3 replies to this topic

[dbltnk]

So, Sony is supposed to be opening up the PSP for smaller developers: cheaper games, cheaper devkits, download portal, etc ...

http://www.mcvuk.com...PSPgo-App-Store

What engine would you use to bring a game to the handheld? There's nothing with a "indie" price-tag on it like Unity or Torque. Do you have to use some open source engine and rewrite it for the PSP or si there a already existing engine that is supposed to work on the platform "out of the box"?

[Josh1billion]

Sweet news; thanks for sharing.

Some information from Bit-Tech.net's article appears to answer your questions:

Quote

Speaking to Develop, Sony's Zeno Colaço claimed that there are already more than 50 studios signed up to create games and applications to populate the PSP app store with. Those developers have likely been wooed in by Sony's promise of a much faster release pipeline than Apple, with no concept approval, lower price points and shorter QA processes.

"It is still a professional environment, you still need a development kit and you still need to have investment and a team. But it can be a small team," said Sony's head of developer relations Zeno Colaço. "We don't see any of the restrictions on the disc-based space being in this space."

So, basically, it sounds like:
- you'll need to use a specific Sony-built engine
- it'll be somewhat expensive to get started, because you'll need to buy an official SDK and/or license from Sony

Sounds like your average one-man team is still left out in the cold, but your average three- or five-man team with some previous commercial experience might be able to pull it off...

You know, something that I find intriguing is this:

Quote

no concept approval, lower price points and shorter QA processes

Is this saying it'll be easier to get a submitted app approved on the PSP App Store than on the iPhone App Store, and that games will be generally sold for even less than what iPhone App Store developers charge? Hmm.

[KPBeast]

That certainly was an interesting article Josh1billion. Overall though, I don't see Sony breaking into Apple's market any time soon.

[Mihail121]

KPBeast said:

That certainly was an interesting article Josh1billion. Overall though, I don't see Sony breaking into Apple's market any time soon.

I don't even think they are trying to. Sony has a tradition of selling well-polished games in nice cases with game manuals etc. Apple has a tradition of selling cheap software solutions (mostly junk) and making huge profits on the account of others. Content control? Sure... Every application that sells even 100 copies works well for Apple so I suspect they are semi-randomly rejecting applications every now and then.

Should Sony really to change its doctrine regarding the PSP? Should Nintendo change theirs regarding the DS? I don't think so, cause that's what makes quality software. Sure I have game ideas, a LOT in fact, by I'm clear with myself that a one-man project will be a big failure.