A Match Made In Geek Heaven
Over at my place of work, I often receive email asking what people can do to help support the Iconfactory. I always reply that the best way is to purchase our software and to generally spread the good word about efforts to support the Macintosh and icon creation community. Since WWDC 2007 though, we’ve thought of another way that the average person could help show their love for what we do, and it doesn’t even cost a penny.
Earlier this year we released our very first game for the Macintosh platform in conjunction with ARTIS Software. Frenzic is new take on classic puzzle games like Tetris that is easy to learn and quite literally can take months to master. The game was met with positive reviews, scores of downloads and an entire roster of enthusiastic players from around the world. People agree that one of the things that makes Frenzic so fun to play is its simplicity. Stay alive as long as possible, rack up points, power-ups and lives to scratch and claw your way up the leaderboard.
It occurred to us quite early in Frenzic’s development that it would make an outstanding game for the mobile phone platform and the iPhone in particular. Simply touch the screen to place pieces in the appropriate circles, touch power-ups to activate them and try valiantly to resist addiction! Games of Frenzic typically take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes making them perfect time killers in doctor’s offices or the airport. The game is programmed entirely in Cocoa and doesn’t rely on external game engines like Open GL so it would be extremely easy to port to the iPhone.
Needless to say we did our best to pitch Frenzic to Apple at the recent WWDC Developers conference in San Fransisco, but as the saying goes, it doesn’t hurt to have some insurance. This is where you come in. Head on over to Apple.com and take a moment to let Steve and gang know you’d love to have Frenzic as a premiere game for the iPhone. If enough people write, our little game that could, just might join the historic ranks of Bejeweled and Tetris. We’d love the opportunity to bring Frenzic to an iPhone near you, and with your help, it just might happen.
OH MY GAWD. I’ve been asking about this since I heard about the iPhone. 😀 A match made in Geek Heaven for sure!
Feedback sent. I hope we can get them to budge! Good luck Ged!
Thanks so much Tyler! Every single email helps, so spread the word far and wide.
Do we get a cut of the profits? Or do you get both all of our positive feedback and all the profit from your game on millions of cellphones?
Would definitely be a great addition to the iPhone! 🙂
This would be excellent! I’m right behind you guys with this idea.
Seconded. Now off to work on it…
Port it to the web – the iPhone supports ajax apps – problem solved.
I think this would be fun as well! I’ll send.
To join with Billy, if we get it on the iPhone then will you turn it into a free product for all of us?
Great Marketing and Branding.
Creating an online, web-based version of Frenzic means that it’s source code would be freely visible to the public to copy, steal and redistribute. Also, do you think the games that are going to come on the iPhone are going to be Ajax? I highly doubt it.
To those saying, do it in AJAX, we actually considered it. As Ged noted, there’s a problem with exposing intellectual property.
A bigger reason is that the game is too complex to do in Javascript. Timers, sounds and graphics would be too much for the interpreter to handle (getting it to run well in a native Cocoa environment took A LOT of work and tuning.)
-ch
Once more the call to pen the system up is loosed!
Do those who take the time to write, and make you a ton of a money, get a free copy?
left feedback for apple. Good luck on getting your game installed. As an alternative, this would be good as a webapp.
Yes, this is a great game with design and usability worthy of a premier apple product. Good luck Frenzic!
This would be a FANTASTIC game on the iPhone.
This would be great! As someone who has been a confirmed non-cell user, I’ve been so pleasantly surprised at how appealing the iPhone has become, especially considering the recent announcements about the features included. Now I’m a total iPod addict and can’t wait to find out if updated iMacs are reality instead of rumor. Now bring me Frenzic on an iPhone and I think that would push me over the edge and convert me from non-cell to cell-addict too! Truly an inspired marriage of hard and soft tech.
Can’t find better marriage!
it would be awsome to have frenzic on my future iPhone…. This game is designed for a protable use. Quick, simple and addictive!!
Yes yes yes, please please please, give us Frenzic on the iPhone. Better yet, gimme an iPhone on top of that, otherwise I would be nowhere…
Dude, it’s Frenzic! A natural choice for sure Apple. What’s there to think about?!
Yay iPhone! Yay Iconfactory/ARTIS!
Feedback sent. This truly is something that would be great for both companies. Fun all around!
This game would be so cool with multitouch
Thanks to everyone for your wonderful comments. All of us at the factory are gratified by your outpouring of support, and appreciate it more than you realize. Gonna stop typing now before I get all weepy…
Ged et al., I hope it goes without saying, but if you wanted to really give it that cool iPhone/Apple flair, don’t just let “tap” be the only way to put a wedge into a surrounding well. Use the iPhone’s ability to “flick” with velocity out of the center. I can just see how much fun it would be to watch people making this starburst motion on the front of their iPhones and it would seem very fluid and intuitive.
now, of course, this means apple has to “invite you in” to develop for that coveted “home” screen. maybe you can just get bought out by google? that seems to be the ticket for a home screen icon. 😉
Hi ! Just an email to support you for your fantastic adictive game. Good luck to you and to your game frenzic, this game is just … crazy good 🙂
feedback sent to apple! Goodluck guys and thank you for the amazing work you do!
your biggest fan, Giulia (from Italy)
What an amazing game, it would be a fantastic selling point of the iPhone. Good Luck although I don’t think you should need it.
I just want to add my voice to this. Frenzic is an amazing game and would love to see it on the iphone!
Frenzic+iPhone=iSuccess
Fantastic idea. When I get an iPhone (eventually) I will make sure to wait until I can play that on it. It’s just such a good idea! Great game.
Sorry guys but there are alot of other things the iPhone needs before frenzic. I’d like to see support for 3rd party apps still but not just so i can play frenzic.
Hey Steve,
I would like Frenzic on the iPhone. Pleeeeeeeeeease.
~Allen
Hey! It’s a perfect match!
Hell yes-please! 😉
Sounds teh sexy… *lick*
Even though I don’t plan on owning an iPhone, I would *love* to see Frenzic on there. It’s just such a great game to play, and would be excellent in a portable version. Ooo, iPhone for Palm OS!
I wrote a message to support Frenzic iPhone version too.
The perfect game to play on the go this has to happen
What a great game for the iPhone. Better time killer than Bejewled even!
I love Frenzic (bought it after playing for 10 minutes). If I could get it on my iPhone the iPhone wouldn’t be just super sweet, It would be super duper sweet.