Forums » iOS
VO for the Apple TV
Can VO run on an Apple TV?
The best answer I can currently give is "Sort-of".
The AppleTV's hardware, at least for recent units, is more than enough to run the game. And obviously we also have a proven "10-foot" TV-interface model we've used on Sony smartTV's and a variety of other set-top boxes in the Android world, so that side of things is also workable.
However, Apple is requiring some new-fangled development concepts for "tvOS", which is the version of iOS used by AppleTV. Specifically, they're requiring things like On-Demand Resources and App Thinning.
These are fundamentally good ideas, based around the notion of only selectively downloading whatever is "needed" to run a particular app, and minimizing the amount of downloaded content and space required on the device during initial installation and runtime.
However, they're architecturally contrary to our own self-updating (and download minimizing, and asset patching) game engine infrastructure that we've been polishing and improving for over 15 years.
So, basically, we "could" support tvOS, but as things stand right now it would be a super expensive and time consuming port to do. And, it might well make our on-going release process a nightmare (meaning it isn't just a one-time cost, but something we then have to "carry forward").
Of course, things may change, Apple's space-requirement standards may increase and may this all possible again. But as of the last time we looked into it, it just isn't worth the very complex effort for us to support one specific family of devices.
The AppleTV's hardware, at least for recent units, is more than enough to run the game. And obviously we also have a proven "10-foot" TV-interface model we've used on Sony smartTV's and a variety of other set-top boxes in the Android world, so that side of things is also workable.
However, Apple is requiring some new-fangled development concepts for "tvOS", which is the version of iOS used by AppleTV. Specifically, they're requiring things like On-Demand Resources and App Thinning.
These are fundamentally good ideas, based around the notion of only selectively downloading whatever is "needed" to run a particular app, and minimizing the amount of downloaded content and space required on the device during initial installation and runtime.
However, they're architecturally contrary to our own self-updating (and download minimizing, and asset patching) game engine infrastructure that we've been polishing and improving for over 15 years.
So, basically, we "could" support tvOS, but as things stand right now it would be a super expensive and time consuming port to do. And, it might well make our on-going release process a nightmare (meaning it isn't just a one-time cost, but something we then have to "carry forward").
Of course, things may change, Apple's space-requirement standards may increase and may this all possible again. But as of the last time we looked into it, it just isn't worth the very complex effort for us to support one specific family of devices.
and don't forget they also prefer you somehow have the game work on that weird remote of theirs!