I'm glad you're making progress. THough I voted for mac compatibility I'm glad to sacrifice it for a fun and enjoyablefinished product. Keep it up.
James On 3/23/10, Thomas Ward <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Bryan, > Actually, I'd say cross-platform development of games is more a matter > of finding comprable cross-platform game programming APIs rather than > how hard or easy it is. Oh, if I want to use SDL for cross-platform > development then it is easy enough to create Mac, Linux, and Windows > games, but you lose a good deal of features available in a pro game > API like DirectX in the process. Something like SDL is for all intents > and purposes a case of choosing the lowest common denominator verses > platform specific tools and APIs that can give your game product > truly outstanding performance and special features. Mac and Linux game > APIs are a good generation behind what's available for the Windows > platform that is a huge disadvantage for those platforms. > There are commercial APIs such as FMOD Ex that closes the gap between > Windows and Mac rather nicely, but then again it is a commercial > third-party product. As I am all to aware there are licenses involved > with something like FMOD that aren't really well suited for a small > game studio like USA Games. It is expensive enough to license FMOD for > one platform, but if you license it for multiple platforms the price > goes up dramatically making it not financially feasable. There has to > be a large enough Mac or Linux market out there for accessible games > to make the use of FMOD and other commercial cross-platform APIs > finantially viable alternatives to the free native APIs. > So in the end you might have to settle on something decent like OpenAL > that is good, but not particularly over the top. However, as the past > couple of days has shown XAudio2 is emerging as a rather revolutionary > and powerful API for Windows and the XBox. So I think as XAudio2 > continues to be developed creating games with XAudio2 may offer me, > the game developer, more advanced features and render some truly > amazing audio environments. With something like OpenAL it will just > offer me somewhat basic and rather generic audio support. In a feature > by feature run down XAudio2 probably is the superior and more logical > choice for future audio games. So cross-platform games, using > cross-platform APIs, will only hold the games back from obtaining > their maximum potential. At least that's how I see things currently. > Now, I do know Draconis Entertainment is working on porting their > games to Mac, but our situations are slightly different. Currently > Draconis Entertainment's games such as Aliens in the Outback don't > require a lot of high end features. For audio basically all they need > to do is have some simple stereo panning and the ability to change the > pitch of the starships as they land. Joystick support in Aliens in the > Outback was always pretty generic so SDL probably could handle similar > joystick support as the existing game now. Basically, what I am saying > is Draconis can slide by on Mac's existing APIs because they aren't > looking for or particularly need cutting edge audio and input support > for a majority of their existing titles. > However, I'm trying to create the next generation of audio games with > highly professional 3d audio, support special game controllers, and > basically pull out all the stops. Mac APIs don't really impress me, > and aren't up to handling the kinds of games I want to begin creating > in the next couple of years. For that reason cross-platform > development isn't necessarily feasable in all cases. > > Cheers! > > On 3/20/10, Bryan Peterson <[email protected]> wrote: >> At least not right at first. Apparently there's no easy way to do this. >> Homer: Hey, uh, could you go across the street and get me a slice of >> pizza? >> Vender: No pizza. Only Khlav Kalash. > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > [email protected]. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to [email protected]. > --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
