Mobile Game Development
June 22, 2013 4:36 AM Subscribe
What's the best platform for developing cross-platform (ie mac, windows, android, desktop, tablet & mobile) games these days?
I'm sick and I'm bored of just vegging out in front of the TV. I like to be productive but I'm not much use at anything right now. I'd like to make a cross-platform game for fun and since I'm not doing anything right now I'd like to poke about with a few basic tutorials then spend the rest of the weekend vegging out in front of the tv and mulling it all over in my head and doodling ideas in a notebook so I at least feel like I'm accomplishing something.
Where I'm paralysed is where to start. I've dabbled with AS3 but I feel like flash is becoming of the past and I don't want to invest my energy in learning something that will be obsolete soon (ironically I said the same thing 5 years ago, I was right about flash not being the future of websites and a waste of time for my day-job but I really missed that train on the game development front). But maybe I'm wrong? Is it still worth learning flash/actionscript if my end-goal is cross-platform games?
I've looked into HTML5 and there seem to be many different engines out there but which is right for my needs? I like "sim" games, what I currently have in mind is somewhere between Virtual Villagers and SimCity but the tutorials I've found and the example games shown with engines tend to be shooters, RPGs or platform games.
Beyond the basics, what I really need a tutorial on is stuff like city-building (ie building/road placement etc), saving the state of the game and progressing the state of the game when the player returns - assuming that sort of stuff is even possible?
I'm sick and I'm bored of just vegging out in front of the TV. I like to be productive but I'm not much use at anything right now. I'd like to make a cross-platform game for fun and since I'm not doing anything right now I'd like to poke about with a few basic tutorials then spend the rest of the weekend vegging out in front of the tv and mulling it all over in my head and doodling ideas in a notebook so I at least feel like I'm accomplishing something.
Where I'm paralysed is where to start. I've dabbled with AS3 but I feel like flash is becoming of the past and I don't want to invest my energy in learning something that will be obsolete soon (ironically I said the same thing 5 years ago, I was right about flash not being the future of websites and a waste of time for my day-job but I really missed that train on the game development front). But maybe I'm wrong? Is it still worth learning flash/actionscript if my end-goal is cross-platform games?
I've looked into HTML5 and there seem to be many different engines out there but which is right for my needs? I like "sim" games, what I currently have in mind is somewhere between Virtual Villagers and SimCity but the tutorials I've found and the example games shown with engines tend to be shooters, RPGs or platform games.
Beyond the basics, what I really need a tutorial on is stuff like city-building (ie building/road placement etc), saving the state of the game and progressing the state of the game when the player returns - assuming that sort of stuff is even possible?
Unity.
It's only expensive if you buy a Pro license -- you can ship for desktop, iOS and Android and the Chrome Web Store without giving them a dime. (You do lose a few nice-to-have features; they insert a 2sec Unity splash screen; and once you pass 100k/year earnings, they require a Pro upgrade.)
I'm shipping a project with it right now on mobile and desktop, and while there a few irritations, it's been very, very smooth.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:16 AM on June 22, 2013
It's only expensive if you buy a Pro license -- you can ship for desktop, iOS and Android and the Chrome Web Store without giving them a dime. (You do lose a few nice-to-have features; they insert a 2sec Unity splash screen; and once you pass 100k/year earnings, they require a Pro upgrade.)
I'm shipping a project with it right now on mobile and desktop, and while there a few irritations, it's been very, very smooth.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:16 AM on June 22, 2013
Also there are several good "getting started with building games with Unity" that walk you through everything you'll need to know, even if you know nothing about programming.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:17 AM on June 22, 2013
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:17 AM on June 22, 2013
Response by poster: I looked into unity a few years ago but couldn't find many 2d tutorials, everything is very 3d oriented
posted by missmagenta at 5:30 AM on June 22, 2013
posted by missmagenta at 5:30 AM on June 22, 2013
There are quite a few 2D games released with Unity, and it does support the orthogonal view camera just fine. That said, things like sprite atlases, grid/tile drawing libraries and so on are not built in though you can buy assets in the unity store that will do all that good stuff. That makes it not free.
I understand that GameMaker is a 2D tool that has been doing some good things lately with multi-platform support. I am not familiar with their product, however, but it will be much more focused for 2D games if that's what you want to create.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:40 AM on June 22, 2013
I understand that GameMaker is a 2D tool that has been doing some good things lately with multi-platform support. I am not familiar with their product, however, but it will be much more focused for 2D games if that's what you want to create.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:40 AM on June 22, 2013
I've heard positive things about livecode.
posted by royalsong at 6:25 AM on June 22, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by royalsong at 6:25 AM on June 22, 2013 [1 favorite]
Nthing Unity. There are infinite tutorials on the web.
posted by gnutron at 11:10 AM on June 22, 2013
posted by gnutron at 11:10 AM on June 22, 2013
Unity is excellent. If you want to do 2d, consider getting 2D Toolkit. It makes it easier to deal with the camera and art assets as well as different layouts for different resolutions
posted by uncreative at 4:47 PM on June 22, 2013
posted by uncreative at 4:47 PM on June 22, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
I wouldn't really bother with html 5 - the tools and the performance aren't there yet.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 5:08 AM on June 22, 2013 [2 favorites]