And then you port it to the "open" platforms, and make more money. Actually I'm surprised it took so long for someone to just take a DS title's 2 screens and stack them on top of eachother for the iPhone port.
Wow... didn't mean for this thread to skew so much, but I've sure learned a lot from you guys. Thanks! So, it sounds like (although it wasn't my original question), learning a "generic" C++ development platform with openGL(ES), and then being flexible across different "closed" platforms is the best way to go if my goal is financial success. However, it comes with the caveat that one must be willing to pay the money upfront for the developer kits required for said platforms. To be honest though, my primary goal isn't to make money (although making some would certainly be nice). I'm much more of a hobbyist when it comes to making my own games, and being a "one man show" discourages me from making those upfront costs for different platform SDKs. Still, if the platform direction I mentioned above is sound, I'd be willing to "relearn" at this point and redirect my efforts.
I think you should go for iPhone if you have a mac already. XBLIG if you have the right xbox, or PC if you don't want to spend owt. Which is the usual reason people go for PC dev.
iPhone has a very easy entry point and is very well documented. You would need to be a lost cause to fail to make an iPhone game (I should know).
The most important thing to have is a good product. If you don't find success on your first platform, there's always another one to try.
Coming in late and basically agreeing with the story so far. I'd go for the iPhone as your first target, but do it in C++/OpenGL, and port to anything else that pops up. If your game does well on its initial platform(s), it gives you a foot in the door with other platform owners, which can help with those upfront costs. C/C++ is the most likely language to be supported on any platform. If you look at the smart phones, iPhone started off web-app only - 9 months later there was a native SDK. Android started off java only - 19 months later, the ndk. Palm's webOS - 8 months before they relented and offered a C compiler. Windows Phone 7 is C# only, but I'm crossing my fingers that it doesn't get the momentum they want, and they open up unmanaged code. Consoles/handhelds, it's a given.
If you're careful and write your code in C (not C++) while having C# in mind you can convert the code to C# in little time. You could even write some program/script that does the conversion .
Anyone know what the barriers to getting on DSi are like? I'm assuming you need to be Nintendo approved dev, plus buy their very expensive dev kit, plus put your game through their approval process before release etc.
Check this site. I've heard that the devkit isn't very expensive, but the requirements to get one are probably out of reach from people like you and me. Well, i know its out of reach from me at least .
Most are developers, but sometimes they are both . I get most of my input from the forums at TCE as well as sources like this article on indie vision. You will notice that the article only talks about online distribution, and for that, quotes numbers like 10K-20K as average on DsiWare. I am thinking you have to be a pretty tight and effective shop to earn real money on that. This is also why I was curious, if you were doing retail as well.
I've been given a better impression than that, but if you look at the stuff on DSi at the moment and accept an average of 15K a go I'd say it's still plenty workable for a one-mand band. You won't be seeing any averages like that on the iPhone, I can assure you of that. But yes, we're pushing for retail to make the real money. It's dangerous in that you need to do a lot of dev from your own purse to get something fit for showing a publisher, but again that's nothing new to guys round these parts. At least DSi gives you an out if you can't sell it to a publisher.
Just a sidenote ... it's 10-20k units not $ - but I have to admit, I don't know what the typical pricetag/developershares of a DSiWare game are. So it may still result in something along $10-20k.
Also keep in mind that on DSi you don't get paid until revenues reach a certain threshold (I've been told it is north of 20K EUR…?*). Edit: *reportedly a high for figure amount in NA and low four figure in other territories.
Yeah, an acquaintance of mine is in that exact position. And I think that also applies to Wiiware (or maybe it was the opposite?). It's also likely it might work different on America or Japan territories, I'm no Nintendo licensee so I don't know for sure.
Hell, I've been told that you have to sacrifice your first born, but only if it was conceived whilst a devkit was in the same room. This is why they don't want people running from back-bedroom offices. Look, if nothing else take away from this that they reckon 10K is so peanuts they can't be arsed to write the cheque? I don't know if this is fact or fiction as I'm still trying to get the legal shit rolling for my first actual try, but I suspect it's an utter crock. I'll report back if it is the case but I shall still be moving forward.