Eeeeenteresteeng. Just submitted my second game to the appstore - hoping for approval. With the UDK now arriving, it might be worth making a switch from Unity. With the added bonus of learning unreal script, it could also bolster my programming skills in environment art.
Unity has an iphone basic license fee which is about $300. Any earnings over $100,000 then you have to pay for the pro license. I was under the impression that UDK is going to act in the same way as for the PC release, you can develop for nothing as an indy, release something but any earnings over a certain amount means you pay royalties.
Those who want to make games for the iOS version of Epic's graphics technology will be able to get it for free but will "have to pay a $99 licensing fee and 25% royalties after the first $5000 in sales," according to the journal.
Yeah, one time cost, with no royalties to be paid and some nice extras.
It depends on what sort of games people will develop, Infinity Blade looks fantastic and I haven't played it, but how far will the mobile market go in terms of graphics vs. playability? The controls of a game on any smart phone is the most important feature, virtual joypads just don't do it for me.
And with the budget the smaller iphone studios have, how will they be able to even utilize the toolset udk would give them, when they can barely utilize the features and make good looking games in unity?
And with the budget the smaller iphone studios have, how will they be able to even utilize the toolset udk would give them, when they can barely utilize the features and make good looking games in unity?
Yeah good point. A tool is just a tool, it's what the user does with it. There are many terrible looking UDK scenes out there for every great looking one.
It's funny also how on consumer websites there are always a bunch of fanboys that crawl from under the rocks to slander Epic and the Unreal Engine with their so called "knowledge" on the subject and tell us how it all sucks. lol
I'll preface this post by saying I'm in no way an expert with either engine, so take this with a pinch of salt but I have built a (very) basic fps in Unity with custom weapons/ammo and some env interaction/conditions etc, and in my opinion there's still no contest with UDK... it's by far the superior toolset I think.
In terms of what the Unreal Engine is capable of on iOS, at the hands of the pro's then both Unity and UE are capable of producing fantastic results. But in terms of user-friendliness and easy wow factors, UDK wins for me hands down.
Asset import and handling is far better in UE3 I think, lighting and post-fx is stronger... not to mention that these things are included with every install of UDK whereas these are classed as 'Pro' features in Unity.
Also UDK's material editor just blows Unity away... not least because you don't even have a visual editor in Unity without buying a plugin.
Certainly from a beginner like me's point of view, UDK is a much more attractive option for getting into iPhone dev. If my app sales ever totalled enough to start paying Epic royalties, I really don't think I'd be that bothered.
Sure for the bigger studios, it may be a consideration but then again, the bigger studios are probably using their own tech anyway.
On the one hand, it is hard to think that many indie developers would take advantage of this expansion to the UDK. It's not a matter of features. It's just that most small indies don't have the resources necessary to create high-end graphical games, not even for a portable device like the iPhone. The UDK is known for allowing some pretty extreme graphical fidelity, and not every small-time developer has the time and energy to produce sculpted models and environments for what will largely be tiny games.
At the same time, I'm extremely excited that Epic is making this move. I thought it was great when they added indie-friendly licencing for the original UDK, and this is a quite reasonable expansion of that. For some experienced mod teams this is going to be a fantastic opportunity. I will download this update when they release it, and see how easy it is to prototype non-FPS controls in the UDK. If the UDK allows for rapid prototyping, it might be worth it just for that.
"$99 licensing fee and 25% royalties after the first $5000 in sales"
That sounds like a damn good deal! I am really psyched for this. I would love to make an iPhone project in UDK. It would be a great project to start on after I graduate. Hmmm I'm gonna have to start cozying up to my programmer friends...
"$99 licensing fee and 25% royalties after the first $5000 in sales"
That sounds like a damn good deal! I am really psyched for this. I would love to make an iPhone project in UDK. It would be a great project to start on after I graduate. Hmmm I'm gonna have to start cozying up to my programmer friends...
Don't forget that Apple takes 30% of app sales as well. But still, its a damn attractive looking deal for someone starting out as an indie.
And I guess we'll have to wait until Thursday to see if this means that UDK will now run on a Mac.
