A Match Made In Geek Heaven
June 22, 2007
Over at my place of work, I often receive email asking what people can do to help support the Iconfactory. I always reply that the best way is to purchase our software and to generally spread the good word about efforts to support the Macintosh and icon creation community. Since WWDC 2007 though, we’ve thought of another way that the average person could help show their love for what we do, and it doesn’t even cost a penny.
Earlier this year we released our very first game for the Macintosh platform in conjunction with ARTIS Software. Frenzic is new take on classic puzzle games like Tetris that is easy to learn and quite literally can take months to master. The game was met with positive reviews, scores of downloads and an entire roster of enthusiastic players from around the world. People agree that one of the things that makes Frenzic so fun to play is its simplicity. Stay alive as long as possible, rack up points, power-ups and lives to scratch and claw your way up the leaderboard.
It occurred to us quite early in Frenzic’s development that it would make an outstanding game for the mobile phone platform and the iPhone in particular. Simply touch the screen to place pieces in the appropriate circles, touch power-ups to activate them and try valiantly to resist addiction! Games of Frenzic typically take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes making them perfect time killers in doctor’s offices or the airport. The game is programmed entirely in Cocoa and doesn’t rely on external game engines like Open GL so it would be extremely easy to port to the iPhone.
Needless to say we did our best to pitch Frenzic to Apple at the recent WWDC Developers conference in San Fransisco, but as the saying goes, it doesn’t hurt to have some insurance. This is where you come in. Head on over to Apple.com and take a moment to let Steve and gang know you’d love to have Frenzic as a premiere game for the iPhone. If enough people write, our little game that could, just might join the historic ranks of Bejeweled and Tetris. We’d love the opportunity to bring Frenzic to an iPhone near you, and with your help, it just might happen.
June 22, 2007 at 11:30 pm
OH MY GAWD. I’ve been asking about this since I heard about the iPhone. :D A match made in Geek Heaven for sure!
June 23, 2007 at 10:50 am
Feedback sent. I hope we can get them to budge! Good luck Ged!
June 23, 2007 at 11:10 am
Thanks so much Tyler! Every single email helps, so spread the word far and wide.
June 23, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Do we get a cut of the profits? Or do you get both all of our positive feedback and all the profit from your game on millions of cellphones?
June 23, 2007 at 8:01 pm
[…] A Match Made In Geek Heaven [image] Over at my place of work, I often receive email asking what people can do to help support the Iconfactory. I […] […]
June 24, 2007 at 11:51 am
[…] of The IconFactory, Ged Maheux has laid-out his idea of a ‘match made in heaven’ and would love for your support in helping achieve it. With Frenzic’s recent release as the […]
June 24, 2007 at 12:29 pm
[…] of The IconFactory, Ged Maheux has laid-out his idea of a ‘match made in heaven’ and would love for your support in helping achieve it. With Frenzic’s recent release as the […]
June 24, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Would definitely be a great addition to the iPhone! :)
June 24, 2007 at 3:16 pm
This would be excellent! I’m right behind you guys with this idea.
June 24, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Seconded. Now off to work on it…
June 24, 2007 at 3:55 pm
[…] of it’s kind, Frenzic is really easy to learn, but really hard to advance in the ranks. A blog article caught my eye today and I wanted to share it with you. It explains how Frenzic would be a great […]
June 24, 2007 at 5:06 pm
Port it to the web – the iPhone supports ajax apps – problem solved.
June 24, 2007 at 5:34 pm
I think this would be fun as well! I’ll send.
To join with Billy, if we get it on the iPhone then will you turn it into a free product for all of us?
June 24, 2007 at 5:34 pm
Great Marketing and Branding.
June 24, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Creating an online, web-based version of Frenzic means that it’s source code would be freely visible to the public to copy, steal and redistribute. Also, do you think the games that are going to come on the iPhone are going to be Ajax? I highly doubt it.
