I just got back from GDC, which is my annual “know what direction I should take and keep up with the game industry” kind of week. The biggest lesson learned this year from GDC is to be promiscuous with platforms. Don’t just lock yourself into 1 platform and lose all the benefits of the other platforms. What this means is that I will be using multi-platform strategies moving forward. I will be starting with HTML5 and depending on how that goes I might stay with it or switch to the Unity Game Engine. This is not saying that I am dropping Windows Phone Development, I am just including more platforms into my target audience. There are a variety of reasons I am doing this:
1. Multi platform is a no brainer in increasing the number of users playing your games. This is the clear and most effective path at achieving growth without resorting to spending huge amounts of money on advertising
2. The gold rush of Windows Phone is now over. With more and more apps flooding into the market the competition is getting harder. Money is not as good as it was, and the quick development method is less effective. Being stuck monetizing just on ad revenue alone sucks. Windows Phone needs IAP and it seems like it will be forever before it shows up.
3. I have a library of successful games that are screaming to be ported over to other platforms. This makes the porting process easier for me because I already have all the assets and design done for me. So I can concentrate on building the infrastructure of my multi platform strategy. Once I have better understanding on going multi platform, I can resume creating new games 
Don’t worry folks, this is just part of growing up as a developer and keeping with the times. There is a hard road ahead, but it is those hard roads that are worth travelling
It will be interesting to see how you do on multiple platforms.
I’m guessing within a year that WP will be a fraction of your revenue stream…
My feeling is that going forward anything that can be done in HTML 5 should be. Not everything will be possible in HTML/CSS/JavaScript, but it makes sense to try it there first before dropping back to native code.
I doubt we will ever see a 100% write once, run anywhere solution, but HTML5/CSS/JavaScript comes as close as anything ever has.
I’m curious how well it will work for your games.
The web version of “Cut The Rope” is pretty impressive.
Good luck in the multiverse!
HTML5 works well for me since I only do 2D games. Accelerated Canvas runs quite well!
We are looking at HTML5/JS for our future game engine targetting Win8, WinPhone, iOS, Android.
Initial perf measurements are not encouraging (using existing devices like Samsung Focus+IE9, iPhone 4+Safari, GalaxyII+Android) but it definitely seems possible to make great 2D games assuming you are careful about performance.
The games definitely won’t be as flashy as what you can do with XNA on WP7, and my somewhat lazy approach to game performance probably won’t cut it with HTML5/JS.
We’re also looking at C# (Silverlight, Jupiter, Mono) running our game code with a native C++ rendering stack underneath (Direct3D or OpenGL) and either doing the UI system “in-game” (within the C# framework we build) or leveraging OS specific UI frameworks using a common viewmodel.
Cross platform is definitely tough right now and HTML5/JS solve a lot of the problems but introduce new ones as well.
Yup, there will always be extra work doing multiplatform. There is no one silver bullet to get us there. The reason I picked up html5 versus other third party support is because html5 is guaranteed to be on Win8 when it launches, with Unity being non-committal on when they will release a win8 port put them out of the question.
Have you looked at MonoDroid & MonoTouch with MonoGame/ExEn for XNA porting. This should let you leverage your c# code & assets.
Good luck with this. I am a huge advocate of this direction as well. I’m trying to get people in my company to align with the visions I have for the future of our web products, and oftentimes* I envy your ability to just do what you believe you should for the betterment of your products and your success.
*all of the time
anything “by committee” sucks :p
Multi-platform is definately the way to go. If HTML 5 delivers anything close to a one stop shop for 2D game development then it could be exciting times for small Indies, providing a opportunity to reach a big audience.
Have you tried running HTML 5 within an embedded browser within a WP7 app?
Interesting to hear you say the gold rush is over for WP7. Has there been a gold rush? And with the possible growth in market share in 2012 is the gold rush only about to begin?
I’m still in the process of honing my javascript/html5 skills. There was the initial gold rush, there might be a second one when we get critical mass. But I think I am positioned well on WP7 for that. Either way I’m still making money from it, I’m just shifting my focus on other things for now.
I have to be flexible and forward looking in order to become better
Good luck, Elbert. Good move doing Html 5 before Unity. Once you try Unity it’s hard to imagine using anything else.
Great post. I have been flirting with game dev in XNA but am thinking of on focusing HTML5 after reading this.
Will you posting your initial figures for Paradox Exit? Did the success or lack thereof of your new game contribute towards your decision to focus on other platforms?
Paradox Exit currently has 10k downloads. It’s doing okay, not great, not bad. Looking towards other platforms is just a natural progression, especially if you want to grow and reach out to more people.
Hi, I’m following Ur blog about 8th m, and it’s really interesting, thanks, according my experience, html5 is future but sincerly to porting your game vs. other platform is not a good way, too slow, problem pla’n music, and phone gap is really good for apps.
, and honestly porting of such app on android is really difficults,
I’m spare time developer, and I made some apps, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVk9XLsKvME), music is mine
for your type of game you can choose something or http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker/studio,
or unity3d… (my choise) infact you can target, android, ios, mac, windows, flash and
keep in mind that there’s possible porting for wp7, I haven’t try it because I’m busy for 2 weeks on other project but after this I’ll give a try,
look here
https://github.com/fehaar/FFWD
my twitter is https://twitter.com/BulldozerMobile for others info
I hope this usefull
Curious if your planning on going the ad or paid route for other platforms. With HTML5 what is the ad option. I noticed that Microsoft Advertising Pub Center does not support ads using HTML5.
Pingback: Developer claims ” Money is not as good as it was ” for Windows Phone Games
Pingback: Elbert Perez: "The gold rush of Windows Phone is now over"–why he is wrong | WMPoweruser
Adam Wheatley, yes you can’t but if you have tried phonegap on wp7 is really easy add mspub ads
Pingback: Elbert Perez is going multi-platform « Retro Sword
Pingback: Элберт Перез: игры для Windows Phone уже не приносят столько денег, как раньше