Well the guys at work and I have had a look at unity and udk and both are rather exciting, we havent reached a decision about any of it yet but we have realised that there are some major pros but also some very serious cons.
pros - excellent engine with great features, this goes without saying really
cons -
1. in order to best use the features more time needs to be spent on assets eg high poly sculpts and baking normal maps etc ...this is something most indie mobile devs will not be keen on, simply because it will take alot of resource(eg 2 staff members for a month or 2) and time! This is the biggest reason I can imagine for unreal engine failing to make any real impact on the ios games scene, people just dont have the money to spend on making games look kick ass
2. the costs, 25% of 39p(if the game is 59p this is what the dev gets) is a lot when you consider that some iphone devs might have a number of other deals going on behind the scenes eg doing revenue shares with sponsors or well know labels in order to fund the project and they could ask for 40% or more.
3. the file size! on the iphone a game has to be less than 20meg in order to download via 3g, otherwise its only available via wifi and that means potentially a lot less sales!
So far Ive only seen massive games using udk and even unity games seem to be rather large, Im not totally sure but it seems like the game engine itself can cause your final game binary to be 11mb in unity and thats without any assets or gameplay. This leaves only 9mb to actually make a game!
4. Im guessing this will only support 3gs and above, as far as I know the 3g and below all have inferior hardware and struggle to run anything with shaders. So you have removed a small percentage of the target market.
5. programmers getting annoyed with new scripting languages when they all know objective C or C++
One thing I would like to know is - do they count revenue earned through advert impressions in the sales ? because it may take a while to earn $5000 like maybe a year or two but you could still be earning good money through advert impressions.
Yeah I just remembered the 30% thing talking to a friend on facebook. These where my (incredibly) rough guesses on how profitable this would be for an indie microstudio:
I just remembered that apple takes a 30% cut on the app store. Which means if you sell a game at $10, you get about 5.25 back. I guess it depends on your development costs. pay yourself 10k/yr living cost...s and say you develop in 6 months, then you need the first $5000 to break even. I guess its an all or nothing thing. If you do it really well, cheap, you could make a ton. Anything else and you'd struggle to break even. This is all my guesstimation, I bet we'll see some better estimates come from the indies/microstudios in a few weeks.
It's still really interesting to me because of my position over the next year - After I graduate I'm going to be moving back in with my parents and applying for jobs/building my portfolio. And I know alot of other graduating students who will be too. I we where to get together say, two artists two programmers (or one less) and create a really simple, solid iphone game on UDK it could be a very nice venture.
Firstly, small team, working from home paying next to no lving costs (hooray for being a white middle class graduate!) using nearly entirely open source software means rock bottom development costs. (depending on who needed a mac).
Secondly full time development, keeping to a rudimentary game. I think its more than feasible to go from concept to release in under 6 months. By this time it's unlikely there will be a large number of UDK games avaliable, and a UDK release will still have the unique and interesting factor.
Thirdly, make a good game! :poly142: Again, keeping it simple would be key.
The thing is as long as we break even, the project is a sucess. My aim here would not be to found a studio, but to put something really kick ass in my CV and learn as much as possible. Alot of this is me thinking out loud and not thinking things through. It all revolves around my position as a final year student. How wrong am I?:poly124:
Yeah I just remembered the 30% thing talking to a friend on facebook. These where my (incredibly) rough guesses on how profitable this would be for an indie microstudio:
My aim here would not be to found a studio, but to put something really kick ass in my CV and learn as much as possible. Alot of this is me thinking out loud and not thinking things through. It all revolves around my position as a final year student. How wrong am I?:poly124:
Its not a bad idea but 6months is a long time, and well...if each of you need to survive then surely you have some living costs like each of you needing $700 a month for rent and food etc? otherwise its your parents funding the game basically? there are also some costs for signing up as a registered iphone dev but they arent too bad. I reckon 4 of you (2 artists, 2 programmers) should be able to make something cool and playable in 3 months if you keep it simple, then start some revenue flow and see what you can do from there, maybe you will even have some money to pay back the parents hehe
just keep in mind all the cons from my previous post.
There's a couple of points to note here though regarding some peoples comments.
