"If smartphone games are designed to be played whilst waiting for a coffee, smartwatch games should be designed to be played in an elevator ride."
- Game designer Will Luton outlines new constraints for a nascent game platform: the smartwatch.
What does it take to make a satisfying smartwatch game?
Multiple game developers shared their thoughts on the subject with The Guardian for an article examining the Apple Watch's potential as a games platform, published today ahead of an Apple press event showcasing the device.
Apple's event held a few other points of interest for developers, including a new MacBook laptop that's lighter than the company's MacBook Air with a 12-inch, 2304 x 1440 screen. Apple's MacBook Air and MacBook Pro product lines have also been revamped with upgraded CPUs and faster memory.
But the centerpiece was the Apple Watch, which was given a release date (April 24th) and a price range ($350 - $17,000) but not much in the way of explanation about how games can/should be made to take advantage of the device.
Some practical guidance can be gleaned from Apple's WatchKit page, which offers developers design and development resources for building Apple Watch apps.
And with numberous Android smartwatches already on the market, developers are already evaluating how to build games that best take advantage of the hardware.
"I do actually think there are some great possibilities for 'persistent games' - games that you are playing all the time, alone or with friends," QWOP creator Bennett Foddy told The Guardian. "The depth won't come from the software itself, but from the way that it fits in with your everyday life."
Check out the full article over on The Guardian's website for more insight from Foddy, Luton and other game designers.