32 bit support?

[irwinbrown]

Hey all

Rumour is ios 11 won't support 32 bit apps. Say it ain't so! Is there any way to get BA and BA2 working in that world? Is there NO hope of a 64 bit update??

Jim

[JosephM]

Hello Jim,

Sorry, but for both of these games the engines themselves which the games are built on are only 32-bit engines and the engine cannot be updated to 64-bit, so if Apple stop 32-bit apps from working on the iOS then this will unfortunately end the games as well, as these cannot be updated to 64-bit without completely rebuilding the games in a new engine. At the moment there is no confirmed date when Apple will stop 32-bit apps from running, but there is talk that this may happen with iOS11 so if you still wish to play the games then you will not be able to update to this iOS. I'm sorry for this.

[boofibber]

Hello Jim,

Sorry, but for both of these games the engines themselves which the games are built on are only 32-bit engines and the engine cannot be updated to 64-bit, so if Apple stop 32-bit apps from working on the iOS then this will unfortunately end the games as well, as these cannot be updated to 64-bit without completely rebuilding the games in a new engine. At the moment there is no confirmed date when Apple will stop 32-bit apps from running, but there is talk that this may happen with iOS11 so if you still wish to play the games then you will not be able to update to this iOS. I'm sorry for this.

So with last night's announcement from Apple we know that with iOS 11 this fall 32 bit apps won't launch. This affects not only BA1 and 2, but Pike & Shot, Hell and undoubtedly other Slitherine iOS games (and in a year or so Mac games as that platform phases out 32 bit). All the statements from Slitherine on the forum about this give off a rather c'est la vie vibe, or rather c'est la guerre. I understand that the Slitherine user base is likely mostly on PC, which tends to let just about everything run that anybody wants to run in perpetuity. I also get that Apple sees 32 bit support as a bit of a ball and chain, especially with their native 64 bit APFS format and all the potential that has.

One of the reasons I've read on the forum as to why Slitherine won't update the engine is that if it will cease to be cross-platform playable. In the short term, that makes sense, but in the long term, once both iOS and Mac cease 32 bit support, there will be PC and Android only, and who knows how long Android will continue to support 32 bit. So eventually Slitherine won't need to think about cross platform support for these great games as they'll only function on PC.

All great computer games must come to an end eventually, I suppose. C'est la guerre.

[MesaDon]

Been buying games from this firm for years. 99% of the time I play on my iPad now. I have bought all the games Slitherine has released on iPad (the good, the bad, and the ugly) but now we are rewarded with no support on the 32 bit games. Cross platform isn't my big requirement. It has been apparent for quite some time that Slitherine is moving away from iOS and my purchases from them will also end. Funny thing is MANY DEVELOPERS ARE UPDATING TO 64 and some games are older than Battle Academy and some small independent developers of found the ability and resources to do so. While Slitherine does not legally have to support people who have spent hundreds of dollars on their apps and expansions (some bought just to support them in their move to iOS) morally they should. It grieves me to see them turn their back on (what will be previous) loyal customers. Sad!

[pipfromslitherine]

"While Apple does not legally have to support people who have spent hundreds of dollars on apps"...

Yes, I am being trite. The reality is that we worked very hard to allow people to play cross platform and to play their own games on any devices, and that now makes updating these apps extremely expensive and difficult. I appreciate that you are frustrated, but so are we. Apple have done this specifically to force people to update their hardware. It is hard to suggest that a company that made nearly $50B in PROFIT cannot support legacy apps in their OS.

For many developers it is a simple task to update to 64 bit, it is not for us, as we pushed very hard to fit BA and other games into iPad 1 hardware when they launched.

Cheers

Pip

[Beakie]

What Apple has done by forcing this is inexcusable but what your attitude says towards your iOS customers is maybe worse you talk about community but you abandon us when you get our money and say basically "Oh Well". Shame on you ... you have lost a loyal customer not only on iOS but on the PC too....

[boofibber]

"While Apple does not legally have to support people who have spent hundreds of dollars on apps"...

Yes, I am being trite. The reality is that we worked very hard to allow people to play cross platform and to play their own games on any devices, and that now makes updating these apps extremely expensive and difficult. I appreciate that you are frustrated, but so are we. Apple have done this specifically to force people to update their hardware. It is hard to suggest that a company that made nearly $50B in PROFIT cannot support legacy apps in their OS.

For many developers it is a simple task to update to 64 bit, it is not for us, as we pushed very hard to fit BA and other games into iPad 1 hardware when they launched.

Cheers

Pip

I'd be interested to know whether Slitherine will be doing no 64 bit iOS development for the foreseeable future, or just not for the multi-player cross platform titles. Qvadriga, for example, isn't multi-player (unfortunately ) but is 32 bit.
In other words, is it the stance of Slitherine that iOS (and next year MacOS) development for all titles will be ceased? I would just like to properly set my expectations.

For what it's worth, I think you're complaining about the size of Apple's pockets vs. Slitherine's seems petty to me. Either revenue from your iOS user base pays for your effort to develop for the platform or it doesn't. Apple is famous (or infamous) for dropping not-quite-legacy technology support throughout its history. It affects users and developers alike. But none of the users are being forced to buy new hardware or even upgrade to the latest iOS. A lot do, however, as it's that kind of user base. I tend to keep the old hardware while upgrading to the latest iOS, as is my plan for iOS 11. It will work on all but one of my devices—no new hardware purchase required. It does cost developers to develop anew, and there's the rub. Do you expect to sell enough (or have you sold enough so far) to make it worth your while? It may be therapeutic, but it's not really helpful to blame Apple and their billions.

I think Slitherine is one of the best, if not the best, historical game developer out there, and have spent more than I would on any other company's games, as it seems many of the other commenters here have. I hope in future it will be possible for Slitherine to continue developing for the platform.

[IainMcNeil]

We have no plans to support iOS in future unless using a 3rd party engine like Unity. The cost and time of jumping through continual hoops provided by Apple makes it prohibitively expensive to deal with those platforms. It's not that we don't want to support people, we simply can't afford to. We'd run the company in to the ground trying to support an OS that clearly doesn't give a damn about its developers and its something we clearly can't afford to do.

We are not the bad guys here but you have no way to direct your anger at Apple so we are your only target and I get that. Sadly we just cant do anything about it and did not create the issue.