Firstly, although UDK is capable of some great stuff and arguably the most impressive iOS visuals, that doesn't mean devs actually must make use of it all. Sure it would take far more time, a bigger team and larger budget, but that's the same for any engine. Unity supports normal maps too ya know!
The point I wad trying to make is that UDK Editor is just a better tool in my opinion, it just works in better ways than Unity, and I've found it much easier to use. How much of it's tech you use is obviously dependent on the project at hand, but a smoother, faster workflow and user friendliness is a plus point whatever your project might be.
Also, remember you don't need to throw all your cards on the table and just make an indie game. Building an iPhone app is just like working on a big portfolio piece. You continue working your day job, you spend a couple hours a night on your app, and you learn a shitload. Sure it might take 6 months or a year or 2 years to make, but it hasn't cost you anything yet with UDK and then when you're ready, publish it and any money you make is profit.
I wouldn't suggest anyone go 'all in' with indie development unless you have a proven background in making/shipping games. And that's where UDK's 'play now, pay later' wins in my opinion. Even though Unity is very reasonably priced, youve spent a few hundred bucks before you've even started if you want to use it properly for iOS development.
Its not a bad idea but 6months is a long time, and well...if each of you need to survive then surely you have some living costs like each of you needing $700 a month for rent and food etc? otherwise its your parents funding the game basically? there are also some costs for signing up as a registered iphone dev but they arent too bad. I reckon 4 of you (2 artists, 2 programmers) should be able to make something cool and playable in 3 months if you keep it simple, then start some revenue flow and see what you can do from there, maybe you will even have some money to pay back the parents hehe
just keep in mind all the cons from my previous post.
I definately agree. 6 months is a long time to sponge off my parents, which is why I mention the $5k mark as being a guestimate 'break even' mark. I think 3 months is a stretch, but definately do-able - I wouldn't count on it though. And yeah there's quite a few pitfalls to avoid. It would require alot of planning, but as I say, I'm just thinking aloud here, the whole the whole thing is an interesting change to iPhone development! It's fun to speculate, if anything
6 months is a long time to sponge off my parents, which is why I mention the $5k mark as being a guestimate 'break even' mark.
Its a fun idea, Im not sure where the $5k mark comes from, if each of you find you need $700 per month that comes to 700 x 4 people x 6 months = $16800 . Just sayin.
So does anyone know if there will be some sort of limitation from the current capabilities of UDK?
I guess we can only wait and see, but I'm wondering this too.
If it's anything like Unity, then some of the more demanding features will be unavailable for iOS. Terrain and DecoLayers for example will most likely be unavailable, although it would be awesome if they are.
What I'm hoping for mainly is some good documentation on touch input in UnrealScript.
3. the file size! on the iphone a game has to be less than 20meg in order to download via 3g, otherwise its only available via wifi and that means potentially a lot less sales!
So far Ive only seen massive games using udk and even unity games seem to be rather large, Im not totally sure but it seems like the game engine itself can cause your final game binary to be 11mb in unity and thats without any assets or gameplay. This leaves only 9mb to actually make a game!
4. Im guessing this will only support 3gs and above, as far as I know the 3g and below all have inferior hardware and struggle to run anything with shaders. So you have removed a small percentage of the target market.
5. programmers getting annoyed with new scripting languages when they all know objective C or C++
3 - Depending on the SDK version, a blank Unity file is 6MB to 20MB when loaded on the iThing.
4 - This is true. But the way Apple has an easy to follow upgrade plan (toss it out the window, buy another), I don't think this will be a problem.
5 - Not a problem for seasoned programmers. If it's documented, it can be done.
I guess we'll find out tomorrow. But is this essentially UDK for OsX too? Or is it just going to be a cooker for OsX or something? It's my understanding that you still need a Mac to publish iOS games. My company looked into it when we formed the company and we had to go get a Mac to get our engine up on the iPhone. That was a few years ago and I haven't keep up with iOS development that much.
I guess we'll find out tomorrow. But is this essentially UDK for OsX too? Or is it just going to be a cooker for OsX or something? It's my understanding that you still need a Mac to publish iOS games. My company looked into it when we formed the company and we had to go get a Mac to get our engine up on the iPhone. That was a few years ago and I haven't keep up with iOS development that much.
