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In addition to this strategy, from the art side of Grunts every asset has been designed to "scale up". All our physical assets, animations used to render could be reused for a full-on 3D product, another 2D game, promotional materials, etc. With a VERY small team on the several projects going on at once here, every workday and hour is important.
If there is a follow-on product of any type to use the Grunts IP, the time investment will be significantly reduced due to smart decisions made now that ensure we will have a solid reusable asset base to scale up or sideways.
They always make me look at my own projects to see how I can apply the concepts. Great read as usual. Before I got my hands on a Mac, I had the mindset that I have no interest in creating for anything but Windows. After using a Mac for several months, and playing more web games, I am definitely not thinking the same way.
I've gone from Windows only to iPhone + Web + OS X + Windows, which is a pretty big jump for me.
Great post as usual!
You guys sound like your making many wise moves. You only have to think of things examples like bloons, scrabulous, iShoot (http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/02/shoot-is-...) and many others to realise that these are themselves bona fide platforms/consoles as much as the mac, windows or the xbox. Reach is so important, especially for independents and that happens to be one of Flash's middle names!
I thought that TGB might be the easiest route to iphone (via iTGB), but if you guys have a magic button to make flash content work on iphone I'd pay for that alone (let alone the engine). 8)
Four or so years ago I wanted precisely what you are talking about with your new engine - for exactly the reasons you state. I was using T2D/TGB and wanted a web version, but someone told me that a web version wasn't important. It's obvious nowadays what I knew then, which is essentially the contents of this article.
My first game with Lumpy is using iTGB primarily because I have significant development experience using the Torque technology. It is also appealing because it can target several OSes.
But rest assured once you guys ship the engine I'll be onboard. I love Torque, warts and all, but taking advantage of the rich third-party offerings that the Flash community provides will likely make my game development projects come together quicker. Of course, only time will tell on that, but I have high hopes.
To play devil's advocate though, what if you hate PC, Mac, and Linux development? If we're controlling our own destiny why not just work on the platform you love? I'm having a blast with the iPhone and have all but forgotten about "ball and chain" systems.
The other day I was talking with an old student of mine from the career shadowing program I volunteered for. He's a sophomore at Digipen now and it's so cool to see how far he's gone since I met him during his 8th grade year of middle school. Anyway, I told him how I was developing for the iPhone and he sort of shrugged it off and asked me if I was still going to develop for the PC anymore. I told him eventually I would but deep down I don't feel a need.
I hate worrying about multiple display drivers, varied resolutions, sound drivers, non-standard input. These are all barriers to a designers original vision. PC game development is like the fast food of game development. You have to allow the player to make many decisions like whether or not they want extra pickles or to hold the onions.
On the flip side take a Nintendo game. There are no options, no varied control schemes, no display tweaks. They serve the game up just as it was meant to be played on locked down hardware. In my opinion that's the best way to play and develop.
If you go to a nice restaurant you don't change the dish the chef has prepared for you. You go for the experience of something new. I think games are experiences for you to wrap your head around not for the designer to cook "your way right away".
My favorite games are created this way and god willing this is the way I'd like to develop games as well. Some games can port from one piece of hardware to another without losing something or in some cases they can actually gain something. That doesn't always apply.
In your case starting with Flash is great because it is the lowest common denominator. If you have the resources to start there and work out I think that's great. For anyone with a smaller team (3 or less) I think focusing on a core platform they really enjoy is key.
It's tough attempting to disagree with you ;) Initially, when I read this blog I was just going to post something agreeable (it is after all excellent advice) but I decided that wouldn't be any fun.
For the bigger picture, I think this comes down to starting out vs. maximizing your game. If you're just starting out then you need to focus on the most profitable platform first and foremost and make the best possible use of it. If you're trying to maximize something which is already successful then I say go cross platform.
I think the question to ask is, which platform should a developer start with? Flash is cool, but with Mochi Ads paying only $0.35 CPM's you need millions upon millions of games played to start making any money. Some guy posted his monthly totals on Indie Gamer and he got $214 for 620,000 plays of his game. On the contrary Martin Schultz (who had done some Torque stuff in the past) put up a fun but simple game (approximately 1-2 months dev time) for the iPhone and sold 915 copies on day 1. This isn't iShoot mind you. This is a guy who's done up 4 or 5 apps and has improved sales with each new one that he puts out there.
I don't know if that Mochi Ad report was correct but if it is then it means you'd need 2,000 people to play your Flash game to equal 1 sale of a 99 cent iPhone app. By that measure, I say go cross platform but pick the hottest platform first and maximize the heck out of that one before shifting your attention elsewhere.
Back on the spiritual level I think it's safe to say that you should also support the platform you're personally most excited about. People can throw numbers around all day long but there's no substitute for an inspired piece of work.
The article below is useful for learning about where the real money is in flash
Where's The Cash For Flash?:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3924/wher...
Hope I haven't gone too off-topic, good points anyway! :)
Supporting/updating multiple binary incompatible installations as a small indie company is not something I'm chomping at the bit to do again.
I'm really excited by what is happening with Netbooks... perfect fit for a light client and will run on Laptops/Desktops too :) Good article Jeff!