[quote=]To be honesty I find the whole argument of Porting Games to other Consoles being a huge expense to be irrelevant noways as with modern engines it has never been easier to do multi-platform development. Aside from some minor dependencies to set up (like android or linux) and many companies giving out free dev kids if you go through proper channels and procedure - the cost of porting a game to a different platform is only a drop down menu selection away (in your engine). This not including licensing or publishing expenses which would most likely be covered from your kick-starter / Early Access (which only work if you market properly).
The Main savings here are re-development / porting savings as a solo developer.
When an engine offers multi platform development right out of the box, you can switch to the Multi-platform development mindset where you create a game with these platform capabilities in mind, writing scalable code from the get go.
Now with that in mind. It's impossible if the engine does not give you that opportunity in the first place.
From my years as a Web Developer I can tell that there's a certain parallel that can be drawn here to drive my point above.
If you start with a Desktop Website and only after it's done and launched you decided to make a Mobile Friendly Design port then you will quickly find yourself in a world of pain trying to adapt and change existing styling rules to accommodate small mobile device screens. However if you're setting your website with keeping that mobile compatibility in your mind then the amount of work that goes into it, comes down to be very minimal. All you do is use design practices that can be easily adjusted scaled across any device size.
Nowdays doing a Desktop Only oriented design is only suitable when you're never planning on porting at all. But if there's even a slight possibility of perhaps porting it later then
Using Scalable Design will always trump Arranging a separate Project Port Venue.
Not to mention updating multiple the game across platforms (patches, DLCs, Updated Content, New Content) is once again infinitely easier to do when the game is made in the engine that supports multi-platform export, Heck just look at doing multiplatform with AppGameKit Tier 1 and Tier 2. No-one enjoys re-writing Java into XCode in Tier 2.
As an example;
My
flagship game project was designed to be an easy console port, it's user interface is programmed to be scalable across desktops and consoles right from the get go. Only change one variable and instead of keyboard shortcuts you see Xbox or PS controller icons. The Character movement unifies keyboard and game-pad input so you can use either to control your character right from the get go. This took me only one extra function in the movement code to now have full support for controllers. Even though I have an i5 and a Ryzen 7 PC, I still develop my games on a Core 2 Quad Q8300 rust bucket simply because if the game runs fine on this PC, it'll run just a fine on any other modern hardware or console. Adding all of these things and more later, would have been a bitch to handle and would have cost way more time and money as a complete separate port project.
But all of these benefits are null if the engine does not even give you the option to publish to consoles.
I'd like to have the option to expand later on with the same engine by utilizing scalable designs NOW. And if the engine does not permit it, I find myself looking at other engines that did take the time, budget and planning to implement it.
This also may come into question of what kind of a developer are you. Are you the Full Time Studio working on projects that feed your families or do you do this as a hobby with hopes of making something that will some day allow you to quit your job and do this for a living. To be honest the benefit of AppGameKit beconing even more multi-platform will benefit ALL of us.
I hope my point did not come across as snarly, absolutely no intention for it to seem that way.
Eisenstadt Studio: Eisenstadtstudio.com
Composers Page: Milesthatch.net
