When Apple launched iPad, it banked on developers carrying over their best iPhone games to the device – a hope that's largely been realised.

As studios quickly discovered, however, what works on a small touchscreen doesn't necessarily befit a larger one - and, indeed, vice versa.

It's an issue 36peas founder Gareth Jenkins focused his talk at Develop Liverpool on, advising developers against a one-size-fits-all approach.

We decided to probe Jenkins further on the issue, including a look at his own problems coping with the multi-device nature of iOS.

Pocket Gamer: The main impression I got from your talk is that, even now, many developers still aren't sure what iPad represents. How much do you think the 'just a big iPhone' tag impacts on game design?

Gareth Jenkins: Being 'just a big iPhone' is a pretty accurate observation - it's the 'just' part that's a problem.

Developers have become pretty familiar with the iPhone form factor for a number of reasons. Chief amongst them is that all use them as their primary device – well, the vast majority.

This is compounded by the technical and commercial factors - those being that technically it's pretty easy to make 'bigger' versions of iPhone titles and commercially it's virtually no extra effort to publish an iPad version - or exclusive - if you're already set up for iPhone publishing.

There are number of technical subtleties as well. For example, since the introduction of retina devices, it's become even easier to make iPad native-resolution versions of iPhone titles because there will be some scaling and asset switching in place for retina/non-retina resolutions - the iPad resolution isn't the same ratio, but it's close enough and adding a third supported resolution is generally a lot easier than a second.

Note that this doesn't really apply in the general application space. UIKit provides a lot of assistance for switching assets between retina and non-retina resolution. Some game engines also do this, but it's more likely that game developers are having to tweak stuff manually.

And that's without touching on the general design issues.

Is part of iPad's problem that it's too easy to bring iPhone games across regardless of whether they're suitable or not?

I wouldn't say it has a problem - it's a very successful device and as both developer and user I think it's a very useful one. I just think we're some way from seeing its potential as a gaming device.

It'll be interesting how we start to think about it when we're using it as a thin client for games designed for other hardware – for example, the OnLive client.

I don't believe Apple should have put hurdles in the way, although that's as much my general opinion on open markets and deregulation as it is my view on the App Store. I think it could have presented things differently, though. T

he on-device iPad app store is a good example of that - it's like a crippled version of the iPhone app store.

In your talk you spoke about how going the other direction – iPad to iPhone – can cause some problems of its own in terms of adapting to the smaller screen.

The iPad gracefully facilitates interfaces that utilise different control metaphors in different parts of the screen – for example, clicking in one part, swiping in another.

Scaling that type of interface down to the iPhone can cause confusion as a lot of those things end up overlapping. It's hard enough to appropriately place a pause button on an iPhone game interface, let alone independent sets of controls.

You touched on the idea of iPad being a 'dedicated' purchase – that consumers haven't just picked one up on a cheap. So do you think it should play host to more ambitious games than iPhone?

I think it naturally does that. In fact, one of the main reasons I've enjoyed iPad versions of iPhone games is because I've dedicated more time to playing the game.

Over time I've come to think this is less about the physicality of the device and more about the user's general description of the device's utility. Great comparisons here are the DS line and PSP - both host longer-format games than the iPhone though are similar in size and portability.

There are obvious commercial restrictions and risks to bigger titles. Not necessarily a restriction for more ambitious or innovative titles though - an area in which indie game developers are leading the way.

Is the answer that games for iPhone and iPad should always be bespoke, or are there games that can launch on both platforms without suffering in some way?

I think there are plenty of titles that can launch on both without suffering, but I do think that concentrating one one device at the design stage of a game will produce better results, even when later up or down scaled to the other device.

Having gone through the process of developing an iPad-only title and now in the process of developing one that focuses on iPad but also supports iPhone, it's definitely easier to to concentrate on one. Though commercially it's a very tough decision not to support both.

From a developer's perspective, how do iPad's rivals compare?

Because the underpinning technology is so different, the device spectrum so much bigger and the commercial prospects unfounded, it's very difficult to compare.

We'll be keeping a keen eye on Amazon's efforts with the Kindle Fire, but I suspect it'll be some time before we're talking about generic tablet game design over iPad game design.
Thanks to Gareth for his time.

You can find out more about 36peas on the studio's website.