New games should be more portable (Full Version)

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LarkinVB -> New games should be more portable (3/10/2004 11:04:47 AM)

Wouldn't it be nice if new releases can be played on either Windoze, Linux and/or Mac OS ? Matrixgames should consider using the portable free library SDL for game development. It seems perfectly suited for wargames. The makers of Dominions 2 do use it with success.

Here is the link



Mr.Frag -> RE: New games should be more portable (3/10/2004 4:56:07 PM)

It would be nice, but it would also drive up the cost, which means less people would buy them, which means even less companies producing wargames [:(]



Les_the_Sarge_9_1 -> RE: New games should be more portable (3/10/2004 5:09:11 PM)

It would be nicer if our computers all ran on one decent system, so that joe over worked software maker didn't have to even need to worry that his program might not run in the first place.

I won't be holding my breath for unification of OS or hardware though. Because it is human nature to assume "I can do it better than the other guy".

So, until then, you might as well just get used to making your best choice, and hope it was a good one.



LarkinVB -> RE: New games should be more portable (3/10/2004 5:59:50 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Mr.Frag

It would be nice, but it would also drive up the cost, which means less people would buy them, which means even less companies producing wargames [:(]


Why will it drive up the cost ? Using a good games library can speed up development significantly. Its much easier to use than fighting with the DirectX layer. 2D wargames are perfectly suited for such a library. I used another free portable library for Titans of Steel and it was a great help. SDL seems to be stable and good enough for commercial games.



Mr.Frag -> RE: New games should be more portable (3/10/2004 8:29:09 PM)

quote:

Why will it drive up the cost ?


A lot of developers reuse code ... the first complete conversion would be a massive undertaking, as they would be starting completely from scratch with everything.



Arjuna -> RE: New games should be more portable (3/11/2004 12:50:34 AM)

Writing the code is only one aspect of development. Testing it is another very big one. For a professional premium peice of software you must do a lot of testing and ironing out the bugs so you have a stable product. Testing on multiple platforms blows out the development time. I know, because for four years we were dual Mac and PC developers. In the end we realised that we could earn so much more just developing for 90% of the market and so we dropped the Mac. A sad day, but then the best decision we made. Unless you have 20 programmers and can afford to devote one of them to the Mac or to Linux or whatever, it's just not cost effective.

Further, I don't know specifically about the SDL library you mention. But our experience with common libraries ( and they have been around for a long time ) is that they tend to be very limiting and more problem than they are worth. Now things may have changed in that department, but I doubt it. What you so often end up is a "lowest common denominator" approach where you can't take advantage of features on one platform that are not on the others. Even if this is not the case you then have to design interface work arounds for these anyway.

Look at it this way, how many additional units would you sell if you had a Mac or Linux version? What would your return be on those additional sales and could you employ someone else for that salary? If not, forget it.



LarkinVB -> RE: New games should be more portable (3/11/2004 9:52:56 AM)

Sooner or later game devs will have to take linux into account if they still plan to do PC games. Why not start sooner. Use a good portable lib and just test/release your game on windows as long as you do not plan to port it. When you want you can do it later on a sound basis.



Marc von Martial -> RE: New games should be more portable (3/11/2004 11:45:09 AM)

Why does one have to take Linux into account, I havnīt heard itīs developing into a mainstream OS? A lot of games allready can be played under Linux, of course with some heavy fiddling involved, but hey, isnīt that what Linux is all about ;)



Mr.Frag -> RE: New games should be more portable (3/11/2004 3:24:44 PM)

quote:

Why does one have to take Linux into account, I havnīt heard itīs developing into a mainstream OS? A lot of games allready can be played under Linux, of course with some heavy fiddling involved, but hey, isnīt that what Linux is all about ;)


You know what you'll find to be funny? If you did do it for Linux, because of their superior attitude and utter contempt for that contemptable product we all know and hate called windoze, you would probably find them to be the most intolerant support hungry group there ever was, simply because they have so much higher expectations then the windows crowd [:D]

I run windows because my games require windows. It's that simple. It is not a choice. I run dos because some of my stuff requires dos. It is not a choice, it is a painful reality.



DerekP -> RE: New games should be more portable (3/11/2004 3:34:38 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Mr.Frag

quote:

Why does one have to take Linux into account, I havnīt heard itīs developing into a mainstream OS? A lot of games allready can be played under Linux, of course with some heavy fiddling involved, but hey, isnīt that what Linux is all about ;)


You know what you'll find to be funny? If you did do it for Linux, because of their superior attitude and utter contempt for that contemptable product we all know and hate called windoze, you would probably find them to be the most intolerant support hungry group there ever was, simply because they have so much higher expectations then the windows crowd [:D]

I run windows because my games require windows. It's that simple. It is not a choice. I run dos because some of my stuff requires dos. It is not a choice, it is a painful reality.


I refuse to believe that there is a more intolerant support hungry group with higher expectations than computer wargamers[:D]

Except perhaps computer wargamers running Linux[:D][:D]



Les_the_Sarge_9_1 -> RE: New games should be more portable (3/11/2004 4:10:07 PM)

I agree with Frag. I have Windows not by choice, but because no matter what glowing comments come out of Linux, it is still not the OS people are using.

Consider Windows to be the infernal combustion engine of the computer world and Linux to be a lot better power source. Only problem is, no one is making the switch, and no one is epecting to make the switch any time soon.
So you joe schmuck user are not really in much of a position to choose.

We hear "oh a lot of businesses are making the switch to Linux". Hmm that's nice, I am not a business though, nor is any of the computer world I relate to.



Marc von Martial -> RE: New games should be more portable (3/11/2004 6:14:04 PM)

quote:

We hear "oh a lot of businesses are making the switch to Linux". Hmm that's nice, I am not a business though, nor is any of the computer world I relate to.


I know of a couple that switch back [;)]



LarkinVB -> RE: New games should be more portable (3/12/2004 10:18:24 AM)

My suggestion was not about the old OS war, it was about improving portability. If the Dominion 2 boys can make it I guess Matrixgames inhouse devs can too. How about this : Using SDL, supporting only the Windows version of the game but adding an officially unsupported MAC and Linux version for free ? Guess it will add a lot of new members to the forum list [:)].



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