

We've had to prove a lot to both Apple and Google along the way - one that we can respond to feedback really well, and that we can commit or deliver to our commitments. "It's a lot to balance, but what we're finding with both partners is we're getting really good support - they've been incredibly helpful guiding us through the process. For the application process, "the Old-School launch taught us quite a bit there," Casey explains, but the process was still a difficult one, "as a predominantly desktop developer it was a learning experience for us, to make sure the game is fully compliant with all the developer guidelines from both Apple and Google."
#Android runescape android#
While some mobile games launch exclusive to iOS or Android, and then get launched on the other afterwards, Runescape Mobile launched on both at once (though Android had wider beta availability). Over four years later Jagex launched a few closed betas on Android, and one very limited one on iOS, in order to stress-test the servers and optimize mobile performance. "They're thinking about elements like how does somebody interact a little bit differently, what is the responsiveness and how do we cater to some of these experiences." Ward explained, "all of our content developers - they all now have mobile devices, so when they're thinking about the designs of their content, they're not just thinking about it from a point-and-click perspective. Jagex's strategy was a mix of new hires, bringing on board veterans from developers like King, and also helping the team adapt to the alternative play style of mobile. Players got to test it, and Ward explained how useful this was: "we looked at pain points, we looked at stability, and getting the one-to-one representation of our game engine running on the devices but our first objective was that we want Runescape's deep experience to exist on mobile." Casey said, "The program TeamViewer, which you can put on your iPad or your phone, lets you show your desktop - so we actually found players were using this on things like tablets to play the game."ĭevelopment on the mobile port started around 2016, and a year later the team had a prototype ready that players started testing, showing it off publicly for the first time at the annual Runescape convention Runefest towards the end of the year. Back when Runescape Mobile was just a twinkle in Jagex's eye, clever gamers were apparently already playing the game on tablets.
