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We shipped House of the Lost in October 2012 and it was one of the first roguelikes on mobile. In 2019 it stopped working with newer version of iOS and was pulled from the store. This post is the story of rebuilding it for modern devices and shipping it again last week.

TLDR: Game preservation takes work, whether by the original dev or the community at large. Mobile is a somewhat special case because most people don't collect old hardware at certain OS versions that can run older games so the code has to be kept up to date. Most of the games that have been removed over the years won't get the rebuild treatment. Mine only did because I couldn't let it go.

Except that there is no problem. I have an iPhone 4 as does my wife and I can cover the WHOLE metal band with my hands and not drop any bars. It's mass hysteria and whining. Get over it.

I'll get down-voted for this but oh well.

Who cares? If you don't like the rules then just leave, go to Android, or Windows Mobile, or whatever but don't write some post about how it's a travesty like it's going to change Apple's mind. Just leave, and stop whining about it.

Because it's not going to work.

A Marco.org Reality Check

"There would almost definitely be a Verizon Wireless logo somewhere on the iPhone’s case, probably on both the front and back. There may be separate Verizon music, video, and app store icons that you can’t delete. At least one major feature may be disabled at Verizon’s request — say, turn-by-turn navigation — because they want to sell you their own version for an additional monthly fee. Verizon may want a cut of any iTunes or App Store revenue from on-device purchases, the cost of which Apple would probably happily pass along to either users or developers. (My guess: Developers.)"

Apple wouldn't ever let Verizon pull that crap, which is exactly why the iPhone is on AT&T now. They went to Verizon and Verizon didn't want to play ball, there is no way in hell Steve would compromise on the user experience now just to be on Verizon.

This is really interesting to see. I can't wait to see how they morphed this concept into what BioShock became.

I think they will use as much of it as possible so that app developers will be able to easily move to the AppleTV platform.

I would suspect you'll see a new remote that uses Magic Mouse like touch tech and the new development tools will make it easy separate out the visual representation from the control interface.

I would also assume that you'll be able to use an iPad/iPod/iPhone as a remote, or multiple devices for multi-player gaming.

A new AppleTV that uses iPhone OS and lets you buy apps from your TV screen as well.

Just my thought/hope.

Sorry, no. We're already so far beyond something that design that we'll never take that path.

Slates are the way forward.

Haha awesome! One of the, very few, days that one of my posts was in the top 3. Thanks, you just made my day.

"The best way to come up with startup ideas is to ask yourself the question: what do you wish someone would make for you?"

I don't believe this anymore.

After 4 years of trying to follow this advice, and building 4 different web applications that were things "I wish someone would make." I've given up on following PGs advice. Perhaps I'm an anomaly, but I'm fairly sure I'm not as there are so many startups out there that all try to solve the same handful of problems, and fail.

Most of us are developers, and we have a set number of 'tasks' that seem like they should be something you could build a business out of and so we all try to do them. Task Management, Project Management, Time Tracking, Social communication, etc. There are obviously winners in this space but they are established, and it is extremely difficult for a small group of developers to come along and decide to 'solve' one of those problems.

Maybe I'm just not interesting enough, I'll admit that is possible, but I've found much greater success by building applications that people tell me they want, and pay me to build.

I also don't have a billion dollar startup, so don't listen to me, but I couldn't let another article get by with espousing the virtues of just 'building what you like' without saying something.

</Rant>

I'm sure it's possible that there is one in the works but it is lower in priority than an iPad app. iPhone users spend more money on apps, and ebooks, than Android users. You've got to go where the money is.