So, I’m developing on the iPad 1 and we all know how limiting the fillrates are, especially for 2D-style games with transparency. I’m trying to decide if targeting the iPad 2 exclusively is a smart idea. I plan to release the game in 1 year’s time, so by then I’m hoping the install base of iPad 2 will be quite large.
I’d like to hear from folks that have real-world experience. How much better is the iPad 2 for fill-rate performance over iPad 1? If it’s only marginally better, then I think I ought to dumb the game down for the iPad 1. If it’s significantly better (2x or more), then I ought to target iPad 2 exclusively and add a lot of bells and whistles.
Please share your experiences here. When it comes to making iPad-only apps (no iPhone), what are you guys targeting? What are your thoughts on the potential long-term install base of iPad 2? Will loss of iPad 1 customers be a major financial consideration in 1 year’s time?
I haven’t tested, but fillrate supposedly is A LOT better, something like x5 of the original ipad (I’m talking about the fillrate only, not overall performance).
If your game is a year away, targeting ipad 2 makes sense if you ask me. By then ipad 3 could be out, so you would be targeting the last two generations of a product, which is fine IMO.
Yeah, fillrate is what I’m most plagued by. Well… that and projectors and render to texture. A single projector with a single render to texture is taking me down from 58 fps to 15 fps! Madness! But this projector is critical to my game.
Edit: actually come to think of it, its more like a pc from circa 2004. I don’t think you should worry… this addresses fill rate quite a bit.
To optimise projectors consider using a dummy object under it, for it - as it redraws every mesh it comes into contact with. Must be some optimisations. Render to texture is not that slow for smaller textures though.