Aiko & iOS4

There’s an old cliché – the best things in life are free. Here in the northern hemisphere, as I was enjoying the sunniest day of the year, two downloads proved the old adage true. While working on my next game, I went hunting for some more artwork. Aiko – the Anime Star Fighter is a free download from Daz3d.com. Even though it’s older artwork, it still looks awesome. Meanwhile, Apple gave new life to an old device. My iPod Touch (8 GIG) was upgraded to iOS 4.

If you’ve been following this blog, it’s pretty obvious to see that I’m incredibly focused on mobile development. That’s why I’ve been carefully watching what Apple has to offer. But in making games, I often find myself wandering over to Daz3d for some digital inspiration. Surprisingly, I’ve been able to create incredibly professional work without having to spend a lot of money. With Daz Studio, I can create visuals that are comparable to big budget hollywood movies and cartoons. Meanwhile, my Mac Mini is chugging along. I use it with GameSalad and my iPod Touch to create new games. Developer kits for the game consoles of yore would cost thousands of dollars. My setup is around $1000. With budget saving items like this, Photics.com is able to grow.

But hey, you might be more interested about the new features in iOS4 :-)

iOS4 allows me to organize my Apps by placing them in a folder.

With the software upgrade for my iPod Touch, I’m able to enjoy a new look for the dock and now I can use folders to organize my apps. I’m also able to change the wallpaper on my home screen, a frivolous but fun feature. For the future, I’m looking forward to enjoying iBooks. I looked for the iBooks app on the iTunes store, but I didn’t see it available yet. Apple states that there’s over 100 new features in iOS4. But unfortunately, my third generation iPod Touch is not peppy enough to enjoy them all. Multitasking is not enabled for my device. Also, since my iPod touch doesn’t have a camera, a lot of picture taking features are not available.

Don’t feel bad for the older hardware, as I still like my iPod Touch. I’m glad that it’s a slower device. This is very useful for testing my games. If it can run on poky hardware, the frame-rates should be great on the more powerful devices.

So, I’m enjoying the Summer Solstice. Today is a bright, sunny and cheerful day. Pleasant weather and great software, ah, it’s a good life.

Fighter