GDC Austin used to be all about online gaming, but 2009 has seen steady stream of iPhone publishers and developers talking about their games.

On such is casual web company PlayFirst, which has been cautiously bringing its time management brands such as Diner Dash and Cooking Dash to the App Store.

According to Gamasutra, iPhone product manager Chris Williams said it initially ported PC games to iPhone, but over time, the market has become much more sophisticated, and its games are now developed specifically for the iDevices.

Yet, even with such brands, the decision to make an iPhone game isn’t treated lightly. As well as thinking about user interface, you need to understand what the audience really wants, especially if you're bringing an existing game to iPhone. Companies also need to have a good idea of competing products.

""I am acutely aware of every casual time management game that comes out [on iPhone], I play them, and do feature comparisons," William said.

And pricing is vital.

"If you want to get into the top 10 or the top 20, you're going to be 99 cents unless you're a monster brand. But there's plenty of money to be made in the 20-60 range," he said.

"Unless you have a really powerful brand or you're going to give it away at the [99 cent] price point, you need to make it feel native to the platform. This stuff is hard to deal with if you have an existing game brand that was conceived on another platform," he explained.

Significantly, Cooking Dash was released at 99c and peaked at #2 in the US App Store.

[source: Gamasutra]