Cook on PC, send the files to the Mac to compile and deploy. All I know is that Epic better be ready for the massive amounts of DL'ing.
Cook on PC, send the files to the Mac to compile and deploy. All I know is that Epic better be ready for the massive amounts of DL'ing.
So someone that wants to make a iOS game would need a dual bootin Mac or 2 computers? Seems convoluted and clunky. But whatever UDK is awesome I guess that's something people would deal with. Saying iOS and not OsX is odd I guess.
3 - Depending on the SDK version, a blank Unity file is 6MB to 20MB when loaded on the iThing.
Apple also adds a few mb after you submit the app. Our game Santas Delivery was around 45-50mb before we gave it to apple. It is now a 60mb file from the appstore.
Cook on PC, send the files to the Mac to compile and deploy. All I know is that Epic better be ready for the massive amounts of DL'ing.
This doesn't always work so well. We did this for our first released game and our WIP game Espionage.
LOTS of work needed to "port".
I can only comment on Unity as that is what we used. But I am going to assume it is fairly similar.
First - code. The desktop versions allowed us to do much more with code. few commands and dynamic variables were not available on the iPhone. we had to essentially rewrite a lot of code.
second -Performance. You can guess a lot for models, and textures. But sometimes there is just a line of code or some other stupid thing causing your FPS to drop big time. These are things you can't easily track down without continuously testing ON the device.
third- controls. You need to play with the controls. You can guess and estimate on how things will react, but sometimes that code you have for swiping, pinching or flicking behaves differently than what you expected.
Building a whole game, program or what ever else on a complete different platform is very bad practice and just gives you headaches.
I think Lamont means build the game as an iPhone game on PC, and just do the XCode build, sign etc on Mac.
It raises some questions though that I guess will be answered tomorrow.
Firstly, hopefully they've added some kind of iPhone Simulator or remote app, because sending to Mac just to playtest every revision will be a big pain in the ass. Hopefully if they do have some kind of remote, it'll be better than the often pretty terrible Unity remote.
And also, whether they're gonna go all out and bring UDK tools to OS X. Highly doubtful though as discussed previously.
Anyone here use a Mac. I have a feeling you'll become a very important publishing tool xD
Heh, yeah I use a MacBook Pro as my home laptop. Unfortunately though, the XCode process is kinda hands on and needs to be configured properly with your Apple Developer License to sign any apps you build. While it's not the most complex process in the world by any means, it's not quite a one click plug n play thing.
It's a good point though, there was a lot of concern back when the App Store launched that a Mac was required to build code, especially since the cheapest Mac isn't exactly... cheap. IIRC most people just grabbed a Mac Mini, as it was (and probably still is) the cheapest way. Kinda understandable though as the company who make iOS also make computers, it's only natural they want people to use them exclusively... why go out of their way to offer support for the other OS's, that just happen to have a much larger market share. (and to sell more of their hardware )
Anyone here use a Mac. I have a feeling you'll become a very important publishing tool xD
I purchased a Mac Mini earlier this year specifically for iPhone development. I'm not sure how well it will be able to handle more graphically capable apps produced by the UDK. (since it is one of the lowest-spec macs currently available) But I'm certainly intending to give it a try.
I purchased a Mac Mini earlier this year specifically for iPhone development. I'm not sure how well it will be able to handle more graphically capable apps produced by the UDK. (since it is one of the lowest-spec macs currently available) But I'm certainly intending to give it a try.
If the mac mini can't handle your iPhone game, then neither will the iPhone :poly124:
I thought that I could just go out and buy a copy of OSX Snow Leopard ~$30, do some Hackintosh-something-or-other, dual boot my PC, and buy an iDevice of some sort and I'd be all set.
App store = %30 off the top, add on top of that the UDK %25 fee, so your take home is %45. So if your app is the golden standard of $1.00 then you get $.45 for each sale.
I think Lamont means build the game as an iPhone game on PC, and just do the XCode build, sign etc on Mac.
Yeah, that's exactly what I mean. I do all my art and bringing assets into Unity Free on my PC, then send all the files over to the Mac and compile run and test. Do any code tweaks, on the Mac as well.
