When Apple first announced to openly accept applications from developers, the prerequisite for the developer is a somewhat extensive knowledge in a language called “Objective-C.”  For a short while, it would seem as though the developers who could produce Objective-C codes were superstars that also came with a superstar price tag.  Such stardom, however, did not last.  When PhoneGap was introduced as an open source development tool for iPhone via JavaScript, the web development community devoured it like salmon to a hungry bear.  Shortly after PhoneGap’s success, Mono framework was released in the commercial sector that provided the necessary development tools to the vast number of C# developers across multiple platforms.  And to unhinge the final bar from the floodgates, Adobe has just announced that the next release of Flash is capable of compiling a flash project directly into native iPhone application.  Simply put, a project can go from design to finish without even being touched by a developer.

The implication for this phenomenon is a curious one: how will Apple respond to the rush of new applications when the floodgates are finally open?  Will Apple still be able to keep its manual review process intact?  When the market is saturated with developers and applications, will Apple be able to to maintain iTunes exclusive distribution channel and continue to motivate merchants to participate?

How all of this will affect Apple or iPhone developers is yet to be seen.  However, one thing that seems to be true is that when given enough demands, people will find ways to liberate a technology regardless of how businesses are structured around it.

Basically, we changed out some hair and skin tones, hairstyle, accessories. But I am still floored by the fact that the application was rejected the first time around. Apple claims that I am ridiculing public figures. However, I can just as easily say that blond guy is Eminem. But Eminem is also a public figure… does it make it OK? If people can get offended by a cartoon that looks like Obama smiling, couldn’t there also be people offended by a grinning cartoon of Eminem?

The irony is that the figure in the screenshot is NOT Eminem. What I am trying to point out is that these avatars can really look like anyone you want them to. If we are not able to depiction of certain public figures in the game, then no game is safe from displaying anything that resembles human. Doesn’t it sound crazy to you? It does to me.

No one will argue that last presidential election is historically insignificant. In many different ways, the entire election campaign, from the primary to the final election result, has meant something special to most of us. In honoring this special occasion, we at RightSprite decided to create a commemorative iPhone game that is both family friendly and light-hearted.

We’ve selected one of the most popular genres — match three puzzle — and gave it an election theme. Instead of matching 3 jewels in a row, you would match 3 voters of the same face to get the points. You are able to select an avatar and you will share the same board as the computer component. Now, we are fairly cognizant of the fact that some people may feel more sensitive about the topic, so we deliberately made cartoon versions of the candidates and removed the names. We balanced gender by having 2 male and 2 female candidates. We also made sure that there are two “blue” avatars for the Democrat party and two “red” avatars for the Republican party. Finally, in lieu of catching all the election hype and try to cash in on it, we decided that we would launch the game after the election is over and make it free.

We submitted the app last week, and last night we got a courteous reject email from Apple. Why? According to Apple, our application contains “obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple’s reasonable judgement may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users.” To fix this issue, Apple suggested that we should “remove the caricatures of public figures from the application.”

After taking all the precautions, my initial reaction was that I found this to be exceedingly offensive. Other than the game is loosely themed politically, there isn’t an objectionable thing the application I can think of. Would it have been less of a caricature if we had used real photos? I think not. And, what if we had accessorized the candidates with glasses or mustaches? Would that have been any more respectful?

There is no doubt that the when players pick up this game, they will immediately make that association between the avatars in the game and the current events. Indeed, this is what we intended to do as the game itself is a commemorative piece. Without the avatars, the application is really nothing more than a mediocre rehash of a match three game.

Many of us have heard about and read the horror stories about submitting applications to Apple. We had up to this point been blissfully unscathed by the Apple AppPolice. Our streak has now run out and we have our own cautionary tale for other developers out there. Hopefully you’ll sense Apple’s logic in the censoring of our caricatures and be able to avoid making our mistake in your own apps. In the meantime, we’re back to the drawing board and we will keep you posted. Comments welcome.

The concept of Campaign Trail came from a popular game Puzzle Quest. Campaign Trail utilizes a very familiar “match-3-symbols-in-a-row” type gameplay. The “symbols” in Campaign Trail are voters. However, instead of a solo gameplay, You may choose to be a “blue candidate” or a “red candidate.” Campaign Trail will pitch you against a computer opponent through 50 increasingly difficult levels. I am not going to give away all the surprises here, but there are additional elements imbued into the game to boost its strategic depth.

Campaign Trail is scheduled to be released at right around the election day. Even if you are not into politics, you should enjoy the familiar gameplay with the added twists. Pick up a copy when it’s released and check it out for yourself!