Cross Platform Gaming - Past, Present, & Future

Google Tech Talk September 17, 2010 Presented by Gavriel State CTO of Transgaming. ABSTRACT When considering what platforms their work should target, game developers have more options than ever before: consoles, PCs, the web, a plethora of mobile platforms, and the emerging connected TV space. Game developers are no strangers to these choices: even 10 years ago developers had to contend with three primary consoles, PCs, plus handheld systems - more platforms than in any other major portion of the software market. In this presentation, we will explore how cross platform development considerations influence game developers, and how platform providers can succeed by giving developers the tools to make their choices easy ones. On the technology side, we will discuss some of the main impediments to cross platform development. Some of these, such as basic hardware differences between platforms, seem obvious, but lead to profound differences in how developers approach the problem, from using cross-platform engines to requiring a complete rewrite of source code and regeneration of art assets. TransGaming's Founder and CTO, Gavriel State, will share some of the experience gained from over 10 years of work in supporting games on multiple platforms, including work bringing games from Windows to Linux, MacOS X, mobile devices, Consoles, and new connected TV platforms. TransGaming has also been heavily involved in industry standards such as OpenGL, including developing Google's ANGLE project to support WebGL on Windows via Direct3D.