I was thinking more on the "HARDWARE" part of things. People won't abandon windows PC until they are given either a more convenient device (like a tablet) OR a better O.S. standard for their desktops (not very likely in the near future). Oh and I don't believe in HTML 5, but this is another debate.
HTML5 doesn't exist, they dropped the version number so that they can improve the parts that make up "HTML" faster. As for a better OS, i find Mac OS X much better than Windows and a bit better than Ubuntu (it is catching up, but still lacks on the "little details that matter" area). However i use Windows (the OS that i find worse compared to the other two major desktop systems) simply because most of the software i want to use is either exclusive or made better there. For example almost all of the games i want to play are available only for Windows or perform badly in non-Windows systems (i'm downloading Portal 2 in my iMac right now to see how badly it will perform... ). Or the Lazarus IDE for FreePascal, which i use for most of my tools these days, while is working fine doesn't get the same level of attention and polish in its Mac OS X version as the Windows and Linux version. I can use it, but it just feels better under Windows than Mac OS X. The same applies with almost all cross-platform tools actually, Cocoa is a bitch to imitate in a cross-platform way. Which basically boils down to people going wherever the apps and stuff they want to use are.
There is really no reason why your game shouldn't be ported to all possible platforms. Much easier to just port a game than to create a new game by scratch. Also helps in exposing your company/your indie brand to the people.
Is bad appreciation of the market. iPad market is petty in comparison with the PC market, and the trend show that it is fading.
Care to show this trend data please? Last I heard there are 25 million iPads in circulation with an app store button right there in your face. Which means most of those 25 million owners are probably gonna spend on apps, especially when they're dirt cheap. The fact that there are a brazillion PC's in the world means nothing at all - reaching the tiny fraction of owners who might buy your stuff is a bigger and harder problem to solve than developing the game in the first place imo., so on PC you got two jobs to do.
I agree with Applewood. There are many PCs out there, but PCs are used for more things than iPads. iPads are made for entertainment purposes (i'm including stuff like reading books, browsing the web, etc in "entertainment" here - ok, some people might use it for other more serious stuff, but i doubt there are many of these people). PCs are made for... everything. iPads have the App Store in your face (even if the App Store itself has a crappy interface... but that's another story). PCs have nothing (although this will probably change in Windows 8 but still, not everyone uses Windows 8). There are much more PC users (i'm including Mac users there), but how many of them use them for entertainment (hint: think of how many computers are used in office environments - you need to subtract those from your counting)? How many of them play games? How many of them will find games on the internet? How many of them can find your games? Now ask the same question about iPad and you'll find that the answer will be better for your games (assuming they're available for the iPad). Of course things change. The situation is like that right now, but you don't know what might happen next. Hey, i was surprised a few days ago when i installed Ubuntu 11.04 and i saw paid apps right after opening the software center - which now is placed right at the left side of the screen when the OS boots up (honestly, i wish i had a finished game right now - there are few games in there and all of them are visible... with Canonical estimating 12 million Ubuntu users that is a lot of eyeballs).
I think tablette will took over laptops, the same way laptops took over desktop. You'll still find a real computer in each house, when someone has to do some "real" work, but 98% of the time, people will use their tablette to: surf the net, read emails and use social networks, play games, watch movies, listen to music... It is so obvious. JC
I have had many users support question that turned out people were using PCs AT WORK to play Back to the question, I think until there's some GIANT like Steam, there's no risk of PC games disappearing or downloadables dying. As for what is bigger is hard to know, really. The best is to have some online game so you get both desktops and all the various tablets. As said, you can make lot of money both on iOS and on PC, though obviously I understand that people who made money in one platform (like Applewood) might be biased and say that PC is crap, and wargames should be sold for $5 but that's just his experience. The best thing is to try and find out what works better for YOU.
It's not pure bias. We've tried some limited PC stuff and it was proven crap I agree it's horses for courses and will be for a time yet. Maybe in five years Apple will be under administration and we'll all be eschewing the benefits of the all new fandangler 32x. I think the bigger point though is that whatever it is, people with little marketing skills need to get on a platform where marketing skills are not as required. I can't market for shit, I really can't. I don't even understand straight away when people give me tips on it. However I can still shift a certain number of units in a closed system like the iOS AppStore, but I wouldn't stand a chance on PC because there's no passing trade. And I do think given how often "how can I sell my game?" comes up that most guys should probably concentrate on something that has an app store button or other direct route to you store front.
Well, not to discourage or reduce your merits, but wait until your next game is NOT featured on Apple and then let me know When apple.com was still free accepting indie devs games, being featured made difference between night and day. There are plenty of threads in this forums by people asking "my game is on appstore, now what I can do to promote it?" and nothing seems to come close to a solution either...so claiming that using iOS eliminates completely the need of marketing is wrong IMHO.
Never made any such claim - read it again. EDIT: I think it's totally bogus to mention getting featured by Apple. It's admittedly a long shot and not something you should rely on, but at least it's there. Where's the "Featured on PC" screen at? Whatever is said, it has to be easier to market on a device with a shop button than one without. Anything you can say about getting eyeballs on PC is also applicable to iOS and similar. Which makes it a net win in any scenario. You seem to be one of those having success marketing on PC, so you'd probably make a killing on iOS also - these things aren't mutually exclusive.
Well so far not but I agree having a game ported on as many platform as you can is always a good strategy. To your argumentation, exactly the fact that there is ONE shop is both a strong / weak point. People have hardest time to browse itunes to find niche games. I think the niche and "long-tail" approach on iOS works less than on desktops, thought I obviously don't have enough data to know if is true or not.
Werd. You really don't want to know how rich I am right now, as you'll drop iOS like an ugly baby. So I'll keep my mouth shut * Cas * and wait for Rippers to finish my Titan Attacks iOS port.
Heh, Steam was our primary target but it came up tails during submission. Congrats on getting on it though.
This is the terrible thing about Steam - and the App Store. We remain at the utter mercy of the whimsies of some dudes. In fact everywhere there is serious money to be guaranteed. The only place left where no-one is in charge, but where the profits are so much more random, is... the desktop, internet delivered. Cas
It isn't that bad with the App store. Unless you are really looking for troubles (nudity, duplicating official apps...) it is very unlike your app will be refused. JC
Sort of. Although they did ban our entire development platform out-of-hand. Then allowed all the others back in except ours. Grr. Totally wasting my time and money. Cas
Yes, same happened to Ren'Py author. First "python apps not ok!" and now "yes, python apps are OK", but meanwhile the guy lost motivation and made an Android port. Sad that the Android market is still so bad compared to the iOS...