Seven-years-in-the-making indie game The Witness released to critical acclaim on PC and PS4 recently, and it looks as though the developers plan to port the experience to iOS as soon as possible.
An immersive 3D exploration puzzler in the vein of classic mystery games like Myst, the Witness has a breathtaking scope, with hundreds of puzzles spread across a vibrant island. It’s said to have almost 100 hours of content if you want to crack every riddle. It’s fair to say if a game of this size made it to iOS, it would blow rivals like The Room out of the water.
Game designer Jonathan Blow, who has been working on the game since 2008’s hit Braid, posted an open call on Twitter for an experienced iOS developer to help port The Witness. Despite the huge exploratory scope of the game, the puzzles themselves are based on drawing lines through mazes and would seem to be the perfect fit for touchscreen gaming.
We are looking for a serious programmer to handle the bulk of the iOS port of The Witness. If interested, post on the Witness blog
— Jonathan Blow (@Jonathan_Blow) February 3, 2016
The Witness has taken over $5 million in its first week after release, so it looks like the market is there to move to mobile. The power of the latest iPhones and iPads, combined with Apple’s Metal engine, means we can expect more “console-quality” games in the coming years. The future of iOS gaming is looking pretty bright.