Mobile Development
September 13, 2016 5:37 AM Subscribe
What's the best platform for developing cross-platform (ie mac, windows, android, desktop, tablet & mobile) games these days? How about apps?
I have some unexpected free time and I've always wanted to make games so now is the perfect risk-free time to bite the bullet. The games will be 2D - no question about that. I asked pretty much the same question a couple of years ago and the answer was Unity - is that still the right answer?
My friend made a game in unity and sold it on steam for loads of money (I don't know how much but he made enough to live on for 2 years in 2 weeks) but his game was very different to what I plan to make, it was 3D and had FPS and RTS elements and was multiplayer.
I just want to make a simple puzzle game to start with - to test the waters. Something I could put together in a couple of weeks then move on to maybe sim-type games or a mystery game. The kind of games I play. (because I'm old and sad and no longer have the time to play real games lol!)
Are mobile games still made in flash? I have the full adobe creative suite and I have some experience with flash/actionscript. I started making a hidden object game just to play around but then real life got in the way and I had to go earn a living. I only really got as far as defining some objects and clicking on them either was a success or not - no idea how to size the canvas for different sized devices etc
As a bonus question - in my real life I build websites (php/mysql) and a couple of clients really could do with an app that hooks into their existing systems systems and technologies. (ie. reps out in the field being able to see their jobs list and mark items as dealt with and property managers being able to input new bookings). Whats the best way these days to do with that (and any overlap with games building?), there's just so much new technology out there its overwhelming and I'm cautious about following what ends up to be a dead-end path
I have some unexpected free time and I've always wanted to make games so now is the perfect risk-free time to bite the bullet. The games will be 2D - no question about that. I asked pretty much the same question a couple of years ago and the answer was Unity - is that still the right answer?
My friend made a game in unity and sold it on steam for loads of money (I don't know how much but he made enough to live on for 2 years in 2 weeks) but his game was very different to what I plan to make, it was 3D and had FPS and RTS elements and was multiplayer.
I just want to make a simple puzzle game to start with - to test the waters. Something I could put together in a couple of weeks then move on to maybe sim-type games or a mystery game. The kind of games I play. (because I'm old and sad and no longer have the time to play real games lol!)
Are mobile games still made in flash? I have the full adobe creative suite and I have some experience with flash/actionscript. I started making a hidden object game just to play around but then real life got in the way and I had to go earn a living. I only really got as far as defining some objects and clicking on them either was a success or not - no idea how to size the canvas for different sized devices etc
As a bonus question - in my real life I build websites (php/mysql) and a couple of clients really could do with an app that hooks into their existing systems systems and technologies. (ie. reps out in the field being able to see their jobs list and mark items as dealt with and property managers being able to input new bookings). Whats the best way these days to do with that (and any overlap with games building?), there's just so much new technology out there its overwhelming and I'm cautious about following what ends up to be a dead-end path
Not if they are meant to run on an iOS.
It's probably not very future proof, but you certainly can export out iOS apps from Flash.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 6:50 AM on September 13, 2016
It's probably not very future proof, but you certainly can export out iOS apps from Flash.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 6:50 AM on September 13, 2016
Kivy is great for cross platform, touch-enabled apps.
posted by dis_integration at 6:52 AM on September 13, 2016
posted by dis_integration at 6:52 AM on September 13, 2016
Unity is still the most popular. Tons of indie games (and some not-so-indie ones) use it.
If you're looking for something simpler though, Humble Bundle is having a sale on GameMaker right now. $15 gets you everything.
(My only real beef with GameMaker is the proprietary scripting language. Aside from that it's really good for 2D games.)
posted by neckro23 at 9:45 AM on September 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
If you're looking for something simpler though, Humble Bundle is having a sale on GameMaker right now. $15 gets you everything.
(My only real beef with GameMaker is the proprietary scripting language. Aside from that it's really good for 2D games.)
posted by neckro23 at 9:45 AM on September 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
3rding Unity.
posted by DarlingBri at 3:24 PM on September 13, 2016
posted by DarlingBri at 3:24 PM on September 13, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
Not if they are meant to run on an iOS.
Maybe look into Unity? I'm seeing more and more iOS games built using Unity.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:15 AM on September 13, 2016