JC on iOS Rage, what it is versus what it could be

[Richard]

Carmack posted a candid, as always, update on Rage for iOS. It's a great read with lots of deep issue discussions. There's also a few tidbits about PC Rage like the fact it takes up 20Gb using JPEG-XR (AKA HD Photo).

The decision to re-use DOOM Ressurection's engine, while understandable, does put into question its performance. From the post it seems it won't support 60fps but it's not entirely clear. I do think MT only being used for static geometry puts Epic's Citadel with its programmable renderer a bit ahead.

 

[wco81]

So they're targeting 99 cents/$1.99 for a mini game. Their previous iOS games probably didn't sell enough at $9.99 to justify investing in development of a full game.

That may be where people who use the Epic engine are headed. They may be able to get $10 for a port of a high-profile title -- maybe a high-quality port of Call of Duty.

 

[ltcommander.data]

I thought at QuakeCon when RAGE on iPhone was first demoed he said that he intended to launch a RAGE related title, probably referring to this Mutant BashTV game, early on iPhone this year and then follow up with an iPhone title next year alongside RAGE's launch on other platforms, kind of implying the second game will be the actual RAGE on iPhone. Are we to assume this second actual RAGE for iPhone title has been canceled?

Or perhaps he's just taking a wait and see approach. He's concerned about graphical power of mobile devices compared to consoles, but he does say he could get the full console RAGE up on the iPhone 4 with some effort. If next years 5th gen devices are much more powerful, presumably dual core Cortex A9 and something like a PowerVR SGX545, and with 4th gen devices and the iPad as a baseline, it might be worth the effort in bringing a larger RAGE experience over. Certainly, with the rumoured Playstation phone and XBox mobile through Windows Phone 7, attempts to bring the console experience to smartphones is the direction things are moving. Touch controls aren't optimal for fps, but Gameloft has shown it can be done as well as Call of Duty for iPhone and with Medal of Honor and Battlefield coming.

 

[NeoTechni]

So they're targeting 99 cents/$1.99 for a mini game.

Shudder. Which means it cant be that good of a game...

 

[Richard]

I thought at QuakeCon when RAGE on iPhone was first demoed he said that he intended to launch a RAGE related title, probably referring to this Mutant BashTV game, early on iPhone this year and then follow up with an iPhone title next year alongside RAGE's launch on other platforms, kind of implying the second game will be the actual RAGE on iPhone. Are we to assume this second actual RAGE for iPhone title has been canceled?

Actually, nothing in that blog contradicts previous plans. This release is only a taste whereas the full game ought to be released along with the PC/Console version as you said.

Shudder. Which means it cant be that good of a game...

Yes. By that argument Wolfenstein: ET was bollocks because it was free. It's cheap because it's only a teaser for the full game they're planning (see ltcommander.data's post). It may well suck, but price has nothing to do with it.

 

[Zeross]

Rage Mobile tomorrow, straight from John Carmack's twitter :

ID_AA_Carmack
Rage mobile has been approved, it should be on the app store tomorrow morning!

He also wrote an interesting article on the importance of data paging in mobile GPU.

 

[pcchen]

It's available on iTunes US store now.

Rage Mobile

There are two versions, SD version is for older iPhones (pre 3GS) and HD version is for newer iPhones and iPad. SD is US$0.99 and HD is US$1.99.

 

[RudeCurve]

I'm downloading the HD version right now. It's pretty hefty at 700MB+

Just finished the game...tilt for camera direction works pretty well in this on-rails fps. The cutscenes before each stage with the fat guy looks really really good, anyone know if it's realtime or prerendered? The in-game stuff seems to be on par graphically with the games coming out on Nintendo's 3DS.

As to the pricing I think they got it just right at $1.99 for the HD version with 3 levels. I think it would be cool if they offered additional 3-level packs for $2 each in the future as some games sold on the iTunes store are already structured like this with in-game level purchases.

 

[Entropy]

Interesting intervue with JC published on arstechnica. link

 

[tangey]

Interesting intervue with JC published on arstechnica. link

Nice mention in that interview of the space saved by employing the PowerVR's texture compression versus other platforms.

"...The HD version of Rage is 1.4GB installed, and all the world geometry is using 2-bit PowerVR texture compression. If we went to one of the other platforms that's not PowerVR-based, we'd be stuck with a 4-bit texture compression format, and that pushes the size over 2GB."

 

[suryad]

I also find it very interesting about his comments on developing on the IOS platform vs the Android platform particularly the infrastructure side of things about the app stores.

 

[assen]

Any public info on PVRTC's 2bpp mode? I assume it ignores some per-image overhead, like a VQ codebook or something?

 

[Ailuros]

Any public info on PVRTC's 2bpp mode? I assume it ignores some per-image overhead, like a VQ codebook or something?

http://www.imgtec.com/powervr/insider/powervr-login.asp?WhitePaper=PVRTexComp

http://www.graphicshardware.org/previous/www_2003/presentations/Fenney.pps#256,1,Texture Compression using Low-Frequency Signal Modulation (PVR-TC)

 

[Simon F]

http://www.imgtec.com/powervr/insider/powervr-login.asp?WhitePaper=PVRTexComp

http://www.graphicshardware.org/previous/www_2003/presentations/Fenney.pps#256,1,Texture Compression using Low-Frequency Signal Modulation (PVR-TC)

Was that last link meant to be this: http://www.graphicshardware.org/previous/www_2003/presentations/Fenney.pps ?

 

[assen]

Thanks, very cool! You address the problem of zero correlation between blocks' endpoint colors in S3TC?

Did you try to get it in DX10 when they added BC6 and BC7? I'd love to have a 2 bpp format even on home consoles :-/

 

[Ailuros]

Was that last link meant to be this: http://www.graphicshardware.org/previous/www_2003/presentations/Fenney.pps ?

Yep the board sometimes devours part of the some links if they're too long.

 

[Simon F]

Thanks, very cool! You address the problem of zero correlation between blocks' endpoint colors in S3TC?

Sorry, but I'm not sure what you are asking.

Did you try to get it in DX10 when they added BC6 and BC7? I'd love to have a 2 bpp format even on home consoles :-/

1) Not to my knowledge and
2)There's always Dreamcast

 

[idsn6]

Rage has been dropping fairly precipitously in the list of top grossing apps since release. It seems to be having trouble maintaining momentum.

 

[wco81]

Hmm, so even at a reasonable price, it can't compete with Angry Birds.

id must be shaking their heads.

 

[tangey]

Hmm, so even at a reasonable price, it can't compete with Angry Birds.

id must be shaking their heads.

Why ?, I think you are confusing the traditional PC market with the iphone/itouch market. They are ENTIRELY different.

One assuming many many more women and younger children/teens (again many more female) play games on itouch/iphone than ever would on the PC platform. Angry birds is a much more "friendly", light game to play, and in those terms is much more accessible.