

Why I've Said Goodbye to Mobile in Favor of PC (2014) - WoodenChair
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ThomasHenshell/20140807/222732/Why_Ive_Said_Goodbye_to_Mobile_in_Favor_of_PC.php

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dang
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8162506](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8162506)

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kraig911
I have worked on 3 mobile apps (not games) and my experience was very much the
same. We poured our hearts into it but this app economy nonsense just doesn't
work. The client probably spent over 500k on these 3 apps to afford the 4 of
us to work. We spent probably over 300k of that budget in testing on the next
latest platform/latest android build/bugs, and when iOS 8 came out with it's
localStorage issues on webviews i thought I was going to have a heart
attack...

I would say never again too but I have to admit all the while that first 50%
of the time I was having a ton of fun.

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ndomin
Tldr: publisher pushed back release in favor of nook support. targeted wrong
audience. Wasn't expecting the competition (millions of apps). Forced to make
games he wasn't really interested in. Spent $200k and made $7k and decided to
try again.

I would like to add it really does suck. It's definitely a passion but as an
art form not all artists make money. Being able to wrap our passion for making
games into a company is sort of like forming a band. If it falls apart your
likely not going to remain friends.

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wvenable
I wonder how much of the mobile app market is a pyramid scheme. It seems to me
like most mobile apps are supported by ads for other apps that, in turn, have
ads for other apps.

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bliss
I bought an iPad a little over 5 years ago. At college (longer ago) I used
Unix (ultrix) and have had a Linux server ever since and that won't stop any
sooner than will my iPad use. Back 8 years ago, I bought a beautiful 17" Sony
laptop that was stolen from my car, working in Australia (I'm Scottish) along
with mine and my wife's passports (a different story) but once insurance money
came, Apple had upped their spec on the MacBook Pro 17" so I got that, and I'm
still happily using today. However... I love my "proper computer", my PC (you
know what I mean), had one with CGA when jealously looking at my fiends Atari
STs and Amigas, but those things plugged into TVs, not monitors like a proper
computer, as PC tech advanced, it was clear what the winner was and I'm still
trading on the skills picked up when I was in secondary school. I bought the
iPad, it was (is actually, still using it, and recently added an air to my
arsenal) brilliant, but as this article nicely spells out, it's casual. I've
never (as an analyst) managed to successfully use it as a tool, it's a toy and
truth is, so is my MacBook. The apple version of excel isn't good enough (or
familiar enough) to replace my essential windows version. I've been writing my
next big thing software (stop many times on too many platforms) for over a
decade and still not made traction, despite learning every library on multiple
releases and paying apple's "developer" tax - though I see they've removed
that recently. Long story short, I've just ordered a Microsoft tablet thing,
with hope that it will be a real productive business device, which for my use
my MacBook or iPads (or iPhones or iPods) will never really be.

So I look forward to delivery of my windows tablet (my brother has an RT first
fen one, so I've got an idea) and my work phone is a windows phone, it's
functional.

I hope to write my next big thing app, and this article has reminded me to not
have any shame about marketing it as windows only, because that's what I use
and like (though in my heart, I still think of windows as being win.com).

All that and I can play skyrim on it. Meantime I'm sticking with windows too
and not many of my colleagues or friends even think this is a controversial
thing.

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acaloiar
How long of a shelf life might "Catch the Monkey" have had on any platform?

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throwaway999666
> I enjoy playing Watch Dogs but there comes a point where I put the
> controller down and fire up Visual Studio and have more fun creating than
> consuming. Not everyone is afflicted this way, this is my cross to bear.

Oh my.

