Is PlayN on iOS possible without licensing MonoTouch?

Question

Following the instructions on the PlayN wiki I was able to get the "hello" PlayN sample running on the iOS simulator. However, when using MonoStudio, I was told that I need to upgrade to an Indie license or higher to compile the code. (Apparently I was using 33+ features which required it.) When I activated a trial edition, the sample compiled and ran fine on the simulator.

The PlayN wiki seems to indicate the you'd only need a license if you plan on testing on a real device. Is it wrong or am I missing something?

Also, I thought the idea behind PlayN was to build a free, open source game engine on top of free, open-source technology. Mono is both, but MonoTouch is neither. Is there another option or am I stuck with shelling out $1000/year to use iOS (which so far seems far from fully implemented on the PlayN side of things)?

Answer 1

Right now, there isn't. Sorry its disappointing, but its the nature of iOS. Its a very non-free platform.

Perhaps you can try your hands at writing a cross compiler, and release it under an opensource license? You can try basing it on http://gcc.gnu.org/java/.