To get a Hackintosh working you have to use very specific parts. The parts cost as much as or more than a Mac Mini, and now that the newer Mac Mini's are out, you can find an older Intel based one for $300. I saw a Core 2 Mini for $200 shipped at HardOCP. You just gotta look.
All it takes from Apple is an update to make your Hackintosh useless. Why risk it, just find a Intel-based Mac Mini used and you're done.
My main computer is a hackintosh.
As for needing specific parts.. Not really.
Most off the shelf parts are fine, what it comes down to is motherboard, and the most common chipsets are fully supported.
I have been running a hackintosh for the past year, doing all the updates form apple no issues at all.
My game built fine on my hackintosh, but for our final build we used one of our mac books just to be safe. Who knows what info is included in the final build
Building a hackintosh is insanely easy now. Most of the hardwork has been done and it is as simple as installing windows on your computer.
My game built fine on my hackintosh, but for our final build we used one of our mac books just to be safe. Who knows what info is included in the final build
Yeah. That's what I hear from friends who've made one. But if I am gonna spend the $$ on computer parts to make a Mac. Just buy one and not deal with the issue.
Theres talk on the UDK forums that you just have to get the cert and publish from a mac. So perhaps build and compile inside UDK on PC. Then get a Mac-using friend to just cert and publish it for you? Thats what i plan on doing, anyway. (If that is the case, of course).
Testing. What about that?
Either way, I am interested to see how it's done. Because Unity doesn't even allow compile for iOS. I wonder how Shiva does it?
Replies
from kotaku
UDK is super impressive, but it's going to be hard for them to compete with that :P
It depends on what sort of games people will develop, Infinity Blade looks fantastic and I haven't played it, but how far will the mobile market go in terms of graphics vs. playability? The controls of a game on any smart phone is the most important feature, virtual joypads just don't do it for me.
Yeah good point. A tool is just a tool, it's what the user does with it. There are many terrible looking UDK scenes out there for every great looking one.
It's funny also how on consumer websites there are always a bunch of fanboys that crawl from under the rocks to slander Epic and the Unreal Engine with their so called "knowledge" on the subject and tell us how it all sucks. lol
In terms of what the Unreal Engine is capable of on iOS, at the hands of the pro's then both Unity and UE are capable of producing fantastic results. But in terms of user-friendliness and easy wow factors, UDK wins for me hands down.
Asset import and handling is far better in UE3 I think, lighting and post-fx is stronger... not to mention that these things are included with every install of UDK whereas these are classed as 'Pro' features in Unity.
Also UDK's material editor just blows Unity away... not least because you don't even have a visual editor in Unity without buying a plugin.
Certainly from a beginner like me's point of view, UDK is a much more attractive option for getting into iPhone dev. If my app sales ever totalled enough to start paying Epic royalties, I really don't think I'd be that bothered.
Sure for the bigger studios, it may be a consideration but then again, the bigger studios are probably using their own tech anyway.
Long story short.. I can't fucking wait!
Hope UDK comes to Android soon!
At the same time, I'm extremely excited that Epic is making this move. I thought it was great when they added indie-friendly licencing for the original UDK, and this is a quite reasonable expansion of that. For some experienced mod teams this is going to be a fantastic opportunity. I will download this update when they release it, and see how easy it is to prototype non-FPS controls in the UDK. If the UDK allows for rapid prototyping, it might be worth it just for that.
That sounds like a damn good deal! I am really psyched for this. I would love to make an iPhone project in UDK. It would be a great project to start on after I graduate. Hmmm I'm gonna have to start cozying up to my programmer friends...
@creationtwentytwo:
If you're looking for a free visual material editor for Unity3, check this out.
Don't forget that Apple takes 30% of app sales as well. But still, its a damn attractive looking deal for someone starting out as an indie.
