Grand strategy on ipad

[Spartanlemur]

Having just bought an ipad 4 with retina display and bein an avid CK2 fan, I was wondering why there are so few (are there any?) grand strategy experiences on the device. While I am a devoted PC gamer, the new ipad seems powerful enough and has a high enough resolution to run some form of dumbed down PDS spinoff from EU or CK2 (CK2:dynasties? Or something along those lines). Obviously the screen is not quite big enough to run CK2, but it isn't far off. Having heard of the new tactical strategy game being published, I can't help but feel that the iOS experience is a little too dmbed down there.

Does anyone think a globe/continent-conquering CK/EU spinoff would work given the current power of high-res tablets or would it be a waste of time? Currently posting this from my iPad, unable to play CK2 because I left my clunky laptop at home, off-campus.

 

[marat271]

This discussion has been up for discussion lots of times. I will try to make a short summary of the consensus we've reached.

- The Clauswitz Engine would have to be redesigned from the ground up to even be able to run on a tablet, or a whole new engine would have to be created. This is costly and time consuming and it's not yet certain there is such a market on the tablet gaming market.
- The specs of such machines aren't up to the standards to properly run Paradox' grand-strategy games. While 4-core CPU's running at 1,6 Ghz may sound like much, you need to remember that tablet CPU's are even worse than laptop CPU's which aren't even close to desktop CPU's. No one here wants to play Crusader Kings 2 so slowly.

The two options to fix this would either be to make a tablet exclusive grand-strategy game which is expensive and time consuming to accomodate the special needs of a tablet, or require such a redesign or optimization that it's not worth it for Paradox to put in the money to develop it.
- And most people have also questioned the viability of interfaces on tablets. The interface of grand-strategy games are based on scroling, hotkeys and quick and precice clicking of individual buttons. The buttons would be too small to click easily with most peoples clunky fingers.

And in the end the problem always return to the money problems. It's an untested market for such games and most other expensive (+10 dollar) games have failed or not been profitable. And the costs to port or develop a new engine to the Ipad or Android is SUPER expensive, not a risk Paradox is willing to take.

 

[alexti]

Running strategy games may not be that far-fetched. SDL supports iOS now and one can recompile the code using gcc or LLVM. UI may require some changes to adapt to the touch-screen, but the cost of adding iPad support may not be that high for games based on those technologies. I don't know what Clauswitz Engine is using, but since native CK2 for Linux is apparently in plans, perhaps iPad support may not be that far off.

The hardest part is probably overcoming i* school of believe that all apps should cost under 10$