Native SDK for windows phone 7 devices

[Dormage]

Don't even know how to comment the "lol" post but ok...some1 made some1 laugh.
W8 might be interesting to developers mainly because of the tablet market..
The fact that your app can be also deployed on a PC can't harm can it?
Porting is easy. Problem is it is the most anoying thing to do !

 

[N8ter]

Porting isn't easy when you have to recode everything in a different programming language using a different toolkit and don't have access to Native Code on the new platform (WP7/8) when it was available on the others (Android, iOS).

What types of applications have you actually ported, especially games. Do you have any idea why so Many Windows games aren't ported to Mac or Linux? Precisely the reasons I mentioned. Porting to Console is easy since Development Firms get Native Code access while most indy developers don't nevermind frameworks like XNA run on Windows as well.

 

[Dormage]

Im more academicly involved in programming so most things I ported were algorithms on graphs, genetic algorithms and stuff like that. It is true that in my field it is much easyer to port because other then different usage of data stuctures the idea of the algorithm is the same.

Up until some point porting game logic should be easy. Its just a different syntax thats all.
The game graphic i don't know much about but I what experience I have is that WP7 sux when it comes it.
I've been making a game my self for WP7 and spent a day implementing a custom pixel shader only to be greeted with an error something like "Custom pixel shaders are not alowed in WP7".

So native code must be a pain when it comes to games but apps should be a bit more simple.
My opinion is that if you coded it once you understand your code. If you understand it, a different language should be a minor setback.

Edit:
About the games on linux. Porting is not the reason why so little games are made for linux.
The problem is much bigger then it first seems and it might not be sutable for this forum since theres a lot of Windows guys here.

 

[N8ter]

Edit:
About the games on linux. Porting is not the reason why so little games are made for linux.
The problem is much bigger then it first seems and it might not be sutable for this forum since theres a lot of Windows guys here.

Wrong. In the early 2000s there was a huge movement to port games to Linux, and many were. Most of them were OpenGL games. Loki was a huge part of that. Games like Quake 3 [Team] Arena and Neverwinter Nights were ported to Linux, among many others. Those were all OpenGL games. This was at the height of Linux hype (when ZDTV was raving about it and showing people how to install it on Leo Laporte's show like 3 days a week, Lol).

But there were a ton of games that couldn't be ported, because DirectX usurped OpenGL as the [generally] preferred API for game development and it's not portable to non-Microsoft OSes. That's why a lot of games aren't ported to Mac OSX. Same difference.

We all know about Linux' lack of backward/forward compatibility, unstable kernel driver ABI, crappy X.ORG, and 100k different distros with varrying configurations/package versions/etc. We know about its sub 2% marketshare as well.

That still is non-factor because DirectX stops that before you even get to those considerations. You'd have to port the whole graphics engine (built on DirectX) to OpenGL or use some generally terrible (for large scale projects) API layer like Wine to even get the game to compile and run on Linux or MacOS, which isn't worth the money or time given Windows' desktop marketshare. The first thing any company looks at when considering a port is whether the graphics engine and other libraries (additionally physics engines, UI toolkits, etc.) are portable. With game development costing millions these days and developers already (in many cases) rushing products to market due to budgeting issues, non-portable engines and Libraries simply cost too much to work around.

Additionally, you can use XNA (also unportable and built on DirectX IIRC) to target both XB360 and Windows Desktop OSes.

Some graphics engines can use both OpenGL or DirectX but not all and I'm not even sure if we can say the majority can...

Yes, porting logic code can be trivial, even between platforms AND programming languages. Stuff like this, however, isn't. If the UI toolkits and graphics engines are not available, it means you aren't porting the code but essentially rewriting it for the other platform. Alternatives almost always exist, but it's a cost/effort vs. returns (often monetary) consideration.

 

[Dormage]

I still belive that if the development studios saw profit in porting games to Linux they would do it.
Note that linux may have 2% market share but those 2% are not desktops but mostly servers.
With such a low market share I can't find any reason why game studios would invest time into linux.

Tha graphic Librarys can be a problem but i still think that if they saw profit in the platform they would port their game, graphic and physics engines and from there on just port the games on regular bases.

I do agree on the fragmentation Linux distros have. Those problems could be solved if there was any point in solving them. The whole point of distros is the difference between them and the task they are meant to be used for.
Another thing that comes to mind is that the development process of a game is very expenssive but not only because of development but also because of design.
Designers play a big part nowdays with all the graphic details and 3D modeling needed.
Those costs don't apply when porting games or do they?

Back on topic
We started this discussion on general porting.
Though both of us have different opinions on porting we probably can agree that porting games on mobile platforms is easyer?
For example. most games use physics engines like box2D that is supported on all platforms.
WP7 has farseer physics that is a clone of Box2D. Where a few steps from having some cross-platform graphics enegines.
If those were available porting would be a peace of cake.