Apple Game Engineer Job Listing Tips Tablet Focus?
Apple's gaming intent for the iPhone, iPod touch and – potentially – the upcoming Apple Tablet has been further illustrated with a new job listing on the company's site. The company is looking for a full-time "Game/Media Software Engineer" with "strong C / C++ / Objective-C / iPhone background" and a "passion" for gaming. While gaming on the iPod touch has been a strong focus in previous events – Apple describe it as "the funnest iPod ever", in fact – there's speculation that the timing of this new post might coincide with developing crossover games titles for the PA Semi powered Apple Tablet.
"The interactive media group is looking for a skilled software engineer who wants to work as part of a small highly motivated team to work on interactive multimedia experiences on the iPhone and iPod Touch. The position on the team is to help design and implement interactive multimedia experiences on the iPhone and iPod Touch. The position also requires a creative thinker who can contribute and comment on the design process as well as being flexible enough to aid in all aspects of production such as asset management and able to work to a deadline." Apple job listing
The Apple Blog are speculating that the new engineer's first task will be to develop an in-house demo of gaming on the Apple Tablet, which is assumed to be based on a custom chipset from PA Semi. That could introduce some porting issues, taking existing titles from the iPod touch and iPhone to the new, larger device, and so Apple would want to have systems in place so that game developers could do the usual "we had two weeks access to these tools, and came up with this great functioning app" demonstration.
Of course, it could merely be a sign that Apple are hoping to leverage the faster processor of the iPhone 3GS for some in-house games, but that seems somewhat unlikely. If you're a "passionate gamer", preferably with "skills in audio systems, graphics pipeline, and network programming a plus", you'll find the job listing here.