Mac only game dev not just possible, but preferable?
That's the gist of an interesting interview of the two brothers behind the UK's Strange Flavour over at MacMinute. They mainly did console development, and some PC development, for Argonaut Games, but after the experience of making ToySight for Freeverse in two weeks on Macs they decided to take their hobby full time.
A highlight:
A highlight:
Quote:
MacMinute: Why not develop Windows versions of your game and exponentially increase the number of potential customers?
Aaron: Unfortunately for 50 percent (at best) more customers you get around 500 percent more support and design problems and 1000 percent more competition with way bigger budgets than you -- all fighting for a tiny little market space compared to the consoles. Apart from a few major games aimed at hardcore gamers and marketed with a huge budget, most PC games seem to end up in the bargain bin after a few weeks. Not a market we want to be in. We'd rather concentrate on Mac games development and work towards converting some of our games to consoles later on. We tend to think in terms of console game design anyway so it will hopefully be a natural progression
Adam: I have talked this out with Aaron many a time, as I have lots of PC friends myself and would like to be able to play against them in our network games. Although I usually come to my senses when I realized it would just be easier for them to get Macs (which quite a few of them have now done).
MacMinute: Why not develop Windows versions of your game and exponentially increase the number of potential customers?
Aaron: Unfortunately for 50 percent (at best) more customers you get around 500 percent more support and design problems and 1000 percent more competition with way bigger budgets than you -- all fighting for a tiny little market space compared to the consoles. Apart from a few major games aimed at hardcore gamers and marketed with a huge budget, most PC games seem to end up in the bargain bin after a few weeks. Not a market we want to be in. We'd rather concentrate on Mac games development and work towards converting some of our games to consoles later on. We tend to think in terms of console game design anyway so it will hopefully be a natural progression
Adam: I have talked this out with Aaron many a time, as I have lots of PC friends myself and would like to be able to play against them in our network games. Although I usually come to my senses when I realized it would just be easier for them to get Macs (which quite a few of them have now done).
Comments
the problem still is piracy. for a small market, the mac seems to have a large piracy problem, mostly in games.
also, many mac users simply dont by new software once they have their iMac or iBook. which is funny because so many people complain about lack of software and then no one even buys any.
I'd like to see a wider range of games. It seems we get stuck with the same type all the time.
My impression has been that, in the Mac community at least, people usually do play fair and pay for their software. But my impression is very un-scientific, so take it with a grain of salt. The only real software pirates I know are my dad, my sister and her husband -- all Windows users.
Anyway, I suppose the Mac can be a good launching pad for some game development. You have a limited pool to begin with, so your support isn't stretched and you have a closer relationship to your users. Also, it sounds like (and this point is more arguable IMO) the gist is that the system technology on Macs can be a bit ahead of what is on a console or PC, and maybe the development process itself on Macs is easier? I guess someone should tell Apple how to angle for game developers if this is all true.
maybe piracy isnt that big of a deal.
i would like to buy more games but i have been dissapointed by the options. the sims was fun for a day.... the fact that aspyr is still pumping out expansion packs for it is scary.