."

Robot 5 is a brand new studio that was created to create games for the Apple Watch. It has three titles in the pipeline, including a line-matching puzzle game and a soccer game. It plans to release 10 games for the Watch by mid-year. Peter Chen of the studio admits that they need to put in a lot of effort to do this.

“Time is one of the challenges and limitations,” Chen said. “Adding complex scenes to our game is very challenging and time-consuming. For example, changing the color of a ball in the iPhone game might be done by changing a few lines of code, which only takes a few minutes. In the Apple Watch game, such a change might take several hours, depending on the number of balls required for different scenes.”

“The biggest challenge was the complexity of the animations. iPhone games can have very complex animations, with full control over every pixel and the movement of objects across the entire screen. Apple Watch games don’t have that, so we had to find a way to simulate that behavior.”

Some developers have mentioned the responsiveness of third-party Watch apps, a side effect of the client connection to the iPhone, meaning fast-action games might not be a good fit.

"When you tap a button in a third-party app, there may be a delay," Chen said. "Perhaps Apple will optimize this problem in the near future. But because the keystroke action is transmitted to the iPhone via Bluetooth and then from the iPhone back to the Apple Watch via Bluetooth, there will inevitably be a delay when you tap a button in a third-party app."

Aki Jarvilehto, CEO of Everywear Games, developer of the upcoming Watch role-playing game Runeblade, says the change in mindset is a bigger hurdle than any technical limitations.

“The form factor itself is different, and there are a lot of different parameters that we need to execute on that we have to learn through trial and error,” Jarvilehto said. “The biggest change from a development perspective is a change in mindset. Smartwatch games are going to be a seamless experience for us. They need to be easily perceived and fun to play. This is a fundamental change that requires us to answer new questions: How do you deliver fun in 5-15 seconds? How do you deliver a gaming experience over days, weeks, or even months?”

Keep the game short

For games that were first released on Apple Watch, developers have been aware of the issue of game time. More than one developer told the media that they hope to set the time to less than 15 seconds when they first released it. This will no longer be about technical limitations, but about player comfort and fun.

[[133863]]

Homerun (from venturebeat)

Eyes Wide Games, the developer of Watch This Homerun, said that asking players to hold their hands up to their faces for long periods of time was not feasible, which also pushed them to open up a new style of play.

Its CEO Stephen Griffin said: "In the early stages of development, we created a physical model and wore it for a whole day to feel the experience of raising your arm to play games at any time. Based on this experience, we figured out two things: it is not comfortable to raise your arm for a long time, and it is more natural to raise your arm for a short time and then put it down like wearing a normal watch."

“Our conclusions were confirmed when we heard Apple’s recommendation for developers to aim for 10 seconds for Apple Watch apps. Although this time was shorter than we had originally planned, it validated some of our assumptions about what we were trying to do with the game.”

He said what excites his team is that they will be able to create a whole new style of game.

Griffin said that because the short experience of opening, launching and running a game is not suitable for mobile phones, he said that in the long run, this shorter experience will be improved and may make up for the time loss.

"Inevitably, these types of games will be very short experiences; however, we think it will also be a more focused experience that will tie together into a larger game experience. So instead of a five-minute experience, you'll have 20 15-second experiences. More interestingly, we think these 15-second experiences will fit better into players' busy lives and encourage them to play more frequently than a three-to-five minute mobile experience."

Griffin believes that the ease of use of the Apple Watch has the potential to gradually replace mobile games.

“In terms of game rounds and overall time, I think Apple Watch games have the potential to replace mobile games in the same way that casual mobile games replaced casual desktop games. It’s about where people are going to spend their time.”

Now, with clever use of in-app purchases, Apple Watch games will need to make money with premium pricing. For example, Playscreen's game Blackjack Anywhere costs $2, but has no in-app purchases or time limits. This is the same as the previous game.

EEDAR analyst Patrick Walker said there isn't enough screen real estate on the Watch to run effective ads, though some shorter interstitial ads could be used, so Watch games will be sold at a specific price unless they're meant to use the phone screen.

