Why would anyone develop for Ouya?
Yep, when the Ouya guys said a new Ouya every year, they were dead to me. Might as well just buy a controller for your PC and go to an indie game site at that point.
Actually it was quite the opposite reaction for me.
It's like a hybrid of PC and Console development without the fragmentation of the open Android marketplace.
You'll pick your lowest end Ouya device your game should run on, currently that means the Tegra3 device they're launching.
In a years time no-one is going to be playing your game anyway, but if someone does then it will run on the new hardware.
Each iteration is a fixed target, you don't have to worry so much about resolution, fitting into memory, etc.
You just choose a control scheme, a device and get developing.
That removes a lot of the configuration issues that the PC has, and the device capability fragmentation that Android suffers from. Brilliantly however the one a year update cycle also means that you won't get stuck with the ridiculous problem we have on console development where a mid-range PC is 20x more powerful than the consoles you're developing for.
For that matter it's an Android device with everything that entails so you can still cross develop for PC just like regular console development.
The fact that there'll be a another better version each year is a plus from my perspective, I can pick a low-end device with a possibly larger market, or a high-end device with some early adopters craving things to show it off. Or some hybrid approach.
I think it's worth investigating, there's already going to be a large number of version 1 Ouya devices out there so if you can get onto their Ouya specific marketplace then you've got a very focused group of people who will want software for it.
It's not the 2nd coming or anything but it's certainly interesting.
Andy
No. This is true for any other ecosystem besides Android, but for Android it is no small feat to support many devices. In fact only masochists even try.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.
I have watched my coworker’s heart turn black and crusted since he got assigned to do Android work.
What works on one device is almost guaranteed not to work on another, particularly with shader support. All devices except those with Adreno GPU’s allow arrays of samplers. On Adreno you have to figure out how to work around this. If you didn’t set up a preprocessing system for your scripts so that you can convert things at run-time you are basically screwed.
I don’t know the details since I am not working on Android but there was another problem that held him up for months. “The shader compiles on every device except this one and I don’t know why.” I don’t know how he fixed it what the problem was, but developing for Android is nothing but a mess of a nightmare in which you keep thinking you have awakened but you haven’t, so when the horror comes back again it is even scarier because you think you are awake.
I’ve almost made a new Internet show called The Angry Android Developer Nerd. Now with twice the anger.
However Ouya has the advantage that if it works on one then it works on all, at least for a year. Being in control of the development of their own device I am sure that newer systems will play older games with no problem, but then you have the pain in the ass of developing for newer systems with fallbacks for older ones.
As long as they have C++/NDK support and remotely decent development tools I will port my engine over and develop for it. Until there are too many different Ouya devices out there.
L. Spiro
Would you ask this same question if we were talking about mobile vs PC?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 like your points about playing multiplayer games, but that does play into one of my worries: The Ouya may just turn into a fancy emulation box. I'm not really interested in paying $99 for a console that I'm just going to play Nintendo 64 emulations on (especially considering there were only like 5 good N64 games--but I digress). I recognize that you're making the point that emulation is just part of the whole package, and there will of course be new, Ouya-specific multiplayer games to play as well, but that leads me again to worry about who will be developing them.
To answer your question, I wouldn't put mobile platforms against the PC in this way. But that's only because iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices have an entirely new interface, and entirely different markets (at least in terms of expectations). I don't think a game like Fruit Ninja would've been as popular if it was launched in Steam, and you played with a controller. The Ouya seems to be trying to offer a market similar to mobile--smaller, cheaper games--but without the huge, thriving consumer base that already exists on actual mobile platforms.
On the other hand, of course, is the one thing they brought up on their Kickstarter: The Ouya is a single console with a single user interface. You don't have to be confused about how users will interact with your game. When developing for the PC, obviously you don't have that luxury. And development on the big 3 consoles is only possible for a fairly privileged few dev companies. In that regard, I see one huge benefit to Ouya development.
Actually, I wasn't trying to say much of anything about emulation, since it's not really relevant to the point I was making, so no, I'm not saying that emulation is "just part of the whole package". I was just using those games as examples of the kind of multiplayer games I believe work well on consoles.I like your points about playing multiplayer games, but that does play into one of my worries: The Ouya may just turn into a fancy emulation box. I'm not really interested in paying $99 for a console that I'm just going to play Nintendo 64 emulations on (especially considering there were only like 5 good N64 games--but I digress). I recognize that you're making the point that emulation is just part of the whole package, and there will of course be new, Ouya-specific multiplayer games to play as well, but that leads me again to worry about who will be developing them.
This is what I was really getting at. Console and PC ecosystems have different expectations, just like mobile and PC ecosystems do. Now that I think of it, we may be digressing away from "why should anyone make anything for Ouya" and getting more into "why should anyone make anything for consoles in general," so I won't harp further on this point.To answer your question, I wouldn't put mobile platforms against the PC in this way. But that's only because iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices have an entirely new interface, and entirely different markets (at least in terms of expectations).
Exactly. I would say that (if I judge things right) the Ouya is really about trying to get the advantages that a console provides, without having to deal with as many (or any, ideally) of the usual non-technical barriers developers face when doing console development.On the other hand, of course, is the one thing they brought up on their Kickstarter: The Ouya is a single console with a single user interface. You don't have to be confused about how users will interact with your game. When developing for the PC, obviously you don't have that luxury. And development on the big 3 consoles is only possible for a fairly privileged few dev companies. In that regard, I see one huge benefit to Ouya development.
If you're developing using something like MonoGame (http://www.monogame.net/) you almost get the Ouya platform for free (very little extra development, depending on the game) - so why wouldn't you?
Lots of people who buy Ouyas will have big flat screen TVs. Lots of computer users squint at their tiny little laptop screens. Making a game for TV opens up a world of brighter colors and higher resolutions.
TVs aren't high resolution.Lots of people who buy Ouyas will have big flat screen TVs. Lots of computer users squint at their tiny little laptop screens. Making a game for TV opens up a world of brighter colors and higher resolutions.
If they are releasing a new Ouya each year, it could get messy.
I mean, not from a CPU side since ARM isn't going out soon, but there are many GPU possibilities around. This year is Tegra, maybe next will be PowerVR and in that single maneuver you get all the bad sides of smartphone development in the console.
1920x1080 isn't high resolution? That's 2K, and we have 4K tvs coming just around the corner.TVs aren't high resolution.
Yep, it's contrary to the reasons for even owning one. They should be on a 5 year release cycle at least. The high end tablets have been doing the same thing and they are obsolete almost the second you buy them. Especially with the Tegra line. Most Tegra games are just flimsy tech demos to show off the latest hardware.If they are releasing a new Ouya each year, it could get messy.
I mean, not from a CPU side since ARM isn't going out soon, but there are many GPU possibilities around. This year is Tegra, maybe next will be PowerVR and in that single maneuver you get all the bad sides of smartphone development in the console.
Also it means these things are being produced simply to end up in a landfill. We have too many electronics on the planned obsolesce path.
But it's not like they weren't headed for a landfill anyways. They'll be buried beside those legendary unsold E.T. carts.
