Win32 support

LucasDaltro

is there some way to compile my app to win32?You know generate the .exe file?

gorkem

Hi Lucas

Glad you asked. We have really serious plans to consider our next platform to be Mac OS X and MS Windows, so you will be able to develop your app both on mobile and on desktops.

Are you currently developing or planning to develop an app using Gideros Studio?

Thanks!

G.

Stoffe

The one thing I think is a little bit "too bad" about this platform is that it's probably hard to export for the web without making a dedicated player, like Unity has, and that's really not where the future is. I know there are some experiments outputting javascript from Lua but have no idea how good they are - otherwise I would love to write games in this and have it output HTML5/WebGL/whatever. Maybe there are other ways to do it?

For the desktop, I would be very happy if the target platforms included Linux as well. In my experience, if the code is well-written from the start, porting is usually easy when the rest of the technology is available - OpenGL and Lua calls will be the exact same after all, so only the glue coder might mess it up. It may not be the biggest market, but a loyal one (see average payment on humble indie bundles) and one I do care about, personally.

gorkem

You raised a good point here.

We are also exploring different methods here, like Lua -> Native compilation, Lua -> JS , WebGL, direct Flash export and different methods that may be incorporated like Chrome nativeclient-sdk. Unity's solution is very powerful, however not integrated into Flash because while Unity struggled to make it work with Flash, Adobe declined to incorporate it, somehow, with some reason.

The method we'll choose should be definite, since we are not a multi-million dollar company. Our unique value lies in the fact that we are domain exports in some fields, including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Flash, Java, PHP, Qt, Obj-C, Lua, Android and iPhone, and the barrier to enter this business is too high due to the expertise requirements in this field. Adding another platform is more than possible, thanks to very structured model Gideros provides. It was a real happiness, believe me, when we have seen the first successful Android screen after one week since starting porting.

Therefore it's a matter of time and dedication to choose the next platform, be it Bada, HTML5/JS/CSS, Flash or Mac/Win/Linux. We are a bit inclined to support the native desktop platforms since Gideros Player is already there, and it needs some time only to repackage the whole thing and export accordingly. This way you'll be able to run your mobile game on the desktop.

Question is: Will it worth? Does it make sense if we added HTML5/Flash, before Mac/Win/Lin support? What would be the ROI for each of these platforms?

What do you think?

PS: In fact we tried a small Flash port, and it really worked quite nice. SSsshhh

Stoffe

It all depends on your goals, of course, but I'd probably advice Core business->Low hanging fruit->Extras, meaning that since you started with phone development, that needs to go first, and be as good as possible, otherwise there is no business at all. I still think there is one or two things left to do there even to get to the base system, even though there is also a lot already in place?

After that, if supporting desktop is more or less just wrapping the player, I'd go for that over web, though I personally think being able to publish to web has a much bigger impact these days and only going to be more so. Only last, the harder but potentially more important stuff. Note that this naively assumes only one thing at the time.

For web, I'd prefer HTML5/WebGl and friends, but would again say go for the easiest route at least short- to mid-term. Flash isn't going anywhere soon, and if that works, hey, fine for now. I don't see any other good possibilities apart from those two, as Unity knows users really hate installing plugins.

So, in my personal opinion: phone comes first, web is more important than desktop but if desktop is sufficiently easier, a larger list of supported technologies is also important.

gorkem

As you may imagine, there's still many things to do there in first place with mobile domain: plugins, a more extensible framework, more open source tools and extensions, and many more we'll be discussing with the community in the near future. There may be other dominant players in the mobile space other than iOS & Android , but these have to support C++ in order to get ported to Gideros SDK.

Support for desktop is a bit more than wrapping the Player, as you may imagine. Documentation, API cleanup, the heavy work of supporting additional platforms (e.g on desktop you cannot vibrate), and other things (e.g tests, etc) are really a burden. Seeing the first "pixel" there takes 1 day, the whole story may take 2 months.

gorkem

@Stoffe @LucasDaltro Guys, please have a look at:

http://www.giderosmobile.com/blog/2011/11/17/gideros-studio-the-roadmap/

You may want to post your comments there, too.

Thanks!

Stoffe

My answer is "web", if I can wish freely with no consideration for practicalities, and likewise prefer HTML5+WebGL. The actual decision is another story, of course.

gorkem

Would love to see your comments there, since I would like to see them in one place, consolidated, if you do not mind

LucasDaltro

OMG!It's awesome to see a technology appearing in my face:D
I'm starting a new project,in fact I don't have an idea in mind I'm on high school,I want to make my first game and gideros seems to be the perfect solution for this:P

Stoffe

Would love to see your comments there, since I would like to see them in one place, consolidated, if you do not mind

I'm Kristoffer, if that wasn't clear.

atilim

I've recognized you at first sight