The iPad is designed without a specific orientation. Applications will mostly be viewed in portrait or landscape mode, however for games it can be put on a table and viewed from above (such as playing checkers).

One of the first steps in redesigning WordPop! for the iPad was to create some simple layouts for each orientation. At first we were not sure if we had to support both landscape and portrait, as this was not required for the iPhone. There was much debate in chat rooms but it was soon put to rest with this simple quote from The iPad Human Interface Guidelines “Although you might not have supported all orientations in your iPhone application, you must do so in your iPad application.” With that now settled we created a wire frame layout for each orientation. This gave us an idea on how much room to reserve for the WordPop! machine and how much space remained for new features.

One of the new features is displaying the high scores and other data in a fun and refreshing way. Here is a quick mock-up from Jim Patterson.
High Scores Orientation A

This layout works well in but is too wide for the other orientation. The solution is to change what is displayed. Thus when in the iPad is rotated 90 degrees the date column is removed as shown in this very rough mock up.

High Scores Orientation B

Although we do temporarily hide the date it can be brought back instantly by rotating the iPad 90 degrees in either directions. (We did discuss using a smaller font, but it felt too jarring. This solution kept the UI consistent and offered a better experience.)

I think players of iPad games will see some display information come and go when different orientations are used (FYI – Watch the demo of email on the iPad at www.apple.com.  The mail list is hidden in portrait mode which is similar to what we are doing.).

Although supporting both orientations will be a challenge  and add to the overall scope of the project it will add to the uniqueness of the iPad.

Look for more peeks into our development of WordPop! for iPad in coming blogs.

Share/Bookmark

top_scoring_ipad.jpg

We have been having a great time working on WordPop! for the iPad. During March the team will be blogging about their thoughts and tasks as we race to finish WordPop! in time for the iPad release (which is still TBD but we are all watching Apple closely).

After the iPad was announced we had a exciting meeting and answered several key questions.

Q: What did we think of the iPad?
A: We loved it and thought it was going to fill an important niche market.

Q: Could we offer our players a great gaming experience?
A: Yes, the extra real estate will be used to add even more engagement to the game.

Q: Should we create a new game from scratch or redesign one of our current games?
A: We decided to redesign one of our current games and felt either Farkle Dice or WordPop! would be the best candidates. We sent a poll to our registered users and WordPop! was the clear leader receiving over 40% of the votes.

Q: What next steps should be taken?
A. All team members to read the new Human Interface Guidelines for the iPad and to install the SDK to gain access to the simulator.

Check back as I will be writing regularly about our development efforts and I will be posting more images as we get closer to the final look. Above is a screen shot taken from the simulator.

Please comment and let me know what you are interested to hear about in regards to iPad, gaming, WordPop!, etc.

Share/Bookmark

My wife does not embrace technology. Her loving husband, me, does. I create web sites, I listen to music on my iPod, I create games for the iPhone. While she will use the internet and reluctantly email, she still uses CDs. She is educated, with a Ph.D. and very creative.

I showed her the iPad video and I honestly think I saw little iPad hearts floating around her like you see in cartoons. I have been trying to get her to try a laptop or an iPod Touch to enhance her life and all met with rejection, until now.  But why the change? After a bit of Q&A (I played both good and bad cop) the following reasons appeared:

– Weight matters, a lot! With the weight only 1.5 pounds this was finally a number she felt she could carry around with her. Weight was a bigger concern than size.

– Size is important! When I described the thickness, width, and height she was even more sold as the compact size seemed to hit the sweet spot for slipping it into a purse. She felt that this would easily fit in her lap or she could rest it on a small picture or plate stand. I was imagining her at a cafe, reaching into her purse and pulling out a little artist easel and then the iPad.

– Endurance is a must. 10 hours of battery life really mattered to her. Why? It goes back to the weight. She does not want to lug a charger with her. This is like my iPod. I never bring a charger for it but I always do for my laptop.

– It’s attractive.  Both is its looks and the display. If you are going to be carrying a computer around it should look good and she liked how it looked and how the internet looked. Plus, with the resolution 1024 by 768 this was going to be perfect for her #1 activity, using the internet to research.

All in all, she concluded the iPad is a very sexy device (um, is it getting warm in here or is it just me) and since my wife agrees I bet there will be millions of others who do too.

Apple iPad