4 ms·

Why I've Said Goodbye to Mobile in Favor of PC (2014)

40 points by WoodenChair 11y ago

kraig911 11y ago
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.
throwaway999666 11y ago
> 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.
ndomin 11y ago
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.
dang 11y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8162506 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8162506
acaloiar 11y ago
How long of a shelf life might "Catch the Monkey" have had on any platform?
wvenable 11y ago
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.
bliss 11y ago
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.

40 points by WoodenChair 11y ago

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.

throwaway999666 11y ago

> 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.

ndomin 11y ago

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.

dang 11y ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8162506 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8162506

acaloiar 11y ago

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

wvenable 11y ago

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.

bliss 11y ago

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.