David Frampton on why Chopper 2 is different from other iOS games

There are still plenty of active one-man iPhone developers but few have proved to be as determined as David Frampton (aka Majic Software).

He released his gunship game Chopper back in July 2008, selling over 350,000 copies in the process.

Getting the sequel out has been a real labour of love, and well worth the wait. We caught up with the Kiwi to find out more about the development process, and why Chopper 2 had taken so long.

David Frampton: There have been two major changes. The first is that there are far more devices out there now, and this is showing in the sales numbers. The top apps are getting many more sales than they were in 2008.

Also, the apps at the top are there due to external marketing, through known publishers or licensing. I feel like Apple's features and general press and reviews probably had a larger affect on chart position in the past than they do now.

But many things haven't changed. It's still possible for indie developers to make a living, and still many of the same issues and quirks that existed on day one.

The larger variation of level types was a major focus. The first version mostly had missions where you picked up a bunch of civilians, and took them back to a base. Whereas Chopper 2 has a much larger variety, from defending a building from attacking enemies to escorting convoys of vehicles.

I also focused on improving the graphical variation and general feel of the game. I was aiming for a much higher level of polish, and wanted to create an immersive experience around the gameplay.

It was one of those ideas that just pops into your head, and it seemed too good to ignore. So I spent a day getting a basic version of the remote control functionality working, and was kinda blown away by how well it worked. Then the next day I took it the step further and got TV out working too.

It all worked so well, and the videos of it working on YouTube were so popular that I had to get it finished for the first release. It turned out great.

I guess I did decide to make it quite tricky. Chopper 2 is definitely not the kind of game where you can sit down and just consume it.

That isn't the kind of game I enjoy playing, and not what I set out to create. So you have to increase your skill, and it is expected that you will have multiple attempts on most levels, particularly on the harder difficulties.

There were many challenges along the way, so it's hard to narrow it down to just one. The controls, the new physics, the graphics, and the long time-frame (16 months) all stand out.

One that challenged me often through development was the changing hardware and OSs during that long timeframe.

I always imagined I would be supporting higher resolution displays at some point, but despite this, the iPad, the iPhone 4, and iOS 4 and even the 3GS all came out during development. So as these new devices were announced I had to change things to support them, which probably added a few months to development.

Without a doubt, the unique overall feel of the game. I've had some comments that various things should be more like other games, in particular the music or the graphics. But I always intended Chopper 2 to be a bit different. The music is calming to contrast with the gameplay. The deep 3D graphics contrast with the 2D game world.

I'm just really happy with how the game ended up as a whole. It is quite different to most other games, and I'm far more happy with it than anything else I've created.

The hardest part is not being able to bounce ideas off of other people. I love the variety of work, and the creative control due to working alone, but really miss just being able to throw ideas around and see how people react. There's only so much Chopper 2 talk my wife will put up with!

I will be improving Chopper 2 in the coming months, and have a ton of ideas that may or may not show up.

I still don't have any plans to expand and hire other people, but I do think this may be a possibility at some point. In the meantime I'll just keep doing what I enjoy doing and see what turns up as a result!

Thanks to David for his time.

Chopper 2 is available now for iPhone and iPad, priced £1.79 / $2.99.