Windows Phone could be a winner with Nokia on board, reckons Four Door Lemon's Simon Barratt
Platform recovering from shaky start
Few were the Windows Phone developers who considered Nokia decision to align itself with Microsoft at the start of the year a bad thing.
Whatever quibbles studios have with the platform from a development perspective – Microsoft's decision to hold off support for native code still a bone of contention with many – getting their games in the hands of the widest audience as possible is top priority.
As such, Four Door Lemon's MD Simon Barratt believes the release of Nokia's first Windows Phone device will add to the momentum the platform has already fostered of late, with Microsoft recovering from a slow start for the OS.
We caught up with Simon for his take on Windows Phone past, present and future.
Pocket Gamer: Mango updates Windows Phone's Xbox Live hub and Marketplace. Do you think this will make any difference to a game's visibility? Simon Barratt: Hopefully Microsoft will work on discoverability. Originally, this was one of the weakest parts of Windows Phone Marketplace.The more innovation we see from platform holders, the better chance we have of someone hitting on the holy grail, which is good for everyone.
Mango also adds multitasking to the platform. Was this a feature you'd been looking for?
As a developer, handling multitasking is most likely a little work. From a user's point of view, it’s great to have it added, however.
If it also encourages players to play longer, more involved games, rather than short burst games, this could be very good for certain developers also.
The ability for users to see games still running in the background is an extra reminder to return to the game in question, versus them having to make a fresh choice when they go to select what to play for five minutes.
Have you had to re-code any of your titles to take advantage of Mango?Currently we only have QuizQuizQuiz on the platform, which we'll be updating soon regardless.
The platform does seem to be gaining some momentum now and we are certainly stepping up our support.
What's your take on the platform's overall performance so far?Initially we were very disappointed with our performance - we put this partially down to the lack of Xbox Live integration and therefore the visibility benefits that go with it.
We do seem to have accumulated a reasonable number of users, however, so with our next update plan to push the game with additional marketing.
What do you make of Nokia's first two devices - the Lumia 800 in particular? Will it change Windows Phone's standing in the market?The Lumia 800 looks like a very solid device technically and in terms of design. Nokia coming to WP7 is a very good thing for the platform.
How do you think Mango compares to the likes of iOS 5 or Ice Cream Sandwich?Comparing the operating systems is a tricky thing. Ultimately it comes down to apps, and iOS is still the leader in terms of choice and quality.
WP7 does have a lot more of a user centric approach compared to both iOS and Android, which for some people is probably 80 percent of the usage of their phone - email, messaging, contacts and Facebook.
Is there anything missing from Mango from a game development perspective?As a developer and a programmer, the biggest let down with WP7 has to be the lack of programmable shaders.
I understand why Microsoft has gone for a limited approach - in terms of guaranteeing good support and hopefully performance across a varied set of graphics hardware - but there are some nice WP7-based devices that we can’t actually exploit the graphics power of.
This is something it can gradually improve by handing more control to developers.
Thanks to Simon for his time.
You can find out more about Four Door Lemon on the studio's website.