June 24, 2007 at 5:45 pm
To those saying, do it in AJAX, we actually considered it. As Ged noted, there’s a problem with exposing intellectual property.
A bigger reason is that the game is too complex to do in Javascript. Timers, sounds and graphics would be too much for the interpreter to handle (getting it to run well in a native Cocoa environment took A LOT of work and tuning.)
-ch
June 24, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Once more the call to pen the system up is loosed!
June 24, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Do those who take the time to write, and make you a ton of a money, get a free copy?
June 24, 2007 at 8:29 pm
left feedback for apple. Good luck on getting your game installed. As an alternative, this would be good as a webapp.
June 25, 2007 at 8:37 am
Yes, this is a great game with design and usability worthy of a premier apple product. Good luck Frenzic!
June 25, 2007 at 9:04 am
This would be a FANTASTIC game on the iPhone.
June 25, 2007 at 9:06 am
[…] — not necessarily meaning that said version was ever planned. But there’s already a request to port Frenzic to the iPhone. The ball’s now in Apple’s side of the […]
June 25, 2007 at 9:13 am
This would be great! As someone who has been a confirmed non-cell user, I’ve been so pleasantly surprised at how appealing the iPhone has become, especially considering the recent announcements about the features included. Now I’m a total iPod addict and can’t wait to find out if updated iMacs are reality instead of rumor. Now bring me Frenzic on an iPhone and I think that would push me over the edge and convert me from non-cell to cell-addict too! Truly an inspired marriage of hard and soft tech.
June 25, 2007 at 9:24 am
Can’t find better marriage!
June 25, 2007 at 10:05 am
it would be awsome to have frenzic on my future iPhone…. This game is designed for a protable use. Quick, simple and addictive!!
June 25, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Yes yes yes, please please please, give us Frenzic on the iPhone. Better yet, gimme an iPhone on top of that, otherwise I would be nowhere…
June 25, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Dude, it’s Frenzic! A natural choice for sure Apple. What’s there to think about?!
Yay iPhone! Yay Iconfactory/ARTIS!
June 25, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Feedback sent. This truly is something that would be great for both companies. Fun all around!
June 25, 2007 at 5:23 pm
This game would be so cool with multitouch
June 25, 2007 at 8:09 pm
[…] Help Iconfactory, maker of the Wii Wallpaper starring me, get Frenzic on the iPhone. [Gedblog] […]
June 25, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Thanks to everyone for your wonderful comments. All of us at the factory are gratified by your outpouring of support, and appreciate it more than you realize. Gonna stop typing now before I get all weepy…
June 25, 2007 at 10:24 pm
Ged et al., I hope it goes without saying, but if you wanted to really give it that cool iPhone/Apple flair, don’t just let “tap” be the only way to put a wedge into a surrounding well. Use the iPhone’s ability to “flick” with velocity out of the center. I can just see how much fun it would be to watch people making this starburst motion on the front of their iPhones and it would seem very fluid and intuitive.
now, of course, this means apple has to “invite you in” to develop for that coveted “home” screen. maybe you can just get bought out by google? that seems to be the ticket for a home screen icon. ;-)
June 26, 2007 at 2:16 am
Hi ! Just an email to support you for your fantastic adictive game. Good luck to you and to your game frenzic, this game is just … crazy good :)
June 26, 2007 at 8:58 am
feedback sent to apple! Goodluck guys and thank you for the amazing work you do!
your biggest fan, Giulia (from Italy)
June 26, 2007 at 10:16 am
What an amazing game, it would be a fantastic selling point of the iPhone. Good Luck although I don’t think you should need it.
June 26, 2007 at 12:11 pm
I just want to add my voice to this. Frenzic is an amazing game and would love to see it on the iphone!
