Hi Michael,
Its really quite simple. Attempting to support more than one platform or
technology requires lots of time, money, and isn't easy to do. Even
though languages and technologies such as Java and Python have been
developed to help aid in cross-platform development there is no one size
fits all solution because there are just too many differences to make
cross-platform development practical.
For example, for quite a while now I've been looking into targeting Mac
and Linux as well as Windows. Unfortunately, there are no common APIs
exactly like DirectX. There is SDL, SFML, OpenAL, etc which are
certainly cross-platform and could theoretically be used instead of
DirectX. However, the downside is that most cross-platform solutions
lack features found in a commercial API like DirectX and the game will
suffer because of it. Here is a case in point.
Let's assume I decided to write USA Raceway in C++, use SDL, andmake it
cross-platform. Thanks to SDL and OpenAL I could port the game to Mac,
Linux, and Windows, but there are some features you wouldn't get in the
process.
One disadvantage would be support for some gaming devices. SDL 1.2.13
does not support special devices like force feedback racing wheels. As a
result a feature I could have with a game using DirectX wouldn't be
possible using a cross-platform API like SDL.
Another reason some games aren't ported to more than one platform is
simply cost. In order to write games for gaming consoles like the Play
Station, Wii, XBox, etc a company has to pay royalty fees for the use of
the console as well as pay for proprietary development kits. This
obviously gets expensive and not everyone, including mainstream game
companies, can afford to do this for each and every game they develop.
Finally, there is the issue of proprietary technologies that are simply
incompatible with everything else. Apple is bad about this, because most
of the software for Mac OS and iOS is written in a proprietary language
called Object C. So if you write a game for an iOS device in Object C
you can't just take the source and recompile it for Android. No, a
developer has to completely rewrite the app from scratch which just
isn't worth it.
As to why the XBox or Play Station doesn't have a screen reader built in
I think you already know the answer to that question. Its not
financially in the companies interests to do it. Same could be said for
microwaves, DVD players, and probably a thousand other things we own and
use on a daily basis. We are too small a market to interest companies in
improving accessibility of their products, and companies aren't in the
habit of doing things like that for cherity.
Cheers!
On 3/14/2012 9:49 AM, Michael Gauler wrote:
If the desktop computer is not the all in one package, why do I hear
people saying that the IPhone or other mobile devices are the all in
one package, when it is obviously not true?
And, if consoles like the play station 3 are running their own
operating system with internet access and such, then there would be
the question why theese parts of their interfaces don't have their own
build in accessibility features.
And what I also don't get is, why developers, be they mainstream or
audio game ones do limit themselves to one market segment.
It is true that devices like the IPhone are growing in popularity even
for blind users.
And because of this we have some accessible games for the blind for
such devices, like Papa Sangre.
But What I don't get is, why there isn't a version of Papa Sangre for
Mac OS X, which is like IOS and shares several components with it.
Or there could be a version for Windows or Linux.
And from a capitalistic point of view, it wouldn't be a bad idea to
target several platforms together to gain maximum profit.
That's why I never got why several PS2 and PS1 games like all God of
War, Darkstalkers or Naruto games were never released for the PC.
In the times the first titles of each series were released, there was
no IPhone and computers (namely desktop computers) were still more
like the all in one device and had a bigger market.
It also doesn't explain, why severa l console games do have expansions
or extra content available via some download service, while several
old and new PC games don't have such features.
And then there is the case of games like Lara Croft and the Guardian
of Light where we have a massive content difference between platforms...
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