3 ms·

This is just my opinion, so grain of salt. But I think this is an untenable restriction for a tiny indie team if you want to ship something across multiple pla

This is just my opinion, so grain of salt. But I think this is an untenable restriction for a tiny indie team if you want to ship something across multiple platforms in a relatively short amount of time. We were ten months from start to finish on PC SteamVR, a couple months to Oculus, and then four to PS4. With two people. My game is built on top of literally millions of man hours of development. This game would basically never have happened without a ton of proprietary software. That all said, it's awesome to see when people have the opportunity to go full custom engine like they did with Amnesia or Noita.

account42 6y ago
> My game is built on top of literally millions of man hours of development. This game would basically never have happened without a ton of proprietary software. Sure, starting from scratch will only be realistic for few projects but there is also millions of man hours worth of non-proprietary software that you can build on. If that would have been possible for you is impossible to say without knowing the specifics, but you should not jump to the conclusion that it is impossible for everyone. VR specifically is a field where this may be more difficult than elsewhere because it's new and niche so good open source solutions have not yet settled.
- hesdeadjim 6y ago
  Even if you go use something like godot, have fun getting it working on PS4. Due to legal requirements of working with their platform, there cannot be any open implementations that work with it. For Godot you are stuck needing to work with a contracting firm, using their proprietary engine modifications. Or figure out how to do all that work yourself once you have a relationship with Sony and have access to their SDK. And then, even when you do you will not be allowed to share that code without violating the agreement.
  - account42 6y ago
    Sure, closed platforms suck - making you give up your freedoms to use them is kind of a given. But you can limit that to those closed platforms. With your Godot example you might not be able to distribute all your source for the PS4 version but you should still be in full control of the PC version.
danShumway 6y ago
This is fair. I've been working on my current project for nearly 2 years (although I haven't been working on it full time, and I've been working as a single dev). I think a policy like this changes the types of projects you undertake. With my current game, I would have built a custom engine for it anyway, since the design of the game kind of requires me to have a lot of control over low-level details. So it wasn't a huge stretch for me to go from that decision to, "well, if I'm building my own engine, I sure as heck want to actually own it." There are tradeoffs in both directions. I'm definitely conscious of the fact that there are things I want to take advantage of that I can't, and I already know console ports are probably going to be horrible to work on.

account42 6y ago

> My game is built on top of literally millions of man hours of development. This game would basically never have happened without a ton of proprietary software. Sure, starting from scratch will only be realistic for few projects but there is also millions of man hours worth of non-proprietary software that you can build on. If that would have been possible for you is impossible to say without knowing the specifics, but you should not jump to the conclusion that it is impossible for everyone. VR specifically is a field where this may be more difficult than elsewhere because it's new and niche so good open source solutions have not yet settled.

hesdeadjim 6y ago
Even if you go use something like godot, have fun getting it working on PS4. Due to legal requirements of working with their platform, there cannot be any open implementations that work with it. For Godot you are stuck needing to work with a contracting firm, using their proprietary engine modifications. Or figure out how to do all that work yourself once you have a relationship with Sony and have access to their SDK. And then, even when you do you will not be allowed to share that code without violating the agreement.
- account42 6y ago
  Sure, closed platforms suck - making you give up your freedoms to use them is kind of a given. But you can limit that to those closed platforms. With your Godot example you might not be able to distribute all your source for the PS4 version but you should still be in full control of the PC version.

danShumway 6y ago

This is fair. I've been working on my current project for nearly 2 years (although I haven't been working on it full time, and I've been working as a single dev). I think a policy like this changes the types of projects you undertake. With my current game, I would have built a custom engine for it anyway, since the design of the game kind of requires me to have a lot of control over low-level details. So it wasn't a huge stretch for me to go from that decision to, "well, if I'm building my own engine, I sure as heck want to actually own it." There are tradeoffs in both directions. I'm definitely conscious of the fact that there are things I want to take advantage of that I can't, and I already know console ports are probably going to be horrible to work on.