June 26, 2007 at 1:01 pm
[…] Maheux, Co-Founder of the Icon Factory, has sent out a plea for your help. The Icon Factory wants to see their hit Mac puzzle game, Frenzic, be available for […]
June 26, 2007 at 2:19 pm
[…] for iPhone to Apple at WWDC, but they could use a little love from you, The People! Check out this post at gedblog to learn how you can pester ask Apple to make Frenzic an iPhone app. Good luck, […]
June 26, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Frenzic+iPhone=iSuccess
June 26, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Fantastic idea. When I get an iPhone (eventually) I will make sure to wait until I can play that on it. It’s just such a good idea! Great game.
June 26, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Sorry guys but there are alot of other things the iPhone needs before frenzic. I’d like to see support for 3rd party apps still but not just so i can play frenzic.
June 27, 2007 at 12:54 am
Hey Steve,
I would like Frenzic on the iPhone. Pleeeeeeeeeease.
~Allen
June 27, 2007 at 8:55 am
Hey! It’s a perfect match!
June 27, 2007 at 10:42 am
Hell yes-please! ;-)
June 27, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Sounds teh sexy… *lick*
June 28, 2007 at 7:20 am
Even though I don’t plan on owning an iPhone, I would *love* to see Frenzic on there. It’s just such a great game to play, and would be excellent in a portable version. Ooo, iPhone for Palm OS!
June 28, 2007 at 10:29 am
I wrote a message to support Frenzic iPhone version too.
June 28, 2007 at 11:07 am
The perfect game to play on the go this has to happen
June 28, 2007 at 3:44 pm
What a great game for the iPhone. Better time killer than Bejewled even!
July 1, 2007 at 12:56 am
I love Frenzic (bought it after playing for 10 minutes). If I could get it on my iPhone the iPhone wouldn’t be just super sweet, It would be super duper sweet.
July 2, 2007 at 1:07 pm
This has to happen.
iPhone Killer App – this would take my Frenzic addiction to a new level.
July 2, 2007 at 6:56 pm
I think that frenzic would actually be BETTER on the iPhone. I find in playing it that I can’t click the right bits quickly enough, and I think pointing right at them w/ my finger would work better.
July 6, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Awesome! I would LOVE to see this on the iPhone!
July 8, 2007 at 10:25 am
[…] BTW. don’t you think that Frenzic would be a wonderful game for the iPhone? Then read this! If you haven’t done so already then download and try it on your Mac today — and then […]
July 12, 2007 at 8:38 am
I’m not a great Frenzic player, but quite like it and agree it would be a fun game for the iphone. I reckon it could be rewriten as a web app in HTML/CSS/Javascript/Quicktime. It would be intresting to know if the orginal developers have though of this option or getting someone else to do it.
July 12, 2007 at 9:52 am
Glan, check out Craig’s blog on the latest in regard to Frenzic as a web app. The bottom line is, it’s not possible.
http://furbo.org/2007/07/11/quartz-and-javascript-sitting-in-a-tree/
July 16, 2007 at 8:00 am
I am adding my voice to the people wanting Frenzic as a iPhone app. IconFactory has been coming out with the coolest desktops, icons, and apps for Macs for at least as long as I’ve been a Mac user (going on 20 years now) – the iPhone shouldn’t be an exception.
Tracey
July 19, 2007 at 8:40 pm
[…] of it’s kind, Frenzic is really easy to learn, but really hard to advance in the ranks. A blog article caught my eye today and I wanted to share it with you. It explains how Frenzic would be a great […]
October 5, 2007 at 8:03 am
[…] read more | digg story […]
October 5, 2007 at 6:07 pm
[…] be the masterful gadget it is, free from the burdens of 3rd party patches, font hacks and even awesome touch-sensitive games. Sure I’d love to be able for people to play Frenzic on the iPhone, I’ve said as […]
October 24, 2007 at 1:50 pm
[…] read more | digg story […]
October 30, 2007 at 4:27 pm
[…] would make the ideal touch-sensitive game. Grassroots all the way baby![…] Thanks to WoWKodos for providing this nice story on Digg (more than 627 […]
November 1, 2007 at 4:28 pm
[…] read more | digg story […]
December 2, 2007 at 7:51 pm
I support it!