Quote: Original post by XDigital
Hmm, it would be great if the contest is platform independant. It is so very much more fun, to work with Ubuntu than with Windows. And wouldn't it be good to push the amateurs and semi pros into a cross platform direction, rather than stick on one OS? Mind, if your code compiles on Win, Linux, MacOSX, PS2 or even Wii. Yes - thats it! I want to see my game in the virtual console, sharing it with millions of other users around the WWWii.
Just some thoughts...
Rgds
XDigital.

Or get bonus points if it does. I know for my efforts on 4E5, I actually wrote it on Linux (Debian though) in C# and then occasionally compiled it on Windows to make sure everything worked properly. Though, bonus points for making it cross platform does punish those who write Windows-only (which is still a HUGE section of the market).

Actually, having translation friendly is another thing I think should be important part. :)

Though, finishing is probably more of a goal for me at this point. :D

Why should you get a bonus for having a game which works in linux? Does it make it more fun, or a better game? Unless a judge is a linux zealot there is no advantage as far as he's concerned. It might be nice for you as a linux fan to be able to make a linux game, but you immediately run into the problem that the majority of game players don't have or want Linux.

If you want a cross-platform game, why not make a browser-based game?

He didn't say linux, he said cross-platform, as in runs on (almost) anything. wxWidgets (or gtk+), openGL, and openAL and you've got a program that you can compile to pretty much any architecture/os. Prime examples of recent commercial games that do this are Quake4, Unreal Tournament 2004, Unreal Tournament 3, Neverwinter Nights, Tribes 2, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, etc...

I think that's a wonderful idea! Who in game development WOULDN'T want to increase the number of machines their game can run on.(Except Electronic Arts, but then again they still have problems supporting windows....) I agree though that gamedev.net has far more windows than linux developers, so we can't really expect the contest to require this, though It would be cool if you could get some "bonus points" for doing so, and it would be nice for once to be able to run the submissions without putting them through WINE or vmWare.

I'll consider adding it as a factor to the 'technical' category of an entry's score, but tbh I'm not terribly keen on it. I'd rather people were focusing on actual game tech, rather than juggling platforms.

Quote: Original post by Raptor85
I think that's a wonderful idea! Who in game development WOULDN'T want to increase the number of machines their game can run on.

All the people who want to make money out of it? All the people who don't give a damn about Linux/OSX/other minority systems?
Making a multi-platform game takes more coding time (a lot more if you aren't used to it) and probably quite a lot more testing time. Plus you are restricted in the technologies you can use. If you're after money and it takes 20% more man-hours to get a stable multi-platform game, you need to sell 20% more copies. And that's unlikely.
I strongly disagree with any points being awarded for multi-platform support.

Quote: Original post by d000hg

Quote: Original post by Raptor85
I think that's a wonderful idea! Who in game development WOULDN'T want to increase the number of machines their game can run on.

All the people who want to make money out of it? All the people who don't give a damn about Linux/OSX/other minority systems?
Making a multi-platform game takes more coding time (a lot more if you aren't used to it) and probably quite a lot more testing time. Plus you are restricted in the technologies you can use. If you're after money and it takes 20% more man-hours to get a stable multi-platform game, you need to sell 20% more copies. And that's unlikely.

While I can concede it may be a bit more difficult to design for multiple platforms, I know from my projects that planning for cross-platform development helped me choose a better architecture to begin with, saving me development time. Plus if someone were thinking of selling an indie game, I'd very strongly consider aiming for Mac OS X at least (as well as Windows); the sales figures I've seen suggest that the indie market is very strong on the Mac platform.

That all being said, I don't think there should be extra points awarded for multi-platform support, partly because it doesn't seem to be the focus of the competition and partly because it will be a royal pain for the judges. Although if I were to enter something this time round I'm almost certain to make whatever I do cross-platform or Flash based; I'm developing more on the Mac these days so I'd have to port across to Windows for judging.

Keep us posted on any developments with the contest, Richard; I'm eager on seeing the theme for this year!

There are a ton of libraries and ways of doing cross-platform. SDL, Flash, Silverlight/Moonlight, FreeGlut, C#/VB.NET (Tao for example), browser games, Java, etc. The main reason I suggested it was because I'm in a Mac shop and have been for two decades. My boss and half the office are Mac obsessive and about a third of the office is a Linux zealot. Interestingly, not me, but I think that it is a honorable goal to actually try getting good quality games on those platforms.

http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php
http://carlj.wordpress.com/2007/09/02/linux-surpasses-windows-in-pc-market-share/ (great sarcasm on this one, I thought it was funny)

According to that page, Windows still has the 90+% of market share and frankly it is smart to program for Windows. That is one reason I think this contest should always require it to be run on Windows (or whatever has 80% of the market share), but at least a nod toward those who want to encourage other platforms would be nice. Even if it is 0.1% of a point. I also know that it is much harder to test Mac and Linux, and it may not be feasible to test.

I consider the efforts for cross platform in the same boat as having an installer (instead of a zipped folder), an uninstaller, and localization. They are nice little details and could be considered best practices for games.

I'm going to enter regardless. :) Still working on my CuteGod game, just had to finish upgrading my MythTV boxes and write a few short stories. This year, at least, I'm limiting my novel writing to November for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo, 50k words in 30 days *fun*).

Quote: Original post by superpig
I'll consider adding it as a factor to the 'technical' category of an entry's score, but tbh I'm not terribly keen on it. I'd rather people were focusing on actual game tech, rather than juggling platforms.

I am really against adding this to the technical category. I mean if you get bonus marks for cross platform, then it would only be fair to get bonus points supporting additional rendersystems DX9+DX10 (even with the low deployment of DX10 hardware it is still a larger market than Mac/Linux currently), also building into Vista's game interface (again a larger audience than Mac/Linux), etc.

With a deadline of only months any focus on cross platform development completely wastes time that can be spent on the actual game, in order to support non-gaming platforms. Although I have a bias because I like seeing really good games rather than half done buggy cross platform ones.

Mmm. After considering this further, I'm not going to grant any extra points for being cross-platform, as it's unfair to people who only have access to a single platform for testing.

What I will look into is whether it's feasible to allow entries that run exclusively on platforms other than Windows (i.e. native Mac or Linux entries)...

Will game's be required to run on Windows Vista? Or XP? Or both?

I personally wouldn't be able to join if we had to be multi platform supported (Unless it's a Windows platform.)