Well since most of us PC users can't bring this up in General or BMax, Im posting it here.
I was just thinking about the real issues involved in porting a game to MAC or Linux. A big, and so far tottaly overlooked issue, at least in the forums I can see, has been the aftermarket support of these distrobutions.
Yes BMAX will allow us to easily compile from WIN to MAC to LINUX. But thats never really been a major stopping block. Heck C++ can almost as easily be ported, provided you wrap the OS specific classes so they can be easily changed. Even before BMAX there have been several languages that easily supported cross platform compilations. So while BMAX may make development easier, its not unique in the role of cross platform.
So why have so many game companies avoided releasing for MAC and Linux in the past? I put forth its all about the aftermarket support. That's the real on going cost to any software release, and can easily reach the development costs over time. Im fairly sure that support for EQ for instance is now way over the cost of developing that game. What makes support so expensive is the knowledge base. For windows and the PC this can be fairly cheap when compared to Linux or MAC. On average, just from a administrative stand point, UNIX/Linux admins make more per hour than their windows counterparts, its simply supply and demand. Like wise Windows Telephone TechSupport Reps are fairly cheap, many places paying less than $15USD an hour, compared to the $18 to $22 an hour for their teir 2 guys who handle Linux/Mac issues. So there is some scale here to be dealt with.
If it cost 10% more to support a product on platform Y then it needs to make 10% more money than it did on platform X. Now if that is the rule we can then see why no one is racing to support the MAC and Linux. They simply wont make that extra percentage needed, even if they sell to every MAC and Linux( well depending on whos numbers, some Linux Enthusiests clame that Linux is the number one most used OS, and who knows, maybe they are right) user that would still fall short of selling to just 50% of the Windows user base.
Regardless of how easy it is to compile for all 3 platforms, I think its well worth concidering if you want to release to those markets. Can you handle the support issues?
Even Guarage Games, arguably one of the best Shareware Distributors out there, does not seem to require that a game be able to run on Linux, but I do think they require MAC and Windows. I admit I would love to know who handles the support issues.
I was just thinking about the real issues involved in porting a game to MAC or Linux. A big, and so far tottaly overlooked issue, at least in the forums I can see, has been the aftermarket support of these distrobutions.
Yes BMAX will allow us to easily compile from WIN to MAC to LINUX. But thats never really been a major stopping block. Heck C++ can almost as easily be ported, provided you wrap the OS specific classes so they can be easily changed. Even before BMAX there have been several languages that easily supported cross platform compilations. So while BMAX may make development easier, its not unique in the role of cross platform.
So why have so many game companies avoided releasing for MAC and Linux in the past? I put forth its all about the aftermarket support. That's the real on going cost to any software release, and can easily reach the development costs over time. Im fairly sure that support for EQ for instance is now way over the cost of developing that game. What makes support so expensive is the knowledge base. For windows and the PC this can be fairly cheap when compared to Linux or MAC. On average, just from a administrative stand point, UNIX/Linux admins make more per hour than their windows counterparts, its simply supply and demand. Like wise Windows Telephone TechSupport Reps are fairly cheap, many places paying less than $15USD an hour, compared to the $18 to $22 an hour for their teir 2 guys who handle Linux/Mac issues. So there is some scale here to be dealt with.
If it cost 10% more to support a product on platform Y then it needs to make 10% more money than it did on platform X. Now if that is the rule we can then see why no one is racing to support the MAC and Linux. They simply wont make that extra percentage needed, even if they sell to every MAC and Linux( well depending on whos numbers, some Linux Enthusiests clame that Linux is the number one most used OS, and who knows, maybe they are right) user that would still fall short of selling to just 50% of the Windows user base.
Regardless of how easy it is to compile for all 3 platforms, I think its well worth concidering if you want to release to those markets. Can you handle the support issues?
Even Guarage Games, arguably one of the best Shareware Distributors out there, does not seem to require that a game be able to run on Linux, but I do think they require MAC and Windows. I admit I would love to know who handles the support issues.