noobtuts

Platforms

Foreword

A Game's success is not just about how fun it is, it's also about the Platforms that we release it on. In this article we will talk about the most common Platforms, how to develope games on them and which platform(s) to choose.

The reason that this article was written at all is that we can't just make a C++ game on Windows and then release it for Android, Playstation and XBox without solving several major problems.
Even if two platforms support the same Programming Language, it still doesn't mean that we can release the game on both platforms without major changes in the code.

Platforms: Computers

Windows

Mac

Linux

Computer games are easy to develop, and when releasing them on Steam they can be a financial success (even though getting accepted on Steam can be hard).

Platforms: Phones

Android

iPhone (iOS)

Windows Phone

Publishing your Game on a Phone might sound complicated first, but it's easier than you might think. There are still certain problems that need to be solved, but in general everyone can do it if he doesn't give up along the way.

Platforms: Consoles

Playstation 3

Gamecube

XBox 360

Wii

Consoles games can be a pain to make. It takes a lot of money, you have to learn a lot about the Hardware and the specific development kits, and you have to be lucky enough to be accepted by some company. But if you did, chances are high that your game will be a success. Pirating never was much of an option for consoles and the players are willing to spend 60$ just for a single game. Multiply this by a few million, and you will soon realize why people develope console games.

Are there easy ways to release for all Platforms?

If we don't want to develope the same game over and over again for each different platform, there is a workaround: the major Game Engines (like Unity3D) can deploy to all kinds of platforms with just one click. Even though there could easily be several thousands of dollars for licensing costs, it still saves months of time.

Other than that, it's really hard to port an existing game from one platform to the other. Usually it needs a completely different Programming Language, Hardware and Framework.

Summary

If you like the idea of publishing your game on all kinds of platforms, a good idea is to start with the major Computer Platforms like Windows, Mac and Linux. If you learned all about that, try to make a Phone game. Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City have already proven that our Phones are capable of a whole lot of cool things. Once you are not scared of new Platforms anymore, Consoles are the last big obstacle.

We were mostly talking about difficulties and money, but also the gaming experience is different on each platform. Playing a racing game on your favourite console can be a nice experience: just put in the disk, grab your controller and start right away. On Windows this can be very stressful sometimes: you need to install the game, you need proper Hardware and besides that, playing a racing game with a keyboard isn't much fun at all.