And I guess we'll have to wait until Thursday to see if this means that UDK will now run on a Mac.
pros - excellent engine with great features, this goes without saying really
cons -
1. in order to best use the features more time needs to be spent on assets eg high poly sculpts and baking normal maps etc ...this is something most indie mobile devs will not be keen on, simply because it will take alot of resource(eg 2 staff members for a month or 2) and time! This is the biggest reason I can imagine for unreal engine failing to make any real impact on the ios games scene, people just dont have the money to spend on making games look kick ass
2. the costs, 25% of 39p(if the game is 59p this is what the dev gets) is a lot when you consider that some iphone devs might have a number of other deals going on behind the scenes eg doing revenue shares with sponsors or well know labels in order to fund the project and they could ask for 40% or more.
3. the file size! on the iphone a game has to be less than 20meg in order to download via 3g, otherwise its only available via wifi and that means potentially a lot less sales!
So far Ive only seen massive games using udk and even unity games seem to be rather large, Im not totally sure but it seems like the game engine itself can cause your final game binary to be 11mb in unity and thats without any assets or gameplay. This leaves only 9mb to actually make a game!
4. Im guessing this will only support 3gs and above, as far as I know the 3g and below all have inferior hardware and struggle to run anything with shaders. So you have removed a small percentage of the target market.
5. programmers getting annoyed with new scripting languages when they all know objective C or C++
One thing I would like to know is - do they count revenue earned through advert impressions in the sales ? because it may take a while to earn $5000 like maybe a year or two but you could still be earning good money through advert impressions.
- Firstly, small team, working from home paying next to no lving costs (hooray for being a white middle class graduate!) using nearly entirely open source software means rock bottom development costs. (depending on who needed a mac).
- Secondly full time development, keeping to a rudimentary game. I think its more than feasible to go from concept to release in under 6 months. By this time it's unlikely there will be a large number of UDK games avaliable, and a UDK release will still have the unique and interesting factor.
- Thirdly, make a good game! :poly142: Again, keeping it simple would be key.
The thing is as long as we break even, the project is a sucess. My aim here would not be to found a studio, but to put something really kick ass in my CV and learn as much as possible. Alot of this is me thinking out loud and not thinking things through. It all revolves around my position as a final year student. How wrong am I?:poly124:Its not a bad idea but 6months is a long time, and well...if each of you need to survive then surely you have some living costs like each of you needing $700 a month for rent and food etc? otherwise its your parents funding the game basically? there are also some costs for signing up as a registered iphone dev but they arent too bad. I reckon 4 of you (2 artists, 2 programmers) should be able to make something cool and playable in 3 months if you keep it simple, then start some revenue flow and see what you can do from there, maybe you will even have some money to pay back the parents hehe
just keep in mind all the cons from my previous post.
Firstly, although UDK is capable of some great stuff and arguably the most impressive iOS visuals, that doesn't mean devs actually must make use of it all. Sure it would take far more time, a bigger team and larger budget, but that's the same for any engine. Unity supports normal maps too ya know!
The point I wad trying to make is that UDK Editor is just a better tool in my opinion, it just works in better ways than Unity, and I've found it much easier to use. How much of it's tech you use is obviously dependent on the project at hand, but a smoother, faster workflow and user friendliness is a plus point whatever your project might be.
Also, remember you don't need to throw all your cards on the table and just make an indie game. Building an iPhone app is just like working on a big portfolio piece. You continue working your day job, you spend a couple hours a night on your app, and you learn a shitload. Sure it might take 6 months or a year or 2 years to make, but it hasn't cost you anything yet with UDK and then when you're ready, publish it and any money you make is profit.
I wouldn't suggest anyone go 'all in' with indie development unless you have a proven background in making/shipping games. And that's where UDK's 'play now, pay later' wins in my opinion. Even though Unity is very reasonably priced, youve spent a few hundred bucks before you've even started if you want to use it properly for iOS development.
I definately agree. 6 months is a long time to sponge off my parents, which is why I mention the $5k mark as being a guestimate 'break even' mark. I think 3 months is a stretch, but definately do-able - I wouldn't count on it though. And yeah there's quite a few pitfalls to avoid. It would require alot of planning, but as I say, I'm just thinking aloud here, the whole the whole thing is an interesting change to iPhone development! It's fun to speculate, if anything
I'm also exited about the prospect of android support. It will be interesting to see how easy it would be to develop for both platforms.
EDIT:
I'm still wondering if there will ever be a UDK web player, that would really awesome too.
