After the recent unwrapping of the Apple TV, Apple followed it up by calling for interested developers to build apps and games using its new operating system tagged as tvOS. However, there is a huge catch.
Along with its announcement for app developers, the Cupertino-based company also published guidelines for the apps/games' remote and controller interaction, icons, visual design, navigation and interface elements.
The "Remote and Interactions" section highlights the required differentiation between click and tap, the restriction using standard gestures when performing non-standard actions, defining new gestures in relevance to the app and the usage of the tap gesture position in facilitating navigation and gameplay when appropriate.
For visual design, Apple specifies that the user interface for the app must be optimized for a 1080p (1920 by 1080) resolution, which suggest a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9.
"All assets should be @1x," the "Visual Design" section adds.
Apple puts weight in reminding developers to make sure that the app does not require users to switch to other input devices. Much more emphasis, however, was placed in the integration of the Siri Remote's touchpad into software applications that will be developed.