“There are challenges with monetization for games that are designed based on learnings and paradigms from previous platforms, where a larger screen is better at engaging players and delivering ads,” Walker said. “Game developers must decide on monetization after understanding whether the consumer gaming experience is truly suited for wearable platforms. Many games on the platform will be paid games initially, as it is challenging to execute IAP or ad-based revenue models on such a small screen.”

Tim Merel, managing director of Digi-Capital, said that both paid and free apps have potential for development on Apple Watch, although the small screen requires developers to come up with new advertising methods. Native advertising will become more important than it is now. Merel also emphasized that the increasing amount of gaming time every day will be an interesting opportunity for game developers.

“Analysis from Digi-Capital shows that daily play time is so important for mobile games that there can be as much as a 35x difference between the top 1 and 5 grossing apps,” Merel said. “Because Apple Watch usage is expected to exceed that of iPhone during the day, this presents a great opportunity for developers. Capitalizing on this opportunity will require a whole new approach from developers, given that this is a device with a smaller screen.”

With only 18 hours of battery life, users will need to charge their Apple Watch every night.

No need to worry about batteries

Apple rates the wearable device for 18 hours of battery life when paired with an iPhone. That includes 45 minutes of app use. It's hard to tell if gaming will have an impact on that. Users and experts agree that battery life will be the Watch's biggest drawback.

While there are other considerations, it seems that Apple Watch game developers aren’t worried about battery life. “We can confidently say that battery life will not be an issue,” Eyes Wide Games told GamesBeat.

Peter Chen of Robot 5 said it would be nice if the gameplay (less than 15 seconds at a time) could match the battery life.

"We expect Apple Watch users to run apps for less than 15 seconds each time," Chen said. "It doesn't make sense to raise your arm for several minutes at a time. The same goes for games."

Connectivity is also a battery life consideration. Based on WatchKit, games and apps will use invisible wireless connections to send data between the Watch and iPhone, and another level of continuous consumption will be added to the limited battery life. But because the iPhone will take on most of the processing, the Watch will also be relatively easy.

"Because apps and games don't take long to process, and the processing is still done on the iPhone, I think playing games on the Watch will have the same impact on the device's battery as using apps - over the course of a day they won't be a significant drain on the battery."

Always in the shadow of the iPhone

Apple said its Watch will focus only on comfort and health applications, and did not mention any words about games. IHS Technology analyst Jack Kent said the small screen of the Watch will greatly limit interactivity, so developers must be creative to bring games to the platform.

iPhone-Apple Watch(from venturebeat)

“Gaming has been a major mobile media category since the advent of smartphones and tablets – device makers including Apple have frequently presented new hardware features to game developers,” Kent said. “This is different with smartwatches. When the Watch launches, most app development will be focused on health and comfort services, communication and notifications. While games will have a role on smartwatches, it will be limited to location-based games and very casual games. Games will not be a major selling point for smartwatches.”

Digi-Capital's Merel stressed that despite its large installed base, it is still dwarfed by the iPhone, and for that reason, the Apple Watch will not be able to replace mobile devices for gaming.

Even in the shadow of the iPhone, the Apple Watch is likely to attract users because of its convenience factor. Many developers we spoke with said that wearable devices will improve user retention and stickiness of games based on ease of use - two elements that will pose challenges to mobile developers.

"There are many situations in daily life where a quick distraction is appropriate but inconvenient, such as on a crowded subway on the way home or while waiting for a meeting," Chen said. "We can imagine a person playing Blackjack Mini 10 times a day for 10 seconds per session, compared to a more immersive iPhone game where the player would spend 10 minutes per session per night on the couch."

Eyes Wide Games' Griffin believes that the Apple Watch will one day become as important as smartphone gaming is today. What it needs is an interesting gaming experience.

He said: "As long as the game is good enough, the game on Apple Watch will become a revolutionary game for all Apple Watch users. After that, they will spend less and less time playing games on iPhone. Just like casual games have shifted from desktops to mobile phones, casual games may once again shift to devices that users use more frequently."