Its a fun idea, Im not sure where the $5k mark comes from, if each of you find you need $700 per month that comes to 700 x 4 people x 6 months = $16800 . Just sayin.
I guess we can only wait and see, but I'm wondering this too.
If it's anything like Unity, then some of the more demanding features will be unavailable for iOS. Terrain and DecoLayers for example will most likely be unavailable, although it would be awesome if they are.
What I'm hoping for mainly is some good documentation on touch input in UnrealScript.
4 - This is true. But the way Apple has an easy to follow upgrade plan (toss it out the window, buy another), I don't think this will be a problem.
5 - Not a problem for seasoned programmers. If it's documented, it can be done.
i somewhat doubt that
would be so awesome. Read I think it was Game Developer Magazine that flash is releasing an updated SDK for 3d for web.
So someone that wants to make a iOS game would need a dual bootin Mac or 2 computers? Seems convoluted and clunky. But whatever UDK is awesome I guess that's something people would deal with. Saying iOS and not OsX is odd I guess.
This doesn't always work so well. We did this for our first released game and our WIP game Espionage.
LOTS of work needed to "port".
I can only comment on Unity as that is what we used. But I am going to assume it is fairly similar.
First - code. The desktop versions allowed us to do much more with code. few commands and dynamic variables were not available on the iPhone. we had to essentially rewrite a lot of code.
second -Performance. You can guess a lot for models, and textures. But sometimes there is just a line of code or some other stupid thing causing your FPS to drop big time. These are things you can't easily track down without continuously testing ON the device.
third- controls. You need to play with the controls. You can guess and estimate on how things will react, but sometimes that code you have for swiping, pinching or flicking behaves differently than what you expected.
Building a whole game, program or what ever else on a complete different platform is very bad practice and just gives you headaches.
It raises some questions though that I guess will be answered tomorrow.
Firstly, hopefully they've added some kind of iPhone Simulator or remote app, because sending to Mac just to playtest every revision will be a big pain in the ass. Hopefully if they do have some kind of remote, it'll be better than the often pretty terrible Unity remote.
And also, whether they're gonna go all out and bring UDK tools to OS X. Highly doubtful though as discussed previously.
Heh, yeah I use a MacBook Pro as my home laptop. Unfortunately though, the XCode process is kinda hands on and needs to be configured properly with your Apple Developer License to sign any apps you build. While it's not the most complex process in the world by any means, it's not quite a one click plug n play thing.
It's a good point though, there was a lot of concern back when the App Store launched that a Mac was required to build code, especially since the cheapest Mac isn't exactly... cheap. IIRC most people just grabbed a Mac Mini, as it was (and probably still is) the cheapest way. Kinda understandable though as the company who make iOS also make computers, it's only natural they want people to use them exclusively... why go out of their way to offer support for the other OS's, that just happen to have a much larger market share. (and to sell more of their hardware
I purchased a Mac Mini earlier this year specifically for iPhone development. I'm not sure how well it will be able to handle more graphically capable apps produced by the UDK. (since it is one of the lowest-spec macs currently available) But I'm certainly intending to give it a try.
If the mac mini can't handle your iPhone game, then neither will the iPhone :poly124:
Is that not a viable solution?
To get a Hackintosh working you have to use very specific parts. The parts cost as much as or more than a Mac Mini, and now that the newer Mac Mini's are out, you can find an older Intel based one for $300. I saw a Core 2 Mini for $200 shipped at HardOCP. You just gotta look.
All it takes from Apple is an update to make your Hackintosh useless. Why risk it, just find a Intel-based Mac Mini used and you're done.
Better to just get an old intel-mac
As for needing specific parts.. Not really.
Most off the shelf parts are fine, what it comes down to is motherboard, and the most common chipsets are fully supported.
I have been running a hackintosh for the past year, doing all the updates form apple no issues at all.
My game built fine on my hackintosh, but for our final build we used one of our mac books just to be safe. Who knows what info is included in the final build
Building a hackintosh is insanely easy now. Most of the hardwork has been done and it is as simple as installing windows on your computer.
Either way, I am interested to see how it's done. Because Unity doesn't even allow compile for iOS. I wonder how Shiva does it?