Hideo Kojima is on board. John Carmack is on board. Hell, Yoot Saito is on board. And though many will note his historic opposition to gaming, Steve Jobs himself is on board too. What do these individuals and companies like Electronic Arts, Sega, Gameloft, Namco Bandai, Konami and more have in common? The notion that with a skyrocketing installbase and a collection of intriguing new technology, the Apple iPhone/iPod Touch is becoming a valid handheld gaming platform -- and one that just might be able to compete with the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP.
But believe it or not, the most exciting games on iPhone currently come from none of the parties named above. No, thanks to the democratizing process that is the iTunes App Store, the big players in this new market are start-ups and indie developers -- and in Eyeing the Phone, we bring you interviews with those who demonstrate the potential to create the touch-sensitive, accelerometer-powered, location-aware, network-connected, graphically driven experiences we've wanted since the iPhone was first announced.
Last time on Eyeing the Phone, we spoke with the developers of the first asynchronous mobile MMO, Aurora Feint. Now, we'll talk to the man who proved that indie iPhone games were commercially viable to the tune of $250,000... and has now launched an free, Xbox LIVE-like service to bring his competitors -- or rather, customers -- the same success. Welcome to Onyx Online.
In August, the Wall Street Journal reported that Sega's Super Monkey Ball had sold 300,000 copies in its first month on the Apple iPhone. Impressive, to be sure -- but as the system's only killer app the same month the iTunes App Store launched, not nearly impressive enough to predict the rise of the iPhone as a games platform. No, the first real sign Apple was onto something was over a month later, on September 18th, 2008. On that day, in a now-famous Twitter by Raven Zachary, indie game developer Steve Demeter announced that his game Trism had made him $250,000 in the two-months-and-one-week since debut.
The web went wild.
Steve Demeter quit his day job, and formed a iPhone App software consulting company, Demiforce, to advise those who would have the same success as he.
And then, at the end of a long, impassioned essay last month, Demeter revealed his next project: Onyx Online.
There are any number of reasons why an Apple iPhone user would pick up the $4.99 (currently $2.99) Trism. It's bright and colorful. It's deep and challenging. The match-three gameplay is instantly familiar to the millions upon millions who've played the likes of Bejeweled, and the game utilizes the iPhone's touchscreen and tilt sensor to create the sort of game you can't get on any other system. But if you were to ask Steve Demeter, the reason Trism did so well has nothing to do with the game itself. Rather, it's because out of the four months spent writing code, he devoted one entire month to making the gravity-sensitive, triangle-matching puzzle game into the stickiest, most socially addictive application around.
The image above is Steve Demeter's profile on the Trism forums. It's got his avatar, his user statistics, basic details about his person, and a link to his personal website. But as you've no doubt already noticed, it also doubles as his GamerCard. He's got 19 achievements. He's scored as many as 320 million points in a single game -- incidentally, on the same day he announced his $250,000 earnings. With the click of a mouse, you can compare your scores to his... and see just how pathetic 320 million points can really be.
And of course, with a cell-modem-equipped handheld computer in your pocket, there's no need to go to web forums to look up your score. It's all right there on your iPhone.
This is -- and according to Demeter, always was -- the prototype for Onyx Online. "I wrote Trism with this in mind," he said.
So when the clamor of indie developers knocking on Demeter's door got so loud that he restyled himself as an iPhone software consultant, he didn't just have advice to share -- he had the software code, too. And whether driven by guilt, the possibility of venture capital, or both -- Demeter unabashedly told me that his $250,000 story has attracted both rich and poor to stake money on the iTunes App Store --his next decision was to make that code free of charge.
"What's really made the App Store fun are all these little developers," Demeter told me. "We want to help all these guys. You've mortgaged your house, you've sold your car... you don't want to spend any more time than you have to writing this thing."
But just because Onyx is free doesn't mean Demeter has no grand plans for the service. Though it starts as a framework into which developers can build leaderboards and achievements, as well as interact on Kongregate-style web forums all built into the backend of member applications, the next step is the Onyx Lobby -- a standalone iPhone application that will act as a nexus for the likes of simultaneous online multiplayer, and may even provide matchmaking functionality. And DLC -- of a sort -- is also in the offing. Demeter told me that the upcoming Trismology, often billed as a "spinoff" or "sequel" to Trism, is actually something far simpler: a level pack. Though it might possibly show up as a separate application in the App Store, it will share metadata with Trism such that all of your achievements and scores will be carried from one game to the next.
