hello, i've come to a point in my MMO design where i need to make some decisions about what platforms/OSes to support. Initially the focus was on a window's based MMO. Various team members have brought up MAC and Linux. The newest figures i can find from IDC (2002 data) show windows OSes on 93.8% of all destop computers with MAC and Linux at a couple percent each. The study also stated a declining marketshare for MAC and increasing marketshare for Linux. Finally windows total marketshare continues to grow. With that said, is it worth the extra effort to develop an MMO for either MAC and/or Linux? I'm experienced in Directx programming but have no experience with OpenGL or LibSDL. I'm not against using SDL or OpenGL but is the extra development costs worth chasing the last few percent of marketshare? Even if we used something like LibSDL, there would still be portions of the code that would need to be rewritten. Also, we would also have to provide technical support for MAC and Linux distributions once the game goes live. In a related question, what's the communities thoughts on developing an MMO for the console market. There are now roughly 80million PS2s and about 20million xboxs in use worldwide. That's alot of installed userbase. There have been very few MMOs created for consoles. People often lament about the lack of controls with a controller versus using a keyboard. Consoles games are much more of the 'twitch' variety in general. I'm not sure if console games tend to be alot more of the twitch style because that's what developers happen to develop, or if twitch style gamers tend toward consoles. I'm would imagine arguments could be made both ways. We are at a point where we need to choose an API. If we go with directx we would be bound to windows based pcs and perhaps the xbox but how hard is it to port? is it really worth designing for the xbox when it's nearing the end of its product life cycle? and would a directx9 application port well to an xbox2? The destop windows market is the predominant one for MMOs, but i don't want to design ourselves into a corner if MAC/Linux/Xbox/PS2 hold substantial market potential. I'm not looking for the canned 'windows/microsoft is evil so please develop for linux' answer. I have no love for microsoft either, but for the MMO market it's a necessary evil. I'm asking what platforms in addition to windows should i seriously consider supporting. Not in a vacuum, but in the contexts of real development/support costs against potential additional marketshare. thanks, don

ask yourself, how many commercial developers spend the effort to create a mac or linux version? not many. the reasons are as you state, increased development time and support for a reletivly small audience.

the linux user base can use transgaming version of wine which supports directx and can run many of the latest windows games already. assuming you dont attempt to use obscure win32 calls or do anything that relies on undocumented windows featurs your game should run on those linux systems.

while a native linux version is best, it is something you could consider after your intial windows release. if you keep your os spefic code away from the game core you should have little to rewrite. especially if you use SDL. or you could even just develop the game for windows and do testing using wine to ensure your game remains compatibly with what is currently implemented in wine. most linux users who play games either have a windows install for games (ie dual boo or another pc) or know how to use wine.

mac support is pointless unless you have someone who really know macs well, and could code the mac specific code for you. Though if you do plan on a make mac version you definatly should plan a linux version since you will likly being using SDL. Dont forget that macs have a different endiness so sending and recieving data from different platforms needs to be handled correct and may cause problems early in development if your not careful.

as for console support, it can be done. FFXI proves it. however it will be difficult due to needing he hardrive for ps2 (which dont work with the newer ps2s limiting you if you go ps2. Xbox has a hardrive, but its space is quite limited. It should be enough to store patches that the game might need, but you would really have to keep content patches to a min. Your model would have to really ensure that you have all content complete and bug free for release. perhaps releasing the console version after the pc might be wise. Just realise that you will have to limit the pc expierence somewhat to support consoles in the same relms as pcs users if thats your plan. You definatly will need to double the content creation (lower poly models, textures, sounds, etc for the console). much of that may be automated and then tweaked by the artist suing tools you create in house.


i would gamble that most players of mmorpgs would have pc as well as consoles. Those players would definatly purchase the game for the pc. the keyboard is very important for the social aspects. plus if your game has bugs, console gamers will not put up with it compared to pc users which are used to it.

Having a multiplatform (Windows/Linux) is not much more difficult than having a windows only version. But, of course, you can't use DX so you will need to use SDL and OpenGK, plus maybe SDL_net. And OpenAL for sound, ogg/vorbis for music...
We did it this way, and I am glad I did, since many of our developers joined the team because the game runs under Linux as well.

Bear in mind that you need to look at the number of consoles with online service, not the total units sold. Technology-wise the xbox would probably be the most likely candidate.

I think the real challenge will be to adapt game design for cross-platform controls, in this respect PC and Console versions will differ significantly, not to mention the different player types you´ll be having. Differences in gameplay might seem like a big risk, but if you look at the differences in PC and Console versions of the popular games (and well-selling in both worlds) it probably justifies at least giving it some serious thought.

Isn't it kind of hard to play an MMORPG without a keyboard and mouse? Yes, I know, there are some keybaords for consoles, but it sort of defeats the point of a console.

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Original post by Raduprv Isn't it kind of hard to play an MMORPG without a keyboard and mouse? Yes, I know, there are some keybaords for consoles, but it sort of defeats the point of a console.

I agree with this. A PC MMO involves a lot of chat between players. Not only do most consoles lack a keyboard, but text is pretty hard to read on low res tv screens. It seems like the best solution to this would be voice support, but unlike fps games we haven't seen this sort of development in the MMO space. I would probably be difficult to pull off technically. You would also need UI to support chat routing: are you talking in your guild channel, private message, general chat, etc.