作者：James Brightman

iPad的横空出世推动了整个移动领域的变革和发展，为游戏开发界创造了一个全新的生态系统。尽管电子及电脑设备制造商都在争相推出具有竞争力的平板电脑，但仍无人可撼动iPad在这个市场的领先地位。

从iPad到iPad 2，苹果平板电脑的计算能力和图像功能实现了巨大飞跃，据传将于明年问世的iPad 3很可能还将引入更多有趣的新功能。

那么iPad应用开发商对iPad 3有何期待？他们希望苹果在iPad 3中植入哪些新功能？一些iOS应用开发者对此发表了不同看法。

iPad concept(from industrygamers)

David Whatley（塔防游戏《geoDefense》、《geoDefense Swarm》开发者）

“如果iPad 3能引进retina图像，更强大的CPU/GPU功能和内存，它就会成为极有杀伤力的游戏设备，并将进一步巩固苹果的领先地位。”

Asbjoern Soendergaard（Tactile Entertainment首席执行官）

“我希望iPad能够植入个性化的反重力装置，这样我就可以坐在上面四处蹓跶而不用步行，就好像Segway（游戏邦注：这是一种电力代步车，具有自我平衡能力，最高时速可达40公里。使用者只要双脚站在由两个轮子支撑的平板上，抓牢类似自行车的手柄，就可以自由移动。该车装有双轮，由陀螺仪操控。）一样。认真一点来说，我其实并不知道苹果还可以在iPad中添加什么新功能。如果支持4G技术应该会很不错，这样就可以让iCloud派上大用场。但我对retina display功能并没有什么想法，我觉得苹果如果要提高画面显示的像素，他们就会增加双倍分辨率，要不就是根本不增加分辨率。不过，双倍的分辨率可能会对我们的游戏提出更高的像素要求。这从理论上讲确实不错，但这样就会导致我们的游戏占用比现在多4倍的内存，无法在旧型号的设备上运行，所以我情愿再过段时间才添加retina功能。

如果iPad 3（以及iPhone 5）不带有数据匣子（data caps）就好了。美国开发者投入大量精力通过互联网创建了许多新鲜功能，而数据匣子会削弱我们的创造力。Air Play视频功能在专用的苹果设备上运行确实很棒，我们可以通过iOS 5在任何Air Play中播放游戏视频，但这项功能最好不要影响游戏的运行效果。我确实认为Air Play是iOS游戏的未来发展趋势，但可能还需要几年时间来完善。

就我个人的一些空想来看，我希望iPad 3能够带有一种感触型的反馈系统，好让人们感受屏幕所显示的不同纹理。这种显示于屏幕的感触功能将克服iPad没有游戏控制器按钮的缺陷，甚至有可能将iPad转变成一个遥控装置。”

Henrik Johansson（瑞典手机游戏开发商Mediocre联合创始人）

“我最关心的就是HDMI（高清晰度多媒体接口）技术支持。我想iPad应该有一些HDMI适配器，但我喜欢的是真正的双屏支持功能，这样就能把iPad当成一个巨大的控制器，我们就可以用iPad屏幕上的按钮和计量设置操作显示在电视屏幕上的游戏。这确实是一个很关键的功能。

有许多人看中的是retina display功能，但我认为与其关注高清像素，不如提高运行性能，这样才能促使开发者向iPad推出更多强大的游戏，而不只是增加游戏的分辨率。

多任务处理是另一项我感兴趣的功能，最好还带有分屏设置。例如，把屏幕一分为二，同时运行两款应用，我想大家应该会欢迎这种同时运行一款休闲游戏和一个社交应用的感觉。我认为实现这种功能只需要克服软件的问题就成。”

Steve Couture（Frima Studio首席执行官）

“我们最想看到的iPad 3功能就是支持Flash技术。尽管我们iOS开发者已经适应将HTML5作为替代性选择，但还是觉得Flash技术支持才是用户和开发者最为期待的iPad功能。不能在iPad上体验多款Facebook游戏真让人遗憾，由于没有Flash技术支持，iPad用户可接触到的内容甚为有限。我们相信iPad如果支持运行Flash 3D和Molehill，一定会如虎添翼。”

Brain Selzer（Ogmento公司联合创始人/总裁）

“AR（真实感）游戏最重视的就是摄像头和传感器功能，这样才能看清远处的物体。我希望iPad 3可以添加“富有3D深度的感应”摄像功能（这个可以想象一下微软在移动设备上添加Kinect设置），这样可以让AR游戏开发者为用户提供更丰富的特效。其次就是处理器的运行速度，这样可以让游戏在现场视频摄像环境中快速进行运算。”

Keith Lee（Booyah!联合创始人/总裁）

“iPad 3将成为下一代便携式娱乐控制设备，虽然有很多开发者更关注NFC和4G网络技术，但我认为最重要的还是更快速的图像处理功能和更长的电池寿命。这两个关键要素将推动iPad占领更多市场份额，支持开发者依靠现有设备获得更多用户。”（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

iPad 3: What Developers Really Want

by James Brightman

iPad, much like iPhone, has revolutionized the industry, creating a whole new ecosystem for games development. While electronics and computer manufacturers have scrambled to produce competitive tablets of their own, iPad still retains a dominant position in the market. The jump from iPad to iPad 2 brought a significant boost in computing power and graphical capabilites, and iPad 3 is likely to bring even more interesting features and enhancements. The device is currently rumored to launch early next year.