Demeter doesn't deny the Xbox influence -- in fact, he welcomes the comparison. "We're standing on the shoulders of giants with this thing," he told me. And he admits that though he got his idea after Apple failed to provide an Xbox LIVE themselves, he wasn't the only one so inspired -- there will be competition in the marketplace. But Onyx Online has one thing none of the others can touch: Steve Demeter himself.
Earlier this month, developers at Aurora Feint introduced us to the notion that no matter how rosy the iTunes App Store looks at the moment, a good deal of developers' current success can be attributed simply to being first on the scene and establishing a memorable brand. Since the App Store doesn't filter for quality, only timeliness, it's harder than ever to rise to the top -- and thus, the idea goes, only those developers who have established a reputation that transcends the App Store have a chance at lasting success.
And who among iPhone developers is better known than Steve Demeter? Exactly.
"We're in a very good spot, because we speak for the independents, and a lot of guys look to me," said Demeter. "I can speak with this clout and get all this support." By banding together, Demeter believes, indie iPhone developers will form a networked community that -- like the large Flash game portals -- will serve to buoy them all. "What Onyx really is is cross-promotion. If your game is good, Onyx helps you."
And if your game is bad? Demeter says there are no plans to control the quality of Onyx games, but believes that in the forum atmosphere users will talk the best games to the top of the heap.
While Demeter wouldn't go into specifics about plans to monetize Onyx Online, save that such plans do exist and advertising is one of the lesser possibilities -- "Advertising is one of our revenue streams, but it's by far not the biggest at all" -- nor how many developers have already signed on -- "There were dozens the first day we announced it... it's a lot bigger than that now" -- he was more than willing to speak with me about how the iPhone stacks up against its current mobile competitors the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. His opinion?
I think it competes the same way as the Wii competes with the Xbox 360 and PS3. I feel that Apple has out-Nintendoed Nintendo. There's no D-pad, no buttons... "how do you make a game for that?" But there are games coming out every day, and they're cheap -- they're cheap. What teenager wants to spend thirty bucks on a game when they can get it at the touch of a button? I think it's a different kind of business. I think it's working. People are playing different games on this thing.
I'm an adult, I've played a lot of games, but I don't have the time for that right now. The games that I actually go and buy, I play for five minutes. Why can't there be more games that can be played in five minutes? Marketing, development... they want to make it a five-hour or a 50-hour experience.
...forget buttons. We've done buttons forever, and we need to get rid of that. Nintendo started that with the Wii. There are so many games now that use the mechanisms uniquely, and breath a breath of fresh air into the gaming construct.
Like his competitors at Aurora Feint, Demeter doesn't think too much of rival smartphone OS Android. "I think of Windows Mobile. It doesn't serve any one phone particularly well. Part of the selling point for iPhone is that they're building their games for just one device." But, that doesn't mean it's not part of his roadmap. "We want this to be the XBLA of mobile gaming, not just iPhone. Hypothetically, if there were to be a Trism Android port, why should that profile be any different between the G1 version and the iPhone version?"
"There's no reason why Onyx shouldn't be on both, or all... just more consumers to be brought into the fold."
Lastly, I asked Demeter what one thing Apple could reasonably change about the iPhone to make it better for gaming. "They could open up the Celestial framework, to make audio easier," he told me. Citing iPhone DDR clone Tap Tap Revolution (whose somewhat-less-copyright-infringing successor Tap Tap Revenge has racked up 1 million installs), Demeter reminded me that the original could access your existing iPhone music library. "That's the whole reason to have a music game on your iPod. What does Apple do when [Revenge] comes out? Now, it's against the rules to access your own iTunes library."
Update: At interviewee's request, a few expletives have been removed since the time of original publication.
In August, the Wall Street Journal reported that Sega's Super Monkey Ball had sold 300,000 copies in its first month on the Apple iPhone. Impressive, to be sure -- but as the system's only killer app the same month the iTunes App Store launched, not nearly impressive enough to predict the rise of the iPhone as a games platform. No, the first real sign Apple was onto something was over a month later, on September 18th, 2008. On that day, in a now-famous Twitter by Raven Zachary, indie game developer Steve Demeter announced that his game Trism had made him $250,000 in the two-months-and-one-week since debut. 
And of course, with a cell-modem-equipped handheld computer in your pocket, there's no need to go to web forums to look up your score. It's all right there on your iPhone.
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