I found probably four forum sections that related to this question, but I guess that's when you realize you're a game programmer. Since I'm new, but with a target in mind, I thought I'd just throw the question here.

I am a professional software engineer. I'm interested in doing side work for making educational games (elementary/middle target). Although I'm used to the PC, I'm wondering about if iOS is a better target.

The variables I'm interested in is a good user base of those who may want educational apps, is profitable, and doesn't require too much of a budget to get apps visible to users.

My technical experience is fine, though it's mostly in the PC area: The 3 C's, little Obj-C on my Mac, and not just to be a C-family fan, VB.NET. My game programming experience is low, but I'm thinking UI-based games in the beginning since I'm more used to event-driven GUI software.

So, with all of that in mind, are educational (serious) games better for iOS or PC?

Grazie.

I found probably four forum sections that related to this question, but I guess that's when you realize you're a game programmer. Since I'm new, but with a target in mind, I thought I'd just throw the question here.

I am a professional software engineer. I'm interested in doing side work for making educational games. Although I'm used to the PC, I'm wondering about if iOS is a better target.

The variables I'm interested in is a good user base of those who may want educational apps, is profitable, and doesn't require too much of a budget to get apps visible to users.

My technical experience is fine, though it's mostly in the PC area: The 3 C's, little Obj-C on my Mac, and not just to be a C-family fan, VB.NET.

Grazie.

It depends somewhat on what your demographic is (for example, I see the iPhone as a stronger platform for very young children, IME). The question is, why not do both? There's a plethora of game engines that make cross-platform development fairly easy. See cocos2d, for example

Thanks. I'm aware of tools and their pros/cons, but yes, demographics is what I'm wondering on. I didn't think of my niece. She's 5, and the apps helped her tremendously on iOS.

Yeah, I can myself porting. I can see myself prototyping a game on PC before I port it elsewhere. Are PCs good platforms for small educational games though? I went to Steam, a popular gaming site, and I didn't see much on education there. That's why I'm wondering if mobile is a better primary target.

Thanks. I'm aware of tools and their pros/cons, but yes, demographics is what I'm wondering on. I didn't think of my niece. She's 5, and the apps helped her tremendously on iOS.

Yeah, I can myself porting. I can see myself prototyping a game on PC before I port it elsewhere. Are PCs good platforms for small educational games though? I went to Steam, a popular gaming site, and I didn't see much on education there. That's why I'm wondering if mobile is a better primary target.

Probably. I'm not an expert on modern educational games, but my 3-year-old nephew absolutely adores his iPad. Cross-platform development these days though, particularly in a low-complexity space like education games, is practically free. That's free, free in time, and free in effort. You get a much larger set of platforms to pick from too, like Android, Mac (which I assume still has a large presence in public education sectors), and Windows Phones.

I'd say the correct question to ask when you're worried about market penetration these days isn't "what platform should I develop for?" so much as "how can I develop simultaneously for as many platforms as possible?"

I see your point, thanks. I'll go that approach.

1. I found probably four forum sections that related to this question,
2. I'm interested in doing side work for making educational games (elementary/middle target).
3. The variables I'm interested in is a good user base of those who may want educational apps, is profitable, and doesn't require too much of a budget to get apps visible to users.
4. are educational (serious) games better for iOS or PC?
5. I went to Steam, a popular gaming site, and I didn't see much on education there. That's why I'm wondering if mobile is a better primary target.

1. I see this as a business question, so I moved it to Business. Certainly not a beginner question like "which language should I learn" or "what do squiggly-brackets do".
2. Okay. We'll come back to that.
3. There are two audiences: parents and schools.
4. A lot of schools are trying to adopt tablets, particularly the Los Angeles school system - but they're not there yet. Haven't figured out the problems of breakage, loss, and controlling internet access. Desktops don't wander off and get lost, don't get dropped, and can't be handed to a geek to jailbreak. But tablets are more attractive. As the previous poster said, develop for both.
5. That's probably the wrong delivery platform. Have you researched education games and where schools and parents find them?

@Tom: Thanks for the thoughts, and I agree this is more business-oriented. Among other classrooms with observing and volunteering, I was observing a special education room, and they used a few desktop computers to play small flash serious games, which were free to play on a single site. There was one professional software they used for improving social behaviors, and it most likely had a large budget. I agree tablets are still getting there, but it's difficult price-wise and possibly fragileness. At certain times, we would hand out tablets or small laptops to learn Spanish, journaling, etc. At the end, from my own experience, I see both being used. It increasingly sounds ideal to reach both ends.

That's a good point about if the tearget is teachers or schools. My focus is parents for now.

I think the tablet would be best, as many schools are doing that "Bring your Own Technology" and are using tablets a lot. Also, the form factor of a tablet is a lot easier to use for children. The Nabi is a very nice tablet to develop for too(it is sorta gaining popularity), and I have bought one for a little girl also.

Btw, I wish there were more educational apps for adults on IOS.

Quick aside here, "Serious game" is a term that may not mean exactly the same thing as what you're setting out to do (especially if you're going for kindergarden / elementary school).

Based on the title, I was going to say PC, because they're likely to be present in offices where an exercise in Serious Gaming is likely to happen. That being said, for children, I'm afraid I don't have much to contribute to this discussion save for the fact that I've seen and worked on a number of iOS apps aimed at toddlers and pre-schoolers.

The likelyhood that parents have such devices to share with their children has increase dramatically, and kids tend to adapt very easily to the controls of a "tap" interface, moreso than a keyboard and mouse (adults that have grown without tend to be much more proficient with keyboard and mouse, as funny as that may be).

I found probably four forum sections that related to this question, but I guess that's when you realize you're a game programmer. Since I'm new, but with a target in mind, I thought I'd just throw the question here.

I am a professional software engineer. I'm interested in doing side work for making educational games (elementary/middle target). Although I'm used to the PC, I'm wondering about if iOS is a better target.

The variables I'm interested in is a good user base of those who may want educational apps, is profitable, and doesn't require too much of a budget to get apps visible to users.

My technical experience is fine, though it's mostly in the PC area: The 3 C's, little Obj-C on my Mac, and not just to be a C-family fan, VB.NET. My game programming experience is low, but I'm thinking UI-based games in the beginning since I'm more used to event-driven GUI software.

So, with all of that in mind, are educational (serious) games better for iOS or PC?

Grazie.

Not sure whether i'm late to the post. But oh well, i might as well give my opinion. Most libraries now a day are cross-platform supportive as a few members mention (skimmed through the thread)! A great library in which i used before some very simple and i mean very simple logic is, LibGDX. This library allows you to create a game application an in the ending results, offers a source code for multiple platforms : Android, iOS, HTML, and Desktop. However, since your more familiar with C languages (the C families) then maybe try Mono for C# and i think C++! Mono is also a cross-platform game engine ! However, during my trials in c#, i never managed to indulge myself into game programming more of a GUI base. Now i'm into C++ an im looking for a game library. Personally i suggest you go with the most comfortable language you know. Search for libraries with cross-platform support. Also as for iOS, please bear in mind that there is a yearly cost of 99$ (United States) and on top of that, your application must be reviewed before submition into the App store last time i checked. However, Android simply charges a 1 time fee of 25$ which will grant you access to upload as many games as you like for that one time payment which is great. But then again the Play Store for Android has a lot of crappy games!

In my personal opinion, i suggest to go for a library that is cross pplatform which will help you knock 2 birds with one stone. Good Luck OP

PS: this is merely my opinion and my opinion alone, if you disagree then simply do so but try not to express any harsh language or tone in case you decide to reply! Good LUCK

-Jonathan