But what do iPad developers look for? What direction would developers like to see Apple take the iPad 3? IndustryGamers surveyed a range of iOS developers to find out. Read their responses below.

David Whatley, creator of geoDefense and geoDefense Swarm

“If the iPad 3 can bring retina graphics, and the CPU/GPU power and memory to back that up, it becomes one heck of a gaming device and will extend Apple’s impressive lead ever farther.”

Asbjoern Soendergaard – CEO, Tactile Entertainment

“I think that the primary thing for us when thinking about the new iPad is the rumored Retina display – this is definitely going make a difference in the sharpness and level of detail that we as developers can deliver. Retina display support combined with more processor power will set a new benchmark for visual fidelity on a handheld device, which we are really looking forward to taking advantage of.”

Dave Castelnuovo – Owner, Bolt Creative

“I would like to see a personal anti-grav device built into the ipad 3 so that I could sit on it and allow me to hover around instead of walking. Kind of like of like a Segway, but without the Segway. Seriously though, I’m not even sure what else they can add to the iPad. 4G would be nice, that would make iCloud even more useful. I’m on the fence about a retina display, I believe that if Apple was going to increase the resolution of their display, they would either double it or not increase it at all. However, doubling the resolution would require all us developers to increase the resolution of the graphics in our games. It sounds nice in theory but our game would end up taking 4 times the memory that it current takes. This would make it harder to make our game work with old hardware, so I would like to wait another year for retina.”

“I would love it if the iPad 3 (and the iPhone 5 for that matter) miraculously came without data caps. Us developers are working hard to create cool new features that take advantage of the internet and data caps force us to pull back our ingenuity. Air play video done with dedicated hardware would be awesome. With iOS 5 you’ll be able to project your game screen to any Air Play display but it would be amazing if it had zero lag and doesn’t affect the performance of your game. I really think that Air Play is the future of iOS gaming but it will take a couple years to perfect it.”

“As far as pie in the sky ideas go, I would love it if the iPad 3 came with a haptic feedback so you can feel different textures on the screen. An ability to actually emboss features on the screen programmatically would be incredible and help overcome that fact that we don’t have game controller buttons on the device. Oh yea, and transforming into a robot would be great too.”

Henrik Johansson – co-founder of Swedish mobile games developer Mediocre

“One of the things on the top of my list is better HDMI support. I think that there is some kind of HDMI adapter for iPad 2, but what I would love is real dual screen support that would use the iPad as a big controller, with only buttons and gauges on the iPad screen and the actual game on a TV. That would really be something.”

“There has been a lot of talk about retina display and it looks like people on forums would like this, but I think it would be better to focus on increased performance rather than higher resolution, this would allow devs to bring more powerful games to the iPad, rather the same old games in a higher resolution.”

“Another thing I would be excited about is improved multi-tasking, perhaps with a segmented/subdivided screen. Let’s say you split the screen in two and run two apps next to each other, I think people would love that. To have a browser up next to spotify, or a casual game next to a social media app. But I suppose that is purely a software issue.”

Steve Couture – CEO Frima Studio

“The one feature we want to see in the iPad 3 more than anything else is Flash support. Even though we develop on iOS and are adjusting to HTML5 as an alternative, we still feel that Flash support is something the consumers and developers alike would want to have in our future iPads. It is sad to miss all the social games available on Facebook. The amount of content that is unavailable to consumers due to the lack of Flash support is quite limiting and we believe the iPad could become even more popular than it already is with the support of Flash. With Flash 3D and Molehill, the true power of the new iPad could be showcased.”

Brian Selzer – President / Co-Founder, Ogmento, Inc.

“For AR games it’s all about cameras and sensors… the ability to see things clearly at a great distance, and to understand what it is you are looking at. I’d add a ’3D depth sensing’ camera on the iPad3 (think Microsoft Kinect capabilities on a mobile device). This will open things up for gesture based AR, and allow AR game developers to provide effects like occlusion, where virtual objects disappear behind physical objects, feeling like a seamless part of the environment. After that, it’s about processing speeds, allowing to do more computationally within a live video camera environment.”

Keith Lee – President / Co-Founder, Booyah!

“The iPad 3 will continue to be the portable entertainment console for the next-generation. Although there’s strong developer demand for Near Field Communications (NFC) and 4G networking, the priority should continue to be faster graphics processing power and efficient battery usage. These two key factors will further to accelerate iPad market share and allow developers to focus on the de-facto device with the widest reach and distribution.”（source:industrygamers）