Why would anyone develop for Ouya?

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27 comments, last by tychon 11 years, 2 months ago

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Low barrier to entry would be my guess. I've been thinking of getting one simply because it'll be a console for which I can write my own games and it uses an operating system for which I already know something about writing programs (ie. Android).

I wouldn't have a problem developing games for the WikiPad. It's all my dreams come true. Though I've heard (on this board at least) terrible things about the Google Go (assuming that what's needed to develop games on the Android).

Beginner in Game Development?  Read here. And read here.

 

Low barrier to entry would be my guess. I've been thinking of getting one simply because it'll be a console for which I can write my own games and it uses an operating system for which I already know something about writing programs (ie. Android).

I agree with that idea conceptually, but other than the fact that it's a console, how does it offer anything different from a desktop/laptop? If you're on windows or linux, everything's wide open. You can make a game in any language it's possible to make games in, and Steam is on both platforms now, so you've got a great, active place to promote your content. How does Ouya compete with that?

If you've already got an Android game, then porting it to Ouya isn't much work. Seeing it's new, you'll be competing in a very small market (like when the iPhone was new and booming) so maybe you'll get some decent sales.

Like any business question, run the numbers on your costs and your possible benefits. For someone who's already supporting Android, it might be a win.

In the great tradition of Old El Paso, why not support Steam, and Ouya, and Google Play, and the iPhone App Store, and...

If you've already got an Android game, then porting it to Ouya isn't much work. Seeing it's new, you'll be competing in a very small market (like when the iPhone was new and booming) so maybe you'll get some decent sales.

Like any business question, run the numbers on your costs and your possible benefits. For someone who's already supporting Android, it might be a win.

I had your second point in mind, too. It's definitely going to be a chance for people get some attention they normally wouldn't get on other crowded, established platforms. The only concern, then, is whether or not Ouya will last long enough for that to matter.

I agree with that idea conceptually, but other than the fact that it's a console, how does it offer anything different from a desktop/laptop?

I think the biggest things are the gameplay opportunities afforded by a controller (admittedly possible via PC as well), potential for split-screen games, and easy setup. Try playing 4-player Mario Kart or Super Smash Bros. (or any fighting game, for that matter) on a PC. Sure, you could have a player per PC, or have players share a keyboard, and go through all the setup and pain (and lag) that results, but why would you, when you can just turn on a box connected to your TV, hand out controllers, and be playing near-instantly, with no lag (for local split-screen/same screen games), and on a screen large enough to make split-screen worthwhile? I'm not much of a console gamer myself, but I recognize that console and PC games have different niches in terms of gameplay.

Would you ask this same question if we were talking about mobile vs PC?
Keep in mind that Ouya is just another Android device. So, the question is similar to "why should you support the Samsung Galaxy S2?".
It's easy to make a product that supports the Galaxy, and the S2 and the S3, etc, because they're all part of the Android ecosystem.

Likewise, if you've made a game for the iPhone 4, then making a version for the iPhone 3 or the iPhone 5 is a small amount of work (when compared to porting to a whole new platform). If you've made an iOS app, why not release it for all the different types of iOS phones?!

Android is a huge array of devices, including the Ouya, nVidia Shield, Green Throttle, Game Stick, Xperia Play ("PlayStation phone"), and biggest segment of the smart-phone market (almost everything that's not Apple, Windows or Blackberry), and a huge segment of the tablet market (almost everything that's not Apple or Windows).
Just like how when you make a PC game, you have to make changes to ensure it will run on a dual-core or a quad-core or a GeForce GTX 670 or a GeForce 8800... with android you can make small changes to ensure it will run on all the above bits of hardware.

I think the real question will come down to whether it will be worth it to support the OUYA store or it's apis if it requires special ones. It should be fairly easy to port, but I feel like the market for bluetooth controllers and hooking your tablet up to the tv might compete with ouya too much. I think the major stumbling block for Ouya is that it is launching on hardware that is old today and probably just as next generation consoles are going to be coming out/announced.

Did anyone here get a devkit? Are you allowed to post first impressions?

Well, here is my list of pros for developing for the Ouya:

1. It is a new market (alternative home consoles), and to create a good IP in a new game market (similar to the early days of smartphones with iOS leading the pack) is a very good way to get your foot in the proverbial door and gain a new and loyal audience. It is also great for game visibility for this same reason.

2. It is a home console. For the first time, you can (without extensive registration) develop for a console with locked in hardware and a unique controller, so there is no platform fragmentation, no driver issues, no porting issues, and there is really no need for extensive hardware support.

3. It is cheap. This is one of the biggest boons to the Ouya's existence. The low price tag and functionality of a console for the TV with a controller will attract a new, colorful, and potentially fruitful market, not just "the core" who buys the same games every year. The industry is being killed by "the core" and its expectations and purchases. New markets that aren't very much into games (including but not limited to casual players) would probably find a 2D indie sidescrolling airplane game funner than someone who expects to go out and buy a 3D AAA boob-frag-kill festival each year, because they have different interests and come from different tastes in being entertained.

4. It could go to retail sales. This would be maybe the only way to attract said new markets. This may in fact make it successful. By retail, I mean shelf space, not just online stores from Target, Best Buy, etc. Ouya already has that.

... and the cons:

1. It is vanilla Android powered. Android is messy. It is not only messy, but it is a smartphone operating system that is made to work on thousands of different devices. It is not by any means optimized for games. Battery monitoring, 3G network connection status, text message buffers, etc. take up more memory and processing than I would care to waste. The NDK isn't something to brag about, either. Many games that are made for PC are not made in Java. Yes, there are a few (notably Minecraft), but Ouya should have tried a different approach on modifying it to cater more to native development, perhaps not requiring Java/JNI usage at all. I might be biased, but I hate Java programming, messy API's, and driver issues.

2. They follow a mobile iteration strategy. The developers of Ouya recently stated that a new version of the console will come out every year, akin to mobile phones and tablets. They are making a game console not a tablet/phone. Most consumers are looking for a console like the Xbox or PlayStation that only cycles once every 5-6 years. This will be a major obstacle in attracting said new markets, and may be the one thing that could make Ouya fail.

3. The specs. I am by no means a "graphics whore", nor are the owners of the Ouya going to probably be. But, only 8 gigabytes of hard drive space for a console that runs on digital distribution and has a free trial of every game is completely insane. Not only would this generate intense competition for hard drive space (as if purchases weren't enough), but this would also be yet another reason to NOT buy it. Also, the system's main processor is a Tegra 3. Nvidia's Shield, which is basically the same thing but handheld and a bit pricier, has a Tegra 4. That isn't going to end well for the Ouya.

4. It might NOT go on retail sales. If it doesn't go on retail sales, I can see it being one of those niche gaming machines that no one cares about that you see maybe a few nostalgic posts on /r/gaming (Reddit), not dissimilar to that old vector graphics game console from the '80's.

C dominates the world of linear procedural computing, which won't advance. The future lies in MASSIVE parallelism.

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